Changing the dimensions of a 3D surface plot

[Conlisk]

Hi, I'm using LabVIEW to predict the shape of a microchannel created by laser ablation. For this I've generated a large surface array - representing the surface of the material - with the z-dimension giving depth information. The array is then output to a 3D surface plot.

What I would like to do is extend the y-dimension of the plot to allow me to see as much detail as possible. Can you change it from being a 'square' or 'cube' plot to one more elongated in a particular axis? My array at the moment is 100 x 1000 giving me a 100 um wide surface by 1000 um in length but both dimensions are plotted in the same space meaning I loose all detail in the channel's length.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated,

Kevin

[Ben]

Have you tried disabling auto-scale for the Y-Axis and setting the range yourself?

If that is not the solution please post a small demo WITH DATA that illustrates your challenge.

Ben

[Conlisk]

Hi Ben,

I've attached an output image from my array as an example. The image on the left (10 x 10 array of data) has the same scale for both the x and y axis and is exactly what I want. However, if I model a longer microchannel (10 x 1000 array of data) instead of the graph extending and keeping the same scale for both the x and y axis it compacts all the length information into the same space as the first image resulting in a loss of detail.

Ideally I'd like the graph to grow while keeping the same scale on both the x and y axis.

[elset191]

Resizing the control (In 8.6 at least) changes the dimensions...Is this what you mean?

[Conlisk]

I'm working with 8.2, if I resize the graph itself it just has the effect of distorting or enlarging the plot but has no effect on the axis dimensions. The 3D surface to me represents a 'cube' like plot, what I would like is a 'cuboid' shape longer in the y dimension. I hope my explaination makes sense.

I want the surface plot to accuratly represent the surface of the material I'm modeling. So I want every axis to have the same scale. At the moment you can see in the two pictures above that picture 1 (both axis have the same scale) and picture 2 (axes scales are different, one is 10 and the other 1000). I want the graph to expand in the y direction while keeping the same scale.

[Ben]

It still sounds like a scale issue. Please post demo code WITH DATA if you want us to poke at it, otherwise you are tying our hands in our attempt to help you.

Ben

[Conlisk]

I've uploaded some sample code. It's just an array generator attached to a surface plot. I've also tried to explain the problem again in the VI.

Thanks for taking time out to look at this, hopefully you will see some solution I didn't.

Kevin

[Ben]

If you dig into the sub-VI you are using, you will find that you are doing a simple surface where only the Z values are suplied.

Try using a Parameteric plot (you can specify (X,Y,Z,W) and set your axis ranges as required.

This thread is a tutorial  I wrote for the CW 3d graph and represents a "worse case" plot with many plot styles used. Here is a preview.

 

Have fun!

Ben

[Conlisk]

Thanks Ben, I'll get stuck into that cheers.

Kevin

[MOI_maker]

I'm having the same problem. (Or what I think is the same problem...)

I want the x and y axes on a 3D graph to have the same scale, but I can't just have a fixed scale, I want it to vary with the size of the data.

There is a control for whether to autoscale the axes, but I would like a control which sets the scale of an axis to a particlular value depending on some input data.

Not sure if it's possible...