Macros
Macros are useful for streamlining repetitive operations, executing multi-step tasks quickly, and performing operations that can’t easily be done interactively.
They are recordable, easy to edit, and don’t require any development experience. Better yet, the Tecplot support and development teams have put together several handy Basic Macros and Quick Macro Panel (QMP) files that can be customized to help you automate a variety of tasks.
Macro variables, commands, batch processes, and movie file creation are explained in the Tecplot 360 and Tecplot Focus Scripting Guides and User’s Manual found on the documentation web page.
Basic Macros
Download any of the .mcr files below, use a text editor to modify it to fit your needs, open it in your Tecplot software, and you should be ready to go.
| What it does | Click filename to download |
| Makes a group of points follow an XY curve. | anim_xycurve.mcr |
| Makes an XY curve appear to grow. | anim_xysweep.mcr |
| Animates zones so that one or more zones remain active throughout. | anim_1active.mcr |
| Animates two sets of zones loaded to same frame. It activates the first zone of each set, then the second zone of each set, etc. | anim_2sets.mcr |
| Animates zones where n consecutive zones are active throughout the animation. | anim_n_adj.mcr |
| Animates the contents of multiple frames simultaneously. Frames can contain zones or XY maps. | anim_n_frames.mcr |
| Same as the “Animate IJK Planes” feature under the Tools/Animate menu, except only 1 IJK-ordered zone is animated. | animijk_alt.mcr |
| For a 3D i-ordered data set, points will be displayed singly, from first to last, with the index value displayed on each. Each point will be colored according to the value of a 4th variable. | anim_point.mcr |
| Calculates the total area of all cells which lie above a specified contour variable limit. | area.mcr |
| Creates a new variable that is set to the AVERAGE of a chosen variable. This AVERAGE is calculated for all of the points in the lowest ACTIVE zone in your dataset. This macro only works on I-, IJ-, and IJK-ordered data. | average.mcr |
| Calculates the difference between 2 i-ordered XY curves (zones) with different numbers of points. | diff_sum_2zones.mcr |
| Integrates the volume below an IJ ordered surface in 2D mode, given a contour variable. | ijint.mcr |
| Calculates the area below an XY curve. | integrate.mcr |
| Macro to create a plot where scatter symbols are drawn on top of a contour plot where the scatter symbols represent the positions of the minimum and maximum contour value. | markminmax.mcr |
| Copys a zone multiple times and rotate the duplicates around an XY point. Great for making propellers, turbines, etc. from a single blade. | pinwheel.mcr |
| Switchs the I and J indices of an IJ-ordered zone. | switchij.mcr |
| Creates a variable which is uses to number the zones. | zonenum.mcr |
| Splits an I ordered zone into smaller zones based on the values of one of the variables. | zone_spiltbyvar.mcr |
| Splits an I ordered zone into smaller zones, based on a user provided number of points for each smaller zone. | zone_splitbynum.mcr |
Quick Macro Panel (QMP) Files
These files contain one or more macro functions that can be added to the Quick Macro Panel found in your Tecplot software. As the name implies, this panel gives you quick access to your favorite, commonly used macro functions. To use them, open the file with a text editor, then copy and paste the functions to the tecplot.mcr file located in your Tecplot home directory.
| What it does | Click filename to download |
| A series of functions that set the value blanking to blank all cells outside of the current axis range. (2D or 3D). | clip2axis.mcr |
| Macro functions to allow you to IJK-Blank multiple zones. This uses value blanking to simulate IJK-Blanking. | ijkblank.mcr |
| Macro functions for creating north arrow or scale bar for map plots. | mapsymbols.mcr |
| A macrofunction that can do a Probe At on a 2d dataset. | probe2D.mcr |
| A macrofunction that can do a Probe At on a 3d dataset. | probe3D.mcr |