User Issues

This page captures a list of current issues that users have given us, catagorized by user. The intent is to "remember" the issues each user is facing and be able to present progress tailored to each user.

For the notes taken during the user interaction, see User Feedback.

Dean Dobranich

Issue	Resolution
The Exodus reader did not give any status whatsoever when loading.	Probably bug 3426
In order to show the color bar, we had to pull up the "Edit Color Map" dialog box. This checkbox should really be on the GUI under the "Display" tab. It was not until I got back to my office when I realized that there is a toolbar button to toggle the color bar, too. The button says "SbV", which means nothing, but I presume this will be replaced with an icon soon. However, the toolbar toggle status is not updated when the color bar is enabled with the dialog box.	Toolbar button now has icon.
Lots of times the rendering went all screwy. It predictably happened when enabling the color bar through the "Edit Color Map" dialog box. It also happened when selecting cells through the rubber band select. The 3D rendering artifacts polluted the surface with black streaks. It may have been Z-buffer fighting. It may also have been the position, normal, and connectivity array information getting mixed up to generate oblong polygons and/or incorrect normals. I cannot replicate this behavior on my desktop. John predicts that this issue is caused by a 32-bit library accidentally linked into the 64-bit build.	Wait for more stable build.
The red border around the active view disappeared. It happened at the same time as the rendering problems.	Bug 4171.
Dean has a feature request very important to him: the ability to select and cull an Exodus part by selecting it with the mouse. Dean visualizes Exodus data with, literally, hundreds of blocks. He has little notion of which blocks correspond to the parts on the screen. This feature could mean the difference between him using ParaView and him using something else.	Bug 4169. Deferred to ParaView 3.2.
Selecting cells did not fill the element inspector. I cannot replicate this problem on my Windows desktop.	Wait for a more stable build.
There needs to be a way to add annotation that gives the current time.	Bug 3058.
The "Save Screenshot" function failed to make a valid .jpg or .png (or at least, one that can be read by xv). It works fine on my Windows desktop (when read back in with IrfanView).	Works for me now. Wait for a more stable build.
When "Save Screenshot" finally did save a valid image (to a .bmp file), it captured the file browser dialog box.	Seems to work for the moment. Releated to Bug 3924
The block selection widget is not very friendly when trying to select a contiguous range of blocks (that is, do a shift click).	Bug 4173
It is not evident what the "visible" option means for 3D widgets.	Bug 4174
When a new filter is created, the new data does not have the same coloring as the input data.	Bug 3864
The threshold filter does not turn off the visibility of its input.	Bug 3896

Mike Wong and Allen Robinson

Issue	Resolution
The file prefix/pattern/index parameters of the Exodus reader are rarely ever used. Get them out of the way.	Bug 4177
Allen complained that the word "Filters" throws analysts off. For them, "filters" has a specific meaning different than what we mean by filters.	None. No better alternative known.
The following bug was found: Load in the can dataset (leaving it at timestep 0). Click the last time step toolbar button to go to the last time step. Add the Cut filter. When the Cut filter is accepted, the can goes back to the first time step.	Bug 4178
Feature request: select cells through model. Right now when you select with the rubber band, you only get cells visible on the surface. There should be another selection mode to select all cells in the frustum specified by the select.	Bug 4132
Feature request: ability to print plots and export them to image (or pdf) formats.	Bug 4179
Feature request: ability to dump plot data.	Bug 4180
Feature request: read face/edge centered data from Exodus files.	Query Dave Thompson on status.
Dave Rogers used to attend the regular Alegra/HEDP meetings, which gave customers like Mike and Allen warm fuzzies. Some one should pick up on that. Perhaps David Karelitz, who is the V\&V milestone lead.	Still sorting that out.
Lack of mathematical descriptions of what the ParaView filters do. For example, how are point data converted to cell data in the PointDataToCellData filter? When the detailed documentation is created, this information should be added (or at least point to a reference where it can be obtained, like the VTK textbook).	Bug 4131
Feature request: make the default point size bigger.	Bug 4197
The ability to separate the visibility of the side and node sets that come from the Exodus reader. Right now, there is this strange step where you open the same Exodus file multiple times to get a different object for side and node sets. It would be nice if the Exodus reader output had separated visibility controls. Perhaps as multiple outputs or as a multiblock dataset.	Deferred to ParaView 3.2 when multiblock Exodus will be implemented.
When dealing with large data, you really need a good understanding of the consequences (in terms of memory and time) when using a filter. Right now, users need an expert in our group who knows the in and outs of the filters to direct which filters to use to keep the visualization from crashing from lack of memory.	Still struggling with this. Improved documentation might help. Anything more sophisticated not until ParaView 3.2.
Feature request: Mike and Allen have some simulations that have several volume fraction field arrays. They want to color the geometry by the material with the highest volume fraction. For the near term, it would probably be sufficient to have a filter convert the volume fractions to a single field variable giving the index to the predominant material.	Not sure we will have time before ParaView 3.0.