Curve Tool: Importing and Exporting Curves

It is possible to import and export curves to and from the Curve Tool. It is most common to use this feature in conjunction with Microsoft Excel. Importing and exporting is done with the clipboard. The steps below describe Microsoft Excel specifically, but other applications will behave similarly.

To export a curve to Microsoft Excel:

In the Curve Tool, do the following:

Select the axis of the curve you want to export, as described in Selecting the Active Axis.
Click the Graph view to make it the active view.
On the Edit menu, click Cut or Copy.

You can also use the corresponding toolbar buttons ( $image\but_cut.gif$ and $image\but_copy.gif$ ) or the CTRL+X and CTRL+C shortcut keys to issue these commands.

Both will place the curve on the clipboard, but Cut will erase the curve from the Curve Tool.

You can also copy cells from the Spreadsheet view to the clipboard. See Cutting and Copying Cells for more information.

Open a Microsoft Excel worksheet and do the following:

Select the top-left cell you want to paste the curve into.
On the Edit menu, click Paste.

You can also use the corresponding toolbar button ( $image\but_paste.gif$ ) or the CTRL+V shortcut key to issue this command.

The curve will be pasted in two columns. The first column will hold the times (or master positions) of all points in the curve. The second column will hold the positions of all points in the curve. Notice that velocities and linear/cubic segment information is not exported.

To import a curve from Microsoft Excel:

Open a Microsoft Excel worksheet and do the following:

Type two columns of numbers. Each row represents a point, with the first column being the time (or master position) and the second column being the position.
Select this two-column block of cells.
On the Edit menu, click Copy to place the data on the clipboard.

You can also use the corresponding toolbar button ( $image\but_copy.gif$ ) or the CTRL+C shortcut key to issue this command.

In the Curve Tool, do the following:

Select the axis of the curve you want to import into, as described in Selecting the Active Axis.
Click the Graph view to make it the active view.
On the Edit menu, click Paste.

You can also use the corresponding toolbar button ( $image\but_paste.gif$ ) or the CTRL+V shortcut key to issue this command.

If there is an existing curve on this axis, then you will be prompted whether you want to overwrite that curve. If you answer yes, then the existing curve will be replaced by the one on the clipboard.

You can also paste data from an external program into the Spreadsheet view. See Pasting Cells for more information.