mcdisplay family

All variants wrap mcrun --trace under the hood; INSTR plus any name=value instrument parameters are forwarded straight to it. The default is mcdisplay/mxdisplay → pyqtgraph.

mcdisplay / mxdisplay (default = pyqtgraph)

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file (`.instr` or compiled binary)
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters, passed through to `mcrun`
`--default`	automatically use instrument default parameter values
`--no-mpi`	forward `--no-mpi` to `mcrun` (simulate without MPI)
`-n`, `--ncount N`	number of particles to trace (default: 300)
`--dirname DIR`	override output directory name
`--inspect COMP`	show only rays reaching component `COMP`
`--invcanvas`	invert canvas background
`--tof`, `--TOF`, `--ToF`	(McStas only) enable time-of-flight display mode

Interactive keys: q quit · p save png · s save svg (not on Windows) · space/F5 next ray · click a subplot to zoom, right-click to exit zoom · h/F1 component list.

mcdisplay-matplotlib / mxdisplay-matplotlib

Thin bash wrapper piping mcrun --trace output into a matplotlib 3D viewer — options are parsed by the wrapper script itself, not Python argparse.

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`-n N`, `--ncount N`, `--ncount=N`	number of particles to trace (capped at 1e2 by the wrapper)
`--trace={1,2}`	classic (1) or new (2, default) visualisation mode
`--backend=NAME`	matplotlib backend; `pdf`/`pgf`/`ps`/`svg` save a hardcopy instead of showing a window
`--help`	show wrapper usage and exit

mcdisplay-webgl / mxdisplay-webgl (NodeJS/vite-based)

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`--default`	automatically use instrument default parameter values
`--no-mpi`	forward `--no-mpi` to `mcrun` (simulate without MPI)
`-n`, `--ncount N`	number of particles to trace (default: 300)
`-t`, `--trace N`	visualisation mode (default: 2)
`-d`, `--dirname DIR`	override output directory name
`--inspect COMP`	show only rays reaching component `COMP`
`--nobrowse`	do not open a web browser
`--timeout SEC`	shutdown time of the local viewer web server (default: 300)

(The viewer ships prebuilt; only if its dist/ is missing does the first run perform a one-time npm install && npm run build, which needs internet access and can take minutes.)

mcdisplay-webgl-classic / mxdisplay-webgl-classic

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`--default`	automatically use instrument default parameter values
`--no-mpi`	forward `--no-mpi` to `mcrun` (simulate without MPI)
`-n`, `--ncount N`	number of particles to trace (default: 300)
`-t`, `--trace N`	visualisation mode (default: 2)
`-d`, `--dirname DIR`	override output directory name
`--inspect COMP`	show only rays reaching component `COMP`
`--first COMP` / `--last COMP`	zoom range start/end component
`--invcanvas`	invert canvas background
`--nobrowse`	do not open a web browser

mcdisplay-cad / mxdisplay-cad (bonus: export instrument geometry to CAD)

Requires the cadquery Python package.

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`--default`	automatically use instrument default parameter values
`--no-mpi`	forward `--no-mpi` to `mcrun` (simulate without MPI)
`-n`, `--ncount N`	number of particle rays to include (default: 0 — geometry only)
`--dirname DIR`	override output directory name
`-t`, `--trace N`	`mcrun --trace` level: 1 (default) legacy wireframe, 2 solid primitives
`-s`, `--segments N`	tessellation resolution (circle segments, default: 16)
`--tubes`	draw lines as solid cylinders (rays too, when `-n > 0`)
`-f`, `--format FMT`	output format: `glb` (default), `gltf`, `step`, `stl`, `vrml`, `obj`, `ply`, `off`, `xml`/`x3d`, `vtk`, `vtkjs`

mcdisplay-plopp / mxdisplay-plopp

Requires scipp and plopp (plus ipympl and jupyterlab for the interactive UI). Without -o, opens a 3D JupyterLab UI.

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file (`.instr` or compiled binary)
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`-n N`	number of rays to trace (default: 100)
`-o`, `--output FILE`	write static png/pdf/svg 2D projections instead of opening the UI
`-y`, `--yes`	forwarded to `mcrun`: use defaults for unset parameters (always on in the UI)

mcdisplay-mantid / mxdisplay-mantid (export Mantid instrument definition)

Writes INSTR.xml, a Mantid IDF built from the instrument geometry and its Mantid-flagged detector monitors.

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters
`--default`	automatically use instrument default parameter values
`--dirname DIR`	override output directory name
`-n`, `--ncount N` / `--mpi N`	accepted, but always forced to 1

mcdisplay-matlab / mxdisplay-matlab (legacy Matlab/Octave/iFit variant)

A second, older implementation living under tools/matlab as a bash wrapper around a .m script rather than Python. Runs under Matlab or Octave — the wrapper auto-detects whichever is available, preferring Matlab, then Octave, and falls back to the plain Python mcdisplay if neither is found.

Option	Description
`INSTR`	instrument file (`.instr` or compiled binary)
`name=value ...`	simulation parameters, forwarded to `mcrun`
`-m`	explicitly request Matlab
`-o`	explicitly request Octave
`-h`	show wrapper usage and exit
`-n N`, `--ncount N`	number of particles to simulate
`--inspect=COMP`	only plot components matching `COMP` — a partial name (e.g. `Monitor`), or an interval (`Monok:Sample`, `2:10`, `2:end`)
`-png`, `-jpg`, `-fig`, `-eps`, `-pdf`, `-tif`	(parsed by `mcdisplay.m` itself, not the wrapper) export the 3D view to the given format

(-m/-o/-h are wrapper-level flags and must come first; the export-format flags and --inspect are forwarded as-is to the underlying .m script.)

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