ShapeView User's Guide

Overview

ShapeView is a visualisation tool for ASDEX Upgrade's plasma separatrix shape. The main features are :


Getting Started

Prerequisites

ShapeView has been developed as a MATLAB program but is also available as a standalone executable for the Solaris operating system. In addition access to the local IPP afs-filesystem is required.


Starting ShapeView

Start ShapeView from your Web-Browser

If you click here or on a ShapeView icon in your browser window (e.g. in the contents frame of this document on the left side) you start the ShapeView standalone executable.

Note: this works only, if your browser is running on an IPP Solaris computer!

Start ShapeView from the command line

On the UNIX or MATLAB command line type ShapeView

The ShapeView standalone executable is available via the /usr/ads/diags directory which is already by default on the search path of most users. If this should not be the case and you want to start ShapeView from the command line, you have two options:

The MATLAB version of ShapeView is available as a part of the MATLAB IPP-library. To make this library available you have to enter the MATLAB command addipplib once in your MATLAB session, preferably in your startup file.

Command Line Parameters

You may start ShapeView on the command line with addional parameters to load a shot for viewing.


Loading a shot

To load a shot


Navigating through a shot

A navigation bar on top of the ShapeView drawing area appears as soon as there are more than one time points available.

The navigation bar offers several methods to select a time point :

Alternatively you can navigate using the marker of the signal timetraces :


Profile contours

With the profile menu you can add a contour plot of a poloidally distributed profile parameter such as poloidal flux, safety factor q, magnetic field components or plasma current densities. Only one profile parameter is displayed at a time.

To obtain the level of a contour line right click on the line. The level will be displayed in the heading of the context menu which pops up.

Profile data are loaded on request. If you request a profile for the first time a dialog opens where you can specify the diagnostic and experiment names which may be different from the ones used to load the separatrix data. However, all flux-surface related profiles (pol. flux, tor. flux, q, magnetic field components and jp) all share the same source and you will be asked only once.

To hide a contour plot select none in the profile menu.


Display options

Other parameters can be displayed selecting items in the options menu. All selections are cumulative. However, too many active options may clutter the screen thus hiding more information than they contribute.

You can display


Working with layers

Layers are a powerful feature of ShapeView. With layers you can overlay plasma shapes from several discharges or from different time points of the same discharge.

Each layer is identified by a unique name and is assigned a color to distinguish it from other layers. You find the layer name, a layer comment (usually #shot_number(diagnostic_name) ) and the current layer time point in a legend line below the drawing area. Layer names starting with an asterisk (*) are hidden in the printout. If you choose to display signal values, these values are printed also in this line. By default you work in layer *, i.e. this layer name is not printed out in the legend.

Navigation commands, settings in the profile and options menus and loading a discharge with the shot menu always refer to the current layer. The layer menu will indicate the current layer in its title: layer:layer_nameand it is colored accordingly.

Creating layers

Two methods are available to create new layers

Copy an existing layer

Copying is the preferred method if you want to overlay different time points of the same discharge. Copying a layer copies all signal data and all display settings but assigns a new layer name and color.

To copy a layer

Create a new layer from scratch

You create empty layers from scratch for comparison of different discharges. Initially no signal data are available and all settings are set to their default values. After layer creation you then would load a new shot as described in Getting Started.

In many cases, however, you will want to load a new shot but keep your display options. Then it is more appropriate to make a copy of the sample layer and then overwrite the signal data loading a new shot.

To create a new empty layer proceed as follows:

Selecting layers

When you create a layer this new layer will automatically become the active layer.

If you want to change to an already existing layer you open the layer_name submenu of the layer menu and choose the select item.

Modifying and deleting layers

In the layer_name submenu of the layer menu you can also

by choosing the respective item.

Layers and timetraces

Shared plotboxes for signals

All timetraces of a signal which is selected in different layers are drawn in the same plot box but in the colors of their layer. In addition a label helps to identify the layer to which a timetrace belongs to.

If you select a new signal, a new plotbox for this signal is appended to the existing ones.

Navigation with multiple layers

The timetrace window offers a very comfortable navigation method if you use multiple layers. You can navigate immediately in any layer without making it the current layer before and without changing the current layer.

For each layer in which timetraces display is enabled a marker line is provided in the layer color. You can move any marker line to navigate to another time point in the associated layer.


Other features

Additional helpful options are available via the vessel, view and draw opts menus.


Printing

The print menu offers a simple interface for color and black&white printing. Select the desired submenu and enter the appropriate printer name in the dialog which opens. This printer name will be remembered for the next printout. After you have confirmed the settings pressing the ok button the printout is started.

Note: In the File menu there is another Print item. In the standalone version (without running MATLAB) this starts a black&white printout on your standard printer lp.


Information and online help

In the info< menu you can lookup the current version information and find a link to the online documentation you are reading just now.



Graphic Tools

If you right click anywhere in the display a context sensitive menu will pop up offering graphical manipulation tools for the object beneath.

The header of this menu denotes name and type of the object as well as the the mouse pointer coordinates.

Depending on the type of the object you can e.g.


Last modified: Mon Jan 28 13:40:17 MET 2002 by Wolfgang Treutterer