Operating Aviz
One can download Aviz from the Avis website and install it according to the instructions.
Once Aviz is installed, one can start it by simply opening a terminal window and typing aviz (lower case letters) in the command line. As the Enter button is pressed the Aviz interface and a display window will pop up.
As mentioned in the previous page Aviz receives xyz files as an input, so the first step will be opening such a file. One can download this example of an xyz file corresponding to a 2D 12x12 cubic spin lattice.
Now that you have an xyz file, go to the interface menu bar, click on File and choose Open XYZ File. After opening the file a rendering should appear at the display window.
In order to see something that looks more like spins, instead of dots, select Spin from the Mode options.
You should see a rendering by now, if you don't, check the xyz file (open it using a text editor); Is it correct? Is the number of rows determined correctly at the beginning of it?
If you still can't see a thing, check that the "show spins" option is enabled in the following way: click on Elements at the menu bar and than on Spins. A dialog box will pop up
and there make sure that "show spins" is enabled by marking it and pressing Apply. To dismiss the dialog box press Done.
Once a rendering is obtained one can edit it as wishes.
One can choose the background color - there are two options; black or white - simply by clicking on the corresponding button at the frame of the display window.
Also, the style, size and quality of the spins can be chosen.
The recommended style and quality for spins are 'cones' and 'final' (or 'high') respectively, and it is also recommended to specify a size greater than 100%.
Now, try to view the illustrated array from different angles and distances. You have some options to do that. You can point with the cursor on the rendering, press the left button of the mouse and move it. The rendering will move along with the cursor. The second option is to use the radio-like rollers that are located at the frame of the display window, or the small buttons at their sides. If you find this operation rather slow, change the 'Quality' to 'Low'. This way the rendering will move faster, and when you find a desired viewpoint change the 'Quality' to 'Final' or 'High' again.
Another option is to click at the interface menu bar on View --> Set Viewpoint and then to choose one of the options. Clicking View --> Set Viewpoint --> Explicit is recommended since a dialog box will pop up
in which one can watch the viewing point expressed in angular coordinates (Euler angles-Y convention) while moving the array with the cursor. Also, one can determine the angles and the distance from the array manually and then press Apply.
If dismissing the contour or the axes that appear in the rendering is desired, one should click on Settings at the menu bar and choose one of the options or all of them. The axes/contour will appear again after clicking on Settings and choosing Show Axes/Contour.
Changing the color of the contour or axes is not optional, but changing the color of the illustrated array is. More information about coloring the array is in the next page.
The main purpose is to save a desired rendering as an image file. Aviz saves the renderings as png files. More about saving a png file of a rendering by Aviz can be found here.
In order to set current parameters as a default, before exiting Aviz, one should use the File --> Set Default ViewParam menu entry. Set Default ViewParam saves the current view parameters in a view parameter file called .aviz.vpm. If this file is present in the directory in which AViz is started the next time, AViz will automatically read and set these parameter values.
