ncar / vapor

VAPOR is the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Ocean, Atmosphere, and Solar Researchers

Vapor:

VAPOR is the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Ocean, Atmosphere, and Solar Researchers. VAPOR provides an interactive 3D visualization environment that can also produce animations and still frame images. VAPOR runs on most UNIX and Windows systems equipped with modern 3D graphics cards.

The VAPOR Data Collection (VDC) data model allows users progressively access the fidelity of their data, allowing for the visualization of terascale data sets on commodity hardware. VAPOR can also directly import data formats including WRF, MOM, POP, ROMS, and some GRIB and NetCDF files.

Users can perform ad-hoc analysis with VAPOR's interactive Python interpreter; which allows for the creation, modification, and visualization of new variables based on input model data.

VAPOR is a product of the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research's Computational and Information Systems Lab. Support for VAPOR is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (grants # 03-25934 and 09-06379, ACI-14-40412), and by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information

Project homepage and binary releases can be found at https://www.vapor.ucar.edu/

Citation

If VAPOR benefits your research, please kindly cite this publication:

@Article{atmos10090488,
AUTHOR = {Li, Shaomeng and Jaroszynski, Stanislaw and Pearse, Scott and Orf, Leigh and Clyne, John},
TITLE = {VAPOR: A Visualization Package Tailored to Analyze Simulation Data in Earth System Science},
JOURNAL = {Atmosphere},
VOLUME = {10},
YEAR = {2019},
NUMBER = {9},
ARTICLE-NUMBER = {488},
URL = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/10/9/488},
ISSN = {2073-4433},
ABSTRACT = {Visualization is an essential tool for analysis of data and communication of findings in the sciences, and the Earth System Sciences (ESS) are no exception. However, within ESS, specialized visualization requirements and data models, particularly for those data arising from numerical models, often make general purpose visualization packages difficult, if not impossible, to use effectively. This paper presents VAPOR: a domain-specific visualization package that targets the specialized needs of ESS modelers, particularly those working in research settings where highly-interactive exploratory visualization is beneficial. We specifically describe VAPOR’s ability to handle ESS simulation data from a wide variety of numerical models, as well as a multi-resolution representation that enables interactive visualization on very large data while using only commodity computing resources. We also describe VAPOR’s visualization capabilities, paying particular attention to features for geo-referenced data and advanced rendering algorithms suitable for time-varying, 3D data. Finally, we illustrate VAPOR’s utility in the study of a numerically- simulated tornado. Our results demonstrate both ease-of-use and the rich capabilities of VAPOR in such a use case.},
DOI = {10.3390/atmos10090488}
}

Project Members:

• Nihanth Cherukuru
• John Clyne
• Scott Pearse
• Samuel Li
• Stanislaw Jaroszynski
• Kenny Gruchalla
• Niklas Roeber
• Pamela Gillman

vapor's Issues

Contours - Undo causes _updateTab to break

_updateTab seems to stop being called after the following action:

1. Set number of contours to 20, press enter

Linux installer: allow users select where to install

The current behavior is to install wherever the installer is located.
It'd be desirable to allow users input a path to install.

2D variable selection shows option to select 3 variables

Also the 2D settings are in general very buggy and it randomly crashes most of the time before I can get something to render

debug code in the "master" branch?

A line of debug code:
https://github.com/NCAR/VAPOR/blob/master/apps/vaporgui/main.cpp#L85
lives in the master branch, and prints in the console.

A bigger question is, given the git workflow we adopt (develop code in a feature branch and merge to master after solid tests), do we want debug code in the master branch? For example,
https://github.com/NCAR/VAPOR/blob/master/apps/vaporgui/main.cpp#L78

Crash on 2D Barb Renderer

To reproduce:

1. Open Katrina VDC
2. Add new barb renderer
3. Change variable dimension to 2D
4. Click in view

Add support to delete variables from statistics window with delete key

Barbs crash

Barbs crash immediately with the katrina data set.

To reproduce:

1. Import katrina and create a Barb renderer
2. On the variables tab change the dimension from 3D to 2D and select U10, and V10 variables
3. Enable the renderer

Platform:
only tested on Mac

Compiler warning: function match data type

The following line yields a warning with Clang regarding a mismatch between function parameter and argument data types.

VAPOR/lib/wasp/Compressor.cpp

Line 140 in e1979f6

return(fabsf(* (int *) x1) > fabsf(* (int *) x2));

Compressor.cpp:140:9: warning: using floating point absolute value function 'fabsf' when argument is of
integer type [-Wabsolute-value]
return(fabsf(* (int ) x1) > fabsf( (int ) x2));
^
Compressor.cpp:140:9: note: use function 'std::abs' instead
return(fabsf( (int ) x1) > fabsf( (int ) x2));
^~~~~
std::abs
Compressor.cpp:140:31: warning: using floating point absolute value function 'fabsf' when argument is of
integer type [-Wabsolute-value]
return(fabsf( (int ) x1) > fabsf( (int ) x2));
^
Compressor.cpp:140:31: note: use function 'std::abs' instead
return(fabsf( (int ) x1) > fabsf( (int *) x2));
^~~~~
std::abs

Switching from 3D to 2D renderer crashes

To Reproduce:

1. Open a dataset
2. Add barb renderer
3. Enable renderer
4. Switch from 3D to 2D

Variables subtab display two rows of fidelity buttons

On the Mac the Variables subtab displays two rows of fidelity buttons (there should only be one).

To reproduce:

1. Load any VDC data set
2. Create a TwoDData renderer, and select the variables tab

Barb Crash if assign a renderer name

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrniaMaster.nc
2. Click "new" button to create a Barb renderer. Give the renderer a name, say "AAA."
3. Click OK. Vapor crashes.

Machine:
cisl-vapor

Cancelling file open reports error

File -> Open a VDC in Current Session -> Cancel

Reports: Error: Failed to load data

Image capture and image capture sequence are broken

Image capture isn't working

To reproduce:

1. Load any data set and enable any visualizer
2. Capture an image. Examine the resulting image. It is not the image displayed on the screen

Time stepping incorrect with multiple data sets

Time stepping doesn't work correctly when multiple data sets are visualized.

To reproduce:

1. Load the WRF and ROMS data from Data/CoupledWRFRoms
2. Enable the 2D data renderer for both and select a variable that can be seen easily (e.g. sst for WRF and latent from ROMS)
3. Advance the time step by a single step. Nothing changes. One of the renderings should change.

StructuredGrid seg fault

When using the statistics tool in the branch mergeMPAS, StructuredGrid seg faults when the following coordinates are applied to variable P:

Min XYZ: -50000 2.5e+06 10000
Max XYZ: 0 3e+06 20262.5

Conflicting documentation in vapor_utils.py

Lines 156 and 173 conflict with eacother in vapor_utils.py, regarding the ordering of our dimensions. is dim 1 = X, or Z?

156 "dir is 1, 2, or 3 (for X, Y, or Z directions in user coordinates)"

173 "derivative for user dir=1, in python this is third coordinate"

Barb: Fidelity control misbehave.

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrniaMaster.nc
2. Create a Barb renderer.
3. Enable this renderer.
4. The fidelity control at the bottom is at the lowest by default. After clicking other options, many black dots remain in the interface. See attachment.

Platform:
cisl-vapor

Feature request test

Can't apply transforms to multiple data sets

When multiple data sets are loaded into vaporgui transforms (e.g. translation) can only be applied to one of them.

To reproduce

1. Load the wrf data set in Data/CoupledWrfRoms
2. Load the ROMS data set in Data/CoupledWrfRoms
3. Go to the Navigation/Viewpoint tab. The transforms have two rows (one for each data set), but one of the rows is empty.

TwoDData Seg Fault

Vapor will seg vault under the following conditions:

1. Create a TwoDData renderer
2. Enable it, then change the variable
3. Change the fidelity, and it will crash

assert always fails at RangeController.cpp

Line 221 or RangeController.cpp
(https://github.com/NCAR/VAPOR/blob/master/apps/vaporgui/RangeController.cpp#L221)
will always fail.

Suggestion:
Give "position" a default value to silence this warning.

Barb: color mapping with TSLB variable crashes

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrniaMaster.nc
2. Create a Barb renderer
3. Switch to Appearance tab, select TSLB from the color mapping menu.
4. Vapor crashes.

Vapor crashes when creating a Barb renderer on an MPAS data

To reproduce:

1. Open VAPOR, load an MPAS data. I tested /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/Data/MPAS/MPAS_V4.0/x1.40962.output.2012-05-25_06.00.00.nc
2. create a Barb renderer.
3. click the checkbox to enable the renderer. Vapor crashes.

"Close a VDC in current session" doesn't seem to have any impact?

It seems to me VAPOR has at 2 states regarding to a VDC:

1. not having a VDC loaded;
2. with a VDC loaded.

When first invoking vaporgui without any data set parameters, it is in state 1), with most of the functions grayed out. After "Open a VDC in Current Session," it is in state 2), with most of the functions available. This is all making sense.

What I don't understand is when clicking "Close a VDC in current session." In my mind it should go back to state 1), but all the functions are still available, much like still in state 2).

I think we need some more intuitive descriptions here.

No way to convert floating point value to time string

We currently lack a way to convert our global time step (stored as a float) into a date/time string. Should this be done in DataStatus?

Renderer Names Not Sanitized

Create a new renderer and set its name to $. This will cause vapor to crash.

Actually, turns out giving it any name will cause it to crash.

Corrupt session file

Session files saved by vaporgui are corrupt.

To reproduce:

1. Load any data set
2. Create and enable a contour renderer
3. Save the save with File/Save
4. Exit the application.
5. Restart the application and attempt to load the session file just created. An error message is generated.

Note: the session file contains an open tag

Specify what to save in an error box

The current error box has a button "Save," which actually saves the error log.

It'd be helpful to specify in the pop up WHAT to save. For example, change the error message to:

"An error has occured. Would you like to save the log?"
Option 1: Save
Option 2: Ignore
Option 3: Show details. (This option only comes out occasionally.)

Crash upon importing CF data

Vapor crashes upon importing CF data.

To reproduce:
Run vapor from the current installer (OSX) located on /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/release
Import the file /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/Data/CF/Misc/dust_fire_summer.nc

Params extents not honored in DataMgr

Changing the extents in the Geometry tab of a TwoDData renderer only affects the rendered area by 20% increments. We can only render 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100% of the entire domain at a time. The problem seems to come from dataMgr->_find_bounding_grid().

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrinaMaster.nc
2. Create a new TwoDData renderer and enable it
3. In the Geometry tab, slowly decrease the minimum X extent of the renderer until it re-renders with 80% of the domain. Continue this to render 60%, 40%, and finally 20% of the domain.

Detached settings window has incorrect layout

When settings window is detached, the layout glitches

"Explain this" help msg on all widgets

Help -> Explain This provides explain message for some of the widgets, for example, play/pause animation controls. However, it doesn't provides explanation for the few view controls.

I think for consistency, it's better to have this help msg for all widgets. It's also OK to not include this msg at all.

Seg Fault on repeated Undos

Vapor seems to crash after hitting undo repeatedly. I'm seeing this in the main window, as well as in other areas such as with the plot utility.

To reproduce:

1. Spin up Vapor, load any dataset (I used KatrinaMaster.nc)
2. Initialize a Barb renderer, then hit Ctrl+Z repeatedly. Vapor will crash.

Crash upon rendering multiple datasets

To reproduce:

1. Import the following CF file:
   /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/Data/CoupledWrfRoms/kiost_roms_nwp12_avg_y1982-002.nc
2. Import the following WRF file:
   /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/Data/CoupledWrfRoms/wrfout_d01_1982-01-31_10_00_00
3. Create a 2D renderer instance on the WRF file and enable it
4. Create a barb renderer instance on the ROMS file, Vapor will crash

vdccreate adds unwarranted variable

vdccreate adds variable "var1" even if another is specified. If extra variable is not filled, vapor will crash when trying to add a renderer.

MapperFunction gets corrupted upon undo/redo

The MapperFunction sometimes gets corrupted after issuing an Undo command. This is a non-deterministic bug, and exists for both the TwoD and Barb renderers. Corrupt MapperFunctions appear as in the screenshot below. Data bounds seem correct, but the histogram and colorbar are not. The console emits glErrors from the file ShaderProgram.cpp when this happens.

To reproduce:

1. Load any dataset, create a new TwoD or Barb renderer
2. Adjust an opacity control point, then undo the change. The MapperFunction may get corrupted. If not, restart the application and try again.

Statistics ignoring domain extents

The Statistics utility appears to be ignoring domain extents.

To reproduce:

1. Load the Duku data set
2. Launch Statistics, and select the P and PB variables. Click update and note values
3. Change the maximum Z extent value to something close to the ground (e.g. 100)
4. Click update. The statistics for P and PB do not change. These quantities are correlated to height and should change with Z.

Close a dataset doesn't seem working

To Reproduce:

1. Open KatrniaMaster.nc, create a Barb renderer.
2. Click File->Close a VDC from current session.
3. Nothing happens on GUI; terminal window prints "how do we close a dataset?"

Weird dialog box pop up when switching from Renderers tab to Navigation tab

To reproduce:

1. Invoke vapor from command line with data set KatrniaMaster.nc passed in.
2. The default tab is Renderers. Click Navigation.
3. A weird window pops up, as the screenshot shows. Neither of the buttons seems to have any effect.
   

What is a Hello renderer

I'm not sure what a Hello renderer is. Maybe we want to give it a better name...

OSX "Open With" does not work

If you right click on a dataset and "Open With" vaporgui, it does not load the dataset.

Barb variable dimension selection behave weird

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrniaMaster.nc
2. The default "variable dimension" is 3D. There's also a "Data Fidelity" section to choose.
3. Select 2D from "variable dimension." The "Data Fidelity" section is gone.
4. Select 3D from "variable dimension." The "Data Fidelity" section is not coming back...

Platform
cisl-vapor

VAPOR crashes when rendering MPAS contours

To reproduce:

1. Load /glade/p/VAST/VAPOR/Data/MPAS/MPAS-O/hist.mpas-o.0001-01-01_00.00.00.nc
2. Create a contour renderer instance

Navigation -> Viewpoint doesn't do anything

Crash upon loading new transfer function

Vapor will crash when trying to load a new transfer function. The crash occurs in XmlNode::HasElementDouble(string tag) for the string "DataBounds".

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrinaMaster.nc
2. Create a TwoDData renderer
3. In the 'Appearance' tab, press the 'Load TF' button and select any colormap from the default directory.
4. Vapor will crash.

Barbs performance with color mapping

With color mapping enabled:

Rendering 4x4=16 barbs is choppy.
7x7 barbs is practically unusable.

Duplicate Renderer crashes

To reproduce:

1. Load KatrniaMaster.nc
2. Create a Image renderer.
3. Delete the Image renderer.
4. Choose visualizer 1 in the duplicate drop-down menu.
5. Vapor crashes.

Platform:
cisl-vapor

What happens to an existing session when I create a new session?

It's not clear to me what happens to my working session if I chose to create a new session from the File menu.

Deleting Visualizer throws Bad Access

To Reproduce:

1. Open a dataset (optional)
2. Close visualizer

Second option:

1. Open a dataset (optional)
2. Create new visualizer
3. Close it

Fidelity control looking weird

To reproduce:

1. Open KatrniaMaster.nc.
2. Create a Barb renderer.
3. Create a TwoDData renderer.
4. Click the Barb renderer, and the Fidelity control looks like the screenshot.