OpenGL RequirementsΒΆ

Note

Follow this instruction if the plotting tool JCMview fails to show the field or geometry plots (e.g. showing a black screen instead).

JCMview uses the OpenGL support of the target computer. This might be either a hardware accelerated library provided by the graphic card manufacturer or a software based renderer (Mesa library). We have observed that JCMview may fail to show the scene for some software/hardware combinations. As a fallback JCMsuite comes with its own version of the software renderer library Mesa. If you observe a rendering problem please check if your problem can be fixed by changing the OpenGL configuration:

You can switch between three different OpenGL support options by a command line call to JCMview with the --gl_config argument followed by one of the configuration settings:

  • SYSTEM: Use the system (hardware) OpenGL library (this is the default)
  • SYSTEM_SOFTWARE: Many platforms comes with a mixed hardware/software based OpenGL renderer. This parameter enforces the usage of a pure software renderer.
  • JCM: Use the fallback software OpenGL renderer packed in your JCMsuite installation.

E.g. with

>> <JCMROOT>/bin/JCMview --gl_config JCM

future calls of JCMview will use the JCM fallback renderer on the current machine.

The command

>> <JCMROOT>/bin/JCMview --gl_info

shows the currently active OpenGL settings.