Release Notes:

The "cv" (Cube Visualization) program has been used for a number of years as part of the ISIS image processing system (Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers). "cv" has recently been enhanced to directly read the HDF and HDF-EOS file formats in addition to the native ISIS cube format. This includes data from the Terra and Landsat-7 satellites. (Files based on HDF Version 4.x are supported; files based on the new HDF 5.x are not supported.) "cv" is also now packaged so that it can be run without installing the rest of the ISIS software system. The capabilities of the program include:

• Available for free ftp download

• Displays (as images) any Swath/Grid data fields in HDF-EOS files

• Displays (as images) any Scientific Data Set (SDS) data fields in HDF files; Can be used for displaying SDS data fields in HDF-EOS files that are outside the HDF-EOS structures

• Combines multiple HDF/HDF-EOS fields to form one display object, e.g., combines multiple 2D images into a 3D multi-band cube

• Handles all numerical HDF/HDF-EOS item data types

• Optionally converts HDF/HDF-EOS fill values to ISIS NULL pixel values for display (displayed with user-specified color; not used in automatic display range computation)

• Converts Float32/Float64 NaN and Infinity values to ISIS NULL and High Instrument Saturation (HIS) pixel values (HIS values are also displayed with user-specified color)

• Subarea selection and/or subsampling (allows handling large HDF/HDF-EOS files)

• Writes displayed HDF/HDF-EOS field data to ISIS cube file or BIN5 file with associated ISIS detached label (ISIS cube format has embedded label; BIN5 format is a binary format with a simple header that can be easily read by an IDL program. Allows doing further processing using the generalized ISIS image processing programs, using specialized IDL programs, or using other software packages)

• Display range control, grey-scale or pseudocolor display, interactive contrast stretch

• Zoom and roam with subsampled thumbnail image for large images

• Simultaneous display of multiple images/files

• Reports cursor location and pixel value; Includes reporting Latitude/Longitude with optional conversion between geocentric and geographic coordinates

• Displays image slices perpendicular to all three axes in a displayed 3D data set

• Plots intensity profiles along any of the three axes in a 3D data set (Useful for plotting data field data that are not image observations)

• Average spectrum and statistics plotting for a rectangular region or arbitrary region of interest

• Comparison of multiple data plots in one plot window

• Resizable image display and data plot windows

• Postscript output for displayed images and data plots

• Active IDL command prompt for running other IDL routines; Includes ability to plot additional IDL data and plot in "cv" plot windows for comparision

• Thorough documentation and context-sensitve on-line help

The "cv" program is implemented in the IDL language and makes use of the IDL CALL_EXTERNAL capability to call I/O and utility routines written in C and Fortran. Due to bugs in previous IDL versions and use of new IDL routines, IDL Version 5.3 or above is required to run "cv".

Pre-compiled versions of the C/Fortran routines used by "cv" are available for the following platforms:

• Sun - Solaris 9
  
• Linux - SuSE 9.0
• Mac - MacOSX

To obtain "cv", go to the USGS annonymous ftp site:

• ftpflag.wr.usgs.gov
  

Do a "cd dist/isis" and get (in binary mode) the README_CV.TXT file (installation instructions) and the tar file(s) for the desired platforms (cv_sun.tar, cv_alpha.tar, cv_pc.tar).

To receive "cv" and ISIS announcements and update information go to the ISIS Support Center (URL: http://isis.astrogeology.usgs.gov/IsisSupport/) and register. This will add you to the ISIS mailing list, which is a low-volume mail list. Although originally developed for processing images from the NASA planetary spacecraft, ISIS includes a number of generalized image processing functions that can be used with any type of data.