File Menu

New Pattern...

Creates a new pattern. Can create a 1D, 2D or 3D image, or a sphere or other mesh.

Open Pattern...

Opens the standard file browser so you can select a .vti or .vtu file.

Open Recent

This submenu lets you open a recently loaded pattern file. The most recent file is always at the top. The maximum number of pattern files remembered is determined by a setting (initially 20) which you can change in Preferences > File.

Reload from Disk

Reloads the current pattern from disk.

Import Mesh...

Imports an OBJ, VTU or VTP file as a mesh. Can either:

  1. Run a reaction-diffusion systems on the surface of the mesh. E.g. the surface of a zebra shape.
  2. Use the mesh to paint into a volume image, as e.g. the seed of a pattern.

Export Mesh...

Exports the current mesh (surface mesh, contoured volume image or 2D displacement-mapped surface) as OBJ, PLY or VTP.

Import Image...

Imports a PNG, JPEG or BMP into a chemical, for 2D systems. Asks for the chemical to affect and the range to map onto.

Export Image...

Exports the current image (slice or 2D system) as PNG or JPEG.

Save Pattern...

Opens the standard file saving dialog so you can save the current pattern in a .vti or .vtu file.

Save Compact...

For sharing files it is sometimes useful to reduce the file size by using the initial pattern generator instead of a specific image. This command first sets all the values to zero (which compresses well) and then saves the file with the apply_when_loading flag set to true in the initial_pattern_generator section of the file.

You can test that this will work by running the initial pattern generator using Action Menu > Generate Initial Pattern.

Save Screenshot...

Opens a dialog so you can save a screenshot of the current view in a .png or .jpg file.

Start Recording...

Starts saving out images (one every timesteps_per_render) to disk, from the 2D data, the current view or the 3D mesh. A dialog box asks for the target folder and filename construction.

For importing meshes into Blender, we recommend the Stop-motion-OBJ add-on, which accepts OBJ and PLY files. (Choose the PLY format if you want to use the vertex colors.)

Add My Patterns...

Lets you choose a folder (presumably one containing .vti/.vtu files) which is then added to the Patterns pane.

Preferences...

Opens the Preferences dialog so you can change various settings. [On a Mac, this item is in the application menu.] All your settings are stored in a file called ReadyPrefs. This file is initially saved in a user-specific data directory:

On Linux:~/.ready/
On Mac:~/Library/Application Support/Ready/
On Windows XP:C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Ready\
On Windows 7 and 10:C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Ready\

You might prefer to move ReadyPrefs into the same folder as the application. This allows multiple copies of Ready to have their own set of preferences.