The NASTRAN NASTPLT Plotting Post Processor was developed to read NASTRAN generated NASTPLT plot files, to check the file contents for validity, and to translate the NASTPLT plot commands into appropriate calls to plotting routines for either CalComp, Tektronix PLOT10, or Versatec plotting systems. This program was originally written to generate a summary of the contents of a NASTPLT plot file for the purposes of debugging and checking the validity and characteristics of the file contents. The summary information generated includes the following information for each plot on the NASTPLT file: plot number, draw-lines summary, draw-axis summary, drawcharacter summary, maximum and minimum values in the x-range and y-range, and pen change information. The summary information also includes the following information for the NASTPLT file as a whole: the number of records read, the number of commands, and the number of plots.

The summary generation program was extended to include the plot routine calls for the CalComp, Tektronix PLOT10, and Versatec plotting systems. The Post Processor is run interactively and prompts the user for all of the required input. The user may request the summary information and then use that information to determine which plots on the file are to be output. The Post Processor is compatible with either VAX or IBM NASTRAN generated NASTPLT files.