Mesh Oriented datABase  (version 5.6.0)
An array-based unstructured mesh library
MOAB Tools

Command-line and library tools built on the MOAB library. Some are general-purpose mesh utilities (conversion, partitioning, inspection); others target specific application domains like climate remapping or hex meshing.

Tool index

Each row links to the tool's dedicated page. In the Doxygen-rendered output these appear as related pages with stable anchors (tools_<name>); cross-references from elsewhere in MOAB can use @ref tools_<name>.

Tool Purpose Reference
mbconvert Convert meshes between formats; extract subsets full options & examples
mbtempest Generate climate meshes (CS/RLL/ICO) and compute conservative remap weights full options & examples
mbIntxCheck Verify a precomputed mesh intersection against its source/target full options
compareMaps Diff two sparse remap-weight .nc map files full options
compareFiles Diff per-tag values between two .h5m files of the same mesh full options
measure Library: length/area/volume of MOAB entities API reference
mbsize List entity counts and per-set size statistics full options
mbskin Generate the skin of a mesh; tag boundary vertices for Mesquite usage
mbsurfplot Plot a single geometric surface to GNUPlot / EPS / SVG usage
mbtagprop Propagate tags from sets to their contained entities full options
hexmodops Build sample meshes for local hex modification operations usage
spheredecomp All-hex mesh around vertex-located spheres in a substrate overview
tools (overview) How tools are registered with the MOAB build system build integration

Conventions across tools

  • Input format detection: most tools determine reader/writer from the file extension. Override with -f <format> (mbconvert) where supported.
  • Option pass-through: many tools accept -o <opt> (writer options) and -O <opt> (reader options) that flow through to MOAB's I/O layer. See README.IO for the full list of writer/reader option strings.
  • Parallel execution: MPI-enabled tools detect mpiexec / mpirun automatically; some accept a -M[0|1|2] flag for parallel read/resolve/ghost layering.
  • Native format: MOAB's native binary format is HDF5-based .h5m. Lossless round-tripping is only guaranteed through .h5m; other formats may not capture all of MOAB's data model.

Build system integration

See tools.md for how to add a new tool to MOAB's autotools / CMake build under tools/.