Viewing a 3D Scatter Plot

A 3D Scatter Plot (or a Cloud Plot) allows you to visualize the relationship between three variables.

If you are viewing a 2D Scatter Plot (or a different type of Multi-variate display), you can view a 3D Scatter Plot by pressing the 3D Chart button at the top of the display.

Note: Depending on how many variables you have defined in the Result Properties dialog, the 3D Chart button may not be available. In particular, in order to display a 3D Scatter Plot, you must have at least three results defined.

Note: When viewing a Multi-Variate Result element, the element “remembers”the last type of view that was displayed, and displays that view when you double-click on it.

For the purpose of creating scatter plots, the variables must be assigned to specific axes. The first output in the list of results in the Result Properties dialog is assigned to the Y-axis (i.e., the “Result” axis). The second output is assigned to the X1-axis, and the third output is assigned to the X2-axis. Additional variables are not assigned to any axis. This is indicated in the Result column of the Result Properties dialog. The order in which multiple results appear in the list can be changed using the Move Up and Move Down buttons in that dialog.

The Use Ranks button determines whether the display uses ranks of the values or the actual values. By default, this button is not pressed, and the display uses actual values.

You can rotate the three dimensional image by holding down the left mouse button and dragging within the chart. You can also use the Up, Down Left and Right cursor keys.

In addition, 3D Scatter Plots have several hot-keys which can be used to modify the plot:

Keys	Action
Ctrl+D	Toggles the drop lines (the lines drawn from each point to the base of the axis) on and off.
Ctrl+S	Toggles between a 3D scatter plot and a 2D scatter plot.

You can copy the chart to the clipboard by right-clicking in the chart, and selecting Copy from the context menu. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+C while viewing the chart. To export a chart, right-click in the chart, and select Export… from the context menu.

By default, Multi-Variate results operate on Final Values. That is, the display uses the values at the end of each realization. However, by defining Capture Times, you can display values at any specified time. If you have created Capture Times, an additional drop-list is added to the display window to allow you to select the set of data (i.e., the values at the specified Capture Time) that you would like to display.

If you are using Result Classification, the plots points will be displayed in a different color for each category that has been defined.