Polyline Objects

Polyline objects lines connect a series of points in two- or three-dimensional space.

Creating Polyline Objects

To create a polyline object, provide a 2-by-n or 3-by-n array (or two or three vectors) containing the locations of the polyline's constituent points to the IDLgrPolyline::Init method. For example, the following statement creates a line from the origin, to the point X = 1, Y = 2, then to the point X = 4, Y = 3:

mypolyline = OBJ_NEW('IDLgrPolyline', [[0,0], [1,2], [4,3]]) 

Setting vertex data upon initialization is the same as using the DATA property. You can also use the POLYLINES property to define the object shape as described in Creating Polygon and Polyline Objects.

See "IDLgrPolyline" (IDL Reference Guide) for complete reference information.

Using Polyline Objects

Polyline objects have numerous properties controlling how they are rendered. You can set these properties when creating the polyline object, or use the SetProperty method to the polyline object to change these properties after creation.

Symbols

You can specify a symbol to render at each point in the polyline's path by setting the SYMBOL property to the object reference of an IDLgrSymbol object (or to an array of IDLgrSymbol objects). See Symbol Objects for details.

Shading and Vertex Coloring

Polyline object can be shaded or their vertex points colored in the same manner as polygon objects. See Shading and Vertex Colors in Configuring Polygon Objects for details.