$$\renewcommand\AA{\text{Å}}$$

# Vectors

This visual element shows arrow glyphs to visualize a local vectorial property associated with each particle or other type of data element. For example, the vectors visual element for the particle property Displacement, which is computed by the Displacement vectors modifier, can be found under the “Visual elements” section of the pipeline editor (see screenshot). It provides controls for the appearance of the arrow glyphs.

## Parameters

Scaling factor

All arrow lengths get scaled by this factor. The default scaling factor is 1.0, which means the lengths of the rendered glyphs reflect the original three-dimensional vectors.

Arrow width

The width of the arrow glyphs (in simulation units of length).

Alignment

Controls how the arrow glyphs are positioned relative to the particles they belong to.

Reverse direction

Flips the direction of all arrows, swapping their heads and tails.

This option switches from three-dimensional (solid) arrow glyphs to two-dimensional (flat) glyphs.

Coloring

You can choose between uniform coloring of all arrows and pseudo-coloring of the individual arrow glyphs based on some scalar property associated with the particles. When you activate the Color mapping option, OVITO shows a separate panel letting you pick the source property for the pseudo-coloring and configure the color transfer function.

Hint

A third method of coloring the arrows is to assign explicit RGB color values to the Vector Color property of the particles. This approach gives you full control over the color of each individual arrow. You can set the Vector Color property using the Compute property or Color coding modifiers, for example.

Transparency

The degree of semi-transparency of the arrows.

Offset (XYZ)

An optional three-dimensional offset vector by which all arrow glyphs are displaced. The offset can be used to move the arrows fully in front of the particles and avoid undesirable occlusions.

ovito.vis.VectorVis (Python API)