AcuFieldView Environment Variables

Environment variables can give you greater control over how AcuFieldView works following a standard installation.

In most cases, an environment variable is activated by setting it to a non-zero value. Setting environment variables will depend on your operating system. For Linux users, it will also depend on the shell you are using.

Variable

Definition

FV_2D_TO_3D

Use this to extrude a 2D data set to 3D, enabling AcuFieldView to perform volume based 2D line plotting and point probe.

FV_ACUSOLVE_GRAD

Use this to enable the reading of gradients when loading AcuSolve results via the direct reader. You must activate the Read Extended Variables checkbox during data read to see the gradients and extended variables in the variable list.

FV_ALT_LOOKUP

Use this if you experience slow performance when attempting to move a surface with many faces or polygons, generally more than 1 million. For large data sets, or data sets with many regions, it is strongly recommended that you set this environment variable.

FV_ARB_POLY

When set, AcuFieldView will tetrahedralize arbitrary polyhdedra over riding the default behavior to handle these elements natively. Use FV_TET_CONV to apply a quick scheme for tetrahedralization.

FV_DATA_CHECK

Use this to check for invalid floating point values in PLOT 3D and FV-UNS data. Infinities are not checked for. This will increase memory usage and slow down read in times.

FV_DEBUG

Set this to obtain additional diagnostic information, printed to the console window, while running AcuFieldView.

FV_DEBUG_AUTOSTART

Set this to see the exact server command line that AcuFieldView is attempting to start.

FV_DEFAULT_PORT

Use this to set the port number that AcuFieldView uses for client server or parallel operation.

FV_DPI

Set this to specify the dots per inch for PostScript, EPS and EMF rendering. The default value is 120.

FV_GUI_FONT_SIZE

Set this to a number between 50 and 200 to change the font size of the GUI. A setting of 50 will scale the fonts by 50 percent, 200 will scale the fonts by 200 percent, or a factor of 2X.

FV_HOME

This variable is set and used by the AcuFieldView start up script. Changing this environment variable is not recommended.

FV_IGNORE_WALLS

If streamlines appear to arbitrarily stop within a domain, it may be the case that internal walls within the dataset are being incorrectly flagged as surfaces which will not let streamlines pass. Setting this environment variable ignores internal walls for streamline calculations.

FV_MULTISAMPLE_ENABLE

This variable turns on full screen hardware anti aliasing in the graphics and 2D plot window. This has no effect on hard copy output.

FV_NO_BACKUP_RESTART

To avoid losing work, a complete restart is saved to your home directory when exiting AcuFieldView. To turn this default behavior off, set this environment variable.

FV_NO_BNDRY_FILE

This variable turns off creation of .fvbnd files by the WIND reader.

FV_NO_DATA_CHECK

Use this to skip checks on element and boundary node IDs in PLOT 3D and FV-UNS files.

FV_NO_FVX_RESTART

Use this environment variable to turn off the automatic creation of an FVX file when a complete or current restart is saved.

FV_NO_GRID_JUMP

This variable turns off streamline grid jumping, except for grid jumping caused by negative IBlanks.

FV_NO_PREFERENCES

By default, all GUI layout customization and the locations of the last directory browsed for all file selectors are saved. To completely disable this default behavior set this environment variable.

FV_NO_SCONFIG_ECHO

By default, detailed information regarding servers, client server or parallel, is printed to the console window. Set this environment variable to disable this default behavior.

FV_NO_STREAK

By default, AcuFieldView will calculate streak lines from streamline rakes during a transient sweep operation. Use this environment variable to disable this behavior. When set, a transient sweep will produce streamlines instead of streaklines.

FV_OLD_BROWSER_BEHAVIOR

By default, the locations of the last directory browsed for all file selectors are saved. This may cause confusion, particularly for Linux users, since file browsers may not start in your current working directory. To override this default behavior, use this environment variable.

FV_PFD_VIEWER

For Linux users, setting this variable to point to a PDF viewer will allow you to override the Acrobat PDF viewer default.

FV_PLUGINS

By default, AcuFieldView expects plug-in readers to be located in the FV_HOME/bin/plugins directory. Use this to specify a different location for your reader source and libs for plug in readers.

FV_PRINT_DIR

This variable specifies a temporary directory for temporary files created by the print menu.

FV_PRINT_NO_AA

Use this to disable anti aliasing for post script and emf image output.

FV_PROBE_PERFORMANCE

Setting this value to an integer number between one and six will increase the performance of all point probe operations at the cost of increased memory and longer read in times. The internal default value for this setting depends on the amount of random access memory on your system.

FV_PROBE_SAVE_MEM

Use this to lower the memory requirements added to read data at the cost of decreased performance.

FV_RF_GRAPHICS

Set this environment variable if you encounter graphical problems or see error messages in the console window regarding OpenGL problems while running AcuFieldView. This environment variable is designed to allow AcuFieldView to run on systems with reduced functionality graphics support by disabling layered transparency and anti aliasing.

FV_SCREEN_GRAB

On some systems with reduced graphic functionality, this variable may be needed to properly save images of the graphics or plot window to a file.

FV_SERVER_CONFIG_DIR

By default, AcuFieldView looks for the server configuration files needed to run in client-server or parallel mode in FV_HOME/scong. Use this environment variable to define the location of your server config files. This setting can be uniquely defined for each user.

FV_SHOCK_MIN_NODES

Use this to set the minimum number of nodes in a connected shock region. The default is four.

FV_SHOCK_PRESSURE_CHANGE

The minimum pressure change in a connected shock region is defined as:

max(pressure)-min(pressure)

Use this environment variable, expressed as a fraction of the total pressure range for the entire data set, for example shock pressure range/ dataset pressure range, to customize how shock surfaces are calculated. The default is 0.01.

FV_SHOW_WALLS

If you see streamlines arbitrarily stopping in a dataset, it may be possible that there are internal walls blocking them. By setting this variable, an additional boundary type will be generated which can be used to show all walls in a dataset which streamlines are not allowed to pass through.

FV_SSLINES_EXPORT

By default, surface streamlines are sampled at each point to acquire the current scalar, velocity, threshold and iso-surface register values. To reduce the time required to calculate surface streamlines, this sampling step can be disabled by setting this environment variable. When this environment variable is set, the current scalar, velocity, threshold and iso-surface values will not be written to the exported file.

FV_TIMING

Use this to turn on fully instrumented timing output for AcuFieldView Parallel and Client-Server operation.

FV_TRANSP_LAYERS

Use this to set the number of layers used for transparent surfaces. The default is six. This value can range from two to eight. If you are running out of memory at the default level of six, or if you wish to reduce the time it takes to render transparent surfaces, reducing this value may help.

FV_USE_LONGEST_PATH

The length of the streamline filaments are based on the average duration of all streamlines in a rake. Use this to override the filament length calculation by using the longest duration streamline in a given rake.

FV_VOLUME_PROBE

Use this to override the default surface based probe and return probe results based on volume interpolation at surfaces.

Saved Preferences for the AcuFieldView Interface

Saving the size and location of the main window, along with the location of the toolbars, and whether they are docked or not, is part of the broader functionality of saving preferences. This information is stored in AcuFieldView.ini. Its location depends on the system where AcuFieldView is being run.

On Linux: /home/user/.config/Intelligent Light/AcuFieldView.ini.

On Windows 7: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Intelligent Light.

On Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Intelligent Light.

Note that the position of the file browsers, warning or error messages and confirmation pop-ups are not saved. Layouts are not saved as part of your AcuFieldView preferences on exit. As a result, AcuFieldView will start with a single window unless a complete restart with a multi-window layout is read at start-up.

AcuFieldView Preference Override

In some cases, it may be desirable to turn off the default behavior which saves and restores user preferences, such as the GUI layout and last file locations browsed. This is controlled by setting the following environment variable: FV_NO_PREFERENCES.

When this environment variable is set, the AcuFieldView preference file, AcuFieldView.ini, will neither be read on start up of nor written on exit from AcuFieldView.