There is now a highly enhanced version of the "cut" module. It allows for the cutting to be based on an externally input slice plane. Further, you can displace the cutting surface any distance from this external plane. With 2 cuts, we can create a region of any width that is centered around an external slice. Using slice_horizontal, slice_easting, or slice_northing(all of which can also be rotated), as input, you will have much more control over cutting. Also, the right most (blue-black) output port of cut now (as stated in the help) outputs the "other half" of the model. This is useful for displaying a solid model on one side of the cut model and a plume on the other.
General Module Function
The Cut module is used to cut away part of the data field using a cutting plane. The cutting plane essentially cuts the data field into two parts and sends only the part above or below the plane to the output ports. The output of cut is the volume of the model from the side of the cut plane specified.
Module Input Ports
Cut has only two input ports. The leftmost port accepts any 2D or 3D mesh. The mesh can contain nodal data and/or cell data. The right port accepts an external cutting plane from one of 3 other modules. Those modules are slice_horizontal, slice_northing, or slice_easting..
Module Status: Interruptible
This module's computational processes can be terminated (interrupted) using the "C Tech" icon in the Windows Notification Area (aka System Tray) in the lower right corner of your desktop. If you hover over the icon, it will tell you the status of the module and expected completion time. Double-Right-Clicking will terminate the process. Note that if you do stop any process, the output of the module is corrupted and any downstream module's results are not usable. You will need to re-run the module.
Module Output Ports
Cut contains four output ports. The leftmost (blue/black) output port outputs a subset of the same cell type and dimensionality as the input mesh. The right (blue/black) output port is the same as the leftmost except it outputs the other side of the mesh. Essentially, the left port with the above box checked is the same as the rightmost port with the above box not checked (see the control panel figure below). Nodal data sent to either of these output ports consists of nodal data for all map components selected interpolated onto the slice plane. The second (red) output port is a renderable version of the left port if the input is faces or edges. The rightmost (red) output port is a renderable version of the cutting plane that cut uses (not the external cutting plane).
Module Control Panel
The control panel for Cut is shown in the figure above.
The Run toggle will either allow or prevent the module from running.
The Above check box is used to determine whether the mesh above or below the cutting plane is sent to the output port.
The External Cut Plane toggle allows you to use a cutting plane from one of 3 other modules. Those modules are slice_horizontal, slice_northing, or slice_easting.
The Remove Normals Generation toggle is equivalent to setting Normals Generation (in Object.Modes) to None. This changes the rendering of surfaces and is sometimes preferable.
The plane distance slider moves the slice plane through the data field perpendicular to the current orientation of the slice plane. The default distance is 0.0 which represents the the centroid of the model. Therefore, with all sliders set at 0.0 there would be a horizontal (flat lying) plane cutting the model at the precise elevation midpoint of the model.
The X, Y and Z rotation sliders operate according to rotations about their respective axes. For example, an X-rotation of 90 would result in an east west cross-sectional cutting plane (assuming cartesion coordinates) through the center of your model. A Y-rotation of 90 (all others 0.0) would result in a north-south cross-sectional cutting plane through the model center.
Positive values (slider to the right) rotate the slice plane in a positive (clockwise) direction about the axis.
Nodal Data Components determines which nodal components will be sent to the leftmost output port in an unstructured mesh format. Also, the first map component selected will be the variable used to color the remainder of the mesh left after cutting. For example, choosing the map component uncertainty will color the remainder of the mesh after cutting using uncertainty values.
The Map Cell Components option box selector lets you map cell data (if any) to the output. This is markedly faster than using interp_cell_data. The cell data will only be visible if all nodal data is unselected (under Map Components).
Notes about the slider ranges:
The minimum range is the (absolute value of maximum X-Y-Z extent - minimum X-Y-Z extent) * -0.5. The maximum range is the (absolute value of the maximum X-Y-Z extent - minimum X-Y-Z extent) * 0.5. The distance is measured from the spatial midpoint of the extents in all 3 axes. Because the extent may vary in different directions, the cut plane distance limits will usually exceed the extent in any direction. This can allow placing the cutting plane outside of the domain of the data.
Related Modules
-> slice