VELAS

VELAS is a user-friendly open-source toolbox for the visualization and analysis of elastic anisotropy written in GNU Octave that can be used

VELAS is a user-friendly open-source toolbox for the visualization and analysis of elastic anisotropy written in GNU Octave that can be used for any crystal symmetry.

Meaning of VELAS

VELAS is derived from the combination of the letters V, ELA and S in "Visualization and analysis of ELAstic aniSotropy" and has no connection or relationship to any known trademarks, places or people that might be called "VELAS".

VELAS Manual, PDF

Highlights

• Easy to install and use, no compilation required and no dependence on any third-party libraries.
• A fully interactive graphical interactive interface (GUI).
• Support for a wide range of visualisation schemes such as map projection and unit sphere projection.
• Supports the determination of the mechanical stability of crystals at atmospheric and high pressures using the Born mechanical stability criterion.
• Support for analysis of properties such as hardness, fracture toughness, average Cauchy pressure, areal Poisson’s ratio, etc.
• Provides a native interface for calling data from the new (default) and legacy APIs of the Materials Project's database.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

INSTALL

Installation Scheme A

• (1) install VELAS using pkg command in GNU Octave command windows as following:

pkg install "https://github.com/ranzhengcode/VELAS/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.6.tar.gz"

• (2) And then using pkg load velas to load VELAS.
• (3) Type velasGUI to run VELAS.
• (4) Enjoy!

Installation Scheme B

• (1) Unzip the downloaded VELAS archive into any available path;
• (2) Run install_VELAS or velasGUI, VELAS will be automatically installed.

Enjoy!

GET STARTED

VELAS supports both script and GUI to run.

• 1: Run VELAS using velasScript. Type velasScript in the command window of GNU Octave and press Enter to run.
• 2: Run VELAS using velasGUI. Type velasGUI in the command window of GNU Octave and press Enter to run.

Tested systems

Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.04.

Languages

GUN Octave (Ver. 5.2.0 - latest, Recommended), in full support of MATLAB.

ColorMap

Support 75 kinds of colormap:
'viridis' (default), 'inferno', 'plasma', 'magma', 'rocket', 'mako', 'flare', 'crest', 'vlag', 'icefire','seismic' 'cool', 'summer', 'copper', 'hot', 'ocean', 'gray', 'bone', 'Spectral', 'coolwarm', 'pink', 'spring', 'autumn', 'winter', 'thermal', 'haline', 'solar', 'ice', 'deep', 'dense', 'algae', 'matter', 'turbid', 'speed', 'amp', 'tempo', 'rain', 'phase', 'balance', 'delta', 'curl', 'diff', 'tarn', 'cubehelix', 'turbo','Blues', 'BuGn', 'BuPu', 'GnBu', 'Greens', 'Greys', 'Oranges', 'OrRd', 'PuBu', 'PuBuGn', 'PuRd', 'Purples', 'RdPu', 'Reds', 'YlGn', 'YlGnBu', 'YlOrBr', 'YlOrRd', 'afmhot', 'gistheat', 'BrBG', 'bwr', 'coolwarmC', 'PiYG', 'PRGn', 'PuOr', 'RdBu', 'RdGy', 'RdYlBu', 'RdYlGn'
Note: If the colormap above is not in the drop-down list box, check the custom colormap checkbox and enter the name of one of the above colormaps.

Setting your own colormap:
You can define your own colormap and store it in the valesColormap.mat file, and then import your colormap via custom colormap.
Note: the name of the colormap you define cannot be the same as the existing colormap in valesColormap.mat, otherwise it will overwrite the existing colormap.

Supported systems

GNU/Linux, BSD, macOS, Windows.

Contact Information

Email: [e-mail]
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about using VELAS or suggestions for improving VELAS.

How to Cite

Z. Ran, C.M. Zou, Z.J. Wei, et al., VELAS: An open-source toolbox for visualization and analysis of elastic anisotropy. Computer Physics Communications, 283 (2023) 108540.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2022.108540.