  A variety of methods are developed for characterising the free energy
landscapes of continuum, Landau-type free energy models. Using morphologies of
lipid vesicles and a multistable liquid crystal device as examples, I show that
the methods allow systematic study of not only the most relevant minimum energy
configurations, but also the transition pathways between any two minima, as
well as their corresponding energy barriers and transition state
configurations. A global view of the free energy landscapes can then be
visualized using either a disconnectivity graph or a network representation.
Different forms of free energy functionals and boundary conditions can be
readily implemented, thus allowing these tools to be utilised for a broad range
of problems.
