Visualising outputs

Chombo outputs checkpoint and plot files in hdf5 format. There are several options for viewing and processing such files, but we generally use VisIt, ParaView or yt. For a detailed instruction on how to download and set these tools up, head over to the Visualising outputs instructions in the main GRChombo wiki.

The matter evolution variables can be seen in the checkpoint files. In the case of a fixed background, you are often interested in diagnostic variables, and so you will need to specify in the params file that you want them output to the hdf5 plot files. Possibly the most useful variable to look at in the examples that we provide is the energy density of the scalar field. Note that you can look at these files even when the job is still running. It is always a good idea to check the files after a few timesteps to make sure it is running sensibly.