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## Mixed variables

Some simulations write out multiple scalar values for cells that contain mixed materials so each material in the cell can have its own scalar value. Once a cell has undergone MIR, it is split into multiple cells if the original cell contained more than one material. Each split cell gets its corresponding scalar value from the original mixed variable data. The resulting plot can then display each split cell's actual value, taking into account the material boundaries. Suppose you are simulating the interaction between hot lava and ice and you have a material interface that happens to cross in the middle of a cell.

Figure 20

Obviously each material in the cell has its own temperature. Plotting mixed variables allows the visualization to more faithfully depict the material boundaries while preserving the actual data so the multiple mix values do not have to be averaged in the cell (see figure). Note that VisIt does not use mixed variable values for variables that have them unless the Force interface reconstruction check box is enabled because most scalar fields are not mixed variables and automatically performing MIR can be expensive. If your scalars are mixed variables and you want to visualize them as such, be sure to enable the Force interface reconstruction check box.