Streamtraces

Choose the format for the next streamtrace from the drop-down. The options are as follows:

Choose the method for seeding the streamtraces. This will determine the options available in the central portion of the dialog.

Select the stream integration direction from the following options:

Enter the number of seed points here. When placing streamtraces using XYZ or IJK positions, this field is available only when creating a rake; the specified number of streamtraces will be created at equal intervals between the start and end points of the rake.

(Only for XYZ or IJK Positions) - Specify the position of the start point, or the range of the rake (series of streamtraces), in IJK or XYZ coordinates.

Click to seed the streamtrace or rake of streamtraces. Not available when using the streamtrace placement tool; click on the plot instead.

(Information only) - The number of streamtraces currently placed.

Select to delete the last streamtrace or rake placed.

Select to delete all streamtraces in the current plot.

Toggle-on to include streamtraces in your plot.

Select the color for all streamtraces in the Color Chooser. You may set the color to Multi-color to color the streamtraces by the chosen contour group variable in the same manner as color flooding. (If the contour variable is not currently defined, the Contour Variable dialog appears so that you can define it.) You can use the Multi-color option, for example, to color the streamtraces by the local temperature or by the velocity magnitude. You can also specify RGB coloring.

Enter a value, or choose a pre-set value for the streamline thickness (as a percentage of the frame height for 2D lines and as a percentage of the median axis length for 3D surface lines and volume lines), or choose a pre-set value from the drop-down menu.

Toggle-on Show Arrowheads on Lines to display arrowheads along all streamlines (surface and volume) in the active frame. Arrows are not shown on volume ribbons or volume rods. You can also control the following attributes of the displayed arrows:

Toggle-on to include streamtraces in your plot.

Enter a width for the volume ribbons and volume rods. The width is expressed in grid units. If you want two sets of streamtraces with different widths, you must create them individually by creating a set of streamtraces with a specific width, extracting the set as a zone, and then configuring a new set of streamtraces with the second width. See Streamtrace Extraction as Zones.

Volume rods have a polygonal cross-section; this parameter tells Tecplot 360 what that cross-section should be. (Three is an equilateral triangle, four is a square, five is a regular pentagon, and so on.) If you want two sets of volume rods with different cross-sections, you must create one set and then extract the set as a zone, then configure a new set of streamtraces with the second cross-section. See Streamtrace Extraction as Zones.

Toggle-on to display a mesh.

Toggle-on to display contour flooding.

Toggle-on to display shading.

Toggle-on to include stream markers. Stream markers are only available for streamlines (surface and volume). Specify the size, color, and shape of the markers in the fields provided. The default marker shape is a sphere (in 3D plots) or a circle (2D).

Toggle-on to include stream dashes. The lengths of the dashes and the spaces between the dashes are controlled by the value of Delta. Enter a value into the Dash Skip field to control the number of time deltas used for the "off" sections of the streamtraces.

Enter the time at which the first marker should be drawn. A start time of zero means that the first marker is drawn at the starting point. A start time of 2.5 means that the first stream marker is drawn 2.5 time units downstream of the starting point.

Enter the time after which no more stream markers are drawn.

Enter the time that a dash is guaranteed to start, provided the start and end time surround the dash.

Enter the time interval that measures the time between stream markers. The actual distance between markers is the product of this number and the local vector magnitude. Click Reset Delta to reset this to the default value.

Toggle-on to activate the termination line and terminate any streamtraces that cross it. Toggle-off this option and redraw the plot to view unterminated streamtraces.

Click to draw the termination line on the plot. This is the same as choosing the button on the toolbar. Click the individual points on the plot that make up the termination line, then double-click to end the line construction.

Toggle-on to display the termination line. Toggle-off this option and redraw the plot to display terminated streamlines (if the termination line is active), but not the termination line itself.

Enter the initial and maximum step size Tecplot 360 uses while integrating through the vector field as a decimal fraction of the local cell or element width. A typical value (and the default) is 0.25, which results in four integration steps through each cell or element. The value for Step Size affects the accuracy of the integration. Setting Step Size too small can result in round-off errors, while setting it too large can result in truncation errors and missed cells.

Enter the maximum number of steps before the streamtrace is terminated. This prevents streamtraces from spinning forever in a vortex, or from wandering into a region where the vector components are very small, very random, or both. If you choose a small Step Size, you should enter a larger Max Steps.

The smallest step size for Tecplot 360 to use. Setting this too small results in integration problems. Setting this greater than or equal to the Step Size results in a constant step size.

When active, streamtraces are generated for non-blanked regions only. When inactive, streamtraces are generated for both blanked and unblanked regions.