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Vis > visualization > 2d > ncargintro
NAME
ncargintro - NCAR Graphics Overview
SYNOPSIS
ncargintro
DESCRIPTION
NCAR Graphics is a collection of graphics libraries that
supports the display of scientific data. Several interfaces
are available for visualizing your data:
1. The low-level utilities (LLUs) are the traditional C and
Fortran interfaces for contouring, mapping, drawing field
flows, drawing surfaces, drawing histograms, drawing X/Y
plots, labeling, and more.
2. The high-level utilities (HLUs) are a high level
programmatic interface with both C and Fortran bindings. The
range of functionality of the HLUs is exercised by setting
option switches, called resources. Resources can be set in a
text file, so a plot can be redrawn without a recompile.
3. The NCAR Command Language (NCL) is a full programming
language including looping and conditionals for data
selection, manipulation, and display. NCL commands can be
executed one at a time from the command line, or can be
gathered into a series of commands, called a script, and
executed in a batch mode.
4. The prototype GUI interface (xproto) is an X11-based
"point and click" interface. The prototype qualifier means
that this version of the GUI will not be supported, but is
there if you can use it.
Output from these interfaces can be directed in a
combination of three ways: an NCGM (NCAR Graphics Computer
Graphics Metafile), an X11 window, or one of many PostScript
outputs (regular, Encapsulated, or Interchange PostScript
format). Other formats are available through NCGM
translators and accompanying device drivers.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Every user of NCAR Graphics will either need to set the
environment variable NCARG_ROOT or the environment variables
NCARG_BIN, NCARG_LIB, and NCARG_INCLUDE depending on how
NCAR Graphics was installed on your system.
If the NCAR Graphics binaries, libraries, and include files
were installed under one root directory, say for example
/usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, and /usr/local/include
respectively, then you'll need to do the following:
setenv NCARG_ROOT /usr/local
If the binaries, libraries, and include files were NOT
installed under one root directory, say for example
/usr/local/ncarg/bin, /usr/local/ncarg/lib, and
/usr/local/include, then you'll need to do the following:
setenv NCARG_BIN /usr/local/ncarg/bin
setenv NCARG_LIB /usr/local/ncarg/lib
setenv NCARG_INCLUDE /usr/local/include
The environment variable NCARG_GKS_OUTPUT may be used to
direct the metafile output from the NCAR Graphics GKS
package to a file (use just the file name) or to pipe it to
a translator (give the name of the translator, preceded by a
"|").
The environment variable NCARG_GKS_PSOUTPUT may be used to
direct the PostScript output from the NCAR Graphics GKS
package to a file (stdout is allowed).
The environment variables GRAPHCAP and FONTCAP may be used
to tell the NCGM translators "ctrans", "ictrans" and "idt"
what default "graphcap" and "fontcap" to use. See the man
pages for ctrans(1NCARG), ictrans(1NCARG), and idt(1NCARG)
for more information.
The environment variable DISPLAY is not actually used by the
translators; if you are using X Windows, it determines where
the translator output is to be displayed.
SEE ALSO
Online:
Commands which facilitate compiling and running with NCAR
Graphics:
nhlf77(1NCARG), nhlcc(1NCARG), ncargf77(1NCARG),
ncargcc(1NCARG), ncargpath(1NCARG), ncargrun(1NCARG)
NCAR Command Language:
ncl
Prototype GUI:
xproto
Fortran utilities in NCAR Graphics:
areas(3NCARG), autograph(3NCARG), bivar(3NCARG),
colconv(3NCARG), conpack(3NCARG), dashline(3NCARG),
dashpack(3NCARG), ezmap(3NCARG), gflash(3NCARG),
gks(3NCARG), gridall(3NCARG), histogram(3NCARG),
isosurface(3NCARG), labelbar(3NCARG), ngmisc(3NCARG),
plotchar(3NCARG), softfill(3NCARG), surface(3NCARG),
scrolled_title(3NCARG), streamlines(3NCARG), threed(3NCARG),
vectors(3NCARG), wmap(3NCARG)
NCGM translators:
ctrans(1NCARG), ictrans(1NCARG), idt(1NCARG), med(1NCARG)
Raster formats and applications:
ras_formats(1NCARG), ras_palette(1NCARG), rascat(1NCARG),
rasview(1NCARG), rasls(1NCARG), rasgetpal(1NCARG)
LLU NCAR Graphics C-binding:
ncarg_cbind(3NCARG) ncarg_gks_cbind(3NCARG)
Descriptions of environment variables:
ncarg_env(5NCARG),
Descriptions of fontcaps and graphcaps:
fcaps(1NCARG), fontcap(5NCARG), gcaps(1NCARG),
graphcap(5NCARG)
Metafile filters:
cgm2ncgm(1NCARG) ncgm2cgm(1NCARG), pre2ncgm(1NCARG),
psblack(1NCARG), pswhite(1NCARG),
A command which tells you what version of NCAR Graphics you
are using:
ncargversion(1NCARG)
Utilities for generating NCAR Graphics Fortran, C, and NCL
examples:
ng4ex(1NCARG) ncargex(1NCARG),
Utilities for giving you access to special NCAR Graphics
files and/or tables.
ncargfile(1NCARG)
Programs for generating sample NCGMs: ncargworld,tgks0a
Online documentation:
NCAR Graphics User Guide, NCAR Graphics Reference Manual,
NCAR Graphics Quick Start Guide, NCAR Graphics Contouring
and Mapping Tutorial, NCAR Graphics Fundamentals, User's
Guide for NCAR GKS-0A Graphics, NCAR Graphics Release Notes
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
All Rights Reserved