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Render Module Properties Panel: General Properties Panel: General ​ The initial panel contains the General properties of the 3-D volume that is going to be generated and the type of rendering algorithm that is going to be employed. ​ Resolution: The number of volume elements (voxels) that the computing domain is to have in each direction. The total number will the N^3. Note that the rendering time required therefore increases very quickly with this number and your system may run out of memory. Make sure Shape is run with sufficient memory allocated for the process at startup. Scene size: The width of the computing domain in terms of physical units, which by default is meters (m). This number corresponds to half the voxel size assigned to the Resolution parameter above. The physical domain runs from -(scene size):+(scene size). Scene center: The center of the cubic computational domain may be shifted in the physical scene that might be larger than the rendering domain. Setting a smaller domain with a shifted center may be useful for testing purposes or for achieving higher resolution outputs for certain regions. Renderer: Choose the type of renderer from this drop-down list: either the High-Definition (HD) render (default) or the Standard renderer (SD). The HD renderer does not use a predefined cubic voxel grid and works similar to a ray-tracing engine that integrates to the pixel plane. If there are computations that depend on light sources, such as dust scattering, it is computed along the way. This may require more time, but is much less memory intensive. Therefore higher resolutions can be achieved. Fast renders, e.g. for camera animation movies, is not possible, however, since the some information is not stored for quick rendering from the precomputed voxel grid. Grid: When the HD render mode is switched on and scattering or photo-ionization processes are to be calculated, you can activate the Grid flag to use a grid for the scattering and ionization calculations. This speeds up the computation, but may be less accurate and uses more memory, which may limit the resolution on systems with insufficient RAM. For the most accurate calculation make the grid the same size as the Resolution parameter. Smaller sizes are best set smaller by factors of 2. They speed up the computation, but are less accurate. Grid Size: When the Grid flag for the HD renderer is set, then you can choose the size of the grid with this parameter. Make sure it is not larger than the Resolution parameters. Step Size: The ray casting and ray tracing step size in units of the cell size of the domain. Setting it smaller than 1 can in some cases yield somewhat better accuracy. It does, however, take more computing time. Jitter: As an anti-aliasing method you can randomly displace the rays from the center of the image pixels. This is in units of the pixels size. # samples: The number of samples, i.e. rays to be cast, for each pixels. The position of the rays in a pixels are random. This may be used to increase accuracy slightly or as a measure to reduce aliasing. Auto render: If the HD is off or the Save grid flag is on, then data of the full grid have been saved and can be used to quickly render the scene for different camera views and animations. When you change the parameters of the camera the rendering updates automatically. The effect is not "real time" and may take a few seconds, depending on the resolution. Use window: For quick render in HD mode that require only a small portion of the image to be rendered, you can set a window using the Window Button above the image. Click on the icon with the square and then drag out a rectangle with the left mouse-button pressed. If the Use window flag is on, only this region will be rendered. This reduces the rendering times during model development when it is sufficient to see only part of the model. Overlay: Occasionally it is convenient to retain the previous image or images and add progressive images together. This is useful for diagnostics or simply as a nice "special effect.

Overview ​ For many astronomical objects spatially resolved observations of the velocity structure are a key constraint to find their 3-D structure. Therefore it is essential to have a way to model the velocity structure of an objects in Shape. This is provided in the form of a Velocity Modifier that can be assigned to any geometric object . ​ Since velocity is a vector , the velocity modifier is probably the most complex modifier and, in some aspects, conceptually different from scalar modifiers such as the density modifier. ​ The main control panel of the velocity modifier is similar to other modifiers exposing the f0 scaling factor that is also incorporated in the Magnitude graph. ​ The main difference to other modifiers lies in this Magnitude graph , which we are going to discuss in some detail. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Similar to other modifiers there is the set of graphs on the right and the options on the left. We will therefore focus on the drop-down lists on the left side for the General options, the types of Vector Field and the Dependencies. ​ General: The general options are again similar to other modifiers where you can choose as modes Custom and Analytic, as well as the type of coordinate system (Cartesian, Spherical, Cylindrical). Here you can also set the f0 scalar factor that multiplies the final vector. f0 is also exposed at the higher level main panel for the velocity modifier. ​ Vector Field: This is one of the two key differences compared to other, scaler modifiers. This drop-down list allows you to choose from a variety of predetermined vector fields , including Radial, Disk Rotation, Elliptical, Collimated, Random, Custom, and Path . ​ The practical importance of these options is that all except the Custom field preset the direction of the velocity vectors in space. For these one only needs to set the magnitude as a function of position using the graphs on the right. For these fields the graphs on the right work the same as in other modifiers yielding the scalar magnitude of the velocity vector . Except for the case of the Custom field the coordinate tabs do not represent the velocity components! The Custom field is described below. ​ There is however an important difference. By default it is the same function, separable in their coordinate directions, as for other modifiers. In the velocity modifier it is, however, possible to choose on which spatial variable (u,v,w) each of the vector components (vu, vv, vw) depend on. Here (u,v,w) corresponds to the coordinates in the different types of coordinate systems. In Cartesian coordinates, for instance, the vx component may be defined as a function of the y-coordinate. It is important to note, however, that the actual variable in the analytic expression always x. What changes is its meaning according to the options that have been chosen. This allows to set up quite complex velocity fields. Additional complexity can be obtained by adding several velocity modifiers in the modifier stack. ​ Radial Type Velocity Field: The Radial Field sets all the velocity vectors to point away from the local coordinate system of the velocity modifier. lf the magnitude is negative, the vector points towards the coordinate origin. A typical use case for this vector field are expanding nebulae such as supernovae and planetary nebulas. ​ Disk Rotation Type Velocity Field: The Disk Rotation Field sets all the velocity vectors in the direction perpendicular to the cylindrical radial and the z-direction from the local coordinate origin of the velocity modifier. This velocity field is suitable for rotating disks such as spiral galaxies or accretion disks. ​ Collimated Type Velocity Field: The Collimated Field is an easy way to set up a jet-like outflow with an opening angle as a parameter, which by default is zero. ​ Custom Type Velocity Field: The Custom Field is fundamentally different to the others in that each of the graph tabs on the right actually represents the corresponding vector component instead of just a factor to the magnitude. Hence, the total magnitude and direction of the vector is given by the vector addition of these components. ​ An important tool help with the velocity field modeling is the Field modifier , which allows one to visualize the vectors in the 3-D views of the 3-D Module. ​ Modifiers: Velocity

Animation Module Overview Most parameters in Shape can be animated over time. This can be used to generate time variation of the models either for scientific modeling of time varying phenomena or for visualization purposes. A simple example application is the simulation of the lightcurve of an exoplanet or of eclipsing binary stars. ​ An application that aims more at purely visualization could be rotating the virtual camera around an object go generate a movie that shows the structure as seen from many points of view. ​ Since animation implies the generation of a large number of individual images that can be joined together in the Movie Module, care needs to be taken in preparation in order for the rendering process to not take an unacceptably large amount of time. The key question is which type of rendering do you need : Camera motion: If you animation will consist of camera motion only and the spatial resolution that you need is small enough to allow you to use the grid renderer, then you can save a lot of time. In this case the steps before the final ray casting to determine the image pixel values can then be precalculated and saved. Then they do not need to be repeated for every frame. ​ Another option to get a camera animation is to use the interactive iluvia software from ilumbra.com . Using the Export Module in Shape you can quickly output your model in a format suitable for iluvia and inspect your model interactively or very quickly set up and capture animations. Varying model parameters: If parameters of the model itself need to be changed over time, then the precomputed grid changes and a full render is needed for every frame. For complex models and high resolutions, this may take a lot of time to compute, depending on your computing equipment. ​ Once you decided which type of animation and spatial resolution you need, you can time the rendering and estimate the total time it will take to render the necessary number of frames. For each rendering, come basic stats are output in the Info Module that include the time it took to render. This information can be used to estimate the total time necessary to render out the full animation.​ ​ General workflow: ​ 1. Set up the timing and output parameters in the Parameters Panel on the right. 2. Select variables to be animated from the Parameter Tree. They appear in the Animation Parameter Stack. 3. Select each animated parameter in the Animation Parameter Stack and set up its animation graph as a function of time 4. Render the animation Animation Module UI: The Animation Module is divided into five main sections. A control bar is at the top and the parameter tree and the animation parameter stack are on the left. In the middle you find the animation graph for the animated parameters. At the bottom is the time line . Finally, the General and Output parameters are in the panels on the right. Control Bar: Animate: Starts the rendering of an animation. After each rendered image it advances one frame and renders again. ​ Refresh: Updates the Parameter Tree after new renderable parameters have been added somewhere in Shape. This does not happen automatically, so make sure to click on this button to see any new parameters. Up & Down: In the Animation Parameter Stack move selected parameters up or down. This has no effect on the result but is helpful to keep order in the stack when a large number of parameters is animated. ​ Remove: Removes selected parameters from the Animation Parameter Stack. ​ Copy & Paste: Copy the animation graph from a selected animation variable in the Animation Variable Stack and paste it to another that you select after copying the previously selected graph. Parameter Tree: The parameter tree is a hierarchical list of all animatable parameters. The parameters may be from the UI, general project parameters or from particular objects. Additionally global parameters that have been defined in the Math module will also show at the bottom of the parameter tree. To select a parameter for animation, open the parent branches in which it is located. Once the parameter appears, double click on the tick box to the left of the parameter name. When the tick mark is on, the parameter appears in the Animated Parameter Stack, where the time variation of the parameter is set up (see below). Note that newly created parameters or objects do not automatically show in the parameter tree. To have them appear click on the Refresh button in the menu bar at the top of the Animation Module. Animated Parameter Stack: The Animated Parameter Stack is the list of parameters that are selected from the Parameter Tree to be changed, i.e. animated over time. ​ The first column shows the Parent branch in the Parameter Tree, the second is the name of the parameter. The third column contains the value of the parameter at the current time of the animation time line. ​ To select a parameter click on the row for that parameter. Automatically its animation graph will be shown. Animation Graph (not shown): In the Animation Graph you set up how the parameter selected in the Animation Parameter Stack changes over time. Note that in this graph the x axis is in units of time as defined in the Parameter Panel on the right (see below), whereas the Time Line at the bottom is in terms of the frame number. ​ The graph is not shown here . It work the same way as other graphs in Shape. For more information on how to set up a graph see the manual page on Graphs . Parameter Panel (right side) ​ General: Timing and frame numbers are set up in this tab. Name: The base name of for the output frames of the animation Start Frame: The frame number at which to beginn the animation. It may be necessary to start from a position different from 0 or 1 when an animation was interrupted or if several will be concatenated. ​ # Frames: The total number of frames for the duration of the animation from the Start Time to the End Time . ​ Start Time & End Time: in terms of time units (see below) when is the animation meant to start and end. ​ Time Units: Select the desired time unit from the drop-down list. The default is Years. Make sure the unit in the Variable tab is the same or consistent with the needs for this model. The animated variable that is selected and displayed in the graph uses the units from the Variable tab . Occasionally these units need to be different from each other. ​ Fields: Include the calculation of field lines, magnetic or velocity. ​ Distribute: Recompute the distribution of particles for each frame. ​ Render: Do a full render at each time step. Camera animation with "Autorender" on in the Render Module does not require this, since the model grid does not change and is calculated either before the animation is started or with the first frame. After that autorender is used if the Render flag in the Animation Module is off. Variable Some control parameters for the animated paramater that is currently selected in the Animated Parameters Stack . ​ Time Units: The time units to be used for this variable. Make sure it is the same as the Time Unit in the General tab or you are certain of the animation graph in this context of a different general time unit. Enabled: Enable the animation of this variable. If for some reason you disabled this variable, then later you might wonder why it doesn´t change in an animation. It may well be that you forgot that you disabled it. So, if something in your animation doesn´t change as expected, make sure all the variables that you need change are actually enabled for animation. ​ Stamp: The total number of frames for the duration of the animation from the Start Time to the End Time . ​ Stamp Format: The number format for the numerical stamp. ​ ​ Output: Here you define the output format and what you wish to output and where on disk it is to be placed. ​ Directory: Set the output directory for the individual animation frames. Note that the name of the files is set in the General Tab. Image Type: Specify the image type by writing the standard extension for the image. For instance, if you wish to output PNG format images, then write ".png". ​ 3D Mesh: Output and image of the 3D Mesh. Note that it is not the mesh itself that is output, but rather an image of the view in the 3-D Module. ​ Hydro: Output the full data from the hydrodynamics module at each time step. Note that, depending on the resolution, this might lead to a large amount of data to be output. ​ Plots (Images): Output images of any graphs that the animation might generate in the Graph Module. You can adjust the image resolution for these outputs. ​ Plots (Ascii): Output the ASCII values of any graphs that the animation might generate in the Graph Module. ​ Math Variable: Output any math variables that change over time during the animation. ​ Stereo: Output stereo images. ​ dStereo (deg): The parallax anglee. This is the difference between the horizontal camera angles for the two stereo images. ​ ​

The Stretch Modifier changes the mesh vertices along a chosen axis (default: local z-axis) as a function of distance from the axis. There are two different Modes: Scale and Absolute . When you switch on Absolute, the values in the Magnitude graph are the distance from the axis in units of the current project instead of a scaling factor based on the original shape of the mesh. The Magnitude dialog allows you to define the stretch amount as an Analytic Function of position along the reference axis. You can also use a Point graph where you can generate an arbitrary function by manually placing points and setting the spline interpolation. To do this, select Point from the Function drop-down list under the graph. The example graph on the lower right shows the way it was done for the example mesh displayed below. It scales a spherical primitive mesh to a disk with a hump around a certain distance. This modifier is ideal to set up a disk with a complex structure. Modifiers: Stretch

Export Module Overview ​ The Export Module exports the 3-D model into various output formats that can then be used as data for external use. It was mainly designed to prepare models for export to the iluvia software for external interactive visualization. ​ The Export Module uses data from an intermediate output of Shape that contains all the radiation information within a cubic grid with uniform voxels. The name and disk folder in which this intermediate file is located are set in the Output tab of the Render Module . Exporting Shape models into new formats for external visualization may be a challenge. This is due to the fact that in Shape you may can use a variety of physical radiation effects, some of which can not be directly mapped to the simpler treatment of emission and opacity in interactive graphics software that rely on ARGB color coding or similar. General Workflow: In the Output tab of the Render Module, make sure there is a valid filename and path provided. The output will be with the extension .ilv . This file is loaded into the Export Module. Then a previsualization is generated by adjusting the parameters on the left and right side of the preview image in the middle. The parameters on the left adjust the behavior on the level of the voxels of the input grid. Those on the left adjust the visualization on the image plane after the preview rendering. The preview attempts to recreate the view of a GPU rendering by simulating a similar shader. It also allows you relatively quick interactive inspection. For low resolution you can interactive rotate the object for inspection. Parameter Panels: Volume: The parameters on the left side of the preview control the values of voxel data cube before it is previewed and converted to a different data format. Note that scaling and clamping these values in the presence of opacity maybe result in non-linear behavior that sometimes is not intuitiv. In combination with the parameters on the output side (Preview parameters), it may require some trial and error to obtain the expected result. ​ Filename: Select the .ilv input file to be used for exporting to an external file format. Click on the icon on to the right of the text box to open the file system dialog and choose a file from disk. ​ Reload: If the content of the input file has been updated and the filename remains the same, use the Reload Button to load the new content. Size: Shows the width of the cube by the number of voxels along one side. ​ Downsample: If the original .ilv file is too large, it can be downsampled x2 in terms of side length by clicking on this button. ​ Intensity range: The range of voxel intensities. ​ Histogram: The histogram of the voxel intensity values opens when this button is clicked. ​ Opacity range: The range of opacity values is shown. ​ Histogram: Shows the histogram of the voxel opacity values when this button is clicked. ​ Intensity scale: Scale all voxel intensities by this factor. ​ Opacity scale: Scale all voxel opacity values by this factor. Max Intensity: Set the value of the maximum intensity. All higher values of voxel intensity are clamped to this value. If the default value of -1 is set, then the maximum value of all voxels is automatically used. ​ Max Opacity: Set the value of the maximum opacity. All higher values of voxel opacity are clamped to this value. If the default value of -1 is set, then the maximum value of all voxels is automatically used.} ​ Show stars: This flag switches on any stars that might be saved in a file that has the same base name as the .ilv file. ​ Show volume: Shows the volume save in the .ilv file. ​ Show cube: Show a line cube that delineates the space domain of the .ilv file. ​ Preview: The Preview parameters to the right side of the preview image window control the preview in the output format. It allows you relatively quick interactive inspection. For low resolution you can interactive rotate the object for inspection. Image size: The preview image resolution in pixels. Lower resolution allows for a faster and more interactive preview. ​ I factor: Intensity factor to be applied to the preview at the image level. Star factor: A scaling factor for the brightness of the stars. ​ A factor: A scaling factor for the opacity. ​ Camera: ​ X, Y, Z rot: The rotation angles of the preview camera around the cartesian coordinate axes (in degrees). ​ X, Y, Z pos: The shifted position of the preview camera around the cartesian coordinate axes in units of the width of the domain (0-1). ​ Zoom: Camera distance from the center in units of the width of the domain. ​ Reset Camera: Set the camera values back to the defaults. ​ Statistics: Shows the Maximum value of the preview image. It is convenient to adjust this to values near 1. Export: Format: Various output formats can be chosen. Most importantly, the DDS format is a standard format that encapsulates slices of the data cube in ABGR image format, that can then be imported in external volume visualization software. This is also the format for the iluvia software that is developed by ilumbra.com where you can fully interactively view your models. The Volume option, is a .ilv file with properties that correspond to the transformation that the Export Module made to the original. ​ The PNG option outputs a sequence of slices of the volume in standard PNG image format including absorption. The slices are in the XY plane and change along the Z-axis of the World Coordinate System. ​ Directory: Select the directory on disk where to output the exported file. Omit empty: When selected, the slices where the emission and opacity are both zero will be omitted from the output. This may save data and may reduce the load on the visualization system that will process the output data. ​ Crop: . When activated, the output will be cropped to a size of Crop size. This is useful for models in which for some reason the domain is significantly larger than the content. ​ Export: Start the export process. ​ ​

Math Module Overview The ​Math module is a tool to centralize parameter values that are used in more than one place in Shape. In a way similar to a spreadsheet it allows to compute variables from other variables that have already been defined further up. This makes it possible to set up a complex mathematical model of physical processes that can then be harnessed throughout the rest of Shape. Global Variables: Since the variables defined in the Math Module can be used throughout Shape, they are called Global Variables. Whenever you wish to use variables from the Math Module in other modules, make sure to enable the flag "Use global variables" where applicable. Workflow ​ The basic workflow consists first in adding new slots for new variables in the order of dependency, if any. Then provide a meaningful name for and defining their relationships and values. They can then be used in a variety of contexts throughout Shape. ​ Variable Names: While Shape automatically assigns a letter as a name for new variables, it is very highly recommended to change them with meaningful and descriptive names, such that they can easily be understood wherever they might appear in Shape. The name can be changed by double-clicking on the name field of the variable. Column Functionalities ​ Variable: This column contains the name of the global variables. In order to use a variable in some other module of Shape, the name needs to match. Upper and lower case letters are not distinguished. When a new variable is added, it receives a default name in alphabetical order. Change the variable names to something descriptive of the meaning of its content. Expression: Variables get assign a value through a mathematical expression in this column. In most cases this will simply be a value. A value can be given in integer or floating point format as well as scientific format such as 1.09435e-7 for numbers that are much smaller than 1, or 3.2E15 those that are much larger than 1. In addition to numbers the field can contain more complex mathematical expression, including those combining one or more global variables that are further up in list. To avoid recursive dependencies, variables further down can not be included. Valid mathematical expression may include the basic symbolic operators +-*/ and ^, but also common textual operators which include the following reserved functions and variable names: POWER, SIN, COS, TAN, COT, RAND, CSC, ARCSIN, ARCCOS, ARCTAN, EXP, LN, LOG10, LOG2, ABS, SQRT, ROUND, ARCTANH, UNARYMINUS, LT, GT, and the irrational numbers "e" and "pi"; ​ As mentioned above, these functions can also be written with lower-case letters. Menu bar ​ The buttons on the top menu bar of the Math Module control the overall content of the Math Module. ​ Calculate : The Calculate button executes all calculations that may in standby, e.g. for iterative computations. Direct calculations of variables that depend on variables further up are executed on confirming the variable name with the Enter key. Variable : The Variable button adds a new variable to the end of the list. The variables sequentially get names of single letters in alphabetical order. As mentioned above, it is recommended to change these names to something descriptive of its meaning. The variable name is changed by double-clicking on the text field. Separator : Separators are used to keep different sections of the list of variables clearly distinct. They can also function as headings if you add some descriptive text to their text fields. The separators are colored in dark blue. Constants : This button adds a set of variables that contain the most important natural constants in SI units. If you only need a subset of them, simply select the unwanted ones and delete them with the Remove button. Remove : To remove variables from the Math Module, select them and click the Remove button. You can select several variable together with Shift-Click and remove them in one operation. A confirmation dialog helps to make sure that you do not delete variables by accident.. Up & Down : To move a variable in position in the list, select the variable and click on the Up or Down button to move it by one position. Repeat the operation until the variable is in the desired position. Defaults : Use these buttons to restore the default values that variables may have in the Default field. Note that this button restores the defaults of ALL variables at once . Individual or a subset of defaults have to be reset manually. Save & Load : In order to keep sets of variable interchangeable between different projects that have similar setups, one can save the content of the Math Module in a file with the Save button. To open a saved set of variables use the Load button.

Render Module Properties Panel: Camera Properties Panel: Camera ​ The Camera parameters include various rotation angles in different coordinate systems. The are either observer oriented, such as position angle (PA) or inclination. Or, they are rotations around the Cartesian world coordinate axes. ​ One can change from Orthogonal camera projection (on by default) to perspective camera. Furthermore various filters or "modifiers" can be applied to the data prior to the final render or after the render. These modifiers are discussed in more details below. Scene size: The width of the computing domain in terms of physical units, which by default is meters (m). This number corresponds to half the voxel size assigned to the Resolution parameter above. The physical domain runs from -(scene size):+(scene size). Scene center: The center of the cubic computational domain may be shifted in the physical scene that might be larger than the rendering domain. Setting a smaller domain with a shifted center may be useful for testing purposes or for achieving higher resolution outputs for certain regions. HD: The high-definition (HD) render is activated with this flag. It does not use a predefined cubic voxel grid and works similar to a ray-tracing engine that integrates to the pixel plane. If there are computations that depend on light sources, such as dust scattering, it is computed along the way. This may require more time, but is much less memory intensive. Therefore higher resolutions can be achieved. Fast renders, e.g. for camera animation movies, is not possible, however, since the some information is not stored for quick rendering from the precomputed voxel grid. Scatter Grid Size: When the HD render mode is switched on and scattering or photo-ionization processes are to be calculated, a sub-grid needs to be set that comfortably fits into RAM, but is as large as practical to avoid potential artifacts at grid limits. Recommendable is about half of the size that you can fit, if HD is off. Save grid: The grid data used for the final render step are retained in memory. This allows the Autorender (see below) to work. It requires more memory though and hence limit the achievable resolution smaller than with this option off. So, if you are doing quick tests or plan on rendering camera animations, then this option is convenient to be on. Auto render: If the HD is off or the Save grid flag is on, then data of the full grid have been saved and can be used to quickly render the scene for different camera views and animations. When you change the parameters of the camera the rendering updates automatically. The effect is not "real time" and may take a few seconds, depending on the resolution. Use window: For quick render in HD mode that require only a small portion of the image to be rendered, you can set a window using the Window Button above the image. Click on the icon with the square and then drag out a rectangle with the left mouse-button pressed. If the Use window flag is on, only this region will be rendered. This reduces the rendering times during model development when it is sufficient to see only part of the model. Overlay: Occasionally it is convenient to retain the previous image or images and add progressive images together. This is useful for diagnostics or simply as a nice "special effect.

To see this working, head to your live site. Categories All Posts My Posts Login / Sign up Shape Exchange Forum Get in touch with the Shape user community. Ask questions or reply to those of others. Show your science or fun results. Create New Post General Questions Ask about the science that can be done with Shape. Need help with the modeling strategy? Here is the place to ask. subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 3 Follow Workflow What is a good way to achieve may goal?Done this, what´s next? Questions on how to get into the flow ... subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 0 Follow Please, show me how to ... Tutorials and more from you and your peers. subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 0 Follow 3-D Module Tips and tricks all around the 3-D Module. Did you find a curious way to do something? Share it here. subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 0 Follow Render Module Having ideas or questions on the Render Module? Something doesn´t look as you expected? Talk or ask about it here. subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 0 Follow Bug Reports Found something that isn´t right in Shape? Please, report any bugs here. We will check it out and fix it asap. subcategory-list-item.views subcategory-list-item.posts 5 Follow New Posts luisvpar Apr 26, 2023 Problems to install ShapeX in Fedora (RPM based) Bug Reports Hello. I want to report the problems that I have found to install ShapeX in my system: Fedora 37 (x86-64 kernel 6.2.11-300). First problem that I have found is that there is no RPM package provided for ShapeX. Thus, I tried to create a RPM from the DEB package using 'alien'. The RPM was created but several dependencies were not found when I tried to install it ('rpm -i shapex.rpm'): Can't install: does not find libraries: error: Failed dependencies: libavcodec-ffmpeg.so.56()(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 libavcodec-ffmpeg.so.56(LIBAVCODEC_FFMPEG_56)(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 libavcodec.so.53()(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 libavcodec.so.53(LIBAVCODEC_53)(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 libavcodec.so.54()(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 libavcodec.so.54(LIBAVCODEC_54)(64bit) is needed by shapex-1.0-2.x86_64 ... And more related to 'libavcodec (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)', 'libavcodec-ffmpeg (56)', 'libavformat (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)' and 'libavformat-ffmpeg (56)'. I tried to install the 'ffmpeg' and 'ffmepg-libs' packages from RPMFUSION repo. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem. The 58 ver of 'libavformat' and 'libavcodec' were installed and I even tried to create soft links for the older versions with no luck. I have also tried to install it on a different Fedora 38 (same kernel and also x86-64 based) and I have found the same problem. In this case it was even worse since it was not possible to install the ffmpeg and ffmpeg-libs due to a conflict with 'lbswcale-free' package. I hope this helps and if someone has found a solution please share it. Thanks in advance for your answers and to the developers. Like 0 comments 0 Marco Gómez Jun 07, 2023 ShapeX crashes in MacOS Ventura Bug Reports I am trying to run ShapeX under MacOS Ventura. I downloaded the latest ShapeX_22_06_10 version with the ShapeX_update_X.1.3.0 and whenever I choose 3D rendering the program enters "Not Responding" mode. How can I fix this issue? Like 6 comments 6 vazquez Sep 01, 2022 Hi Nico & Wolfgang, Recently my iMac couldn't read a shp file built in Ubuntu. However, Ubuntu can read my shp files built in iMac. Help pls Bug Reports Like 3 comments 3 Forum - Frameless

Render Module Properties Panel: Spectrum Properties Panel: Spectrum ​ Shape calculates the physical radiation properties over a user-supplied range of wavelengths. By default this range is given in terms of velocity (km/s) from a reference wavelength (5e-7 m). This allows a straightforward calculation of position-velocity (P-V) diagrams from a default setup. These defaults can be changed to a range in terms of wavelength in meters (m) that typically ranges from 3.5e-7 to 7e-7 m for the optical spectrum. For the modeling of radio observations the spectral unit can be set to Hertz (hz). ​ Min & Max: The start and end of the spectral interval. Lambda_0 (l_0 ): The reference wavelength (rest wavelength) for the calculation of red- and blue-shifts in terms of velocity. # Bands: The number of spectral bands to be computed. The spectral range is divided in this number of sections of uniform width. If the shape of the spectrum is important or spectral line structure is meant to be computed, this number is set between 20 and 100 or so. When the overall color of an image rendering is all that is needed, then between 5 and 10 bands is usually sufficient.

The Squeeze Modifier changes the radius of a mesh perpendicular to a chosen axis (default: local z-axis), The action is similar to squeezing a soft object or to that of a lathe. ​ There are three different Modes: Scale, Inverse Scale and Absolute . In the Scale mode the distance of the mesh points from the reference axis is scaled by the factor given in the the Magnitude graph as a function of position along the reference axis. ​ In the Inverse Scale mode the scaling factor from the Magnitude graph is inverted. In the Absolute mode the mesh vertex is placed at the absolute distance provided by the Magnitude graph. The Magnitude dialog allows you to define the squeeze amount as an Analytic Function of position along the reference axis. You can also use a Point graph where you can generate an arbitrary function by manually placing points and setting the spline interpolation. To do this, select Point from the Function drop-down list under the graph. The example graph on the right shows the way it was done for the example mesh displayed below. Modifiers: Squeeze

Modifiers The Boost Modifier is basically an enhanced version of a Boolean object or modifier. The idea is to use one mesh to regionally change the properties of another. However, instead of completely cutting out or adding to a mesh, it scales the properties by some factor that may vary spatially either through a function of space or a texture. ​ In the example below a sphere contains a complex mesh structure which has a Boost Modifier that is linked to the spherical mesh. In the first rendering below, the boosting factor was set to zero, such the sphere is hollow in the region of the boosting mesh. ​ In the second examples, the boosting factor for the density was set to 2, enhancing the density by that factor. The Boost Modifier is applied to the mesh to is meant to change another, in this case the inner mesh. Note that more than one boosting mesh can be applied to the main mesh. ​ Parameters: ​ Name: If multiple Boost Modifiers are used, make sure to name them adequately for ease of identification. ​ Enabled: When deselected, the modifier will not be applied. ​ Boost: This is the boosting factor that is applied to the main mesh. It can be a mathematical expression and function of the main variables such as n (density), T (temperature) or P (pressure). Note that these are the properties of the boosting mesh object, i.e. they relate to the modifiers within the boosting object itself. To make the hollow structure above, this factor was set to zero (0) and 2 for the enhancement of the structure. If set to "n" as shown, the factor is taken from the Density modifier in the boosting object. This may be a function of position, including the texture. This allows for a complex manipulation of the region covered by the boosting object. ​ Variable: From this drop-down list select the variable upon which the boosting shall act on in the main object. Note that this is different from the variables in the Boost factor. Operation: Select the operation that the Boost Modifier shall perform on the main object. You can select from Scale, Add and Replace. Applied Object: From the drop-down list select the objects on which the Boost modifier shall act on. Several objects may be chosen. ​ Hide itself: Generally the boosting object is used only to act upon other meshes, but is not rendered itself. This may, however, not always be the case. So, if the boosting object is a rendered object in itself, disable this flag, such that the boosting mesh itself is rendered, too. ​ Modifiers: Boost

Render Module Overview This module takes care of the rendering of image and position-velocity diagrams. The output of 3-D volume data is also controlled from here. ​ ​ Overall the Render module consist of the render area where images and position-velocity (P-V) diagrams are displayed on the left side. On the right side you have the render Properties panel . It can be hidden by clicking on the Properties pane on the right. By default the General rendering parameter panel is open. From the drop-down list at the top of the panel several other sub-panels can be opened that deal with the settings for the virtual Camera , the Spectrum , the 3-D Output , Units and those of the Selected Window . We will deal with each of these in their respective sections below. ​ ​ In the default configuration only one image is rendered. If more images and P-V diagrams are to be show, those can be added and configured in the Windows drop-down menu above the render window. In the example above two columns have been set and three P-V windows have been added to the default image window. The slits for each P-V window is represented on the image window. ​ In order to delete a window click on the X icon in the top-right corner of the window. Note that this icon may be hidden if the overall Shape interface has been reduced in size. If so, then resize the user interface until the X icon appears and then click to delete the corresponding window. ​ ​ The Image Render Window As the name suggests the Image Render Window displays the output images from the rendered model. ​ To keep order when you have several windows, they can be named individuall y to remind you of the expected content. Just replace the text "Window 1", etc., in the text field of the menu above the window. ​ In the same window several types of images can be displayed by selecting one of the five colorful icons above the image. By hovering over an icon a tool-tip gives a brief hint to what the corresponding image displays. ​ By default a grey-scale image is displayed that represents the brightness variations that have been integrated along the line of sight. ​ The selected type of image is marked by a blue border around the icon. The "Color Image" displays the each sub-object with the color that was assigned to its mesh in the 3-D Module. This allows to clearly distinguish and identify them for diagnostic or visualization purposes. Importantly, in the P-V diagrams it helps distinguishing the contributions by different parts of the model. The "Red/blue Image" displays the model in terms of its red and blue shifted regions. Volume cells with a velocity vector that points more towards the observer is colored blue and those with a line of sight component that points away are red. Regions were line-of-sight integration has a mixture of red and blue contributions will appear in a mixed color tending towards white. The "Rainbow Image" is similar to the red/blue image in that it color codes the velocity field along the line of sight. The difference is that a continuous color coding is used that follows the spectral rainbow colors. The range of velocities to be color coded can be set up in a right-click menu. The "Spectrum Image" uses the physical spectrum as set up in the Spectrum section of the Properties Panel on the right of the Render Module. Again the color coding follows the rainbow colors that are distributed through the range of the physical spectrum. Now the rendered color will depend on the full physical setup of the model. Therefore this image type is used to render physical and photo-realistic models. The "Image Modifiers" handles the operators (modifiers) that process the rendered image in terms of brightness scaling, contours, inversion, etc. The "Move Slit" icon activates the interactive changing of the slit parameters such as position and width. When active the slit width is change using the mouse wheel. The horizontal position is changed by pressing and dragging the left mouse button. Vertical size and position are change the same way while keeping the "y" key pressed during the operation. The "Zoom Image" button activates zooming in and out of the image using the mouse wheel. The "Pan Image" button activates moving the image left, right, up and down by dragging it with the left mouse button pressed. The "Render Window" button allows you to drag out with the left mouse button a rectangular window on the image. Combined with the HD renderer and the "Use window" option in the General tab of the Render Module only this region will be rendered. This can greatly reduce rendering times if you need high resolution, but only need to see a small region for testing. The "Image Transparency" button allows you to change the transparency of the rendered image to be able to compare with the background reference image. Close and Remove the Window by clicking on this button and confirm in the pop-up window. Properties Panel ​ The Properties Panel on the right side of the Render Module has several section that can be accessed from the drop-down menu at the top. We will deal with each of them in the order they appear in the menu. ​ General The general project properties are set up in this panel, such as spatial resolution, type of renderer, memory management, autorender, etc. Camera Camera orientation angles are set. The parameters include position angle, inclination, and angles with respect to the axes of the global coordinate system Spectrum The spectral range for the physical radiation calculations is provided here in various possible units. Output Ouput of the full 3-D cube to file in different forms. Selected Window Key parameters of the currently selected image or P-V window can be set in this panel. General Camera Spectrum Output Selected Window

They are a key functionality in ShapeX the usage of which should be mastered in order to create the most realistic models. ​ Modifiers determine the properties of the objects as a function of position in space, hence it is important to know as much as possible about coordinate systems in general (Spherical, Cartesian & Cylindrical) and how they are used in ShapeX. See Coordinate Systems for more information on this topic. Modifiers are assigned to an object in the form of a list or Modifier Stack . This list of operators is executed on the object from the top to the bottom. For many of the modifiers the order in which they are executed does not matter. However, some operators, e.g. those that globally or locally involve some form of rotation, need to be stacked in the right order to produce the desired result. It is therefore important to know whether they order can be reversed or not. Knowledge about commutative properties of operators, or sufficient experimentation, is useful here. Modifiers Overview Modifiers are a operators in the 3-D module that allow you to add or change, i.e. modify properties of an object in the scene. There are different types of modifiers, some change the geometry of the mesh objects, others assign scalar or vector type physical properties such as density or velocity, respectively. After adding or selecting a particular modifiers, its Properties are displayed under the Modifier Stack . These can then be edited either by changing parameter value fields or after opening additional dialogs or graphs. ​ Adding or deleting modifiers is done using the blue + and the red x sign, respectively. When you select a modifier you can move it up and down in the stack with the green arrows. More than one modifier of the same type can be applied with different coordinate systems. In some cases you might have to change the Operation setting from Replace to either Add or Scale , otherwise the last modifier of this type replaces all previous ones. Using combinations of the same type of modifiers allows a larger variety of structures to be build. ​ Modifiers can also be copied and pasted with the corresponding buttons. When you use the paste button, a small dialog will open that asks you to decide whether the modifier should be a copy or and instance of the original modifier. When you choose copy then the new modifier will be completely independent from the other. However, and instanced modifier will always change together with its original and vice versa. Instanced modifiers are a great tool to provide the same parameters for more than one object, while only needing to change a single one of them. Types of Modifiers Physical Modifiers ​ Physical modifiers add or change physical properties as a function of position. They include the Density , Temperature , Pressure , Image Texture , Taper , Velocity, GField and BField . The Boost modifier is a helper modifier to the scalar physical modifiers and is used to change those quantities, but depending on the geometry of another mesh object. This is useful, for instance, to reduce or cut out part of the density of one object using another. Geometry Modifiers ​ Geometry modifiers change the structure of the polygon mesh. They include Bump, Curvature, Displacement, Image Displacement , Projection, Random, Sculpt, Shear, Shell, Size, Spiral, Squeeze, Squish, Stretch, Texture Displacement, Twist, Universal, and Warp . ​ The geometry modifiers move the vertices of a polygon mesh within the local coordinate system of an object. If you move or rotate the local coordinate system with a Rotation or Translate modifier, then the geometry modifiers act in the transformed coordinate system. Note that the Displacement modifier is a geometry modifier and moves only the vertices, but not the origin of the local coordinate system is does the Translate modifier. This is useful when you want to move a complete object, such as a small sphere within a fixed coordinate system and apply, for instance, the Velocity or Density modifiers in the original coordinate system. ​ Modifier Parameter Panel: Common Parameters ​ The parameters that modifiers take vary considerably. They are described in the sections for individual modifiers. ​ What they have in common are the Name field and the Enabled flag . In the Name field you can set a name for this particular modifier, which is strongly recommended, since it allows one to easily identify a modifier, which becomes more and more important once the number of modifiers increases for a particular object or for the project itself. It is especially important once the Modifier Module is used to manage a large number of modifiers. ​ As the name implies, the Enabled flag allows one to enable or disable a particular modifier. ​ Modifier Module: The Modifier Module becomes important once a model contains a large number of objects and modifiers. Often different objects have similar basically the same modifiers that have at least some parameters in common. If they are not instances of each other or have their parameters organized as global variables, the Modifier Module allows you to select a number of modifiers and change their parameters in a single operation. It also provides a good way to get an overview of which modifiers are used by which objects as well as the possibility to sort them by type. For more details on the Modifier Module go to its more detailed description in its own section of this manual.

Key Sub-S ystem: Textures Many astronomical objects, especially nebulas have filaments with random structures. This can be simulated with procedural 3-D texture s. In Shape procedural textures can be applied to physical quantities such as density, temperature, velocity, etc . These textures are multiplied on top of the spatial variation given by the Magnitude of a quantity. Open the Texture Parameter Panel by clicking on the Edit button beside the Texture label in the parameter panel of a selected modifier. ​ Getting the right texture may require quite a bit of experimentation, often combining several basic textures. Texture Parameter Panel ​ The Texture Parameter Panel has several sections. At the top-left is the preview window, where a single slice from the x-y coordinate plane of the 3-D texture is shown. A list of combined basic textures is below the preview window and various types of parameters are at the top-right. Transformation modifiers can be added at the bottom-right. Basic Workflow ​ Initially the texture editor is blank. A new texture is added from a list of different types after clicking on the Add button to the right of the Textures List. The most commonly used type is the Space Convolution noise. Now a preview of the texture is generated using the default parameters. To get the texture that is needed change the parameters until a suitable result is obtained. More than one texture may be combined by adding further textures to the list. Note that the combination is done in the form of a multiplication of the texture values in the range (0-1). Therefore, the more textures you combine, locally the result becomes smaller and smaller. ​ In the modifiers area, rotation and translation modifiers can be applied that are similar to the corresponding image modifiers applied in the Render Module. This is not descussed in more detail in this section. Textures Panel ​ Add: Opens a dialog with a list of different types of procedural noise from which to choose. When you click on OK, the new texture is included in the list of already chosen textures. ​ Del: Deletes the selected texture from the list. ​ Up & Down : Move the selected texture up or down in the list. ​ Copy & Paste: Copy stores the selected texture in a buffer. Paste pastes the copied texture as a new texture to the list. ​ Note: As mentioned above, if there is more than one texture they are combined as a local product of their values, which range in the interval (1,0). Moving the textures up and down in the list does not change the result since multiplication is a commutative operation. However, if you explicitly name the textures, the sequence may help at keeping order General: Name: Set a name for this texture ​ Enable: Enable or disable this texture ​ Seamless : This parameter works together with the Distortion (see below). If a Distortion is applied that stretches the texture along the angle in a cylindrical coordinate system, a discontinuity appears at the 0 to 360 degrees transition. To prevent this enable the Seamless flag. An attempt is then made to generate a seamless texture by copying and rotating the same texture by 180 degrees and overlapping the two with a linear transition between the two that excludes the seam region. Currently, the result is a seamless texture that has a 180 degrees point symmetry. ​ Bias: Sets a minimum intensity for the texture. If b is the bias level, now the range for the texture is (b,1). Properties: ​ The detailed parameters for different types of textures vary. Here we discuss the example of Sparse Convolution Noise, which is the most suitable for most filamentary features in diverse nebular objects. Many of the parameters are common to all textures, others will differ. But a bit of experimentation will clarify the meaning of the differing parameters. ​ Sparse Convolution Noise: ​ Scale: The scale of the texture can be set separately in the three coordinate directions. By default they are looked together, i.e. when you change one of them, the other two automatically get the same value. They can be unlocked by unchecking the Lock flag. Then the values can be set independently. To asses the size of the features in the context of the model domain note that the preview window has the same size as the scene size in the Render Module. ​ X Y Z Offset: These parameters move the texture along the corresponding axis. The units are those of the Render Module. ​ Exponent : Controls the contrast between the highest and lowest levels of brightness. High values deemphasize initially lower values. ​ Freq: The levels of spatial frequencies to be included in the random noise generation. Higher values will include smaller features. ​ Type 2: This type generates a different look and overall smaller structures. Invert: inverts the greyscale, the interval (0,1) is linearly mapped to (1,0). Image Size: Sets the pixel size of the texture preview image. ​ Z slice : Selects the slice to be shown in the preview. Changing the value moves the preview through the cube of slices along the line of sight. Distortion: This button opens a dialog that controls the re-mapping of the noise as a function of position. Analytical expressions can be set up to remap the noise in different coordinate systems. This allows the user to stretch the noise pattern in radial or circular directions. There is an example for such a distorted texture on the right. The second image is the same texture after applying the Seamless flag (see above). ​ Below is the dialog that opens when you click on the Distortion button. It is similar to other Graphs . Make sure to set the correct coordinate system for the distortion to be applied. The example uses the Cylindrical Coordinate system and distorts the radial and the angular directions. Some experimentation with the analytic expression or point graph is likely needed to get the desired result.

The Squish Modifier changes the distance of a vertex perpendicular to a plane (default: local xz-plane), The action is similar to the Squeeze Modifier , except that it´s planar, not radial around an axis. ​ The Magnitude dialog allows you to define the squish amount as an Analytic Function of position along the reference axis. You can also use a Point graph where you can generate an arbitrary function by manually placing points and setting the spline interpolation. To do this, select Point from the Function drop-down list under the graph. The example graph on the right shows the way it was done for the example mesh displayed below. ​ Widget: The Widget opens the Widget Dialog. It allows you to change the direction of the Squish Modifier. The purple arrow will indicate the direction of its action. Modifiers: Squish