Caustica documentation figures: capture checklist

Caustica documentation figures: capture checklist

The docs page (_pages/caustica-documentation.md) references figures that live in /images/caustica-docs/. Each figure has a dark and a light variant; the page shows whichever matches the active theme. Until both files exist, the figure renders as a neutral placeholder box (no broken page).

How to capture

  1. Open /assets/caustica/ in a browser. Make the window large so the square canvas is high resolution (the Save PNG export is the canvas pixel size).
  2. Load a preset: Settings tab, Load YAML, pick a file from this folder.
  3. Set the theme with the toggle (top-right of the page): capture once in dark, once in light.
  4. Set the viz mode (dropdown top-right of the image panel, or the key shortcut) and any overlays (press C for critical curves and caustics) per the table below.
  5. Click Save PNG (Recording tab). Rename the download to the target filename and move it to /images/caustica-docs/.

The UI overview is the exception: Save PNG exports only the canvas, so capture that one with an OS or browser screenshot of the whole interface.

Presets in this folder

PresetScene
single-sie.yamlOne SIE lens (z=0.5) + Gaussian source (z=1.5). UI overview, source profiles.
compound-lens.yamlMain SIE + off-centre companion SIE + external shear (z=0.5) + source (z=1.5). Quantity maps, palettes, critical curves.
two-plane.yamlSIE at z=0.4 and z=0.8 + source at z=1.6. Multiplane figure.
fermat-demo.yamlSIE (z=0.5) + uniform circle source (z=1.5), source pinned for Fermat. Fermat pair.

Figures

All files go in /images/caustica-docs/. Names take a -dark and a -light suffix, e.g. mu-dark.png + mu-light.png.

FigurePresetViz modeOverlays / notesBase filename(s)
UI overview (top)single-sieLensed image (I)OS screenshot of the whole appui
Multiplane (§3)two-planeLensed image (I)nonemultiplane
Plane timeline (§3, companion)two-planen/aOS/region screenshot of the redshift timeline + plane setup controls (wider than tall)plane-timeline
Quantities gallery (§4)compound-lensK, G, M in turnone PNG per modekappa, gamma, mu
Colormap palettes (§4)compound-lensMagnification (M)Color Map section: set Colormap to Default, Viridis, Turbocmap-default, cmap-viridis, cmap-turbo
Fermat surface (§4, left)fermat-demoFermat (T)markers I/II/III shown automaticallyfermat
Fermat images (§4, right)fermat-demoLensed image (I)same scene; the uniform circle source lenses into images at the marker positionsfermat-images
Critical curves (§7)compound-lensLensed image (I)press C to show critical curves + causticscrit
Source types (§6)single-sieLensed image (I)swap the source model: Point source, Gaussian, Pasted image (for the last, select the Pasted image model and Ctrl+V an image)src-pointsource, src-gaussian, src-pasted

The Fermat pair is meant to be read together: keep the same field of view for both so the markers on the left line up with the lensed images on the right.

Tip: the standard palettes (Viridis, Turbo, etc.) are theme-independent, but the Default palette and the lensed image differ between dark and light, so capture both themes for every figure.