These are text files of commands which will be executed by the program, allowing automation of some activities and the creation of demonstration sequences.The sample below lists the available commands:
| loadshd "c:\data\eye\eye.shd" | loads the named data set into the program. |
| rotate 4.5 right | rotate to the right by 4.5 degrees and redraw. |
| rotate 4 left | rotate to the left by 4 degrees and redraw. |
| rotate 0.1 up | rotate up by 0.1 degrees and redraw. |
| rotate 33.72 clockwise | rotate clockwise by 33.72 degrees and redraw. |
| rotate 90 anticlockwise | rotate anticlockwise by 90 degrees and redraw. |
| up 90 | rotates object without redrawing image. |
| left 1 | rotates object without redrawing image. |
| draw | redraw image. |
| combined view | draw composite image (see view control) |
| aview 0 0 0 | draws starting view (absolute view). |
| aview 10 0 0 | draws view 10 degrees down from start view. |
| aview 0 10 0 | draws view 10 degrees right from start view. |
| aview 0 0 10 | draws view 10 degrees anticlockwise from start view. |
| aview 10 20 30 | same as the following from the start view: down 10 right 20 anticlockwise 30 draw |
| wait 0.1 | delay for 0.1 seconds. |
| shift 10 20 5 | move data 10mm right, 20mm down, 5mm forwards without redraw. |
| level 50 | subsequent images will be drawn at byte threshold 50 (no redraw) |
| bsection 10 | cull from back 10mm in front of centre. |
| hslice 20 | enter ortho display and draw horizontal slice 20 pixels below centre. |
| vslice 30 | draw vertical slice 30 pixels right of centre. |
| zslice 40 | draw transverse slice 40 pixels in front of centre. |
| resize 1.1 | change image display scale to 1.1 mm/pixel for subsequent images.(no redraw) |
| cur 2 | set object 2 to be the active object (see editing).(no redraw) |
| aux 0 | set object 0 to be the auxiliary object (see editing).(no redraw) |
| include 3 | include object 3 in combined view.(no redraw) |
| exclude 2 | exclude object 2 from combined view.(no redraw) |
| mirror 1 | left-right mirror object 1 through the current vertical axis.(no redraw) |
| reposition on | rotations and shifts act only on the current object, allowing surgical simulation.(no redraw) |
| reposition off | rotations and shifts act on all objects together.(no redraw) |
| loadedit "c:\data\eye\eye.edi" | loads the named edit state. This must have been previously saved from the software when processing the same data set as is currently loaded. |
| savezbuffer "5axisb5.zbf" | saves a depth map of current view to the named file. |
| saveimage "image3.ppm" | saves a binary ppm format image of the current view to the named file. |
| addcenmark | adds a marker on the current surface at the centre of the field of view |
| draw ;means render image | all text on a line after a semicolon is ignored; allowing comments in .ply files. |
Commands should be written in plain text, one instruction per line, into a file with extension .ply. The file menu contains an option for running these files.