Introduction

Tecplot Chorus works best when all of the image and data files related to a study are organized into folders inside a single hierarchy, with all of the files related to a single case in the same folder. Tecplot Chorus will import your data in one of the following ways:

Each external file image or data file is identified by a tag, rather than by file name, within Tecplot Chorus. This way, images or data files that have the same sort of content, but whose filenames vary, can be brought together under a single identifier—the tag—in your project. When comparing images or data files, only files having the same tag may be compared.

For example, you might tag files as Data, Image and/or Layout if you have only one of each kind of file. If you have multiple images, you could tag them Pressure Contour, Streaklines, and so on, according to what they show. The tagging scheme you use is entirely up to you.

Tags cannot be changed once they have been added to a project, although they can be removed and re-added. A few moments' consideration when linking image and data files can make things go more smoothly, especially when you will be working with others on analyzing your results.

It is not required that every case in a project have an associated file for each tag. For example, if you only have contour images for some of your cases, you could still assign these images a tag called "Contour Image" without error. The tag would merely be unavailable for cases that do not have an associated contour image.

For some kinds of data, it is possible to associate more than one file with a tag, and in some cases it is required. The following types of files are limited to one file having a given tag per case:

Some non-Tecplot data formats, such as Fluent and PLOT3D, use two physical files per data set, one for the coordinates and one for the rest of the variables. In this case, you must give both files the same tag when adding them to the project so that Tecplot Chorus will know they should be opened together when you view the case’s data.

When you append new data to a project, you may not use a tag that already exists in the project if any of the cases with which you associate new files already have any files with that tag.

Although only one image file per case may be associated with a tag, you may create a tag group to collect related images together. Tag groups provide an easy way of viewing related images in some Tecplot Chorus windows and also allow you to specify the order in which images in the group appear in those views.

The Tecplot Chorus menu bar appears at the top of the workspace and is divided into five broad classes of functionality.

We recommend taking a few moments the first time you use Tecplot Chorus to familiarize yourself with the menus.

The Tecplot Chorus tool bar, positioned by default just below the menu bar, provides single-click access to commonly-used features and views. From left to right, the buttons are divided into three categories.

The Tecplot Chorus sidebar has two panels. These panels may be dragged from the Tecplot Chorus main window to make them independent windows that may then be positioned anywhere on your computer’s displays. They may also be docked to any edge of the main Tecplot Chorus window in a manner much like the Toolbar. Although they may be docked to the top and bottom edges, the left and right edges are more useful places for them.

If you attempt to dock both sidebar panels in the same location, Tecplot Chorus will display only one at a time, and you can switch between them using tabs at the bottom of the sidebar area.

The panels can also share space (drag one on top of the other, but toward the top or bottom end), in which case you can drag the divider between them to determine the allocation of space between the two panels.

The available sidebar panels are:

The Tecplot Chorus workspace displays the views of the current project, including tables, matrixes, and plots. From these windows, you can open additional windows, for example to view or compare images from a case. These also appear in the workspace. Views of data files appear separately in Tecplot 360.

Windows can be resized by dragging from the edges. The window’s title bar also includes the usual buttons for closing, minimizing, and maximizing the window. (If a window is maximized, these buttons are above the right edge of the toolbar.)

Any window may be freed from the workspace by dragging it out of the main Tecplot Chorus window. At this point, it may be moved to another monitor, maximized to fill the screen, and so on. These windows automatically appear in front of the main Tecplot Chorus window. Closing the emancipated window will return it to the Tecplot Chorus workspace.

The Tecplot Chorus status line displays the name of the currently open project, along with progress information for any background jobs currently in progress. The status bar appears when a project is active. (It is not initially visible when you launch Tecplot Chorus.)

At the right end of the status bar is information on any background extraction jobs being performed by Tecplot Chorus. Click Manage Jobs to see the status of individual jobs or to cancel a job (see Creating Images). This button is not available when there are no active background jobs or when no project is open. A green circle in the Manage Jobs button indicates that a background task has recently completed and is ready for your attention.

In Tecplot Chorus, a session refers to the current state of the software, including the current project, tag groups you have defined, any open plots or views, and all surrogate model settings. Image difference windows, however, are not part of the session.

Sessions are useful for two different scenarios:

You may save your session to a .chses file by choosing File → Save Session or by clicking the button on the toolbar. When later opened using File → Open Session or the button, Tecplot Chorus is restored to its state at the time the session file was saved.