plotmtv is a fast and convenient X11 program for visualization of scientific data. The program reads in data in the MTVDAT format and plots each dataset in the data-file in turn. Each plot comes with a simple but functional Graphical User Interface (GUI), which allows users to zoom in or pan to areas of interest on the plot, or to toggle between 2D and 3D plots. The plots may then be sent directly to a grayscale or color PostScript printer for hard-copy output.
plotmtv's capabilities include 2D line and scatter plots (x-vs-y), contour plots, 3D surface, line and scatter plots as well as vector plots. The program has been extended recently to include probability plots, barcharts and histograms. See the MTV Plot Data Format for details on the data-formats used to specify data for the above-mentioned plot-types.
The Graphical User Interface for plotmtv is quite limited, consisting of several toggle buttons for setting commonly used plot options, and an interactive zoom and pan capability via the mouse. The GUI also allows toggling between 2D and 3D plots, rotating 3D plots, and some (limited) customization of the resultant plots. Through the GUI, one can also print the plot using the "Print" button, or save the Postscript plot to a file using the "Print to File" button.
If more than one data-file or data-set is specified, a small "page" widget will appear in the lower left corner of the plotmtv plot window. The "page" widget allows one to page between different plots, using the same window, by clicking on the Up or Down buttons.
The X11 plot in plotmtv can also be controlled from the keyboard, i.e., by pressing specific keys on the keyboard while the mouse is within the X11 plot window. Pressing on "n" (next) and "p" (previous) pages between different plots, while pressing the "q" key is a fast way of exiting the program. For the 3D plot, the viewing vector can be changed using the "h", "j", "k", "l" and "o" keys on the keyboard; the plot on the screen can be rotated sideways using the "h" or "l" keys, rotated up or down using the "j" and "k" keys, and drawn with the original viewing vector using "o". The "a", "s", "d" and "f" keys will produce 90° rotations. "z" will plot the image projected on the x-y plane (z=constant), "y" will plot the image projected on the x-z plane (y=constant), and "x" will plot the image projected on the y-z plane (x=constant).
Key Action p page to the previous plot n page to the next plot q end program h rotate right 10° (3D plot only) j rotate down 10° (3D plot only) k rotate up 10° (3D plot only) l rotate left 10° (3D plot only) a rotate right 90° (3D plot only) s rotate down 90° (3D plot only) d rotate up 90° (3D plot only) f rotate left 90° (3D plot only) o return to original view (3D plot only) z project on x-y plane (3D plot only) x project on y-z plane (3D plot only) y project on x-z plane (3D plot only)
plotmtv uses the MTVDAT data format, which is too long to describe in this document. The data format is described fully in The MTV Plot Data Format document.
PRINTER printer
name for hardcopy (e.g., "hpps")
MTV_PRINTER_CMD name of the UNIX print command (e.g., "lpr -h")
MTV_PSCOLOR for color PostScript (e.g., "ON")
MTV_WRB_COLORMAP uses a different color map for contours (e.g., "ON")
MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONT is used to turn off the ISOLATIN PostScript Plot (e.g.,
"OFF")
MTV_PSFONT1 specifies the size of the top-label PostScript font (e.g. "25")
MTV_PSFONT2 specifies the size of the axis-label PostScript font (e.g. "20")
MTV_PSFONT3 specifies the size of the axis-ticks PostScript font (e.g. "15")
MTV_PSFONT4 specifies the size of the side-label PostScript font (e.g. "12")
MTV_PSFONT5 specifies the size of the annotations PostScript font (e.g. "12")
MTV_PSFONT6 specifies the size of the date-stamp PostScript font (e.g. "10")
MTV_PSFONT7 specifies the size of the contour-label PostScript font (e.g. "8")
plotmtv is based on the DRAWPLOT , CONTOUR and PDRAW programs from U.C. Berkeley (yes, I'm responsible for those too!). plotmtv essentially combines all the capabilities of the three packages into one single package.
The GUI is very limited. The 3D viewing stuff is quite limited too; hidden-surface removal is implemented as a simple painter's algorithm, so large 3D polygons don't get plotted (with hidden-surfaces) correctly. Also there are no perspective plots yet (and probably never will be)...
plotmtv uses some level 2 PostScript commands. This sometimes causes plots to disappear if plotted on older PostScript-level-1 printers. If this happens, try setting the environment variable "MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONT" to False, i.e. "% setenv MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONT False".