Ncvtk

This is a program for exploring longitude/latitude based data stored in NetCDF file format. Ncvtk is built on top of the VTK toolbox.

Ncvtk has been designed with the aim of offering a high degree of interactivity to scientists who have a need to explore three-dimensional, time-dependent planetary data. The input data should be stored in a NetCDF file and the metadata should loosely follow the CDC convention. In particular, it supports codes that are part of the Flexible Modeling System infrastructure provided the data lie on a longitude/latitude, structured grid.

Ncvtk contains a number of built-in VTK visualization pipelines (color plots, contours, vector arrows, slices, etc.). New pipelines can be added on demand.

An intuitive graphical user interface will get novice users quickly up to speed. Ncvtk is significantly easier to use than dedicated visualization packages (OpenDX, IRIS Explorer, AVS/Express) while offering comparable performance.

Features:
- Extract fields from multiple NetCDF files (useful for Mosaic domain decomposition for instance).
- Project fields either on the sphere (default) or use flat projections (partial support).
- Use hardware rendering whenever possible.
- Can handle large data sets (4 GB ).
- Mouse interactivity for zooming, translating and rotating.
- Can have multiple longitude/latitude axes.
- Uniform and non-uniform structured grids.
- Warped (e.g. tripolar) grids in (x,y).
- Date and time arithmetic.
- Interactive control of the colormap, including opacity.
- Colormaps can be imported from ASCII files.
- Multiple color plot layers (e.g. clouds on top of topology).
- Bump (surface) map
- Sun light synchronized with date/time.
- Adjust view angle with sliders.
- Probe data with mouse.
- Save the scene as Postscript, PNG or JPEG file.
- Capture time sequences for movies.
- Load/save mechanism for settings.
- Scripting interface.
- Save your visualization as a Python script.
- Color, contour and vector arrow plot.
- Text/image/time annotation
- Mesh visualization
- World map (includes countries, states, hydrology, etc.)
- Vertical slicing
- Three dimensional iso-surfaces
- Line plots
- Streamlines