User Interface

The Pisces Main Panel.

File Menu

These options control the saving and loading of data, and the quitting of Pisces.

Output Menu

These options control where Pisces sends data.

• View Window: Open a new two-dimensional canvas window and send data to it. This option is available to every user through the Tcl/Tk toolkit.
• Geomview: Send data to a Geomview session (invoking Geomview if necessary). This option is only available for users with UNIX workstations (or running linux on a PC) who have installed Geomview.
• Postscript File: Send data to a postscript file, in preparation for sending the file to a postscript-compatible printer.
• File: Send data to an ascii file in Geomview format.
• Standard Output: Send data directly to a the standard output in Geomview format.
• Erase All Graphics: Delete all objects from the graphics buffer.

Algorithm Menu

Which algorithm should Pisces use to compute a level set?

• Adaptive Grid Algorithm: Computes a curve in the plane.
• Box Algorithm: Computes a curve in the plane or a surface in 3-space.
• Geisow's Algorithm: Computes an algebraic curve in the plane. That is, the model must be a polynomial function of two variables.
• Simple Algorithm: Computes a curve in the plane.
• Predictor-Corrector Algorithm: Computes a curve in arbitrary dimensions.
• Recursive Surface Algorithm: Computes an implicitly-defined surface in 3-space.
• Two-Parameter Continuation Algorithm: Computes an implicitly-defined surface in arbitrary dimensions.

Settings Menu

These options control parameters that determine how Pisces computes and displays implicitly-defined curves and surfaces.

• Model: Control the domain variables, the parameters, and the range variables for the currently selected model.
• Output: Control the way that Pisces displays data.
• Jacobian: Set parameters that determine how Pisces computes derivatives and invokes Newton's method.
• Derived Model: From a single coded model, the user may derive new models and compute the level sets of these functions.
• Geomview: If Geomview is being used to view level sets, the user may decide which coordinates to send to Geomview.

Utilities Menu

These options are primarily self-contained scripts or short modules that interact with the rest of Pisces to compute special features of implicitly-defined object.

• Animate: Compute level sets for a one-parameter family of functions as a single parameter is linearly varied.
• Parametric Animate: Compute level sets for a family of functions with two parameters. The user may select an arbitrary path through parameter space.

Model

This menu contains a list of all of the models which are currently compiled into Pisces. A model is Pisces' name for the current function whose level set we want to determine.