Attributes Properties
This page documents the properties available for attributes in VRGS. These properties appear in the Properties panel when an object of this type is selected.
Attributes
Properties available for Attribute Layer objects:
Attributes : Log Scale
Property name: Log Scale
Description (in app): Switch to Logarithmic colour scale
What it does
Spreads the colour ramp logarithmically across the attribute's range, so the low
values get more of the colours: the lowest tenth of the range takes about half the
ramp. Filter Minimum and Filter Maximum stay in the attribute's own units and
keep the same values with Log Scale on or off; only the colours move.
When to use it
When most of the values crowd the bottom of the range and a few high ones stretch it,
so a linear ramp gives the bulk of the data one or two colours.
Attributes : Fixed Range
Property name: Fixed Range
Description (in app): Use a fixed range for this attribute)
Attributes : Use Filter
Property name: Use Filter
Description (in app): Use a filter for this attribute)
What it does
Confines the attribute colouring to the values between Filter Minimum and
Filter Maximum. On a mesh in the 3D view, the parts of the surface whose values
fall inside that window take the attribute's colour ramp; the parts outside it show
the mesh as it looks without the attribute — its photo texture on a textured mesh,
its plain mesh colour otherwise. (The legacy OpenGL view cuts the filtered-out
triangles away instead of showing the texture.) On a point cloud the points outside
the window are hidden.
The parts with no value (the attribute's null value, such as the triangles Grow Planar Patches leaves unassigned in Patch Dip and Patch Azimuth) never take the attribute colours while the filter is on, whatever its bounds and with Invert Filter too: a mesh shows its texture or plain colour there, and a point cloud hides those points. With the filter off they take the first colour of the ramp, where they are easy to mistake for the lowest values.
When to use it
Use it to see where an attribute lies on the outcrop without losing the image:
keep the window to the steep faces of a Dip attribute, to a band of Patch Dip
from Grow Planar Patches, or to the coarse end of a Texture GSD attribute, and
the rest of the mesh stays readable as photo texture. Drag the handles on the
histogram in the Charts panel to move the window interactively; the bounds default
to the attribute's full range, so a freshly ticked filter changes nothing but the
parts with no value until you narrow them.
The same box decides whether the attribute counts when its point cloud or mesh has Use Attribute Filters ticked. The object's filters are then the windows of the attributes with Use Filter on. An attribute with it off takes nothing out, even one holding nulls. See Use Attribute Filters for what that covers on a mesh.
Attributes : Invert Filter
Property name: Invert Filter
Description (in app): Invert the filter for this attribute)
What it does
Swaps the two sides of the filter: values outside the window take the attribute
colours and values inside it show the texture or plain mesh colour (or, on a point
cloud, are hidden). Parts with no value are on neither side: a mesh keeps showing the
texture or plain mesh colour there, and a point cloud keeps those points hidden. It
has no effect until Use Filter is on.
When to use it
To colour everything except a band — mark all but the flattest surfaces, or take the
colour off the one patch you have already dealt with while the rest stay marked.
Use Filter and Invert Filter are saved with the project.
Attributes : Scale Colours to Filter
Property name: Scale Colours to Filter
Description (in app): On: stretch colours to the filter window. Off: keep the full colour range while filtering the display.
What it does
On, the colour ramp spans the filter window instead of the attribute's full range, so
the whole ramp is spent on the values you kept. Where values beyond the window are
still coloured (with Use Filter off, or inverted) they clamp to the ramp's end
colours; with the filter off, parts with no value take its first colour. Off, the ramp
stays over the full range and the window only decides what is coloured or hidden. It
works with or without Use Filter and is on by default. The legend
shows whichever range is in use.
When to use it
Leave it on when the interesting values occupy a narrow slice of the range — a few
degrees of dip, one band of roughness — and the full-range ramp gives them all the
same colour: narrow the window on the histogram and the contrast comes back. Turn it
off when a colour should keep meaning the same value while you move the window, or
when comparing the same layer across models.
Attributes : Repeat Colours
Property name: Repeat Colours
Description (in app): Cycle Through the colours
Attributes : Reverse
Property name: Reverse
Description (in app): Reverse the colour map
Attributes : Show Contours
Property name: Show Contours
Description (in app): Show contours for the displayed attribute
Attributes : Name
Property name: Name
Description (in app): Name
Attributes : Colour Map
Property name: Colour Map
Description (in app): Colour map for the mesh
What it does
Colour map for the mesh. Class names and hidden classes belong to a discrete colour
map rather than to the layer; see Colour Maps.
Attributes : Layer Type
Property name: Layer Type
Description (in app): Type of Layer
Attributes : Minimum Value
Property name: Minimum Value
Description (in app): Minimum Value of this attribute
Attributes : Maximum Value
Property name: Maximum Value
Description (in app): Maximum Value of this attribute
Attributes : Range Minimum
Property name: Range Minimum
Description (in app): Minimum possible value of this attribute
Attributes : Range Maximum
Property name: Range Maximum
Description (in app): Maximum possible value of this attribute
Attributes : Filter Minimum
Property name: Filter Minimum
Description (in app): Minimum value for filter
What it does
The lower bound of the filter window, in the attribute's own units. Together with
Filter Maximum it defines the window that Use Filter confines the colouring
to and that Scale Colours to Filter stretches the ramp across. It is the same value as the
left-hand handle on the attribute's histogram in the Charts panel, so dragging there
updates it.
On an attribute of whole numbers, such as Patches, the window keeps every whole number from Filter Minimum to Filter Maximum, both included. Bounds between whole numbers round inwards: a minimum of 11.5 starts the window at 12, and a maximum of 12.5 ends it at 12.
When to use it
Type an exact bound when you know the value you want — a dip of 60 or a patch id of
12 — rather than dragging for it. It defaults to the attribute's minimum.
Attributes : Filter Maximum
Property name: Filter Maximum
Description (in app): Maximum value for filter
What it does
The upper bound of the filter window, in the attribute's own units; the right-hand
handle on the histogram. See Filter Minimum.
When to use it
Set it equal to Filter Minimum to isolate a single value with Use Filter on:
12 and 12 on a Patches layer keep patch 12. It defaults to the attribute's
maximum.
Attributes : Contour Levels
Property name: Contour Levels
Description (in app): Number of contour levels
Attributes : Colour Blend
Property name: Colour Blend
Description (in app): Blend colour with RGB