moved from a general heatmap to a more spatial hot cold point around nodes that the density and brightness are controlled by how far past the threshold the nodes temp is

src/3dModels/Shapes/BaseMesh.tsx

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export interface BaseMeshProps {
     materialProps?: Partial<MaterialParameters>;
     materialOverride?: React.ReactNode;
     side?: Side
+    depthWrite?: boolean
 }
 
 export default function BaseMesh(props: BaseMeshProps) {
@@ -30,7 +31,8 @@ export default function BaseMesh(props: BaseMeshProps) {
         materialType,
         materialProps,
         materialOverride,
-        side
+        side,
+        depthWrite = true
     } = props;
 
     const isTransparent = opacity < 1;
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ export default function BaseMesh(props: BaseMeshProps) {
                         color={colour}
                         transparent={isTransparent}
                         opacity={opacity}
-                        depthWrite={!isTransparent}
+                        depthWrite={depthWrite}
                         side={side}
                         {...materialProps}
                     />

src/bin/3dView/BinParts/BinShell.tsx

@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export default function BinShell(props: Props) {
                 wireframe= {wireframe}
                 metalness={binMetalness} 
                 position={roofPosition} 
-                roughness={binRoughness} 
+                roughness={binRoughness}
                 side={2}
                 opacity={binOpacity}/>
             {/* bin sidewall - cylinder (open ended for the roof and bottom)*/}
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ export default function BinShell(props: Props) {
                 colour={binBodyColour} 
                 wireframe= {wireframe}
                 metalness={binMetalness} 
-                roughness={binRoughness} 
+                roughness={binRoughness}
                 opacity={binOpacity}/>
             {/* bin bottom - cone -OR- circle depending on the bins shape*/}
             {hopperHeight !== undefined && hopperHeight > 0 ?

src/bin/3dView/Data/BuildNodeData.ts

@@ -33,17 +33,28 @@ export function BuildNodeData(cables: CableData[]): NodeData[] {
 
         
         grainCable.celcius.forEach((celcius,i) => {
+            
             const nodeY = bottomY + (i * spacing);
 
             const humidity = grainCable.relativeHumidity[i] || undefined;
             const moisture = grainCable.moisture[i] || undefined;
+            let t = celcius
+            //this is for testing to force a single node to a specific temp
+            // if (i === 0) {
+            //     t = 30
+            // }            
+            // if (i === 1) {
+            //     t = -30
+            // }
+
+
 
             nodeData.push({
                 cableIndex: cableIndex,
                 nodeIndex: i,
                 radius: nodeRadius,
                 position: new Vector3(cable.bottomPosition.x, nodeY, cable.bottomPosition.z),
-                celcius: celcius,
+                celcius: t,
                 humidity: humidity,
                 moisture: moisture,
                 topNode: grainCable.topNode === i+1, //top node tracking starts at 1 not 0 so add one to the index

src/bin/3dView/Scene/Bin3dView.tsx

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import { Vector3 } from "three";
 import { useMemo } from "react";
 import { BuildCableData } from "../Data/BuildCableData";
 import { BuildNodeData } from "../Data/BuildNodeData";
+import Heatmap from "../Systems/Heatmap/HeatMapAlpha";
+import NodePointCloud from "../Systems/Heatmap/NodePointCloud";
 
 interface Props {
     /**
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ export default function Bin3dView(props: Props){
                     radialSegments={20} 
                     binMetalness={0.5} 
                     binRoughness={0.7} 
-                    binOpacity={0.5}
+                    binOpacity={0.2}
                     diameter={bin.diameter()}
                     sidewallHeight={bin.sidewallHeight()}
                     roofHeight={bin.roofHeight()}
@@ -62,6 +64,7 @@ export default function Bin3dView(props: Props){
                 )}
                 {/* cables */}
                 <BinCables cableData={cableData} nodeData={nodeData} bin={bin} binCenter={binCenter}/>
+                <NodePointCloud bin={bin} nodes={nodeData} />
               </group>
 
                 {/* lighting */}

src/bin/3dView/Systems/Cables/CableNode.tsx

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { pond } from "protobuf-ts/pond"
 import Ring, { RingGeometry } from "3dModels/Shapes/3D/Ring"
 // import { Color } from "three";
 import { NodeData } from "../../Data/BuildNodeData"
-import { tempToColour } from "bin/3dView/utils/tempToColour"
+import { TempToColour } from "bin/3dView/utils/tempToColour"
 
 interface Props {
     node: NodeData
@@ -193,12 +193,26 @@ export default function CableNode(props: Props){
         return totalHeight / 2 - (index * ROW_HEIGHT) - ROW_HEIGHT / 2;
     };
 
+    const nodeColour = () => {
+        if (node.excluded){
+            return "grey"
+        }
+        if (!node.inGrain){
+            return "white"
+        }
+        let c = TempToColour(node, lowerThreshold, upperThreshold, "node")
+        if (c !== null){
+            return c.getStyle()
+        }
+        return "white"
+    }
+
 
     return (
         <React.Fragment>
             {(!node.inGrain || !showLabel) &&
               <React.Fragment>
-                <Sphere geometry={geometry} position={node.position} colour={tempToColour(node, lowerThreshold, upperThreshold, "node")?.getStyle()}/>
+                <Sphere geometry={geometry} position={node.position} colour={nodeColour()}/>
                 {node.topNode && (
                     <Ring geometry={topNodeGeo} position={topNodePosition} rotation={topNodeRotation}/>
                 )}

src/bin/3dView/Systems/Heatmap/HeatMapAlpha.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+import { NodeData } from "bin/3dView/Data/BuildNodeData";
+import { colourFade, TempToColour } from "bin/3dView/utils/tempToColour";
+import { Bin } from "models";
+import { pond } from "protobuf-ts/pond";
+import { useMemo } from "react";
+import { AdditiveBlending, Vector3 } from "three";
+
+interface Props{
+    bin: Bin
+    nodes: NodeData[]
+}
+
+/**
+ * this is a work in progress, the heatmap generated may not be accurate so avoid using this component for now
+ * @param props 
+ * @returns 
+ */
+export default function Heatmap(props: Props){
+    const {bin, nodes} = props
+    //the steps that control how many 'layers' the heatmap will generate for each direction
+    const radialSteps = 18; // number of points across the diameter of the pin
+    const heightSteps = 20; // number of points up the side of the bin
+    const angleSteps = 40; // number of points around the circumfrence of the bin
+
+    const getHeatIntensity = (
+        temp: number,
+        lower: number,
+        upper: number,
+        fade: number
+      ) => {
+        if (temp >= lower && temp <= upper) return 0;
+      
+        const distance =
+          temp < lower ? lower - temp : temp - upper;
+      
+        // clamp 0 → 1
+        return Math.min(1, distance / fade);
+      }
+
+    const getTemperatureAtPoint = (
+        point: Vector3,
+        nodes: NodeData[]
+      ) => {
+        let totalWeight = 0;
+        let weightedTemp = 0;
+      
+        //not sure if we should use a hard coded value or use a percentage of the bins diameter
+        //const maxDistance = 450; //tweak this (cm), it is the max distance that a node can influence the heatmap points
+        const maxDistance = bin.diameter() * 0.25;
+
+        nodes.forEach(node => {
+          if (!node.inGrain || node.excluded) return;
+      
+          const distance = point.distanceTo(node.position);
+
+          const intensity = getHeatIntensity(
+            node.celcius,
+            bin.lowerTempThreshold(),
+            bin.upperTempThreshold(),
+            colourFade
+          );
+        
+          const nodeMaxDistance = maxDistance * (0.5 + intensity); 
+          // tweakable: 0.5–1.5 range
+      
+          if (distance > nodeMaxDistance) return;
+      
+          const weight = 1 / (distance * distance + 1);
+      
+          totalWeight += weight;
+          weightedTemp += node.celcius * weight;
+        });
+      
+        if (totalWeight === 0) return null;
+      
+        return weightedTemp / totalWeight;
+    }
+
+    //this gets the highest top node to prevent points from being rendered above it
+    //we could in the future us the multple top nodes to clamp within a cloumn around that cable which would give us a more realistic grain area
+    const maxGrainY = useMemo(() => {
+      let maxY = -Infinity;
+    
+      nodes.forEach(node => {
+        if (!node.inGrain || node.excluded) return;
+    
+        if (node.position.y > maxY) {
+          maxY = node.position.y;
+        }
+      });
+    
+      return maxY;
+    }, [nodes]);
+
+    const samplePoints = useMemo(() => {
+        const points = [];
+      
+        const radius = bin.diameter() / 2;
+        const height = bin.sidewallHeight();
+      
+
+      
+        for (let yStep = 0; yStep < heightSteps; yStep++) {
+          const y = -height / 2 + (yStep / heightSteps) * height;
+          if (y > maxGrainY) continue;
+      
+          for (let rStep = 0; rStep < radialSteps; rStep++) {
+            // const r = (rStep / radialSteps) * radius;
+            const r = Math.sqrt(rStep / radialSteps) * radius;
+      
+            for (let aStep = 0; aStep < angleSteps; aStep++) {
+              const angle = (aStep / angleSteps) * Math.PI * 2;
+      
+              const x = Math.cos(angle) * r;
+              const z = Math.sin(angle) * r;
+      
+              const position = new Vector3(x, y, z);
+      
+              const temp = getTemperatureAtPoint(position, nodes);
+      
+              points.push({
+                position,
+                temp
+              });
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      
+        return points;
+      }, [bin, nodes]);
+
+      const { positions, colors, alphas } = useMemo(() => {
+        const positions: number[] = [];
+        const colors: number[] = [];
+        const alphas: number[] = [];
+      
+        samplePoints.forEach((p) => {
+          if (p.temp === null) return;
+          const intensity = getHeatIntensity(
+            p.temp,
+            bin.lowerTempThreshold(),
+            bin.upperTempThreshold(),
+            colourFade
+          );
+          const alpha = Math.pow(intensity, 2); // try 2 → 3 for stronger fade
+      
+          const virtualNode: NodeData = {
+            cableIndex: -1,
+            nodeIndex: -1,
+            radius: 0,
+            position: p.position,
+            celcius: p.temp,
+            inGrain: true,
+            excluded: false
+          };
+      
+          const color = TempToColour(
+            virtualNode,
+            bin.lowerTempThreshold(),
+            bin.upperTempThreshold(),
+            "heatmap"
+          );
+      
+          if (!color) return;
+      
+          // position
+          positions.push(p.position.x, p.position.y, p.position.z);
+      
+          // color (normalized 0–1)
+          colors.push(color.r, color.g, color.b);
+          alphas.push(alpha)
+
+        });
+      
+        return {
+          positions: new Float32Array(positions),
+          colors: new Float32Array(colors),
+          alphas: new Float32Array(alphas)
+        };
+      }, [samplePoints, bin]);
+
+      return (
+        <points>
+          <bufferGeometry>
+            <bufferAttribute
+              attach="attributes-position"
+              array={positions}
+              count={positions.length / 3}
+              itemSize={3}
+            />
+            <bufferAttribute
+              attach="attributes-color"
+              array={colors}
+              count={colors.length / 3}
+              itemSize={3}
+            />
+            <bufferAttribute
+              attach="attributes-alpha"
+              array={alphas}
+              itemSize={1}
+            />
+          </bufferGeometry>
+      
+          <shaderMaterial
+            transparent
+            depthWrite={false}
+            blending={AdditiveBlending}
+            vertexColors
+            uniforms={{ pointSize: { value: 0.7 } }}
+            vertexShader={`
+              attribute float alpha;
+              varying float vAlpha;
+              varying vec3 vColor;
+          
+              void main() {
+                vAlpha = alpha;
+                vColor = color;
+          
+                vec4 mvPosition = modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);
+                gl_PointSize = 10.0; // tweak this instead of size prop
+                gl_Position = projectionMatrix * mvPosition;
+              }
+            `}
+            fragmentShader={`
+              varying float vAlpha;
+              varying vec3 vColor;
+          
+              void main() {
+                float dist = length(gl_PointCoord - vec2(0.5));
+                float falloff = smoothstep(0.5, 0.0, dist);
+          
+                gl_FragColor = vec4(vColor, vAlpha * falloff);
+              }
+            `}
+          />
+        </points>
+      );
+}

src/bin/3dView/Systems/Heatmap/Heatmap.tsx

@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-import { NodeData } from "bin/3dView/Data/BuildNodeData";
-import { Bin } from "models";
-
-interface Props{
-    bin: Bin
-    nodes: NodeData
-}
-
-export default function Heatmap(props: Props){
-    const {bin, nodes} = props
-
-    return (
-        <>
-        </>
-    )
-}

src/bin/3dView/Systems/Heatmap/NodePointCloud.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+import { NodeData } from "bin/3dView/Data/BuildNodeData";
+import { colourFade } from "bin/3dView/utils/tempToColour";
+import { Bin } from "models";
+import { useMemo } from "react";
+import { AdditiveBlending, CanvasTexture } from "three";
+
+interface Props {
+  bin: Bin;
+  nodes: NodeData[];
+}
+
+export default function NodePointCloud(props: Props) {
+  const { bin, nodes } = props;
+  // 🎛️ TUNING KNOBS
+  const BASE_RADIUS_FACTOR = 0.15;
+  const INTENSITY_DENSITY_MULT = 1.25;
+  const INTENSITY_DENSITY_BASE = 0.3;
+  
+  const RADIAL_BASE = 6;
+  const THETA_BASE = 10;
+  const PHI_BASE = 10;
+  
+  const MIN_EDGE_INTENSITY = 0.2;
+  
+  const BASE_BRIGHTNESS = 0.2;
+  const INTENSITY_BRIGHTNESS_MULT = 0.5;
+  
+  const OPACITY = 0.7;
+  const POINT_SIZE = 1;
+
+  const getHeatIntensity = (
+    temp: number,
+    lower: number,
+    upper: number,
+    fade: number
+  ) => {
+    if (temp >= lower && temp <= upper) return 0;
+
+    const distance =
+      temp < lower ? lower - temp : temp - upper;
+
+    return Math.min(1, distance / fade);
+  };
+
+  // -----------------------------
+  // GRAIN LIMIT
+  // -----------------------------
+  const maxGrainY = useMemo(() => {
+    let maxY = -Infinity;
+
+    nodes.forEach((node) => {
+      if (!node.inGrain || node.excluded) return;
+      if (node.position.y > maxY) maxY = node.position.y;
+    });
+
+    return maxY;
+  }, [nodes]);
+
+  // -----------------------------
+  // BUILD POINT CLOUD FROM NODES
+  // -----------------------------
+  const { positions, colors } = useMemo(() => {
+    const positions: number[] = [];
+    const colors: number[] = [];
+
+    const baseRadius = bin.diameter() * BASE_RADIUS_FACTOR;
+
+    nodes.forEach((node) => {
+      if (!node.inGrain || node.excluded) return;
+
+      const intensity = getHeatIntensity(
+        node.celcius,
+        bin.lowerTempThreshold(),
+        bin.upperTempThreshold(),
+        colourFade
+      );
+
+      // skip normal nodes
+      if (intensity === 0) return;
+
+      const isHot = node.celcius > bin.upperTempThreshold();
+
+      // expand cloud based on severity
+      const radius = baseRadius * (0.5 + intensity);
+
+      //these control the number of points along that axis
+      const densityMultiplier = INTENSITY_DENSITY_BASE + intensity * INTENSITY_DENSITY_MULT;
+      const radialSteps = Math.floor(RADIAL_BASE * densityMultiplier);//points along the radius to the edge
+      const thetaSteps = Math.floor(THETA_BASE * densityMultiplier);//points along the azimuth (horizontal angle)
+      const phiSteps = Math.floor(PHI_BASE * densityMultiplier);//points along the vertical angle
+      
+      const radiusLimit = bin.diameter() / 2;
+      const minY = -bin.sidewallHeight() / 2;
+      
+      for (let rStep = 0; rStep < radialSteps; rStep++) {
+        // sqrt for even density
+        const r = Math.sqrt(rStep / radialSteps) * radius;
+      
+        for (let pStep = 0; pStep < phiSteps; pStep++) {
+          // avoid poles clustering by not hitting exact 0/PI
+          const phi =
+            ((pStep + 0.5) / phiSteps) * Math.PI;
+      
+          for (let tStep = 0; tStep < thetaSteps; tStep++) {
+            const theta =
+              (tStep / thetaSteps) * Math.PI * 2;
+      
+            const x =
+              node.position.x +
+              r * Math.sin(phi) * Math.cos(theta);
+      
+            const y =
+              node.position.y +
+              r * Math.cos(phi);
+      
+            const z =
+              node.position.z +
+              r * Math.sin(phi) * Math.sin(theta);
+      
+            // cylindrical bin bounds
+            const distXZ = Math.sqrt(x * x + z * z);
+            if (distXZ > radiusLimit) continue;
+            if (y > maxGrainY || y < minY) continue;
+      
+            positions.push(x, y, z);
+
+            const falloff = 1 - r / radius;
+
+            // shape of the curve
+            const spatialFalloff = Math.pow(falloff, 2);
+            
+            const adjustedFalloff =
+              MIN_EDGE_INTENSITY + (1 - MIN_EDGE_INTENSITY) * spatialFalloff;
+            
+            const intensityCurve = intensity * intensity; // quadratic easing
+            const baseBrightness =
+              BASE_BRIGHTNESS + INTENSITY_BRIGHTNESS_MULT * intensityCurve;
+            
+            const brightness = adjustedFalloff * baseBrightness;
+      
+            if (isHot) {
+              colors.push(brightness, 0, 0);
+            } else {
+              colors.push(0, 0, brightness);
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
+    return {
+      positions: new Float32Array(positions),
+      colors: new Float32Array(colors),
+    };
+  }, [nodes, bin, maxGrainY]);
+
+  const circleTexture = useMemo(() => {
+    const size = 64;
+    const canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
+    canvas.width = size;
+    canvas.height = size;
+  
+    const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d")!;
+    const gradient = ctx.createRadialGradient(
+      size / 2,
+      size / 2,
+      0,
+      size / 2,
+      size / 2,
+      size / 2
+    );
+  
+    gradient.addColorStop(0, "rgba(255,255,255,1)");
+    gradient.addColorStop(1, "rgba(255,255,255,0)");
+  
+    ctx.fillStyle = gradient;
+    ctx.fillRect(0, 0, size, size);
+  
+    const texture = new CanvasTexture(canvas);
+    texture.needsUpdate = true;
+    return texture;
+  }, []);
+
+  // -----------------------------
+  // RENDER
+  // -----------------------------
+  return (
+    <points>
+      <bufferGeometry>
+        <bufferAttribute
+          attach="attributes-position"
+          array={positions}
+          count={positions.length / 3}
+          itemSize={3}
+        />
+        <bufferAttribute
+          attach="attributes-color"
+          array={colors}
+          count={colors.length / 3}
+          itemSize={3}
+        />
+      </bufferGeometry>
+
+      <pointsMaterial
+        size={POINT_SIZE}
+        map={circleTexture}
+        vertexColors
+        transparent
+        opacity={OPACITY}
+        depthWrite={false}
+        blending={AdditiveBlending}
+      />
+    </points>
+  );
+}

src/bin/3dView/utils/tempToColour.ts

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const GREEN = new Color("#52c41a");
 const BLUE = new Color("#3399ff");
 const RED = new Color("#ff4d4f");
 
-const colourFade = 20;
+export const colourFade = 20;
 const minimumLightness = 0.3;
 const lightnessRange = 0.2;
 const minimumSaturation = 0.7;
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ const getVisualIntensity = (distance: number, mode: ColourMode) => {
     }
 };
 
-export function tempToColour(
+export function TempToColour(
   node: NodeData,
   lower: number,
   upper: number,