Chart
 | LineChart | A line chart geometry automatically generated based on the Values input property. |
 | AreaChart | An area chart geometry automatically generated based on the Values input property. |
Based on an array of numeric values, the chart nodes create a 3D geometry which dynamically changes as the values are changed. This makes Ventuz ideally suited for dynamic business presentations or election news reports. The author of the scene designs the look and feel in advance, but the actual values can come from an up-to-date, external source.
The Size values in X and Z define the dimensions of the chart geometry in their respective directions. ScaleY is a scaling factor for the input values which actually populate the chart.
What makes the chart geometries particularly interesting are the Visibility Properties. The X property can be used to restrict the horizontal region that is rendered. By animating this value, the chart can dynamically grow as time goes by. By default, a point is rendered for every value in the input array. The Y property specifies if All or only Positive or Negative chart segments should be displayed. By deactivating ShowZeros, no line is rendered for consecutive zero values. This all can be used to achieve some nice effects by using two graphs, one for positive and one for negative values and placing them underneath each other. This way the graph can have a different material whether it is positive or negative.
The StopFlag is a predefined value that when encountered will prevent the graph from rendering any subsequent values. For example, if the stop value is 1111, the input array contains 10 values and the third value is 1111, only the first two values are visualized. This is handy when using values coming from an external data source. For example, some stock exchange rate software might send its values to Ventuz and put it into a comma separated string. This string can be bound to the input values property and the chart will automatically extract the individual numeric values.
The LineChart node has two properties more than AreaChart. These properties define the characteristic of the line geometry. Strength specifies the strength of the line segments. CornerThreshold defines beyond which angle of two consecutive line segments, the corner is beveled.
Both Chart nodes provide a few output properties. The LastValue properties provide the last visible value pair based on the original input values. The LastPos provide the last visible value pair in the local 3D space of the chart geometry. These value are affected by the Size properties. The MinPos properties provide the position of the smallest Y value in the local 3D space of the chart geometry. MaxPos does the same for the largest Y value.