NAME

       h5tovtk - convert datasets in HDF5 files to VTK format

SYNOPSIS

       h5tovtk [OPTION]... [HDF5FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

       h5tovtk  is  a  program  to generate VTK data files from multidimensional datasets in HDF5
       files.  VTK, the Visualization ToolKit,  is  an  open-source,  freely  available  software
       system  for  3D  computer  graphics, image processing, and visualization.  VTK itself is a
       programming library, but it  is  also  the  basis  for  a  number  of  end-user  graphical
       visualization programs.

       HDF5  is  a  free, portable binary format and supporting library developed by the National
       Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in  Urbana-Champaign.
       A  single  h5  file  can  contain  multiple  datasets; by default, h5tovtk takes the first
       dataset,  but  this  can  be  changed  via  the  -d  option,  or  by  using   the   syntax
       HDF5FILE:DATASET.

       1d/2d/3d  datasets  are  converted  into  3d  VTK datasets.  Normally, a single scalar VTK
       dataset is output, but vectors and fields can be output via the -o option below.

       A typical invocation is of the form ´h5tovtk foo.h5´, which will output a  VTK  data  file
       foo.vtk from the data in foo.h5.

OPTIONS

       -h     Display help on the command-line options and usage.

       -V     Print the version number and copyright info for h5tovtk.

       -v     Verbose output.

       -o file
              Save all the input datasets to a single VTK file.  If there is only one dataset, it
              is output to a VTK scalar dataset; if there are three datasets, they are output  as
              a  VTK  vector dataset; all other numbers of datasets are combined into a VTK field
              dataset.

              Otherwise, the default behavior is to save each dataset to  a  separate  VTK  file,
              with the .h5 suffix of the input filename replaced by .vtk in the output filename.

              Only three-dimensional datasets may be written to the VTK file.  If you have a four
              (or more) dimensional data set, then you must take a three-dimensional  "slice"  of
              the  multi-dimensional  data.  To do this, you specify coordinates in one (or more)
              slice dimension(s), via the -xyzt options.

       -1, -2, -4
              Use 1 , 2, or 4 bytes to store each data point in the  output  file.   Fewer  bytes
              require  less  storage  and memory, but will decrease the resolution in the values.
              -1 will break up the data values into one of 256 possible values (on a linear scale
              from  the  minimum to the maximum value in your data), -2 will allow 65536 possible
              values, and -4 (the default) will use 4-byte floating-point numbers for an  "exact"
              representation.

       -a     Output  in  ASCII  format;  otherwise,  VTK's  more  compact, but less readable and
              somewhat less portable binary format is used.

       -n     For binary output (see -a above), by default the data is written in bigendian  byte
              order,  which is normally the order that VTK expects.  However, some external tools
              and a few VTK classes use the native  byte  ordering  instead  (which  may  not  be
              bigendian),  and  the  -n option causes h5tovtk to output binary data in the native
              ordering.

       -m min, -M max
              When -1 or -2 are used, the input data are converted to  a  linear  integer  scale.
              Normally,  the  bottom  and top of this scale correspond to the minimum and maximum
              values in the data.  Using the -m and -M options, you can make the bottom  and  top
              of the scale correspond to min and max instead, respectively.  Data values below or
              above this range will be treated as if they were min or max respectively.  See also
              the -Z option.

       -Z     For -1 or -2 output, center the linear integer scale on the value zero in the data.

       -r     Invert the output values (map the minimum to the maximum and vice versa).

       -x ix, -y iy, -z iz, -t it
              This  tells h5tovtk to use a particular slice of a multi-dimensional dataset.  e.g.
              -x uses the subset (with one less dimension) at an x index of ix (where the indices
              run  from  zero to one less than the maximum index in that direction).  Here, x/y/z
              correspond to the first/second/third dimensions of the HDF5 dataset. The -t  option
              specifies  a slice in the last dimension, whichever that might be.  See also the -0
              option to shift the origin of the x/y/z slice coordinates to the dataset center.

       -0     Shift the origin of the x/y/z slice coordinates to the dataset center, so that e.g.
              -0 -x 0 (or more compactly -0x0) returns the central x plane of the dataset instead
              of the edge x plane.  (-t coordinates are not affected.)

       -d name
              Use dataset name from the input files; otherwise, the first dataset from each  file
              is  used.   Alternatively,  use  the  syntax  HDF5FILE:DATASET, which allows you to
              specify a different dataset for each file.  You can use the h5ls command  (included
              with hdf5) to find the names of datasets within a file.

BUGS

       Send bug reports to S. G. Johnson, stevenj@alum.mit.edu.

AUTHORS

       Written  by  Steven  G.  Johnson.   Copyright  (c)  2005 by the Massachusetts Institute of
       Technology.