NOTE: The commands in this tutorial are only available if the VES-3600 Advanced Signal Processing option is authorized by your ME'scope license. Check Help | About to verify authorization of this option.
An Acoustic Surface is a special type of SubStructure that is used to display acoustic data. Acoustic data is typically taken on a grid of spatial Points in the vicinity of one or more noise sources. SPL , Sound Power & Acoustic Intensity data is typically displayed on an Acoustic Surface. Acoustic surfaces are easily created by using the Drawing Assistant in the Structure window.
Each measurement Point on an acoustic surface is surrounded by an area that is automatically calculated when the surface is generated.
A normal vector (at right angles) to the surface is also calculated for each measurement Point.
The surrounding area and normal of a Point are used to calculate Sound Power through the surface from Intensity data.
Execute Project | New Project to start a new Project.
Execute File | New | Structure to create a new Structure window.
Execute File | Structure Options in the Structure window.
On the Units tab in the File | Structure Options box, choose Meters from the Length Units list, and click on OK.
Execute Draw | Drawing Assistant 
in the Structure window.
On the SubStructure tab, double click on the Editable Acoustic Surface.
On the Dimensions tab, enter the following changes.
Width: 1 m
Points: 5
Height: 1 m
Points: 6
5 by 6 Meter Acoustic Surface.
Acoustic Surface Showing Areas & Normals.
Execute Display | Display Objects | Points | Acoustic Normals to display the acoustic normal vector at each Point.
Each of the 30 bold measurement Points is surrounded by 4 Points which define its acoustic area. Acoustic areas & normals are calculated when an acoustic surface is created in the Drawing Assistant. Acoustic areas & normals are listed in the Points spreadsheet, and must be edited if the Point coordinates are changed.