TOPCAT v2.0 release

[Mark Taylor]

Dear VO,

This is to announce the release of TOPCAT v2.0.

This version features major graphics upgrades.  Headline features:

 - More plot types:
      To join the existing 2-d scatter plot window there are now the
      following plot types:

        - Histogram
        - 3-d Cartesian scatter plot
        - 3-d spherical polar plot with optional radial axis 
             (good for sky coverage visualisation)
        - 2-d density map (i.e. 2-d histogram)

      The 3-d functionality does not require any 3-d toolkit such as 
      Java3D or OpenGL to work, the only requirement is any old 
      J2SE 1.4 or 1.5 JVM.

 - Multi-dataset/multi-table plotting
      All the graphics windows now let you plot data from different tables,
      or from different sets of columns, on the same plot.  You can
      have as many of each type of window open as you like.

 - Transparent pixels/density map plotting
      The density map, and the new translucent symbol features of the
      2-d and 3-d scatter plots, provide a lot more visual information
      about crowded plots with many points, since you can now see how
      many points fall in a pixel rather than just that the pixel is 
      covered.

 - Plotting styles
      All the plots allow you detailed control over how 
      points/bars/whatever are plotted - colours, shapes, line styles,
      transparency etc.  Each style can be edited independently of
      the others.

 - Line drawing & linear correlation
      The 2d scatter plot calculates and displays regression lines and/or
      straight lines connecting points.

 - Manual axis configuration
      As well as zooming you can select the range to be plotted 
      explicitly by typing it in.

 - Plotting performance
      2d scatter plots now require considerably less memory and CPU time
      than before.  Depending on how it's stored, a million row initial
      plot may take around 15 sec and a replot around 1 sec.

... and more.

The release is available in various forms from the TOPCAT web page:

   http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/

You can also find comprehensive documentation and plenty of screenshots
there.

User feedback of any kind is most welcome.

Mark

-- 
Mark Taylor   Astronomical Programmer   Physics, Bristol University, UK
m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk +44-117-928-8776 http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/