Plot View

The plot view displays graphs of a track's data. It has its own toolbar for selecting the track and number of graphs.

1. Selecting the track

Select the track for graphing from the dropdown list on the plot view's toolbar.

The color of the plot markers is the same as that of the selected track. The current time or currently selected step is highlighted in the plot.

2. Selecting the plot variables

Move the mouse over an axis label until the cursor is a hand cursor, then click on the label and choose the desired variable from the resulting popup list.

3. Selecting the layout

Click the Plots button and choose the number of graphs desired.

Mulitple graphs are stacked vertically.

4. Controlling the scale

Graphs autoscale by default. Right-click a graph and choose Zoom In or Zoom Out from the popup menu to quickly turn off autoscaling and zoom in or out by a factor of 2. Or draw a zoom box before right-clicking, then Zoom To Box. Choose Autoscale to turn on autoscaling again.

For the finest control, choose Scale... from the popup menu to display the Scale dialog.

Uncheck the appropriate Auto box to set a maximum or minimum manually.

5. Hiding the point or lines

Right-click the graph and uncheck the appropriate box to hide the points or lines.

6. Creating data functions with DataFunction Tool

Right-click the graph and choose DataFunction Tool... (not shown in menu image) to open the DataFunction Tool. This tool lets you define new datasets that are functions of a track's pre-defined variables. User-defined datasets can be plotted, displayed in a table and analyzed like any other. In the "mass A" example shown, a user has defined "g" to be a constant and "Ug" to be the gravitational potential energy m*g*y.

7. Analyzing the data with Dataset Tool

Right-click the graph and choose Analyze... to send the plotted data to the Dataset Tool for analysis.

The Dataset Tool provides statistical analysis including automatic and manual curve fitting of all or any selected subset of the data. It also allows multiple dependent variables to be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided.

To fit a curve manually, double-click in a parameter field and enter the desired value or vary the value incrementally using the up and down buttons as shown. The default increment is 10% of the initial value. To change the increment size, right-click the selected field and choose the desired step size (% of current value) from the popup menu.