Sometimes it's useful to be able to inspect individual data values at various locations in the 3-D volume. You can do this with the data probe. Click on the PROBE radio button on the control panel. A 3-D cursor appears in the 3-D box which you can move around using the right mouse button. For each physical variable the value for the current time step is printed along the left edge of the 3-D window. If physical units are specified for the variable they will be printed next to the value. Units can be assigned with the v5dSetUnits() function in your data conversion program as described in section 3.1.
If you turn on the GRID #'s button, the probe will be constrained to integral grid coordinates. That is, the cursor will 'snap' to the nearest discrete grid coordinate.
When the PROBE radio button is clicked on with the right mouse button is will be attached to the head of a trajectory. The probe will search for the first set of trajectories being displayed, then attach to the head of the first trajectory made in that set. The probe will also follow the movement of the trajectory during animation. This feature is useful for identifying the values at the location of a trajectory as is moves along its path.
One may also select which variables to display while in the PROBE mode. The API function 'vis5d_set_probe_vars' can be used in a script or via the 'INTERP' button.