The first step in a VISRAD project is to create a 3D grid that represents a set of target components in an experiment.

It is then necessary to specify the energy source, either as a set of laser beams which hit the target, or specifying that target components in the grid act as power sources. The user then specifies the albedo for each target component and, if necessary, the x-ray conversion efficiency and laser reflectivity.

After the target component and power source properties have been set up, the user can either run a time-dependent simulation or request a quantity to display. When a quantity (e.g., the incident flux throughout the grid) is requested to be displayed, VISRAD will automatically determine which quantities need to be updated based on updates to the grid or power source parameters. For example, view factor integrals -- which generally consume the most CPU time -- need only be computed when a change to the target grid has been made.

To run a multi-timestep simulation, it is necessary to first set up the simulation time grid and configure simulation parameters.

In short, the sequence for a typical project is:

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