Steema Central

Hi, I have a surface contour plot and want to add the transparent plane (parallel to the contours) that I can move up/down the surface. A color line tool would be perfect (grab handles) but... how can I fill the area inside the color line frame with a transparent color?
I have looked at using a 3D color grid series but this series does not have grab handles and would require generating data for the plane as it is move up/down.
I think using the color line tool with the surface plot would work if I could fill the tool frame with a transparent color.
Does anyone have any suggestions. Thanks, Bob

Hi Bob,

You can try using this:
Hope this helps!

Hi Narcís,
Thanks for the idea but the "Pen.Style:=psClear" only seems to make the color line disappear. I would like to fill the frame of the color line with a transparent color if possible. Also when I execute the psClear command I can no longer drag the color line (I tried Pen.Style:=psClear but this did not help).
Any other suggests would be appreciated - some kind of fill routine? Bob

Hi Bob,

Sorry but I don't understand what do you exactly mean with "the frame of the color line" then. Would you be so kind to send us an image or a simple example project we can run "as-is" to reproduce the problem here?

You can either post your files at news://www.steema.net/steema.public.attachments newsgroup or at our upload page.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Narcís, Thanks for helping!
Here is what I really want to do… I want to plot a 3d surface and have a semi-transparent plane cut through the surface. The 3d surface has a single contour line associated with it (at the same elevation as the semi-transparent plane).

This allows the user to grab the semi-transparent plane and pull it up/down – the contour line should the semi-transparent plane. I will send a JPEG from my test program as soon as I send this.

The program works but… the color line tool only shows up as a black frame on the perimeter of the plot. How can I make this semi-transparent?

Other related questions…
If I open the chart editor from my program and select the color line tool it has no options – is this normal?
If I set the color line value I can no longer grab it (I tried setting Active := TRUE and AllowDrag := TRUE but this does not help). What must be set so I can grab and move the color line tool again?

Thank you very much, Bob

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the information. I think now I understand what you are trying to do.

The program works but… the color line tool only shows up as a black frame on the perimeter of the plot. How can I make this semi-transparent?

At the present moment, TeeChart VCL doesn't support pen transparency. We are working on a new rendering engine that may support this. However, if you set ColorLine's pen to psClear you can still drag the tool, try moving the mouse over the chart and you'll see dragging cursor.

Other related questions…
If I open the chart editor from my program and select the color line tool it has no options – is this normal?
If I set the color line value I can no longer grab it (I tried setting Active := TRUE and AllowDrag := TRUE but this does not help). What must be set so I can grab and move the color line tool again?

This works fine for me here using TeeChart Pro v8.03 VCL release candidate version. I'll send you the URL to download v8.03, could you please check if it works fine at your end?

Thanks in advance.