A colormap shows three quantities at once — the horizontal axis, the vertical axis and the colour
scale. The processing cursor is the crosshair you place on such a colormap to take a
cut through it. The cut is shown inline: a new chart row opens directly underneath the
colormap in the same Data Viewer, and it recomputes while you move the cursor, so you can watch the
spectrum change as you sweep across time or RPM.
Prerequisites
The chart must be a colormap result (for example FFT vs. Time, an order map, a cepstrum map, a
specific-loudness map). On curve plots the Add Processing Cursor entry is not shown.
The Order direction additionally requires a map whose horizontal axis is RPM and
whose vertical axis is frequency in Hz. On a map without a speed axis an order line cannot be
defined, so the entry is hidden rather than offered as a dead item.
Opening an Inline Section
Right-click anywhere on the colormap.
Open Add Processing Cursor and pick a direction: Time,
Frequency, Order or Cross.
A new row of section plots appears directly below the colormap, and a crosshair marker appears on
the map itself.
Move the mouse across the colormap. The section plots follow the cursor position continuously.
Picking the same direction again switches the section off and removes the row. Picking a
different direction switches the row over without closing it.
The Four Cut Directions
Menu entry
What is cut
Resulting section plot
Time
A vertical cut at the cursor's first-axis position
Spectrum at the cursor time (or at the cursor RPM on a speed map)
Frequency
A horizontal cut at the cursor's second-axis position
Level vs. time at the cursor frequency
Order
Along the order line f = order · rpm / 60 that passes through the cursor
Level vs. RPM at a fixed order
Cross
Both cuts at once
Two section plots side by side in the same row
Moving and Locking the Cursor
While a section is open, the processing cursor follows the mouse across the colormap. That is what
makes browsing fast — but it also means the cut moves the moment you pass the mouse over the map
again. Freeze it once you have found the position you want:
Right-click directly on the processing cursor lines. A short section appears at the
top of the menu, headed Add Processing Cursor, containing
Lock Position and Remove all Cursors.
Click Lock Position. The tick mark appears and the cut stops following the mouse.
To move the cut again, right-click the cursor and clear Lock Position.
The same Lock Position item also sits at the bottom of the
Add Processing Cursor submenu, so you can lock and unlock without having to hit the
cursor lines exactly.
Lock the position before you copy the page, export an image or hand the page over to a report. A locked
processing cursor cannot be nudged by an accidental mouse pass, and its locked state travels into an
Active Picture.
Working on the Section Plots
The section plots are ordinary charts, not pictures. Everything the Data Viewer offers on a curve plot
works on them:
Right-click a section plot to add cursors — single, double, harmonic, sideband, automatic
peak/valley, coupled. See Chart Cursors.
Use Label Cursor to annotate a point with its value, and
Undo Last Label / Clear All Labels to manage the annotations.
Use Copy Values → All or Between X limits to
take the section data to a spreadsheet.
Change the axis form and range from the axis right-click menu, or double-click an axis for its range
dialog. Home resets the axes, Backspace undoes the last axis setting.
Because the section is live, dragging the processing cursor recomputes the curve underneath the cursors
you placed on it — the readings follow the new cut.
Layout, Row Height and Scrolling
The colormap keeps a full-width row of its own; the section plots occupy the row directly beneath it.
In Cross mode the two sections share that row side by side.
Section rows are given a minimum height. When the extra rows no longer fit in the visible area, the
Data Viewer shows a vertical scroll bar instead of squeezing every chart flatter until the bottom row
is unreadable.
To inspect one chart in detail, use its right-click menu → Display Size →
Maximize, and Restore to return.
Section plots that belong to a direction you are not currently showing are kept ready but hidden;
they take up no space and reappear instantly when you switch direction.
Taking Sections into a Report
Sections are part of the page, so the page-level commands include them:
Copy as Metafile / Export Image... — a static figure of the
colormap plus its sections.
Copy as Active Picture (embedded data) — the whole arrangement as an editable
object. Inside Word or PowerPoint you can drag the processing cursor and the sections follow. See
Active Picture.
Duplicate in the page menu makes a second live copy of the page, which is handy for
comparing two cursor positions side by side.
Troubleshooting
The section keeps moving when I do not want it to
Switch on Lock Position (right-click the processing cursor, or the last item of the
Add Processing Cursor submenu). Without it, every mouse pass over the colormap moves
the cut — by design, so that browsing is fast.
There is no “Add Processing Cursor” entry
The chart under the mouse is not a colormap. Processing cursors cut a colour map; on a curve plot use
the ordinary cursors instead.
“Order” is missing from the submenu
The order line is only defined on a map with an RPM axis and a frequency axis in Hz. A map without a
speed axis (for example FFT vs. Time) offers Time, Frequency and Cross only.
I switched direction and the section still shows the old data
It should recompute immediately at the cursor's last position. If the cursor has never been placed on
this map, move the mouse once across the colormap to give it a position.
The bottom row of charts is cut off
Use the vertical scroll bar of the Data Viewer, enlarge the window, or maximize the chart you need with
Display Size → Maximize.
Closing the section (picking the same direction again) discards the section row together with any
cursors and labels you placed on it. Copy the values or copy the page first if you still need them.