Current Status
The currently released version is 1.12.2 (15th Jul 2009) (click to see downloadable files). For a brief description of new
features see the version history in the userguide. For a complete list of changes since previous versions see the change log.
Documentation (user guide):
The SPLASH userguide may be downloaded as a pdf, or by browsing the
html version.
There is also a paper (click for pdf) describing the basic algorithms implemented in SPLASH, which should be cited
whenever you use SPLASH for scientific purposes (cite as Price, 2007, Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust., 24, 159-173).
Latest News
15/07/09: v1.12.2 released.
This is a minor release, main things are as follows:
- Variable marker sizes implemented, so now it is possible to plot sink particles with size proportional to their radius!
- Dark matter rendering now works with the block-labelled GADGET read.
- VINE read handles star particles.
- Labels for coordinates/vectors are not overridden by default (only if not set or if coordinate system changed).
- A nasty bug with automatic pixel selection getting random pixel numbers and seg faulting fixed.
- Temporary arrays in the main plotting loop are explicitly allocated and deallocated rather than being left to the compiler. Fixes crashes
using older versions of ifort.
- Data reads added for snsph, oilonwater.
- Minor bugs fixed with contouring options, cursor positioning, identification of columns in ascii read amongst other things.
» news archive
About
SPLASH (formerly SUPERSPHPLOT) is a (free!) visualisation tool for output from
(astrophysical) simulations using the
Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method in one, two and three
dimensions.
It is written in Fortran 90 and utilises the PGPLOT graphics
subroutine library to do the actual
plotting. It is based around a command-line menu structure but utilises
the interactive capabilities of PGPLOT to manipulate data interactively in
the plotting window.
SPLASH is a fully interactive program which means
that visualisations can be changed rapidly at the touch of a button (e.g. zooming, rotating, shifting cross section
positions etc). Data is read *directly* from the code dump format giving rapid access to results and
the visualisation is advanced forwards and backwards through timesteps by single keystrokes.
SPLASH uses the SPH kernel to render plots of not only density but other physical
quantities, giving a smooth representation of the data. My goal is to eliminate the publication of
crap-looking particle plots from SPH codes!
- Rendering of particle data to an array of pixels using the SPH
kernel
- Cross-sections through 2D and 3D data (as both particle plots
and rendered
images).
- Fast projections through 3D data (ie. column density plots, or
integration of
other quantities along the line of sight)
- Vector plots of the velocity (and other vector quantities),
including vector
plots in a cross section slice in 3D.
- Surface rendering of 3D data ("ray-trace through particles")
- Rotation and fly-throughs (animation sequences) of 3D
data.
- Automatic stepping through timesteps, making animations simple
to produce.
- Interactive mode for detailed examination of timestep data (e.g.
zooming,
rotating, plotting particle labels, working out the gradient of a line,
stepping forwards/backwards
through timesteps)
- Multiple plots on page, including option to automatically tile
plots if y and x limits
are the same.
- Plot limits can be fixed, adaptive or particle tracking. Also
simple to change
axes to log, invert, square root or absolute of a quantity.
- Exact solutions for common SPH test problems (e.g. hydrodynamic
shock tubes,
polytropes).
- Calculation of quantities not dumped (e.g. pressure)
- Transformation to different co-ordinate systems (for both
co-ordinates and
vector components).
- Straightforward production of GIF and Postscript images which
can then be
converted into animations.
- Reads from any ascii data format or direct from a binary file. Data reads of dump files produced by some widely
used SPH codes (e.g. the publicly available cosmological SPH code GADGET) are included.
Examples of plots produced with SPLASH can be found in the
gallery or by looking at
papers with figures produced using splash.
SPLASH is written in Fortran 90/95 and uses the PGPLOT graphics subroutine
library which is available for download from
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~tjp/pgplot/.
The PGPLOT libraries are often already installed in many Astronomy departments.
The free and open source g95 or gfortran compilers can be used to compile both PGPLOT
and SPLASH. These days I'd have to say I recommend gfortran for speed (plus in principle it has openMP though I have never found it to work properly).
Some answers to frequently asked questions (including troubleshooting related to installation problems) are given
here.
