Introduction to Tecplot 10

Table of Contents

Table of Contents………………..…………………….1

A. Preface……………………….……………………..2

B. Data Hierarchy in Tecplot……...…………………..2

C. Input File Format………………...…………………3

1. Plotting Unformatted Data………………………….5

2. Plotting I-Ordered Data……………………………..9

3. Plotting IJ-Ordered Data: Contour Plots……………9

4. Plotting IJ-Ordered Data: 2D Vector Fields………15

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A. Preface
This is a brief introduction to the fundamentals of Tecplot 10. It is intended to give
students the basic skills necessary to plot two dimensional functions, contour fields,
variable distributions, and vector fields. For further information regarding the
implementation of Tecplot 10, please refer to the software manual.

B. Data Hierarchy in Tecplot

In order to plot a two dimensional curve and/or define a field or mesh two types of data
will be used: I-ordered data and IJ-ordered data. Note that for both ordered types, the data
packing parameter must be in the form of POINT or BLOCK.
• I-Ordered Data: data used to plot a curve on a 2D plane. It employs I as a single
location identifier. The value of I must be equal to the total amount of points to
be plotted.
• IJ-Ordered Data: data used to define a two-dimensional field to which values can
be assigned. IJ-ordered data is best suited for plotting variable distributions and
vector fields by using a location identifier given by the I-J coordinates. In short,
this type of data allows the user to specify a number of variables and vector
components at a given x (I) and y (J) coordinates in some two dimensional field.
The spatial distribution of the points in the field is the following:

Figure 1
Note that the position of the field points in space is relative to the x and y
Cartesian coordinates. The value of the I and J identifiers will be equal to the
number of points in the x and y direction respectively. The total amount of points
in the field will be the product of I and J. For instance, in the field shown in
Figure 2, the total amount of points is the product of the I and J identifiers.

Figure 2

Total # of points in field:

I · J = 90

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C. Input File Format
In most formatted input files, the first two lines correspond to the variable declaration and
zone header. It is important to keep in mind that this is the minimum input file header
format allowed by Tecplot. Other lines such as file title or comment lines (text
annotations preceded by #) may be added to the input file header; however, it is common
to economize in the formatting and just use these two lines. The format for the variable
declaration line is the following:

VARIABLES = “var_1”, “var_2”, “var_3”

where var_1, var_2, and var_3 are the names assigned to the first, second, and third
data columns in the input file. The user may define as many variables as he or she wishes.
An example of this is given below:

Lon_F Lat_F mag_F Lon_Z Lat_Z mag_Z

Figure 3

In Figure 3, six variables are declared (Lon_F, Lat_F, mag_F, Lon_Z, Lat_Z,
mag_Z) corresponding to the first to sixth data columns in the file.

The zone header provides the formatting structure and is specific to the type of data being
used. As was mentioned before, for I-ordered data only the I location identifier, which is
equal to the number of points to be plotted, is used. A typical zone header for I-ordered
data is shown in Figure 3. In the case of IJ-ordered data, the following is the usual
formatting:

ZONE I= 81 J= 221 DATAPACKING=POINT

The field is defined by both I and J location identifiers. In this particular instance, the
field being plotted has 221 rows of points, 81 columns of points and a total of 17901
points. Figure 4 displays part of this input file. The first two data columns correspond to
variables Lon and Lat as well as to the position identifiers. Thus, when Figure 4 is
plotted the vector components “Theta_F,” “Phi_F,” “Theta_Z,” and “Phi_Z”
may be plotted against Lon and Lat. In this case, Lon and Lat represent the longitude
and latitude on the Earth’s surface while Theta_F and Phi_F and Theta_Z and Phi_Z
are θ- and Φ-components of the gradient of the geomagnetic field magnitude and vertical

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component respectively. Figure 5 shows the resulting vector field (the reader is warned
that only a fraction of total vectors in the input file are shown for ease of visualization).

Figure 4

Location of the first

point in the vector field
(-72, 22.0)

Figure 5

As is shown in Figure 5, the first point in the vector field is defined by the Lon-Lat / I-J
values specified in the input file (Figure 4). That is, this point is located exactly at 72º
West longitude, 22.0º North latitude. Similarly, each point in the vector field will be
described by its longitude/latitude coordinates. This arrangement of data points, which
was schematically shown in Figure 1, is valid for all IJ-ordered data sets regardless of the
type of plot being used.

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A final note concerning the DATAPACKING parameter should be made. All example files
presented in this introductory manual have POINT type DATAPACKING. This implies that
each line in the data set represents a single point. For instance, in Figure 4 the first two
numbers in each line correspond to the geodetic coordinates for a single point in the
vector field, while the other four numbers are two sets of components for the 2D vector
that corresponds to that particular point. However, the user has the option of employing
an additional DATAPACKING arrangement: BLOCK type. For this case, the values for
each variable are given continuously regardless of the line. Thus, all of the values for the
first variable are given in a block, then all of the values for the second variable, then all of
the values for the third variable, and so on. The reader is strongly discouraged from using
BLOCK DATAPACKING since it tends to be far more cumbersome than POINT type.

1. Plotting Unformatted Data

The fastest and easiest way to obtain a graph in Tecplot is by loading a list of contiguous
variables written in a notepad file such as the one shown in Figure 6. Each column in the
input file represents a variable in the graph generated by Tecplot and is assigned a default
name: V1 (for the first column), V2 (for the second column), V3 (for the third column),
etc.
V1 V2 V3 V4

Figure 6
The file shown above can be loaded to Tecplot by following the standard procedure for
loading external input data (steps 1-3 are the primary means of loading data to Tecplot
and will be referred to throughout this introduction):

1. After opening Tecplot, click on File and select Load Data File(s)…

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 Figure 7

2. Search for the particular file you wish to load to Tecplot.

Figure 8

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3. After selecting the desired file and loading it, the software will request the plot
type to be selected. Since the objective here is to obtain a quick 2D Cartesian plot
choose the XY Line option.

Figure 9

4. The resulting plot is shown below. By default, Tecplot will plot the first data
column in the x-axis (V1) and the second in the y-axis (V2).

Figure 10

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5. In order to reassign the variables in the input file (Figure 6) to the x- or and y-
axis, the user must click on Mapping Style… in the tool bar on the left-hand side
of the screen.

Figure 11

6. The Mapping Style window, shown below, will appear.

Figure 12

7. In order to display the remaining data columns in Figure 1 on the y-axis, select the
desired variable and click on Map Show. The drop down menu shown in Figure
13 will appear. Select Activate. The selected variable will appear in the graph as a
different color line. This same procedure can be used to hide variables from the
graph by selecting Deactivate on the Map Show drop down menu.

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 Figure 13

8. If it is desired to reassign variables to the axes, click on X-Axis Variable or Y-

Axis Variable. The Select Variable window will appear where one can choose
which variable is to be assigned to the axis. Keep in mind that the variable must
be activated to be displayed on the graph.

Figure 14

2. Plotting I-Ordered Data

In order to plot I-ordered data fallow the same procedures outlined in the previous
section. The sole difference between unformatted data and I-ordered data will be that the
variables of the I-ordered data file will have the name specified by the user. Everything
else, however, will remain exactly the same.

3. Plotting IJ-Ordered Data: Contour Plots

Contour plots use a color coded scheme to plot variable distributions of IJ-ordered data
sets. These types of plots are a useful way of representing the spatial variation of certain
variable or parameter and are one of the most practical applications in Tecplot. The
following procedure outlines the most relevant features of contour plots in Tecplot.

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1. In order to load the data file fallow the steps 1-3 outlined in the previous section
(Section 1) but use 2D Cartesian rather than XY Line for the Input Plot Type
drop down menu. By default, Tecplot has the Mesh and Boundary layers
activated. Therefore upon loading the data file, only the field boundary and mesh,
if there is one defined for the data set, will be displayed. In order to visualize the
contour plot, the user must activate the Contour layer on the toolbar. Similarly,
the mesh and boundary could be hidden by unselecting the respective boxes in the
Zone Layer on the toolbar.
2. Once the Contour layer has been activated, the Contour Details window will
appear. This window allows the user to set the variable being plotted.

Figure 15

3. In order to be able to interpret the plot shown in Figure 15, the legend must be
displayed. Click on More >> to expand the Contour Details window. Click on
the Legend tab and check the Show Contour Legend box. Other legend options,
such as the orientation, position, and formatting of the legend are accessible
through this tab.

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 Figure 16

4. In some cases, the user will wish to compare two contour plots. In order to do this
effectively, the legend must be equal for both plots. In order to modify the legend,
click on the Levels tab. Select all current levels and click on the Remove
Selected Levels button. Next, click on the Add Levels… button.

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 Figure 17
5. The Enter Contour Level Range window (Figure 18) will appear. Select the
Min, Max, and Delta option and enter the desired values in the appropriate
fields. The legend, and the color coding in the plot will change accordingly.

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 Figure 18

6. The user may also choose the color coding in the plot. Tecplot allows two
options: banded (the default option) and continuous. In order to set the color
display in the contour, click on the Coloring tab and select the appropriate option.

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 Figure 19

7. Tecplot has a tool that allows the user to obtain the value of the variable being
plotted in the contour plot at a particular point. This feature is known as the Data
Probe tool (Figure 20). There are two ways to conduct the probe. After clicking
on the Data Probe button, the user could click directly on the contour plot
wherever he or she wishes to obtain a value or the user could click on the Tool
Details… button and enter the XY / IJ coordinates of the location at which he or
she desires to obtain a value in the Prove At window (Figure 21).

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 Streamtrace Tool

Data Probe

Figure 20 Figure 21

To finalize this section, it should be noted that the Contour Details window can always
be accessed through the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen by clicking on …
button next to the Contour layer selection box (see Figure 20).

4. Plotting IJ-Ordered Data: 2D Vector Fields

In order to load the data file fallow steps 1-3 in Section 1 and again choose 2D
Cartesian.

1. After having loaded the data file, only the boundary and mesh will be visible. In
order to visualize the vector field, select the Vector layer in the Zone Layer area.
2. The Select Variable window (Figure 22) will appear. Choose the variables that
correspond to the x- (U) and y-component (V) of the vector.

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 Figure 22
3. Press OK and the vector field will be plotted. An example of a vector field can be
seen in Figure 24.
4. The color, size, and type of vector arrow may be modified by accessing the Zone
Style window (Figure 25). Click on the Zone Style… button on the toolbar shown
in Figure 20 to open this window.
5. It is also possible to reassign the vector components to other variables in the input
file. Recall the input file shown in Figure 4. In that file there are two sets of
components for the vectors. That is, there are two distinct vector fields. In order to
change from one field to the other click on Plot, go to the Vector dialog, and
click on Variables….

Figure 23

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 6. The Select Variable window (Figure 22) will appear again allowing the user to
reset the variables to be used as components in the vector field.
7. The user may also wish to plot the streamlines of the obtained vector field. In
order to do so, click on the Streamtrace tool (Figure 20) and, holding the left
mouse button, drag the mouse over a desired region on the plot itself. Streamlines
will be plotted equidistantly from each other over the entire length traveled by the
mouse pointer. An example of streamlines for a given vector field is shown in
Figure 26.

Frame 001  25 Dec 2009 

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Y

-1

-1 0 1 2
X
Figure 24

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 Figure 25

Frame 001  26 Dec 2009 

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1.5

0.5

0
Y

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2

-2.5
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Figure 26

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