Animate or browse plots in a graph layer.

PURPOSE
This app can be used to play plots in a graph layer by group or select plots by a slider. Plots in different groups can be compared by animation.

INSTALLATION
Download the file Animate_Plots_in_Layer.opx, and then drag-and-drop onto the Origin workspace. An icon will appear in the Apps Gallery window.

OPERATION
Make a graph layer with plots for animation active. Click on the Animate Plots in Layer icon in the Apps Gallery window, a toolbar with two buttons will appear: Play/Browse and Add Surface Plots.

• Play/Browse
  1. Click on the Play/Browse button. In the opened dialog, choose Mode: Play or Browse, the former can animate plots in the layer, and the latter will show specified plots by a slider.
  2. In the Settings branch, choose First Plot in Each Group in the list box. In this way, the tool can determine which plots are allocated to a group. Each frame shows plots of the same order number in different groups. Plots before the first plot in the first group will be treated as background plots, and they will always be shown in the animation or browser. The Specify the animation speed in the Number of Frames per Second (FPS) box. It should be positive. In Browse mode, Browse Plots slider can be dragged to show specified plots.
  3. In Play mode, click Play button, a progress box will show the animation progress, and an animation will be played in the graph layer. Click End button in the progress box, and the animation will stop at this frame. Click Play button again, it will continue to play from this frame. Switch to Browse mode, the slider will stay at the stopped frame. Drag the slider to see details in frames around the stopped frame. Use the left or right arrow key in the keyboard to move to the previous or next frame.
  4. Click Close button to close the dialog.
• Add Surface Plots
  This function was required by a user. Origin can't add multiple surface plots with a specified color once. This function can add multiple surface plots with XYZ...Z data in a worksheet and set a specified fill color.
  1. Make a 3D graph layer active. It can include background plots. Click the Add Surface Plots button. In the opened dialog, select the worksheet with XYZ...Z columns for surface plot data. Choose Fill Color for these surface plots.
  2. Click OK button. Surface plots will be added to the graph layer. Use Add Surface Plots button several times, and it can create groups of surface plots in a layer with different colors for different worksheets. Then click Play/Browse button to animate plots in the graph layer.

Sample OPJU File
This app provides a sample OPJU file. Right click on the Animate Plots in Layer icon in the Apps Gallery window, and choose Show Samples Folder from the short-cut menu. A folder will open. Drag-and-drop the project file AnimatePlotsEx.opju from the folder onto Origin. The Notes window in the project shows detailed steps.
Note: If you wish to save the OPJU after changing, it is recommended that you save to a different folder location (e.g. User Files Folder).