Visualize LAMMPS snapshots
==========================

Snapshots from LAMMPS simulations can be viewed, visualized, and
analyzed in a variety of ways.

LAMMPS snapshots are created by the :doc:`dump <dump>` command, which
can create files in several formats. The native LAMMPS dump format is a
text file (see :lammps:`dump atom` or :lammps:`dump custom`) which can be visualized by
`several visualization tools <https://www.lammps.org/viz.html>`_ for MD
simulation trajectories.  `OVITO <https://www.ovito.org>`_ and `VMD
<https://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/>`_ seem to be the most popular
choices among them.

The :doc:`dump image <dump_image>` and :doc:`dump movie <dump_image>`
styles can output internally rendered images or convert them to a movie
during the MD run.  It is also possible to create visualizations from
LAMMPS inputs or restart file with the :doc:`LAMMPS-GUI
<Howto_lammps_gui>`, which uses the :doc:`dump image <dump_image>`
command internally.  The ``Snapshot Image Viewer`` can be used to
adjust the visualization of the system interactively and then export
the corresponding LAMMPS commands to the clipboard to be inserted
into input files.

Programs included with LAMMPS as auxiliary tools can convert
between LAMMPS format files and other formats.  See the :doc:`Tools
<Tools>` page for details.  These are rarely needed these days.
