Orf-UnidataSummer2006-tutorial

Vis5dasa3DNumericalModelDataInterrogationToolLeighOrf,CentralMichiganUniversityBackgroundVis5disaninteractivedatavisualizationandinterrogationprogram. The‘5’in‘Vis5d’referstofivedimensions: threespatialdimensions,time,andvariables;multiplevariablescanbevisualizedsimultaneously.Any3DdatacanbevisualizedwithVis5dalthoughitwasdesignedtovisualizegriddednumericalmodeldata. Ifyoucangetyourdatainto3Dfloatingpointarrays,youcanvisualizeitwithVis5d.Vis5dwasdevelopedatSSECbyBillHibbard,nowretired,anddevelopmentontheoriginalVis5dcodehasceased. However,BillreleasedthesourcecodeofVis5d5.2undertheGPL,andacommunity drivenversionofVis5dnowexistscalledVis5d+. However,developmentonVis5d+hasnotoccurredsince2002. AVis5dmailinglistexistswhichmayassistyouinanyVis5dproblemsyoumayencounter(Googleisyourfriend).TheversionofVis5dyouareusinginthisworkshopisVis5d+ 1.3.0beta. ThisversioncontainssomefeaturesandimprovementsoverVis5d5.2butthecodeisperhapsnotasstable. Eitherversionwillsufficeforcasualuse.HowdoIgetmydataintoVis5d?CreatingVis5dfilesisprettystraightforwardanddocumentationexistsonhowtodothis. IwouldrecommendthedocfilesintheVis5d+distributionforguidanceonthis. TherearesomecommunitymodelswhichhaveaVis5doutputoptionandsomeexistingprogramstoconvertfilestoVis5dformat.IfyouarelookingtocreateyourownVis5dfilesfromyourowndata,theVis5dAPIincludesthefollowingcallsyouwillneedtoexamine:v5dCreateandv5dCreateSimple-createaVis5dfilev5dWrite-write3DdatatotheVis5dfilev5dClose-closetheVis5dfile ...