OVITO: Visualization and data analysis software for particle-based simulations in physics, chemistry and materials research

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Particle-based simulations are an important pillar of computational physics, chemistry and engineering sciences. OVITO (www.ovito.org) is our open-source visualization and data analysis software for working with the output data from such simulations. In recent year, it has continuously evolved to become a standard solution that is currently employed by more than a 130,000 active users worldwide in academic research, education and industry. Several research disciplines heavily depend on OVITO and its unique features, but the current state is unsustainable, because the software has so far been developed and maintained only by very few volunteers and without funding. Within this project the necessary steps will be taken to make the transition to a hybrid open-source/commercial licensing model that can provide stable and sufficient funding for long-term development, maintenance, and technical support for the large user community. A systematic survey of the users and the software's dissemination will help to guide further development of code and secondary services. Simultaneously, several measures serve to strengthen the open-source collaborative development of the code, improve its overall quality, and attract external contributors.