3D Coordinate Formatters

Custom 3D coordinate formatters are used to change the format of information displayed by Calcam about a point in 3D on the CAD model. A custom coordinate formatter takes the form of a python module or package. The module or package is required to have a function at its top level called format_coord() which takes as its input argument a 3 element sequence containing \(X,Y,Z\) coordinates in metres. The function must return a single string containing the information to be displayed in the Calcam GUI. It is highly recommended that for clarity, different elements of information should be separated by newline characters i.e. \n.

Example

Below is a simple example of a coordinate formatter, which will display the position in cartesian and cylindircal coordinates, and which vacuum vessel segment a point is in:

import numpy as np

# MAST coordinate formatter, includes sector number.
def format_coord(coords):

    # Toroidal angle
    phi = np.arctan2(coords[1],coords[0])
    if phi < 0.:
        phi = phi + 2*3.14159
    phi = phi / 3.14159 * 180

    # MAST is divided in to 12 sectors; we want to know what segment we're in.
    sector = (3 - np.floor(phi/30)) % 12

    # Build the output string
    formatted_coord = 'X,Y,Z: ( {:.3f} m , {:.3f} m , {:.3f} m )'.format(coords[0],coords[1],coords[2])

    formatted_coord = formatted_coord + u'\nR,Z,\u03d5: ( {:.3f} m , {:.3f}m , {:.1f}\xb0 )'.format(np.sqrt(coords[0]**2 + coords[1]**2),coords[2],phi)

    formatted_coord = formatted_coord + '\nSector {:.0f}'.format(sector)

    return  formatted_coord

Adding to a CAD model

Once written, a custom coordinate formatter can be added to Calcam CAD model definitions using the CAD Model Definition Editor.