Before using this application, you will need to perform certain basic setup tasks.
Downloading and Installing Rhino
In order to visualize the 3dm files produced by the SoundPlot application, you must first download the free Rhino 4.0 evaluation version from the Rhino 3d website. This is a fully functional (except the clipboard ) version that will allow you to save 25 times. After that it is still functional except it will not save and plug-ins will no longer run. Alternatively, if you can afford it, you can purchase the full version. For more information, consult the Rhino home page.
Once Rhino has been installed, boot up SoundPlot. From the Tools menu select Find Rhino. Navigate to the directory where Rhino has been installed. This is usually at C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 4.0\System\Rhino4.exe but may be different on your installation. Click on Open and SoundPlot will save the directory information so that it can automate Rhino.
Setting OpenNURBS Parameters
SoundPlot uses the openNURBS 4.0 .NET toolkit. The openNURBS Initiative provides CAD, CAM, CAE, and computer graphics software developers the tools to accurately transfer 3-D geometry between applications. For more information, see the OpenNURBS home page. In order to use many of the 3dm file generator functions in SoundPlot, you must first initialize certain parameters that SoundPlot can store and reference. Note that while NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) can be used by the SoundPlot, it is far simpler to use uniform, non-rational B-splines. But you will need to set the appropriate parameters in order to do that.
Boot up SoundPlot. From the Tools menu select Set Params. The Rhino OpenNURBS Settings dialog will appear. Make sure that the dialog settings are as shown below. Under Knot Vectors check Uniform, enter '0' in Start Value and '0.05' in the Incr Val window. Leave the three boxes in the Multiplicity section unchecked and the spin dials both to '0'. Uncheck the Rational box. Set Dim to '3', U-degree to '3' and V-Degree to '3'. What this accomplishes is to instruct the software on how to automatically construct appropriate Knot Vectors for generating surfaces in Rhino. Failing to properly set these parameters will most likely cause any attempt to generate 3dm files to fail.
Polyline Generator Settings
When using the PolyLines rendering mode, the procedure for generating a 3dm file is somewhat different than when using the other three rendering modes. After loading a soundfile, when the PolyLines mode is selected, you can immediately proceed to clicking on the Make 3dm button to bring up the Polyline Generator Settings dialog. Note that this interface allows you to set the sampling and display parameters for the currently designated sound file (WAV or AIF). In this mode, the sampling is done directly from the disk file according to the parameters that you select, and the 3dm file is generated when you click on OK with the output parameters you have selected.
Five editable data windows at the left provide user inputs for control of the
sound Sampling Parameters:
1. Start At (Sample Frame) - sample frame to start reading the data at
2. Number of Cycles - number of seperate cycles (polylines curve)
3. Data Points Per Cycle - number of data points to take for each cycle (polyline
curve)
4. Samples Per Data Point - number of sample frames to use for each data point
5. Little Endian - Windows uses Little Endian binary data storage
The number of sample frames in the currently designated sound file is shown in
the read-only window on the bottom left.
The remaining seven editable windows on the right provide user inputs for
control of the *3DM output file:
1. Display From
2. Display To
Display cycle in output file between these samples
3. X Min
4. X Max
5. Y Min
6. Y Max
7. Vertical Scale Factor - used to change the amplitude of the waveform
These are the x and y boundaries of the output file
Each of these is initialized to a default value by the program
Clicking on the ‘OK’ button will result in a
*.3dm file will being created and saved that contains the sampled sound map. This file will automatically
be saved to the local directory
with the name [filename]_pla.3dm (abbreviation for polyline array 3dm).
The *.3dm file can then be loaded into standard engineering drafting tools to be
further processed. Or by clicking on the Send to Rhino button, the
[filename]_pla.3dm file will be automatically loaded into Rhino.
For a more detailed description of how to use this program, see: Quick Documentation