From the Resources menu select the Contour Manager
command:
The Contour Manager shows a scrollable list of all the currently
defined colorbars. To create a new colorbar, click the New...
button. You will then be presented with the Contour Manager
window:
Follow these steps to create a new colorbar:
1) Enter the 4 character parameter name for the colorbar. If
your parameter name is less than 4 characters, add spaces at
the end of the name until you have 4 characters. This parameter
name should match measured parameter names in the data file
or one that will be computed from measured values.
2) Enter a title for the colorbar. The title is used creating
a name for the colorbar when saved to disk.
3) Enter an optional description for the colorbar.
4) Enter the number of values/colors in this colorbar. Maximum
is 128.
5) Enter the range of values described by this colorbar
6) Choose how colors will be assigned when you create the initial
colorbar. To change the start, middle or end colors when using
blended colors, click on the small color "swatch" to display
a standard color picker dialog. Use this to create a new color
either by selecting from a predefined palette of colors or by
setting RGB or HSV values. The Rainbow and Inverse Rainbow options
will create a colorbar that goes from red to purple or purple
to red. To assign colors from a palette, first click "Assign
colors from color table" then click the Start color swatch.
From the displayed color palette select a new start color (the
start color swatch will change to the selected color). Now choose
whether subsequent colors will be taken from the table in rows
(across table) or in columns (down table).
7) Now click one of the shape buttons to create the initial
colorbar. The colorbar will be previewed in the Value editor/preview
panel below.
If you are happy with your colorbar you can save it to disk
by clicking the Save... button. The following steps are
useful if you want to further refine your colorbar--either it's
shape or assigning specific values to specific colors.
8) To change individual colors, click in the preview to the
right of the graph to highlight any of the swatches. The color
picker dialog will be displayed and you can design a new color
for the swatch. After this dialog is dismissed, the swatch will
remain highlighted, you can now select a new color from the
color table by clicking the desired color in the table. Tip:
when one of these swatches is highlighted you can use the tab
key to move the highlight to the next swatch or press shift
and tab to move the highlight to the previous swatch. This way
you can assign new colors from the color table without having
to go through the color picker dialog.
9) You can change the value of any color by first clicking
on it's symbol in the graph panel. You can then use the up/down
arrow keys to adjust the value of the point. You can also type
in a new value for the point in the text box and clicking the
Apply button. Tip: After you have selected one of the
symbols on the graph, you can use the left/right arrow keys
to move to the next point. Tip: Clicking and holding the mouse
down in the graph allows you to "paint" a colorbar graph in
any shape you wish.
Note: The values of a colorbar should always be increasing--each
value should only have one color assigned to it.