Getting Started
In this brief tutorial, we'll create the dashboard shown below, where a given parameter for a player's tennis serve is time-normalized across multiple trials and then plotted with a legend to indicate the trial.
Installation
Choose one of the installation options below:
First Steps
Once you've installed and run the application, click "File" > "Save" or press Ctrl+S to save the newly created project to a file. After selecting a file by saving the first time, every change is autosaved instantly. It's not necessary to save the project manually.
Next, download some sample data (TODO). Click "File" > "Data Sources..." to open the Data Sources dialog. In the dialog, click "Add" and select the sample files you just downloaded. The files will be imported into the application.
Creating a Pane
In the right-side panel, click the "Add" button above the list of panes to add a new pane. The pane will appear on the left side. You can move the pane by clicking and dragging the drag handle in its top left corner or its title. You can resize the pane by clicking and dragging the resize handle in its bottom right corner. You can change the pane's title, add a description, or set its size and position precisely by selecting it in the panes list. The pane's settings will then appear below the list of panes.
Each pane has a title, optional description, zero or more controls, and optional data display. The data display can be a number, table, or graph. The pane's controls are user-created input fields that can affect the pane's output display. For example, you could add a slider to a pane's controls to set the instant in time displayed in the pane. For more about panes, see the Panes page.
Your First Node Group
Click on the pane you just created in the list of panes in the right panel. The pane's settings should appear in the right panel below the list. In this area, click "Create Node Group" to create a node group for this pane. The node group will open in the bottom half of the left panel, below the panes display. The node group will contain a Group Input node and a Group Output node, with the output of the Group Input node connected to the input of the Group Output node. At this point, the sample data you added earlier will be displayed as a table in the pane you created.
Click "Add Node" and selecting the "Select Column" node. Click on the output socket of the Group Input node and drag it to the "Data" input socket of the Select Column node. Then, click on the output socket of the Select Column node and drag it to the input socket of the Group Output node. The data table displayed in the pane should then only show the column in the Select Column node's dropdown. Try changing the selected column in the dropdown to see how this affects the table.
A Quick Overview of Nodes
Biomeca handles data processing using a system based on networks of interconnected nodes. If you've used Blender, the system is very similar to Blender's Geometry Nodes. Think of the nodes like a network of pipes. When water is poured in at one end, it flows through the pipes and reaches the other side. Data flows through nodes like water through pipes, where each node's outputs can be connected to another node's input. Nodes exist as part of groups, where within each group's node network, data flows from the Group Input node to the Group Output node. An example node group that computes the distance between two points is shown below.
Each pane can have a node group associated with it. The node group's first input is all of the data sources, and its first output is the data displayed in the pane. Other inputs are shown in the pane as controls, and other outputs are ignored. A node group's inputs and outputs can be managed in the panel on the right side of the node editor.
Node groups can contain instances of other node groups. The other node group appears like a regular node, whose inputs are the group's inputs and whose outputs are the group's outputs. This works similarly to taking all of the nodes from the other group and pasting them into the outer group, although not exactly (see Node Groups ยง Recursion).
For more detailed information about nodes, see the Nodes and Node Groups pages. For a list of all built-in nodes, see the Documentation Index.
Adding Input To Our Node Group
In the node group's "Inputs" panel, click "Add". Click the input you just created in the list of inputs. Change its name to "Column", leave the default value blank, and change the control type to "Dropdown". Leave the values setting on "Auto".
The new input will appear on the Group Input node. Connect it to the Column input of the Select Column node. The pane should now show a dropdown control labeled "Column". Try changing the value of the dropdown in the pane and see how it affects the table.