Overlay Manager

Figure 1 - Overlay Manager Window

The Overlay Manager provides an interface for configuring which overlays to display in the Browse Window.

Please note: It is not always necessary to use the Overlay Manager. For simple overlay operations, such as adding a single overlay for a simulated input or output or removing all the existing overlays, the Overlay Manager is not needed. However, it is very useful for more advanced operations: adding theoretical distribution curves, changing which simulation in a multiple simulation run should be displayed, etc.

The top of the Overlays Manager contains the Primary Result panel, which displays information about the main result being displayed in the current window. This information cannot be changed but is useful as a reference.

The Overlays Panel contains a table consisting of one row for each overlay displayed on the graph. Its columns include:

  • Type – The type of curve being displayed, either an Output, Simulated Input, Theoretical Input, or "Original (Pre-optimization)". See During an Optimization for more information about pre-optimization curves.
  • Cell – The cell that contains the item being graphed.
  • Name – The name of the input or output.
  • Simulation – Only displayed when a simulation using multiple simulations has been performed. Specifies which simulation to display for the overlay. By default all overlays will have this option set to 'Auto' which means the overlays will match the primary curve’s simulation. With this choice, if the active simulation is changed in the Browse Window the overlay will change along with the primary curve.

  • The 'Auto' option is generally considered the most useful configuration. However, it can be overridden to instead always use a specific simulation.

There are four buttons to the right of the Overlays Panel:

  • Add – Adds one or more new overlays to the list.
  • Delete – Deletes the selected overlay(s) from the list.
  • Move Up/Move Down – These buttons arrange the ordering of distributions on the graph. This primarily affects the positions of the items in the graph’s legend. However it can also affect the order that curves are drawn on the graph, which may be desirable to control when multiple distribution overlap.