Re: Is "border" in pm3d redundant?

[Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...>]

On 06/25/2015 01:51 PM, Ethan A Merritt wrote:
> On Thursday, 25 June, 2015 12:54:55 Daniel J Sebald wrote:
>
>>  I was working on an application for which there's to be color surface
>
>>  and mesh lines. I began down the route of "border" feature for pm3d,
>
>>  which is fairly new. But after a while of not getting what I'd hoped
>
>>  for in hidden3d mode, I began to wonder if pm3d/border is redundant
>
>>  because gnuplot almost has such capability without the "border" feature.
>
>>  Having
>
>>
>
>>  splot x+y with pm3d border <line characteristics>
>
>>
>
>>  is sort of re-implementing
>
>>
>
>>  splot x+y with pm3d, x+y with lines <line characteristics>
>
>>
>
>>  In the long run we'd like some type of surface color control and true
>
>>  hidden3d surface removal. I know pm3d and hidden3d don't combine just
>
>>  right, but that doesn't mean the syntax can't trend in a desired
> direction.
>
>>
>
>>  The general principle is that the user may want to use the same function
>
>>  or data set for multiple plot elements, e.g.,
>
>>
>
>>  splot "foo" with lines <line chars> [and] surfels <face chars>
>
>>
>
>>  (or "polygons", "faces", whatever). However, the "and" concept kind of
>
>>  exists already with the special "-" filename:
>
>>
>
>>  splot "foo" with lines <line chars>,
>
>>  "-" with surfels <face chars>
>
>>
>
>>  That is essentially saying "and" because there is no new function/file
>
>>  specification.
>
> I don't understand. Maybe you mean "" rather than "-"?

Yes, something like that.  I was just typing from memory, recalling that 
there is some syntax that utilizes the previous data.


> I really don't see any need for an "and" syntax.

The title of the thread is "Is border in pm3d redundant?"  The question 
is whether "border" is needed since what it achieves (which is plot this 
"and" that using the same data file) already essentially exists in a 
more robust and conceptually consistent manner.

Is there something beneficial to "border" beyond the syntax that already 
existed?

Dan