Reviewed by
(Issue 9 ? posted May 30, 1997; archived June 13, 1997)
Test Platform:
Pentium 120 MHz processor running Windows 3.1 (with Win32s) or Windows
95 with 16 Mb RAM.
Overview . Program Features . The Bottom Line . System Requirements . Purchasing Information
Tecplot 7.0 from Amtec Engineering is a powerful data visualization tool that easily handles large, complex data sets. Tecplot runs surprisingly fast in Windows 95 with the minimum recommended configuration, as well as in 16-bit Windows 3.11, where clunky performance is expected from 32-bit programs using Win32s extensions. Although it takes some time to adjust to Tecplot's handling of data and graphics, once mastered, it is easy to display data precisely the way one wants. Tecplot is the perfect software solution for research scientists presenting biological and medical imaging data that require powerful, versatile data visualization supported across Windows and Unix platforms.
Program Features
When Tecplot is first launched, the application window interface appears. This interface consists of the
workspace and frame, as well as a menu bar, status line, and a number of 
button toolbars.
These buttons are part of the Sidebar interface, which provides easy access to many of the
most frequently used plotting tools. They are used to create new frames,
rotate 3-D plots, add text or drawings to plots, and manipulate data values.
The Quick Edit dialog box can be displayed from a Sidebar button as well,
allowing changes to text, line, and fill colors; symbol attributes; and
other options such as line thickness and style.
All Tecplot graphics are handled within frames, which are sub-windows within
the main workspace. Although one can have up to 128 frames in a single
application window, only the "current" frame is affected by
changes made to data or plot attributes such as background color. Each
frame contains a single plot and the associated data used to create that
plot. When the attributes of plots or frames are modified, clicking on the
right mouse button will redraw the frame to update the display. A data set
is organized into zones, or blocks of data with defined variables. The simplest data set consists of a single
zone or set of x-y data.
Layout files and Stylesheets store plot information, making it easy to create plots with consistent features. Layout files store all of the frame information in the current workspace, including all data information for each frame. Stylesheets store attribute information about a single frame but do not retain information about the data used in it. To apply the style attributes stored in a particular Stylesheet, click on Paste Style from File from the Style menu.
Superb Technical Graphics
Tecplot offers precise graphics manipulation. Each frame's objects can be selected and edited. For example, one can select the plotted data by activating the Sidebar's Selector tool, then clicking on the plot. Once selected, field attributes can be modified by double-clicking on the plot or by selecting the appropriate choice from the Field menu. A dialog box then displays a number of tabs, making it easy to change Mesh, Contour, Vector, and Scatter attributes.
Most objects can be modified by simply pointing and clicking. Text, geometric shapes, plots, and even the 3-D Orientation object can be so modified, resized, or moved. The Edit Axis dialog box is opened by double-clicking on any plot axis or by selecting Edit from the Axis menu. Frame attributes can be changed through the Edit Current Frame window, which is displayed when double-clicking on a frame or clicking on the Object Details button in the Sidebar. Clicking on the Quick Edit button in the Sidebar opens a handy Quick Edit dialog box, enabling modification of many object attributes.
| Tecplot allows the creation of an amazing number of different plot types. In addition to simple x-y plots, it supports contour, surface, field, mesh and boundary, and vector and shade plots, as well as stream traces, which display vector field flow information in regions of a plot. When different plot types are combined in 2-D or 3-D plots, the visual exploration of complex data is only limited by imagination. (See snapshots of iso-surface, 3-D, and carpet plots, right). Publication-quality figures are easily created using these plot and frame features. Users can also copy a layout and paste it into their favorite word processor for printing. |
  
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Once plots are created, Tecplot provides the tools needed to explore data effectively. The Zoom tool can be activated from the Sidebar or from the View menu, making it easy to draw a box around the region of a plot for closer examination. Interactively rotate 3-D views to any angle by dragging the image with the mouse or by clicking on rotation buttons. One can easily rotate the plot around its x-, y-, or z-axis by activating the Sidebar's rotation tools, or by using the specialized Twist, Rollerball, or Spherical rotation tools. These same tools are available from the 3-D Rotate dialog box, which can in turn be displayed from the View menu. This approach allows incremental movement of the plot in defined angles and steps, making it easy to get precisely the view wanted. Visual exploratory analysis of complex data is implemented flawlessly in Tecplot, and is clearly the most impressive feature of this program.
Speed of Operation
Tecplot's impressive speed and ease of use encourages users to visualize their data in creative ways. Amazingly, Tecplot imported and plotted more than 30,000 data points in a few seconds. This was even more impressive considering that the plot included all of the data. The speed of redrawing such a plot is dramatically improved when choosing to draw only a data subset, which is very easily accomplished with just a few mouse clicks.
Handling Data
Tecplot is optimized to interactively visualize large, complex data sets.
If a plot is made of a million data points, it is not particularly helpful
to have a table of these data points. Users accustomed to tables of numbers
to peruse along with their plotted data will have to get used to Tecplot's
different approach. All Tecplot plots are associated with data sets that
are attached to a frame. This data can be interactively edited,
transformed, and manipulated via mathematical equations (see snapshot, right), but instead of going to a worksheet, users
must enable the Allow DataPoint Adjustment feature from the Edit menu and
click on the Selector tool in the Sidebar.
Importing data into Tecplot is an adventure. One chapter in the user's
manual is devoted to describing the file format required for successfully
importing ASCII data files. For x-y plots that use two columns of data, a
simple text file with two columns of numbers works well. For complex data
the requirements become much more confusing. A file header is necessary to
include information about zones, variables, and data types. In general,
Tecplot is not very forgiving when it comes to opening ASCII data files, and
can be a bit frustrating at such times.
Amtec Engineering has done an excellent job of providing information on writing data in Tecplot binary file format. They have included programming examples in Fortran and C as well as an adequate description of the utility functions available to link directly with applications to write binary files.
Tecplot's Macro Command Language is used to automate commands to create and manipulate plots. It supports nested loops, includes a built-in debugger, and even allows users to step through a macro from the Macro Viewer. Although the language is not very intuitive and will take quite a bit of time to learn, Tecplot includes a macro-recording feature that makes creating them a breeze. Simply select Record from the Macro option in the File menu and click through the plotting task. A Macro Recorder dialog box is displayed with several button tools to help make the macro more functional. After completing the task, simply click on the Stop Recording button of the Macro Recorder. Commonly used macros may be launched from the Quick Macro panel. When Tecplot is first opened, it looks for a specific configuration file - a Tecplot macro - that will associate favorite macros with buttons in the Quick Macro panel. Once loaded, these macros may be launched by clicking on a single button from this toolbar.
Internet Resources and Technical Support
Amtec Engineering offers excellent technical assistance by phone or e-mail. You can contact them by e-mail at support@amtec.com or by phone at (800) 676-7568. From their Web site Amtec offers a Tecplot FAQ and numerous technical notes on installation, printing, and programming. Amtec also sponsors a forum for discussing Tecplot. The mailing list tecplot-talk is designed for users to share tips, macros, or general solutions for problems encountered while using Tecplot. The Amtec Web site has information on subscribing to tecplot-talk.
Documentation and Technical Support
The user's and reference manuals for Tecplot are vital. Without consulting them, users will not fully appreciate Tecplot's flexibility and sophistication. The online help facility is extensive and provides much of the same information as the printed manuals. When these resources are combined with the extensive resources of Amtec's Web site, users will have ample opportunity to effectively learn the nuances of data visualization using Tecplot.
Is There a Down Side?Novice users may find Tecplot's flexibility somewhat confusing. Although easy to learn, there are a number of different ways to accomplish a single task. For example, one can move the plot within the frame by selecting the Translate Data tool from the Sidebar and dragging the plot to a new position, or by selecting the plot (with the Selector tool) and then clicking on the Translate/Magnify choice from the View menu. New users will also have to learn to deal with a few other minor quirks. Some tools automatically revert to the Selector tool after they are used (e.g., the data extractor tools) while some do not (e.g., text and drawing tools). It is easy to "lose" frames behind larger frames in the Tecplot applications window. In order to get to these frames, they had to be pushed back sequentially to find the right one. Finally, although Tecplot's plotting features are superior to every Windows program this reviewer has evaluated, data handling tasks (such as importing and manipulation) are anything but intuitive.
The Bottom LineTecplot 7.0 is a superior technical plotting program that enables users to creatively visualize large sets of complex data. There are many features that cannot be covered in a review. The ability to easily animate graphics, extract/probe data, export both graphics and data, and use 3-D lighting effects, to name a few, makes Tecplot an essential tool for the interactive visualization of data. A few quirks in data-handling features make it a bit more difficult to use, and may not be convenient enough for users who require very simple plots. But for users who wish to visualize and explore their complex data interactively, there are few alternatives that will offer the combination of power, versatility, and ease of use of Tecplot 7.0.
System RequirementsSystem requirements are Windows 3.1x, 95, or NT (3.5 or higher), with a minimum of 8 Mb RAM required (16 Mb recommended) for Windows 3.1x and 95, and 16 Mb RAM required (32 Mb recommended) for NT. One will need between 8 and 50 Mb of hard drive space, depending on the installation options selected, as well as a CD-ROM drive for installation.
Purchasing InformationTecplot 7.0 for Windows is available from Amtec Engineering, Inc., for $1,194. Contact Amtec for more information on Unix workstations as well as the pricing of network versions. Amtec Engineering can be contacted by e-mail at sales@amtec.com or support@amtec.com, by phone at (419) 289-9207, and by fax at (425) 827-3989. Finally, a demo version of Tecplot for Windows can be downloaded from the Amtec Engineering Web page.
Dylan Bulseco is Research Associate at the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research.
