Silicon Graphics: IRIX version 4.0.1 or higher; Multiple processors are used when present; IrisGL is not supported
IBM RS/6000: Model 320H or higher; AIX version 3 or later; 3-D graphics hardware is supported through OpenGL
HP series 7000 or 9000 workstations: HP-UX A.09.01 or later; PEX optional
Sun SPARC: SunOS 5.x or later
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SunOS 5 USERS: The X shared memory extension may not work correctly. If Vis5D prints an error message to the effect of "Shared memory error" then you'll have to append the following three lines to the end of your /etc/system file then reboot:
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = 0x2000000
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni = 0x1000
set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg = 0x100
Compaq Alpha: OSF/1 V1.3 or later; Kubota Denali Graphics hardware supported with KWS V1.3.3 or later and NPGL Run-time license
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR OSF USERS: you need to run 'limit stacksize 32m' before you run Vis5D
Linux: x86, PowerPC, and Alpha Linux systems have been tested. A 75MHz Pentium CPU or faster is recommended. gcc 2.95.2 on PowerPC has a bug that causes problems; be sure to get a version with the latest developer patches.
Note: On systems which don't have 3-D graphics hardware or OpenGL, all 3-D rendering is done in software using Mesa (an OpenGL work-alike). 3-D graphics hardware is recommended for high-end use. If you do not have Mesa, you must download and install it as described below.
Cost: Free
Company: SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net adopted Vis5D from
the Space Science and Engineering Center of
University of Wisconsin
Vis5D+ is a scientific plotting and graphics program. Vis5D+ is a system
for interactive visualization of large 5-D gridded data sets such as those
produced by numerical weather and ocean models.
Vis5D+'s strengths include viewing 3D volumes and animating variables over
time.
Vis5D+ works on data in the form of a five-dimensional rectangle. The data
are real numbers at each point of a "grid" or "lattice" which spans three
space dimensions, one time dimension and a dimension for enumerating multiple
physical variables.
Contour line slices, colored slices, volume renderings, etc of data in
a 3-D grid, then rotate and animate the images in real time. There is also
a feature for wind trajectory tracing, a way to make text annotations for
publicationsVisualizing data made by numerical weather models and similar
sources. The Vis5D system is very widely used by scientists to visualize
the output of their numerical simulations of the Earth's atmosphere and
oceans. Vis5d is a popular program for 3-D visualisation of meteorological
fields.
displays contour loops of any active variable on any surface
individual loops can be labeled
enables isosurfaces to be created based on scalar variable, vector
component, vector magnitude or coordinate
allow dynamic visualization of a range of isovalues
isosurfaces show the 3-D volume bounded by a particular isovalue
contour and colored slices:
Slices allow to look at planar cross sections of data in the
3-D box.
Slices can be oriented either horizontally or vertically.
slices depict either contour lines, colored slices, wind vectors,
or wind stream lines.
Interactivity
Ease of use via interactive control panel
Animation:
real time animation of isosurfaces
real time animation of contours
real time animation of volumes
Rendering:
volume rendering
alpha blending
system without 3D graphics hardware use mesa
can be improved by adjusting the color and opacity mappings
lighting parameters
Texture Mapping:
to display a 2- D image over a surface in 3-D. Vis5D can display
images over the topography (or bottom of the 3-D box when topography
is turned off) such as satellite or map images.
Additional Graphics Features
Wind trajectories: trace the motion of air through the 3-D volume
much line smoke trails in a wind tunnel. Wind trajecoties can be created
and displayed.
vectors, contour lines, streamlines
trajectories
clipping planes:Six new clipping planes has been added in Vis5D version
5.0. This allows you to manipulate the viewing volume in a more precise
manner.
Display Groups: multiple displays can be grouped together in up to
9 groups.
Data Exchange
Picture or printing format: XWD (X Window Dump),RGB, GIF, PostScript,
Color PostScript
Vis5D reads data in two file formats, both of which store data in
a compressed format that vis5d can access quickly and efficiently. The
formats are also unique to Vis5D so outside data must be converted,
a task which is somewhat eased by several example conversion programs
supplied with the package.
