vfplot

A program for plotting two-dimensional vector fields.

Large arrows
The idea of vfplot is to plot vector fields with relatively large arrows — large enough to be perceived individually
Curvy
For large arrows to accurately represent the field they need to follow it in their shape; vfplot uses simple circular arcs
Placed apart
Placement of large arrows on a regular grid would limit the dynamic range possible; vfplot places the arrows via a packing of their bounding ellipses
Field input
Fields can be specified by data in a number of formats: a simple ASCII grid format, Matlab binary files, Gerris gfs files, or a pair of GMT grd files. Several test fields are built in and adding another is straightforward if you have a little C experience
Vector output
Output is in the PostScript and POV-Ray formats. The files are small, typically a few tens of kilobytes
Limited in scope
The vfplot program plots only arrows, it will not be a general purpose plotting program
Free software
Released under the GPLv3