• VisIt
  • Opening file
  • Example plot
• Working in client-server mode
• Opening remote files using sshfs
• Common problems
  • VisIt cannot find a suitable plugin when trying to open wtxt file.

VisIt

Download VisIt (an Open Source, interactive, scalable, visualization, animation and analysis tool) in version 3.3.x or higher. It, by default, supports W-DATA format.

Opening file

When opening the file you need to select metadata file of W-DATA format, i.e. file *.wtxt. An example is shown below.

Note: When you select *.wtxt file and click open VisIt should automatically use wdata plugin, as it is by default assigned to wtxt file extension. You can also select it manually using the option Open file as type and selecting WData.

Example plot

Here you can download sample data here: example-vortices.tar.gz

To check if VisIt works correctly, try to open the example data:

1. File -> Open File
2. Select wtxt file. For example, you can use run1c.wtxt from the sample data set.
3. In Plots section: Add -> Pseudocolor -> delta_abs
4. Click Draw. In the case of sample data, you should see the following:

Working in client-server mode

VisIt allows for connecting with remote servers and using them for data visualization and data analysis. In order to be able to work in client-server mode, you need:

1. Install visit on remote system.
2. Create XML host file and store it on the local computer (client).

After the first usage of VisIt, it will create a folder with settings. In the case of Linux systems, it is a hidden folder .visit in your home directory. In this folder, you need to place an appropriate host file. Examples of such files are provided in hosts folder:
You can also create a host file by using in VisIt: Options->Host files.

When a host file is provided to visit, assign to it the server should be visible on the list of hosts in Open file dialog box:

Opening remote files using sshfs

As an alternative option, you can sshfs utility (ssh file system). With this tool, you can mount remote locations on your local computer. For example, the command below will mount the remote folder (dwarf.if.pw.edu.pl:/home/gabrielw) in the local folder (/home/gabrielw/sshfs/dwarf/home):

sshfs dwarf.if.pw.edu.pl:/home/gabrielw /home/gabrielw/sshfs/dwarf/home

This method is less efficient than working in client-server mode; however, it allows one to visualize data located on remote systems without an installed visit tool and without downloading the data.

Common problems

VisIt cannot find a suitable plugin when trying to open wtxt file.

1. Check on the list of provided plugins (option Open file as type when opening file) if WData plugin is installed. If not, download version 3.3.x or higher or install the plugin manually; see here.

2. There is a problem with permissions. Add read permission to your wdata set, for example by:

chmod a+r *