What's New in Voxler^® 2?

Voxler 2 —Unleash Your 3D Potential

Capture Video Animation

Voxler Overview

Who should use Voxler?

• Geoscientists studying seismic data, drill holes, petrography, and remote sensing surveys 
• Environmental Professionals analyzing groundwater and soil contaminant studies 
• Meteorologists compiling atmospheric studies 
• Oceanologists evaluating water temperature, contaminants, and salinity surveys 
• Biologists conducting organism sampling
• Bio-Technicians visualizing confocal microscopy data 
• Engineers showing parameters distributed throughout the volume of an object 
• Engineers requiring visualization of computational fluid dynamics 
• Research and Development Groups performing numerical simulations 
• Geo-Statisticians illustrating reservoir characterizations 
• Seismologists modeling velocity 
• Physicists tracking particles
• GIS Researchers mapping subsurfaces
• Medical Professionals analyzing MRI, CT, and ultrasound scans 
• Anyone desiring to see the distribution of 3D data

Voxler Isosurfaces

A Voxler isosurface extends the concept of the contour line (a line of constant data value in two dimensions) to display a surface of constant data value in three dimensions. Combine multiple Isosurfaces color-coded by data value to show discrete values through a 3D grid.

Isosurfaces display surfaces of constant data value. 
Specify the color and transparency for each surface 
to indicate its value.

Voxler Rendered Volumes

Volume rendering is a 3D display of data that simulates the transmission and absorption of light through the points in the volume. A rendered volume assigns a color and transparency value to every element in the 3D grid. Add a ClipPlane to display a slice through the volume at any angle.

A rendered volume displays a color for every element in the 3D grid.
Add a ClipPlane to display a slice at any angle.

Voxler Contours

Contours display lines of constant data value along a plane. For a 3D grid, the plane can be oriented at any angle.

Add contours along a plane at any angle through a 3D grid.
This example illustrates the contours intersecting a semi-
transparent isosurface.

Voxler Height Fields

A height field displays data values as colors for a 2D grid, a 2D orthogonal slice of a uniform 3D grid, or along a 2D curvilinear lattice. The data magnitude is also depicted by the amount of displacement above or below the slice. The displacement is perpendicular to the plane or curvilinear lattice and is adjusted by the scale factor. 

The height field displays data values from an orthogonal slice 
through a 3D grid. The height field opacity is set to be partially 
transparent to view the underlying contours the slice.

Voxler Stream Lines

Stream lines are used to display the path of particles through a velocity field, the distribution of velocities of a medium in 3D space. Different colors indicate the magnitude of the velocities. The technique injects massless particles at specified seed points and traces their paths through the field. The particles stop when the new velocity is zero, the maximum stream length is exceeded, or when the stream intersects the bounds of the field.

Stream lines indicate particle paths through a vortex.
Colors show the relative velocities of the particles, with 
purple being slower and red being faster.

Voxler Vector Planes

A vector plot displays lines or arrows indicating the direction and magnitude indicated by the components of a 3D grid or point data set. The magnitude of the vectors is shown by length and color.

Vector arrows indicate direction and magnitude of the three components 
parallel to the X, Y, and Z axes in a 3D grid. Magnitude is also shown by
color with red being higher magnitude and purple showing lower magnitude.

Voxler Scatter Plots

A scatter plot displays symbols at the XYZ location specified in the data file. If the data file has a value at each data point, specify different colors for different data values. Voxler offers several symbol choices to customize the plot.

A scatter plot displays symbols for the data sampled in boreholes.
Different colors indicate different levels of concentration at each XYZ location.

Voxler Orthographic and Oblique Images

Orthographic images and oblique images display slices of data. Ortho images can also be used to display georeferenced image files at the correct map location. Oblique images display the image at any 3D direction.

This example shows a georeferenced TIF file as an ortho image with lines added highlighting focus areas on the map. Add axes to show the coordinates of the location. 

Voxler Clip Planes

Add a clip plane to any graphic to remove the portion on one side of the clip plane. Add multiple clip planes at different angles to display the area of interest without obstruction.

Clip planes remove a portion of a graphic to display the sections 
hidden by the intervening parts of the object. Here, two
clip planes allow the display of an irregularly shaped region.

Voxler Annotation and Text

Use annotation and text to add textual information to a plot. Annotation is used to display textual information positioned at the specified screen coordinates. Text is used to display textual information anchored at data XYZ coordinates.

This animation shows how text moves when the graphic is rotated.
Annotation remains stationary on the screen.

Voxler Axes

Add axes to a plot to display the XYZ coordinate ranges. Axes are color-coded to identify each direction. Change the plane of the axis labels the axis and rotate the labels around a point centered at each tick mark.

Display axes on a plot to show the X, Y, and Z ranges.
Change the axis colors and text angles to differentiate each direction.

Voxler Bounding Box

The bounding box is a part of a plot that shows the limits of the XYZ data ranges. It is a good way to show the ranges when the settings produce a graphic that does not cover the entire range, as for some isosurfaces. It also provides a good reference system to orient the graphic output.

The isosurface on the left is difficult to interpret without any reference points.
The same isosurface on the right makes a lot more sense 
with the addition of a bounding box.

Voxler 3D Gridding

Voxler can take scattered XYZC data (XYZ coordinates with a data value C) and produce a uniform 3D grid using Inverse Distance, and Local Polynomial gridding methods. It also can calculate a large number of Data Metrics within the specified search radii, including minimum, maximum, median, mean, quartiles, standard deviation, variance, count, density, and distance to nearest and farthest point.

Voxler takes XYZC data (black) and calculates a uniform 3D grid (purple)
to use for displaying isosurfaces, rendered volumes, and other graphics.
with the addition of a bounding box.

More Computational Operations with Voxler

Voxler provides a number of computational options including filters for eliminating duplicate data points, removing data points based on the X, Y, Z, or data values, calculating normal, distance-weighted, Gaussian averaging, data metrics, and image processing. Other computational modules calculate gradient, grid math with up to three 3D grid files, merge up to five 3D grid files, resample, subset, and transform operations.

Adding Light to a Scene with Voxler

Lighting options include ambient light, camera headlight, directional, point, and spot lights with settings for color, intensity and direction. Use the graphical Dragger tool to aim and position directional, point, and spot lights.

Use the Dragger tool (shown in the upper portion of the illustration)
to graphically position and angle a directional green light on the scene.

Printing with Voxler

Voxler features an improved print dialog with a print preview that is especially helpful when printing graphics that cover several pages. Don’t guess at how many pages a large plot will need! View the page requirements in the dialog preview. Print everything, or just the current view. Control image quality, add antialiasing to smooth a print out, and print the background color as needed.

Control your printed output with precision and ease. 
Preview the look of a large plot that spans several pages 
before you send the print job to the printer.

Voxler User Interface

Voxler implements a modern user interface with dockable and floating windows and toolbars. The Network window graphically displays the connections between data and output, and Properties window lists the settings specified for each module.

The Voxler user interface consists of windows and toolbars that are docked
to the edge of the Voxler application window, or detached and floating.

Voxler Network Window

The Voxler Network window graphically displays the modules (input data, computational, graphic output, info) and their connections. “LED” lights display green, yellow, or red to indicate the status of the module. Click on a module to select it and to display its settings in the Properties window.

The Network window presents a graphical display of 
the input data, computational, graphic output, and
info modules and the connections between the modules.

Voxler Properties Window

The Properties window lists the settings for the selected module with edit boxes, sliders, and buttons for changing the settings.

The Properties window displays a list of the settings
for the selected module. Edit boxes, sliders, and buttons
provide the methods for changing the settings.

Voxler Module Library

The Module Library shows a list of available modules and commands in an accessible format. The window is docked by default, and drag the title bar to float the window.

The Module Library lists the available modules. 
Double-click on a module to load it to the 
Network window.
 

Voxler Reposition Toolbars and Windows

Toolbars and windows are docked to the Voxler application window by default, or drag the title bar to a new location to float the windows in any position.

Detach the menu bar, toolbars, and windows to rearrange 
your workspace the way you want it.

Voxler's Import File Formats

Importing data into Voxler is easy. You can quickly import any of the following file types into Voxler, and start creating your 3D images.

10G	DEM	JPG	SLK
ADF	DIC	LAT	STDS
AGR	DICOM	LGO	STK
AIG	DLG	LGS	SUN
AM	DOS	MDB	TGA
AN1	DT0	MIF	TIF
AN2	DT1	P3D	TXT
ASC	DT2	PBM	VDAT
ASI	DXF	PCX	VTK
BIL	E00	PGM	WK1
BIN	ERS	PLT	WK2
BIP	FLD	PLY	WK3
BLN	FLT	PNG	WK4
BMP	GGF	PNM	WKS
BSQ	GIF	PPM	WR1
BW	GRD	RAS	WRK
COL	GSB	RAW	X
CPS	GSI	RGB	XIMG
CPS-3	GXF	RGBA	XLS
CSV	HDF	RST	XLSX
DAT	HDR	SEGY	XYZ
DBF	IMG	SGY	ZMAP
DCM	INFO	SHP	ZYC
DDF	IV	SID	ZYCOR

Voxler Export File Types

Exporting Images from Voxler 

Voxler supports all the major bitmap file formats for exporting images, including the following:
 

BMP	PBM	PNM	SUN
BW	PCX	PPM	TGA
EPS	PDF	RAS	TIF
GIF	PGM	RGB	X
IV	PNG	RGBA	XIMG
JPG

Exporting Saved Data from Voxler 

You can save and export the following data file types from Voxler for use in other programs:
  

ADF	BIP	FLT	RAW
AGR	BSQ	GGF	SLK
AIG	COL	GRD	TXT
AIG	CSV	GXF	VDAT
AM	DAT	HDF	VTK
ASC	DEM	IMG	XLS
BIL	ERS	LAT	XYZ
BIN	FLD	P3D

Voxler Automation

 
Create your own scripts to automate repetitive tasks. You do not need to spend time doing the same process over and over again – write a simple script to simplify your workflow. Operations performed interactively can be controlled using an automation-compatible programming language such as Visual Basic, C++, or Perl. Voxler 2 includes Scripter™, a built-in Visual Basic compatible programming environment that lets you write, edit, debug, and run scripts. Why do more work than you need when you have Voxler working for you?

Voxler 2 data folder includes many sample scripts to help you get started. Some of our most popular scripts are also available for download on our website.

 

Voxler Capture Video

Voxler 2 adds a video record procedure so you can save animation to an AVI file. You can make changes to your maps and images, and have them recorded in the AVI to share with other users. Video settings allow you to control the quality and file size of the output AVI file. 

The Voxler Capture Video command captures all rotations, zooms,
and property changes of the objects in your Viewer window.

 

Voxler System Requirements 
 

• Windows XP, Vista, or 7 operating system or higher
• 512 MB minimum RAM for simple data, 1 GB RAM recommended
• 100 MB of hard disk space
• Video card with 1024x768x16-bit color minimum resolution
• Video driver with openGL acceleration, highly recommended