4.3.1. Box operator

The Box operator, which is mostly intended for use with 3D datasets, removes areas of a plot that are either partially or completely outside of the volume defined by an axis-aligned box. The Box operator does not clip cells that straddle the box boundary, it just removes the cells from the visualization leaving jagged edges around the edges of the box where cells were removed.

Fig. 4.10 Box operator example (original on left, with Box operator applied on right)

4.3.1.1. Setting how cells are removed

The Box operator can either remove cells that are totally outside of the box or it can remove those cells outside of the box and cells that are only partially outside of the box. By default, the Box operator only removes cells that are completely outside of the box. To make the Box operator also remove cells that are partially outside of the box, you click the All radio button in the Box attributes window (shown in Figure 4.10). Selecting the Inverse option will return everything in the mesh except those cells bounded by the selected box.

Fig. 4.11 Box attributes window

4.3.1.2. Resizing the box

The Box operator uses an axis aligned box to remove cells from the visualization so the box can be specified as a set of minimum and maximum values for X, Y, and Z. To set the size of the box using the Box operator attributes window, you type new coordinates into the X Minimum, X Maximum, Y Minimum, Y Maximum, Z Minimum, or Z Maximum text fields.

The Box operator can also be resized interactively with VisIt’s Box tool (for more information, see the Interactive Tools chapter). If you want to use the Box tool to resize the Box operator’s box, first make sure to select the plot that uses the Box operator in the Plot list and then enable the Box tool. When the Box tool appears, it uses the same box as the Box operator. Moving or resizing the Box tool causes the Box operator to also move or be resized and the plots in the visualization window get regenerated with the new box.