asci/vtk

asci/vtk
file formats (simple html)
Parallel Implementations:
visit
paraview

PVD: (*.pvd) (polygonal, image, rectilinear, structured grid or unstructured). The file extension is .pvd. This format supports spatially partitioned as well as multi-block data.

VTK: (*.vtp *.vti *.vtr) XML based file format used by VTK. The data object created may be of any type supported by ParaView (polygonal, image, rectilinear, structured grid or unstructured).

Parallel VTK: (*.pvtp, *pvti, *.pvtr) XML based file format used by VTK. The parallel VTK files contain information about the spatial distribution of data and may point to multiple VTK files.

Legacy VTK, Parallel legacy VTK, EnSight, EnSight Master Server, HDF5 (image only), VRML, PLOT3D, Stereo Lithography, BYU, POP Ocean, PDB (Protein Data Bank), XMoL, XDMF, raw binary, Exodus, SAF, AVS UCD, Meta Image, Gaussian Cube.

chomboviz

Formats: (vtk pdf)
classic/serial only
xml/serial/parallel
extentions/paraview pvd
PVD file format: This consists of an XML based meta-file pointing to regular VTK data files. The readers have methods for selecting datasets based on a list of attributes (for example, time) specified in the meta-file. It is also possible to suppport things like multi-block and AMR datasets in this format.

 1. time series example
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <VTKFile type="Collection" version="0.1" byte_order="LittleEndian" compressor="vtkZLibDataCompressor">
   <Collection>
     <DataSet timestep="0" group="" part="0" file="frames/frame_T0000.vtp"/>
     <DataSet timestep="1" group="" part="0" file="frames/frame_T0001.vtp"/>
     <DataSet timestep="2" group="" part="0" file="frames/frame_T0002.vtp"/>
 ...
   </Collection>
 </VTKFile>

 2. multiblock AMR example
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <VTKFile type="Collection" version="0.1" byte_order="LittleEndian"
          compressor="vtkZLibDataCompressor">
   <Collection>
     <DataSet part="0" file="multiblock/multiblock_0.vts"/>
     <DataSet part="1" file="multiblock/multiblock_1.vts"/>
     <DataSet part="2" file="multiblock/multiblock_2.vts"/>
     <DataSet part="3" file="multiblock/multiblock_3.vts"/>
     <DataSet part="4" file="multiblock/multiblock_4.vts"/>
   </Collection>
 </VTKFile>

page includes exerpts from vtk online users manual, paraview online users manual, kitware vtk/paraview online newsgroups