In the image below, we checked the “Use Scale Array” property. Doing so gives you a bit more control over the ultimate output range. However, once you specify the piecewise function shape and input range, you can use the “Constant Radius” property to further scale the points uniformly. The piecewise function editor also allows you to give the range of input values which will be mapped to the output range (currently fixed at ). When making use of these options, you can specify a piecewise function, which will map the data array values to opacities or sizes.

Some of the options available with the PointGaussian representation include setting point size and opacity using data arrays. In the screenshot below, we use the new PointGaussian representation on the well-known “disk_out_ref.ex2” dataset, with a constant radius of 0.25 for the sprites along with the “Sphere” preset shader. Setting the radius to something greater than zero will allow you to select one of the “Shader Preset” options or experiment with the other representation properties. Until you choose a “Gaussian Radius” larger than zero, the new representation will simply render the data as GL_POINTS, which should be very fast but none of the advanced rendering properties will work. You must have advanced properties toggled on in order to see them. Once you choose the PointGaussian representation, look for the associated properties in the Properties Panel. To give the PointGaussian representation a try, simply choose “PointGaussian” instead of “Surface” as the representation for an applicable dataset. It extends the basic GeometryRepresentation as well as the UnstructuredGridRepresentation. A new representation for rendering points, the PointGaussian representation, was recently added to ParaView.

Paraview point data contour