Author: Nathan Crock
        mathnathan@gmail.com
        http://www.mathnathan.com


Date:    04/09/12    14:43


----------- Convert to VTK ------------

Introduction

    Convert model output to vtk file format for easy visualization in Visit!
    This project is being designed as an extensible utility, if someone has a
    need to convert a data type specific to a model not yet supported they can
    simply write their own conversion module. The idea is to have a simple
    command line tool for researchers to easily and painlessly get their model
    output into the Visit visualization suite.


OS SUPPORT: Only tested on Linux so far

            Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, 12.04

FILES:
        c2v - The front end. Parses parameter files and formats data
        convert2vtk.py - The class, calls appropriate modules for conversion
        movie_script.py - A sample movie script, for those who want to generate
                          animations with their data. See further instructions online.
        libs |
             | bin - NetCDF python interface
             | lib64 - The netcdf4 and visit_writer libraries
             | netCDF4-0.9.7 - NetCDF version compiled in source. Try not to
                               make it an external dependency
        modules |
                | dmitry_module.py - A module for converting data specific to
                |                    Dmitry Dukhovskoy
                | hycom_binary_module.py - A prototype for a hycom binary converter
                |                          Much more work needs to be done, such as
                |                          interpolation and binary slicing.
                | hycom_z_module.py - Fully functional hycom z level grid converter.
                |                     This will convert hycom z level files to vtk 
                | ncom_module.py - Converts ncom model output to VTK
                | roms_module.py - Converts roms model output to VTK
                
        parameter_files |
                        | parameter.txt - An example conversion parameter file.
        scripts |
                | convert_arctic.sh - An example of using a script to convert
                                      multiple files.
        

DEPENDENCIES:   netCDF4-0.9.7 (packaged internally) // May need to recompile for your 
                architecture

COMPILATION INSTRUCTIONS: 

    It's a script, so nothing for the project needs to be compiled. One may need to 
    compile the dependencies. the NetCDF4-0.9.7 library and the visit_writer.so. The
    visit writer was taken from the libraries section of the visit source code. If
    you have a local version installed on your computer, just copy that file into the 
    libs directory

======================================================================================

    "Believing in the way, makes the way!"