by CERN

Advanced graphical user interface for particle simulation programs
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F1} Prologue

             flair-logo.gif

 ABOUT
 ~~~~~

 flair is an advanced user friendly interface for several Monte Carlo
 codes. Originally it was developed for FLUKA, where its unique
 features strongly contributed to the success of both codes FLUKA and
 flair. From version 3 the interface was separated from the
 functionality permitting an easy integration of other simulation
 packages.

 The current line of development is to make flair a unique
 tool for performing calculations with the same input using FLUKA,
 Geant4, PENELOPE, and other simulations engines.

 Presently is fully supporting the CERN FLUKA http://fluka.cern version
 and there is ongoing work to support:

  - PENELOPE  https://www.oecd-nea.org/tools/abstract/detail/nea-1525
  - Moira  http://cern.ch/moira  a Geant4 http://cern.ch/geant4
    based application, permitting the user to run with Geant4 FLUKA
    equivalent inputs with the same geometry, materials, scoring,...

 Other codes like MCNP, PHITS could be added in the future.

 Flair is based entirely on python3 and tkinter with a C++ extension
 used for the fast geometry visualization. Flair provides the
 following functionality:

     1. front-end interface for an easy and almost error free
        editing as well as validation of the input file during
        editing;

     2. interactive geometry editor, allowing to edit bodies and
        regions in a visual/graphical way with immediate debugging
        information

     3. compiling, running and monitoring of the status during a run;

     4. back-end interface for post-processing of the output
        files and plot generation through an interface with gnuplot
        or 3D photo-realistic;

     5. library of materials and geometrical objects, for easier
        editing, storing and sharing among other users and projects;

     6. python API for manipulating the input files, post
        processing of the results and interfacing to gnuplot;

     7. import/export to various formats (gdml, mcnp, povray, dxf,
        bitmap-images)


 Version 3 *most* important changes:
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 1. WEBSITE Change, From December 1st 2019 the official web site of
    flair is
                         http://flair.cern
    with an alias the
                       http://cern.ch/flair
    Support to the www.fluka.org is discontinued.

 2. Flair v3 is being completly restructured and based on python v3.
    Previous versions of flair (until v2.5) were based on Python v2.
    On January 1 2020, python v2 will no longer be supported by its creators
              https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2
    and all major Linux distributions are already moving away from it.

 3. Flair v3 supports ONLY the CERN FLUKA version.

 4. The flair front-end interface is separated from the FLUKA
    functionality, which permits the developers the easy
    integration of other simulation codes which are input based
    (and not only).

 5. The long term plan will be to fully support from the same
    interface CERN FLUKA, PENELOPE, Geant4, MCNP, PHITS, permitting
    the user to test/benchmark various simulations codes using the
    same input.

 6. From v3 the master input file for flair is the ".flair" project
    file (no longer the ".inp").
    i.e. the whole FLUKA input file is stored in the ".flair" file in
    an text human readable way.

 7. Input Editor is now based on a Text widget and no longer on the
    Canvas. This gives more flexibility to operate as a text-editor,
    with considerable improvement in performance.
    (i.e. a huge input file of 25000+ cards was taking almost 20s in
    the past to be displayed in the input editor, now on the same
    computer it takes less than 3s.)

 8. The geometry engine is restructured to allow its use as a
    geometry navigator for simulation programs, allowing the easy
    integration of the present FLUKA input geometries in Geant4.

 9. There are numerous improvements in the geometry engine for a
    better user experience, i.e. more logical error checks,
    3D plots are enhanced with ambient occlusion for photorealistic
    shadows, and faster adaptive antialiasing and edge detection.

 For a complete log of the new flair v3 features please look at the
 associated release notes.


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