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## View

The view is one of the most critical properties of a visualization since it determines what parts of the dataset are seen. The view is also one of the most difficult properties to set. It isn't that the act of setting the view is difficult, in fact, it is quit the opposite. The problem with setting the view is finding a flattering view for a database that will continue to be a good view for the entire life of the visualization. Many plots will deform or expand over the course of an animation and you have to decide how to pick a good view. You can pick a view that is zoomed way out and then let your plots expand and deform until they make good use of the visualization window. You can also decide to keep changing the view throughout the animation. A common technique is to interpolate views or do some sort of fly-by animation when the plots in the animation are expanding or not behaving in a static manner. The fly-by animation is used to distract the audience from the fact that you need to change to a more suitable view.

The view in VisIt can be set in two different ways. The first and best way to set the view is to navigate to it interactively in the visualization window. This is the fastest and most direct way of setting the view. The problem with setting the view in this manner is that it is not very reproducible. It is often the case that users want to look at the same feature in their database using the same view. VisIt provides a View Window that they can use to set the view information exactly the same every time.