Getting Started with DIAdem INSIGHT

To get started with NI INSIGHT you will need the following:

             NI INSIGHT
             VRML (.wrl) 2.0 model of your structure *
             .DAT data file of your measurement data **

* See the Tips For Creating a Good VRML Model for more detail on what to look for to get a good VRML file for NI INSIGHT. Also check out the instructions to create VRML from major CAD/CAE packages. These documents can be found at www.ni.com/insight in the Downloads section.

** A file converter from Excel to DAT is available at www.ni.com/insight in the Downloads section. LabVIEW & DIAdem can write DAT files natively.

Using NI INSIGHT

1. Launch NI INSIGHT

             Notice that NI INSIGHT has three areas: the Menu and Toolbars on the top, the Presentation Window in the middle, and the Data Window on the right.

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2. Clear the Presentation Window

             If there are any yellow panes in the Presentation Window then select these and delete them.

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3. Select your Model

            Expand the Data Window on the right by right-clicking on it and dragging it to the left. Press the Model Files tab in the Data Window. If your model is not listed then right-click in the Navigation Panel and select “New Directory”. Browse to find the directory your model file is saved in and select it. Now your model file should be found in the Data Window.

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4.  Drag your Model to the Presentation Window and Re-size

             Left-click and drag your model to the Presentation Window. Your Model should now be found in a Model Pane on the Presentation Window. You can now click on the Model Pane to move it or Resize it within the Presentation Window.

             You can access the controls for how the model is displayed (wire frame, cloud of points, or surface) by right-clicking on the model to bring up the display options dialog. Select the display parameters icon and the display parameters dialog will appear. You can now select what is visible in the model pane i.e. points, edges (wire frame), surfaces, etc.

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5. Select your Data File

             Press the DIAdem Data Files tab in the Data Window. If your DAT file is not listed then right-click in the Data Window and select “New Directory”. Browse to find the directory your DAT file is saved in and select it. Now your DAT file should be found in the Data Window.

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6. Expand your Data File and select your channels to be graphed

             Press the “+” next to your data file to expand the channel list. The first channel should be your time or reference channel. You can now select the individual channels you would like to see graphed in the Presentation Window. Drag and drop your channels onto the Presentation Window or onto the empty graph. DO NOT drag and drop them onto the model.

The first channel to be dropped onto the Presentation Window will create a Graph Pane or if you drag it onto the empty graph it will create a Graph Pane for you. You can move and resize this Pane like you did with the Model Pane. Additional channels can be dragged and dropped onto this same Graph Pane.

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7. Linking your Data to your Model

             There are two options for linking your data channels to your model. The first option is to select your channel in the Data Window and drag and drop them onto the point your want to link it to on your model. NI INSIGHT will then select the nearest point to where you dropped the data channel as the linked node. A Dialog window will appear to select how the data will be displayed (Color, Deformation, etc).  A description of the display options can be found in the Additional Information section below. 

The second option is to name the channels in your DAT file using the proper syntax and then to drag the entire DAT file from the Data Window to the Model Pane. A dialog window will appear asking you to either Apply the existing links to the new data file or to Generate the links from the data file.  A description of the Generate and Apply options can be found in the Additional Information section below.           

When a node on the model is linked to a data channel it will change its appearance to a larger red dot.           

To delete a link on a model node right-click on the node and select the signal assignment deletion icon.

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8. Saving your file

             Save your NI INSIGHT Scene with a suitable name. The file will have a .CIS extension. 

9. Playback your Visualization

             You can access the controls for how the model is displayed (wire frame, cloud of points, or surface) by right-clicking on the model to bring up the display options dialog. Select the display parameters icon and the display parameters dialog will appear. You can now select what is visible in the model pane i.e. points, edges (wire frame), surfaces, etc. You can also adjust the scale for color display, add a Headline, and adjust the render options from this dialog box. More detail on the functions found here can be found in the NI INSIGHT Help file.

             Your NI INSIGHT Scene is now ready to play.  There are 3 primary playback controls in the toolbar on the top right of the presentation window: Stop, Play Once, & Repeat Play. There is also a slider that controls playback speed, adjust as needed.

 

10. Navigation within the Model Pane

             Navigation within the Model Pane is handled through the mouse. Holding the left mouse button down and moving the mouse allows you to rotate the view around the model. Holding the right mouse button down and moving the mouse moves the camera forward or back. By holding the x, y, or z key on the keyboard and holding the left mouse button down allows you to rotate around the selected axis and by holding the right button you can move in the selected axis.

             Note: As the 3D geometry model updates, it is synchronized with the data pane automatically. A vertical line cursor shows the position in the data pane compared to the data visualized on the model. You can stop the playback at any time using the Stop button. You can then drag the vertical cursor anywhere on the data pane and the model will update appropriately.

Additional Information

Generating links from your data file

             To allow NI INSIGHT to generate the links from your data file you will need to know the model node or point name of each point you would like to link your channels to. This information can be found in NI INSIGHT by moving your mouse pointer over a model node (the red/magenta points on the model). A tooltip will appear with the Model Name (Modelxxxx), the Point Name (generally Pxxx), and the Data Channel information that is linked to this node (if any).  By right-clicking on a node a Toolbox dialog will come up. One of the options within this Toolbox is Point Info. Selecting this will bring up a Point Name Dialog box that will give the name of the point (Pxxx) that you can edit.

             Another Option to get the Model Node information is by using the NI INSIGHT Model Data Utility which will allow you to find a nodes XYZ coordinates or to use XYZ coordinates to find the nearest node. 

             Once you have the Node information you will need to name your data channels with the appropriate syntax.  The syntax is as follows:

(model node_display type additional text)

Model Node is your Point Name

Display Type is as follows:

             color = color display
             dx = deformation in the x axis
             dy = deformation in the y axis
             dz = deformation in the z axis
             rx = rotation in the x axis
             ry = rotation in the y axis
             rz = rotation in the z axis
             size = specialized data display

Additional text can be any text that you desire for additional channel description

Apply Existing Links to your Data File

             If a scene already has data channels linked to a model then those existing links can be reassigned to a new data file. If the data file is dragged from the Navigation Panel to the model and dropped a dialog box will appear asking you to either Apply or Generate.  Select Apply and NI INSIGHT will replace the current links with the channels in the new data file based on the order of the channels in the new file.

             This makes it easy to save a single scene and generate multiple runs of a test and just apply the new test run to the existing scene.

Display Options Defined

             There are four categories of display handled by NI INSIGHT: color, deformation, rotation, and size.

             Color display uses the data channel values linked to the model and the interpolation of those values across all connecting nodes to determine the color of the surface of the model. This allows the user to easily visualize the relationship between the data channels and the model.

             Deformation display uses the data channel values to alter the x, y, or z coordinate location of the nodes in the model. The deformation view must be activated by opening the display parameters and selecting the deformation tab. Normally you will turn off the structure display (un-checking each of the options in that tab) and turn on the deformation display when ready to run or test the visualization.

             Rotation display uses the data channel values to rotate the model around the linked node around the x, y, or z axis. A local coordinate system needs to be created for this to work. More detail on this operation can be found in the NI INSIGHT help file.

             Size display uses the data channel values to be displayed numerically, as a sphere whose size is based on the value, or as a column in the x, y, or z direction that varies in size based on the value.  This display is normally used when the model consists of disconnected nodes (cloud of points).

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