Defining Animation Graphics for the Figure Of Merit

The Animation page enables you to define animation graphics for the Figure Of Merit.

To turn off all Figure Of Merit graphics, select Hide All Animation and Static Graphics.

To display animation graphics for a Figure Of Merit, clear Hide All Animation and Static Graphics and select Show Animation Graphics. Note: The Show Animation Graphics option is disabled for Figure of Merit types that do not support animation.

The definition of the Figure Of Merit is intrinsic in the display of the coverage graphics.

Show Points As

To display the points as filled polygons, select Filled Area. Use the % Translucency slide control to set the translucency of the filled area. Translucency can be adjusted from 0 to 100 percent, where 100 percent is invisible.

To display the points as markers, select Markers and choose a marker to represent each point in the grid that meets satisfaction criteria.

It is best not to use the same marker style that you used for the coverage definition object. Also, do not use a marker style that will be obscured by the one you used for coverage definition. For example, if you choose a plus for the coverage definition object, do not use a point for the Figure Of Merit (since a point would be blocked by the plus). If you use a plus or star for the coverage definition object, a square or circle is a good choice for the Figure Of Merit.

Accumulation

Select an option to control the sense and persistence of the animation graphics. Accumulation is only applicable to animation graphics and, therefore, is not available for figures of merit without animation behavior. Options are:

Current time - When animating, grid points that currently meet the satisfaction criterion are highlighted. Valid for both Satisfaction and Contours display metrics.
Up to current time - When animating, grid points that have met the satisfaction criterion based on the dynamic definition of the Figure Of Merit from the start time to the current time are highlighted. Valid for both Satisfaction and Contours display metrics.
Not current time - When animating, grid points that currently do not meet the satisfaction criterion are highlighted. Valid for Satisfaction display metrics.
Not up to current time - When animating, grid points that have not met the satisfaction criterion based on the dynamic definition of the Figure Of Merit from the start time to the current time are highlighted. Valid for Satisfaction display metrics.

Accumulation Settings

Accumulation graphics do not work properly if the accumulation setting is Up to Current or Not Up to Current and the Satisfaction criterion is Exactly.
The Up to Current and Not Up To Current accumulation settings result in very slow animations if the access constraint or dilution of precision figures of merit are being used.
The animation graphics Figure Of Merit options Number of Accesses and Number of Gaps behave in a nonstandard manner when the Accumulation option is set to Up to Current or Not Up to Current.

Display Metric

Use one of the Display Metric options to set the graphics parameters for the Figure Of Merit.

Show Satisfaction
Show Contours

Show Satisfaction

If selected, each point that currently meets the specified Satisfaction criterion if Satisfaction is enabled, or the default Satisfaction criterion if Satisfaction is disabled, is highlighted in the 2D and 3D Graphics window. You can select the color in which highlighted points display in the Graphics windows during animation.

Figure of merit graphics are easier to see if you disable the grid graphics for the coverage definition.

Show Contours

You can specify how levels of coverage quality display in both the 2D and 3D Graphics windows.

To accurately display contour levels for figures of merit in the 2D and 3D Graphics window, you should know the approximate range of values for the current Figure Of Merit. You can use the Report & Graph Manager for the Figure Of Merit to determine this range.

Defining contour levels for display in the 2D and 3D Graphics windows requires several steps:

1. Level Adding

Define the number and type of contour levels to be displayed. Select an Add Method and enter the information appropriate to that method:

Method	Procedure
Start, Stop, Step	Enter a Start contour value, a Stop value, and a Step value. Use the Add Level button to generate contour values beginning with the Start value and incrementing by the Step specified until the Stop value is reached or exceeded.
Explicit	Enter individual contour values. Use the Add Level button to add the new contour value to the list of existing contour values.

2. Level Attributes

Set graphics attributes individually each contour value.

Attribute	Description
Color Method	Defines the color method: Explicit. Enables you to assign colors individually to contour levels. Color Ramp. Applies a spectrum pattern with selected start and end colors.
Start Color/End Color	The start and end colors for the spectrum. Applicable only to the Color Ramp method. The Start Color corresponds to the first Level value under Level Attributes.
Do not show areas where FOM value exceeds max contour level	Prevents the display of contours above the maximum contour level.
Legend	Once you have set the contours for coverage, you can set the display of the contour key, or legend, by clicking Legend.... For more information, see Display Contour Legends.
Copy Static Levels	Overwrites the Animation contour levels with the Static contour levels.

You can delete a contour level from the list by highlighting it and clicking Remove.

Animation performance may degrade as additional points and lines are drawn to complete the contours.

Contour graphics during animation always reflect the value of the Figure Of Merit at the current animation time.

Display Contour Legends

To set the display of the contour key, or legend, click Legend....

The Legend provides you with a convenient way to interpret contour data displayed in the 2D and 3D Graphics windows. The Contours Legend window displays the coverage levels assigned along with the colors assigned to each level. The Contours Legend tool provides this information in a conveniently sized, easy-to-read window that can be kept on the side or in an unused corner of the screen throughout your Coverage session and, if desired, included in the display in your 2D and 3D Graphics windows.

To activate a Contours Legend tool, right-click the Figure Of Merit of interest in the Object Browser, then select Static Contours Legend or Dynamic Contours Legend from the FigureOfMerit menu. You cannot open a Contours Legend window if you have not assigned contours to the Figure Of Merit through the Contours page.

The top of the Contours Legend window shows the contour levels applied to the Figure Of Merit as well as the color spread assigned to represent the levels in the 2D or 3D Graphics window. This cannot be edited directly. The contour level and color assignment should be set through the Contours page of the Figure Of Merit's 2D Graphics properties.

Changing the Layout of a Contours Legend

You can set the display of the Contours Legend by clicking Layout... in the Contours Legend window. The Contours Legend Layout window that appears allows you to adjust the position of the legend display in the 2D and 3D Graphics windows, the width of the color bands and the order in which the coverage levels are presented (maximum to minimum or vice versa).

Contour Interpolation

You can also set the Type of fill to be used in displaying contour levels:

Field	Value
None (Block Fill)	Color is applied to a region, or "block," that contains points of a certain contour level. If the Fill option (in the Points field of the Attributes page) is selected, points are highlighted as a filled latitude/longitude polygon where the size of the polygon is determined from the grid resolution.
Natural Neighbor Sampling	Color is applied smoothly over all points in the grid to differentiate contour levels. (This option is not valid for these Coverage Definition types: Latitude Line, Longitude Line, and CustomBoundary.)

If you choose the Natural Neighbor Sampling, the value of the Figure Of Merit is determined for each screen pixel within the coverage area using a natural neighbor interpolation algorithm based on the computed values of the Figure Of Merit at the grid points. In the case of discreet figures of merit, interpolated values are rounded to the nearest integer.

The speed of graphical updates depends on the size of the 2D or 3D Graphics window and the percentage of that window covered by the coverage area.

The natural neighbor interpolation algorithm used for creating smooth filled contours may decrease graphics performance during animation. If you plan to take a snap shot of the 2D or 3D Graphics window, you may want to use the Highlighted Point option, then switch to Smooth Fill to take the snap shot.
Using shapefiles created in ArcView(r) GIS software to define custom regions can result in decreased performance when using smooth filled contours. This is because these boundaries often have many thousands of line segments.
Smooth filled contours may not be displayed for coverage regions which have a very small number of grid points.