Since the release of Tecplot Version 9.0, significant performance and speed improvements have been built into Tecplot. In Tecplot 9.2, these performance advances create a faster, more stable, more intelligent application. Version 9.2 draws faster by utilising hardware and is smarter about caching information.

New options load data faster, especially with large data sets or multi-zone data. Importing non-standard ASCII data with the new General Text Loader is quick and intuitive. Other capabilities include support of Mac OS X, as well as several new Add-ons and utilities to solve specific problems.

Below are the many new features of Tecplot 9.2.

1. Mac OS X Support 2. General Text Loader 3. Many New Add-ons 4. Plot Approximation Mode 5. Faster Plotting with Many Zones 6. Faster Image Export 7. Faster Gouraud Shading for FE 8. Extract 2-D Contour Lines

9.   Improved Data Loading Options 10. Wide Titles 11. Excel Macro 12. Macro Language Enhancements 13. ADK Enhancements 14. 64 Custom Color Dialog 15. Faster Continuous Color Flooding 16. Step Size for Slice

1. Mac OS X Support makes Tecplot available on Apple's advanced UNIX-based operating system. Supporting Mac OS X extends Amtec's commitment to cross-platform capability and the Macintosh scientific community. (Read the Mac OS X Press Release.) 2. General Text Loader provides a fast, intuitive interface for loading your ASCII data. Scan data files for titles, variables and data, set filters, and preview the processed data. Save a configuration file specific to your data format and apply it the next time you load the same type of file. Look for an article about the General Text Loader in the October issue of CONTOURS. 3. Many New Add-ons including Extrude, PrismGrid, and TetraGrid solve your specific problems. Extrude takes a 2-D shape (1-D line) and creates a 3-D volume (surface) by pushing the surface outward in the Z-direction. TetraGrid takes a set of 1-D zones and creates a tetrahedral volume grid. PrismGrid takes a surface (defined by triangulating a group of points) and fills the area below a specified Z-value with a prismatic volume grid. The result is the prismatic volume grid that only exists in the low-lying areas below the specified value. Look for an article about the Extrude Add-on in the October issue of CONTOURS. Other Add-ons will be covered in future issues. 4. Plot Approximation Mode increases the responsiveness for rotation, translation, zooming and style changes for large data sets. Plots are approximated, reducing the number of grid points used to render images, while retaining styles. Control the threshold for activation, as well as the percentage of the grid points used for approximated plotting. View changes can be orders of magnitude faster. Fully rendered Plot Approximation Mode 5. Faster Plotting with Multiple Zones by displaying only the first zone after loading data. The initial draw time is reduced when loading data sets with many zones. 6. Faster Image and Animation Export speeds up image export and animation on UNIX or Linux systems. Instead of off-screen rendering, it grabs images from the screen. 7. Faster Gouraud Shading of FE Surfaces by caching surface normals - speed improvement can be dramatic. Speed is most noticeable if the Cache All Graphics Display Performance option is not in use. 8. Extract 2-D Contour Lines which become new zones. Pizza oven with flood and line contours displayed for variable W. Pizza oven with flooded contours displayed for variable PAbs. Extracted contour lines for variable W are overlaid in black.

9. Improved Data Loading Options allow you to select a group of variables to load and move, rather than moving one variable at a time. Use Select By Name to highlight all variables with a specified name. (The wild card character "*" is allowed.) You can quickly find and select a specific variable or set of variables. Dialog optimisation makes operating up to 60 times faster - very helpful for data sets with a large number of variables. 10. Wide Titles make it possible to view full zone and mapping names. You control the length of titles. 11. Excel Macro enables Excel data to be directly loaded into Tecplot. Once installed, a new option is added to Excel's Tools menu called Tecplot. This launches Tecplot with the selected data loaded. It works with multiple zones and formulas. 12. Macro Language Enhancements include a sample file allowing you to perform functions like rotating a 3-D plot or tiling frames with the Quick Macro Panel. A replacement text capability allows for user-defined macro variables. The maximum length for a single macro command has increased from 12,000 to 60,000 characters. The commands listed below have been added. For a complete description, see the Tecplot Reference Manual. $!GetNodeIndex $!GetZoneType $!Interface PlotApproximationMode $!Interface OpenGLConfig $!Interface UseApproximatePlots $!Interface UseDoubleForDisplayLists S!LaunchDialog $!Workspace Unmaximise 13. ADK Enhancements include these new functions: TecUtilStateIsProcessingLayout{} TecUtilMacroSetMacroVar{} These allow developers to query whether Tecplot is processing a layout file and set a macro variable, respectively. Other ADK enhancements are included. For a complete description, see the ADK Reference Manual. 14. Custom Color Dialog Tecplot's color palette has been upgraded. With new custom color options, you can assign RGB values to any color with the Color Preferences dialog. In addition, the number of basic colors has been expanded to 64. 15. Faster Continuous Color Flooding Tecplot now has the ability to fill the area between contour lines with a smooth, continuous variation of color. Version 9.2 is up to three times faster when performing continuous color flooding based on contour variables. . 16. Step Size for Slice allows for input of a precise step size for moving the slice. Plus many other enhancements and optimisations.