Revision Histories for Versions 1.2.1 - 4.1.1

Shown below are VISRAD revision summaries for:

• Version 4.1.1
• Version 4.1.0
• Version 4.0.1
• Version 4.0.0
• Version 3.1.0
• Version 3.0.0
• Version 2.3.0
• Version 2.2.0
• Version 2.1.1
• Version 2.1.0
• Version 2.0.0
• Version 1.2.3
• Version 1.2.2
• Version 1.2.1

Version 4.1.1

• Uses new math expression parser: ucalc.dll no longer needed for Windows version.
• Bug fixes:

  • Bug associated with duplication of clipping volumes (fatal error reported as "n_new_surfs < 0") has been fixed.

Version 4.1.0

• X-TVS/Y-TVS Viewer added. This window shows views from X-TVS and Y-TVS ports of the OMEGA target chamber.

  • Reticles (i.e., positioning fiducials) can be added to X-TVS and Y-TVS views individually.
  • Views can be shown in color or grayscale.  Grayscale can more accurately simulate the displays in the OMEGA operations room during target positioning prior to a shot.

  • To show TVS viewer, select menu View | X-TVS/Y-TVS Viewer.
    

• Table of positions for key points on target components:
• The positions of key points for each target component in the grid can be displayed in a table.  Select menu View | Target Component Positions to view the table.
• Positions are displayed in one of the following coordinate systems:
  • Target chamber
  • One of the target components
  • View from one of the diagnostic ports
• An example display of the table is shown below:

.

• Graphics in Main Window: Displays can now be generated for wireframe, front-side polygon filling, or front- and back-side polygon filling (as illustrated below).
  • To change polygon fill modes, select the menu item Show | Surfaces As, and select the desired fill mode.

    


• Target component setup:  Additional options have been added for setting the positions of several objects.  Below is a list of objects affected, along with points that can be used in specifying object positions:
  • Sphere:  centroid, top, and bottom
  • Box:  centroid, and any one of its corners
  • Rectangle:  centroid, and any one of its corners.
• Bug fixes:
  • Duplication of clipping volumes:  position parameters are now updated in main graphics window appropriately.

Version 4.0.1

• Laser beam clusters can now be deleted and cluster names can be edited.
• Laser beams list does not reset back to top of list after beam parameters have been edited.
• Laser beams list does not automatically sort the list alphabetically by cluster name.

Version 4.0.0

• Documentation:
  • Appendix added on benchmarking against OMEGA capsule radiation symmetry experiments.
• X-TVS and Y-TVS locations have been added to list of diagnostic ports for setting viewing position.
• Previously-used workspace files can now be accessed using File | Recent Workspaces.
• Color Contour Graphs for Objects:
  • Color contour graphs can now be generated for individual objects. Graphs are displayed in the natural coordinate system of the object (e.g., for a sphere, quantities are plotted vs. the polar angle and azimuthal angle (see image below)).
  • Quantities that can be plotted include:
    • Radiation temperature
    • Emission temperature
    • Incident flux
    • Outgoing flux
    • Total power source term
    • Total laser power deposited
    • Direct laser power deposited
    • Reflected laser power deposited (due to glint)
  • Graphs are accessed through the Plot menu on the Surface Element Properties widget.

   

  

• Lineout Plots for Color Contours:
• Color contour plots now support generating lineouts along the horizontal and vertical directions (see example below). The cross hairs in the color contour plot are used to specify the horizontal and vertical lineout positions.
• Lineout display can be accessed by Lineout Tool Button () at the top of the Surface Element Properties widget.

• Statistical Data for Objects:
  • Statistical data can now be displayed for individual objects. Quantities available are the same as listed above (Radiation temperature, etc.).
  • Statistical data include: mean, variance, standard deviation, and minimum and maximum value.
  • Statistical data are accessed through the Analysis menu on the Surface Element Properties widget.
  • The deviation from the mean value (averaged over an object) for individual surface elements can be displayed in the table of the Surface Element Properties widget.
• Legendre Polynomial Coefficients for Spherical Objects:
  • Incident flux data for an object can now be fitted to a Legendre polynomial expansion. Coefficients are fitted to the expression:
    • Flux = A₀ + A₂ P₂(cos(θ)) + A₄ P₄(cos(θ)) + ...
      where A_n are fitting coefficients and P_n are Legendre polynomials. By default, when fitting, expansion extends to A₂.
  • Fitting coefficients are displayed along with the statistical information for an object.
  • Current limitations: only computed for incident flux for spherical objects; hardwired to compute A₀ and A₂ only.
• Laser and Port Positions Dialog:
  • Capability to sort by column values has been added.
  • Accelerator key changed from CTRL-P to ALT-P.
• Bug fixes:
  • Problem associated with displaying temperatures/fluxes saved from a previous calculation in a workspace file that also stored view factors has been fixed.
  • Problem associated with conversion of laser beam spot size (supergaussian profile only) to "1/e" spot size when defined by its 5% or 50% value has been fixed.
  • Various other minor bugs have been fixed.

 

Version 3.1.0

• Beam-Dependent Laser Beam Spatial Profiles:
  • Laser beam spatial profiles can now be specified on a beam-by-beam basis.
  • A new tab, "Spatial Profile", has been added to the Laser Beam Parameters Dialog.
  • The menu item Lasers | Beam Profile has been replaced by Lasers | Glint Parameters. When selected, the dialog displays only parameters relevant to modeling reflected laser light (glint).
  • Beam profiles can also be simultaneously set for multiple beams (see below).
• Editing of Multiply Selected Laser Beams:
  • Dialogs specific to individually setting laser beam colors, pointing parameters, power parameters, and spatial profile parameters have been added. These can be used to set individual parameters for one or more selected beams.
  • To utilize these, select one or more beams in the Laser Beams List. Then select one of the following menu items under either the Lasers menu or by right-clicking on the Laser Beams List:
    • Set Color
    • Set Pointing
    • Set Powers
    • Set Spatial Profile
• When dialog is displayed, parameters which have the same value for all selected beams are shown. If parameters have differing values, the corresponding widget is left blank.
• Documentation:
  • Appendix added on benchmarking against OMEGA hohlraum radiation temperatures.
  • Description of setting laser beam properties updated to reflect updates associated with verion 3.1.
• Printing Images:
  • The ability to print the main graphics window has been added.
• Exporting Images:
• The image exporter has been upgraded to better handle exporting of image files (e.g., JPEG, BMP, PNG).
• Laser Beam Parameters Dialog:
  • Apply button added at bottom of the dialog. This stores parameters in all of the tabs. Buttons that store parameters for only the tab that is shown are grouped together just above this.
• Bug fixes:
  • Graphical display of laser beam cones: Display of cone-target intersection fixed.
  • OpenGL depth buffering in main graphics window: Parameters associated with near and far clipping planes are adjusted based on perspective projection opening angle.
  • Clipping Volume orientations: Fix problems associated with inconsistency with Object and Clipping Volume orientations. Changes were made to ensure backwards compatibility with older workspaces (previously stored clipping volumes orientations are not altered).
  • Loading power source data from workspaces created prior to Version 2.3: errors could occur if power source parameters were not recomputed and workspace data was used. This problem, which occurs only in Version 3.0.0, is now fixed.
• Clipping Volume Dialog: Fixed close event ("X" in upper right of dialog).

Version 3.0.0

• Documentation:
  • Modifications for laser beam profile models
  • Addition of material on laser reflections (glint)
  • Appendices added for:
    • Paper providing overview of VISRAD
    • Benchmark problems for laser reflection and radiation emitted from a ring source.
• Laser Beam Spatial Profile Modeling:
  • Parameters for SG4 phase plates have been added.
  • An option to utilize supergaussian profiles using "custom" user-supplied parameters has been added.
• Laser Beam Energy Deposition:
  • The "beamlet" approach -- i.e., ray-trace using a set of rays focusing to the (zero-radius) apex of a cone -- has been replace by a hybrid analytic/ray-trace model. The analytic model provides the spatial profile for the intensity at a surface element, while the ray-trace component is used to test occultation by other surface elements and energy loss of light escaping the mesh through holes. The new hybrid model eliminates "speckled distribution" patterns that could occur when using either a small number of laser beamlets or a large number of surface elements.
• Reflection of Laser Light of Surfaces (Glint):
  • Laser reflection model has been added, which supports multiple reflections and user-specified laser reflectivities for each object in the grid.
  • Displays of laser energy deposited can be shown for:
    • the total laser power deposited
    • the component due to direct (non-reflected) laser light
    • the component due to all reflected laser light
    • the component due to individual reflections
• Display of Laser Beam Cones
  • Laser beam cones in the main graphics display no longer assume focussing to a zero-radius spot. The characteristics of the beam cones in the display are based on the Laser Beam Profile parameters (accessed by Lasers | Beam Profile) and the Lasers | Radius in Display menu item.
• Display of Radiation Spectra Incident on Surface Elements:
  • New plotting algorithms provide more flexibility for modifying plot characteristics. Supports saving images of plots to files, saving data to files, and viewing data.
• Surface Elements Table Dialog:
  • File menu added for saving data to files. This replaces buttons on dialog used for saving data. In the future, a new menu will be provided to support the display of object-dependent 2-D color contour plots of quantities shown in the table.
  • Columns for direct and reflected laser light data have been added. Note that this affects the format of output files written using this dialog.
• Power Summaries Table
  • Laser energy deposition data shown for each object. Laser powers are broken down by total power, direct power, total reflected power, and power due to individual reflections.
• Example problems:
  • A new example problem has been added to demonstrate how to set up parameters for the new beam intensity profile and glint models.
• Bug fixes:
  • Color bar in main window is now fully displayed when main window is sufficiently large.
• When object is renamed, all beams using this object as a reference coordinate system continue to use this same coordinate system.
• Parameters specifying [top, centroid, bottom] positions for object and clipping volume that have been saved to workspaces are now read in appropriately.

Version 2.3.0

• Cone Object
  • Capability added to position cone using Top, Centroid, or Bottom of cone.
• Color Bar
  • The Color Bar Parameters dialog can now be accessed by double-clicking on the color bar.
• Diagnostic Ports as Reference Coordinate Systems for Target Components
  • Target components can now also be set up in the coordinated system of any diagnostic port of the target chamber. When selecting a port as the reference coordinate system, the +z-axis points toward the port. The +x-axis points in the direction of the +theta (polar angle) vector of the target chamber, while the +y-axis points in the direction of the +phi (azimuthal angle) vector.
• Perspective Projection Upgrades
  • Users can now specify the viewing (or opening angle) in perspective projection. By selecting a small opening angle, the viewing appears effectively like orthographic projection. Opening angles between 0.5 degrees and 80 degrees are supported. Up through version 2.2.0, the opening angle was fixed at 80 degrees. When the opening angle is modified, the motion control step sizes and eye (viewer) position are adjusted to provide approximately the same viewing. The opening angle is set in the Graphics tab of the Preferences dialog. To access this, select menu item Edit | Preferences. By saving the angle in Preferences, the last used opening angle read in the next time VISRAD is used.
• View Factor (Configuration Integral) Calculations
  • Efficiency of computations has been improved through first checking whether a ray intersects the bounding volume of an object. Typical speedups are ~ factor of 1.4 to 4, depending on the grid.
• Help Pages
  • Help buttons have been added to several dialogs. Pressing a dialog help button brings up the appropriate page in the help documentation. When loading help pages, VISRAD now looks to see if Internet Explorer exists at the default location on Windows. If it exists, the help pages are displayed using the IE browser; otherwise, they are displayed using the VISRAD help browser.
• Clipping of One Target Component By Another
  • The default reference coordinate system of the clipping volume is now the coordinate system of the target component doing the clipping.
• Bug fixes
  • Fixed problem of not recognizing position reference point (i.e., top, centroid, bottom) for target components when workspace is read in.
  • Fixed problem of not recognizing position reference point (i.e., top, centroid, bottom) for clipping volumes.
  • Fixed problems associated with deleting objects after radiosity calculations have been performed.

Version 2.2.0

• New Target Components
  • Support for cone objects added. Cone can be open or closed at top. All or part of 360 degree rotation supported. Support for portions of a sphere added. Portions of up to 360 degree rotation in azimuth.
• Multi-Timestep Simulation Support
  • VISRAD now supports "time-dependent" calculations; that is, multi-timestep simulations in which steady-state radiosity equations are solved. Users can set up the following to be time-dependent:
    • target component sizes
    • laser beam powers
    • albedos
    • x-ray conversion efficiencies
    • target component powers (self-emission)
  • Time-dependent quantities are entered into Tables. Data entry can be made by:
    • direct entry into the tables
    • importing data from multi-column ascii files
    • analytic expressions (Windows only)
  • Plotting of time-dependent table entries is also supported.
• Simulation Menu
  • A new menu, "Simulation", has been included in the main window. This supports:
    • configuring parameters for multi-timestep simulations
    • running simulations
    • clearing datasets for all timesteps in the simulation.
• Main User Interface
  • A Time Selector has been added. The Time Selector frame includes a check box to toggle automatic updating of the main graphics window. The viewer (eye) position is now located in the lower right of the main window.
• Viewing Controls
  • Rotation sliders: rotations can now be made about the x, y, or z axes of any object's coordinate system. A button has been added to reset rotation angles to zero. Note: When rotating about an axis (e.g., the x-axis), if the rotation angles for other axes are non-zero, the rotation does not take place about that axis alone.
• Example Files
  • Two new example files have been added: a time-dependent OMEGA hohlraum simulation, and a time-dependent z-pinch simulation. Old z-pinch hohlraum examples have been modified to utilize slotted hohlraums instead of clipped cylinders.
• Progress Bars
• New progress bars have been added to support multi-timestep simulations.
• Documentation
  • Substantial upgrades to reflect numerous changes, including:
    • table data for time-dependent quantities
    • the time selector in the main user interface
    • new viewing controls in the main user interface
• Bug fixes
  • Various minor bugs have been fixed, including that associated with renaming objects, and its influence on reference coordinate systems.

Version 2.1.1

• Tracking Object Parameter Changes / Avoiding Recalculation of View Factors
  • Changes to made in the Object Parameters Dialog are tracked in greater detail. View Factors are only recomputed when changes are made to parameters that affect the grid. Thus, when only albedos are changed, view factors are not recomputed.
• Installation
  • It is now not necessary to remove the old version of VISRAD when installing a new version.
• Setting the Position of Cylinders
  • To set the position of Cylinder objects, the position of the Top, Bottom, or Centroid can be specified.
• Updating Values in Picked Surface Elements Dialog
  • Values in the Picked Surface Elements Dialog are automatically updated when the radiosities are recomputed (e.g., when selecting Display | Emission Temperature). Also, when double-clicking on a surface element after Object Parameters have been changed, but prior to updating radiosities, a dialog appears indicating that radiosities need to be updated.
• Example Files
  • Backlighter wires in example workspaces now have surface element normals facing outward.
• Main Window Graphics
  • Display is automatic set to showing Grid when object gridding parameters have changed. This was done to prevent displaying old radiosity results on a new grid. Code has been modified to address clipping problem in main graphics window when main window was resized.
• Progress Bars
  • A dual progress bar, one showing laser beam count, the other showing beamlet count, is now used to show progress in computing laser beam power deposition. For NIF beams, the laser light cone (blue [3w], green [2w], or red [1w]) being computed is also shown.
• File Menu
  • Close Workspace menu item removed, as it added no additional functionality.
• Documentation
  • Minor changes only.
• Bug fixes
  • Specific bug fixes:
    • Laser Beam Cone power initialization problem fixed.
    • Clipping Volume Parameters: Reference coordinate system used for positioning clipping volume was not being set appropriately when reading in old workspaces.
    • Memory problems caused by attempting to perform view factor calculations with grids having a very large number of surface elements.
  • Various other minor bugs have been fixed.

Version 2.1.0

• Target Components Library Added
  • The ability to store target components in a user's "library" has been added. Users can save components, either as individual components or in groups, and reuse them in later calculations.
  • The library has a structure that resembles a file system with folders/directories.
  • The library is accessed by selecting Target | Open Components Library.
• Cloning Target Components and Clipping Volumes
  • Target components and clipping volumes can now be cloned (i.e., duplicated). This is accomplished by selecting Target | Duplicate, or right-clicking with the mouse on one of the target components in the list on the left side of the VISRAD main window.
• NIF Laser Beams: Unconverted Laser Light Modeling
  • NIF beams are now modeled with 3 cones. The Blue, Green, and Red cones represent 0.35, 0.53, and 1-micron laser light.
  • User controls pointing of the beams by specifying the location of the Blue cone of a given beam. The Green and Red cones focus to spots based on the Blue cone focus and NIF final optics parameters.
  • By default, power deposition due to all 3 (RGB) cones are included in the power source calculation. But in the graphics display only cones representing the Blue light cones are shown by default.
  • The user can control the power and visibility of the Blue, Green, and Red cones through the NIF Beam Parameters dialog, which is accessed by selecting Laser | Set NIF Beam Params.
• Mac OSX Capability Added
  • VISRAD is now supported for Macintosh platforms running OSX.
• User Interface Library
  • Upgraded to Qt 3.0.1. This upgrade was required in order to support Mac OSX systems.
• Documentation
  • Updates concerning the Target Components Library and the ability to clone objects have been added.
  • Added are descriptions related to modeling unconverted laser light for NIF laser beams.
• Bug fixes
  • A bug that could potentially affect problems when reading in workspaces saved under old versions (version 1.2.2 or earlier) has been fixed. The bug was pertinent to cylinders and disks.
  • In version 1.2.3 the ability to add object that were *portions of* cylinders and disks was added. Version 2.1.0 should now read in workspaces of all versions of VISRAD.
  • Line plotter used for spectral plots upgraded. Text now drawn onto transparent widget. Problems associated with resizing of window have been fixed.
  • Various other minor bugs have been fixed.

Version 2.0.0

• New Target Chamber Types
  • Previous to this version of VISRAD, the laser beam and diagnostic ports were those of the OMEGA target chamber system. Two new target chamber types have been added:
    • NIF (192 laser beams and 110 diagnostic ports), and
    • "none" (no laser beams and no diagnostic ports).
• User Interface: Selecting Target Chamber Types
  • When a new VISRAD application is started, the user is prompted to specify the target chamber type (NIF, OMEGA, or none). This is also done when selecting File | New. When reading in a workspace file created from previous versions of VISRAD (pre-2.0.0), the user is prompted to specify the target chamber type (OMEGA or none). All pre-2.0.0 workspaces were stored assuming OMEGA target chamber parameters (even if laser beams were not utilized).
• Max. Number of Surface Elements per Objects
  • The maximum allowable number of surface elements per object has been increased from 10,000 to 400,000.
• Documentation
  • Updates concerning NIF modeling (laser and diagnostic ports) have been added.
  • Discussion of target chamber selection added.
• Bug fixes
  • Various minor bugs have been fixed.

Version 1.2.3

• New Target Component Types
  • Two new target component types are supported:
    • Spoked disk: A disk with evenly spaced "spokes".
    • Slotted hohlraum: A cylinder with equally spaced open slots.
• User Interface: Selecting Objects
  • Images have been added to Object Selection dialog to aid in description of object types.
• Toolbar Button Added
  • A tool bar button has been added for setting the color bar.
• Bug Fix
  • Coordinate system transformation bug that resulted in incorrect orientation of LEH's for laser hohlraums fixed.
• Documentation
  • Updates concerning new target components have been added. Discussion of displaying properties for a single, "picked" surface element has been updated.
• Bug fixes
  • Various minor bugs have been fixed.

Version 1.2.2

• Power Summary Table Added
  • Results for overall power balance in a calculation are shown by selecting View | Power Summary.
• Incident Radiative Powers Table Added
  • A table has been added that shows results for the incident radiative power on each object in the target component grid. Also included is a breakdown of powers due to emission by each object in the grid. Table is displayed by selecting View | Incident Radiation Powers.
• Command Line Option Added
  • When supplying the workspace input file on the command line, VISRAD starts up and opens the input file. On Windows platforms, by setting up file type parameters for *.vrw files, VISRAD can now be started by double-clicking on a workspace file.
• Documentation
  • Description of Power Summary Table added. Description of Incident Radiative Powers Table added.
• Bug fixes
  • Various bugs have been fixed, including memory problem caused by OpenGL display lists.

Version 1.2.1

• Surface Element Data Table Added
  • Tabulated results for surface elements are shown by selecting View | Surface Elements Table. User can set which table columns are to be displayed. Results for all objects, a single object, or a subset of elements from a single object can be written to an ascii file.
• Fortran Algorithm Exception Handling
  • Exception handling added to F90 algorithms to avoid forced exiting of application for invalid parameter ranges.
• Laser Beam Profile Modeling
  • Options added for SG3 (with and without polarization smoothing) and SG8 phase plates added for OMEGA system.
• Main Window User Interface
  • Additional tooltips added for viewing/motion controls.
• Coordinate System Specification for Clipping Volumes
  • Clipping volumes can now be specified using the coordinate system of any previously created target component, or the target chamber coordinate system. Previously, clipping volumes were always specified in the coordinate system of the object which is being clipped.
• Clipping Volumes Based on Target Components
  • Clipping volumes can now be specified using the parameters of any previously created target component.
• Set Viewing Position Dialog
  • Previous user selections are now saved.
• Exporting Images to Files
  • Exporting images viewed in main window is now supported. Image file types supported: *.bmp, *.png, *.xpm, *.xmb, *.pbm, *.ppm, *.pgm.
• SUN Support
  • VISRAD 1.2.1 supported on Sun Solaris platforms (SunOS 5.7).
• Documentation
  • Reference on using viewing/motion controls added to example problems. Laser beam profile modeling updated. Description of Surface Elements Table added.
• Bug fixes
  • Various minor bugs have been fixed.