[Paraview] UI; real-time vis

[Renato Elias]

I've been working in a Python script to produce runtime post-processing in
my simulation code.

The idea is quite simple:

Step 0). Pre-simulation:

1. Launch paraview and create a pipeline with the desired visualization
(viewpoint, lights, slices, streamlines, whatever...). Note that it can be
easily done using small models;

2. Save the pipeline as a ParaView State file (it will be used as a template
for the runtime postprocessing script --> see the next step)

Step 1). Running the simulation code:

1. Launch the simulation and, while the application is runnig (or after
finishing), launch the ParaView Python Script passing some arguments, such
as, filename for the "template" paraview state file, email (yes, the script
can send you screenshots by email).

What does this script do?

a. Look for results already saved by the application producing a screenshot
for each time step found. Note that I still have to have the results saved
in some file format. In my tests I used Ensight.

b. After creating the screenshots for the results already produced by the
simulation tool, the script starts to "listen" for changes in the
application directory. As soon as it detects a new time step, it creates the
corresponding screenshot.

Remarks:

I. The script is able to send screenshots as email attach (it behaves like a
spam in some cases :-)

II. The script is lightweight since it only needs to load the Python stuff
once (when launched);

III. It's transparent to the simulation code since it runs as an independent
process.

IV. You don't need to compile or link any library to the existing
application.

V. The script can be used at any time. It's not restrict to run at
simulation's runtime

I have not finished the script yet (I'm just a novice in Python), but I was
planning to send it to the mail list in the future.


Renato N. Elias
===================================
High Performance Computing Center (NACAD)
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Moreland, Kenneth <kmorel at sandia.gov> wrote:

>  I think Dave means the in-situ sections in the upcoming Vis09 tutorial
> (not the SC09 tutorial).
>
> http://www.paraview.org/Wiki/IEEE_Vis09_ParaView_Tutorial
>
> -Ken
>
>
>
> On 9/2/09 11:04 AM, "David E DeMarle" <dave.demarle at kitware.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 9:33 AM, Randy Heiland <heiland at indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Just wanting to get a better understanding of the latest ParaView, while
> considering adopting it for a project.  I'm assuming ParaView does its UI
> using C++ calls to Qt, as opposed to using PyQt, is that correct?  (if any
> of the developers would care to comment on the design decisions behind that,
> I'd welcome that too).  And that to
>
>
> Yes C++, not PyQt.
>
>
> create a custom UI, one does so via XML?  Any changes on the horizon?
>
> Sort of. To customize the client one uses a mixture of C++ and XML and
> designer built widgets. The exact mix depends on what you are trying to
> change. See the paraview wiki page, specifically the plugins page for
> examples of how to make changes and the kinds of changes it is easy to make
> today.
>
> It is also possible to write entirely new applications. See the OverView
> and StreamingParaView applications in the source code for examples.
>
> Yes, changes are on the horizon. Writing a new app is too complicated right
> now because the design of the client is fairly monolithic and
> interconnected. Search the mailing list for Utkarsh's posting about branded
> applications. He has a git repository that is publicly available on git-hub
> where he is working on that.
>
>
> Are there examples uses of ParaView for real-time vis?  Any examples that
> do computational steering?  Not necessarily for parallel apps, just serial.
>
>
> Several people have done this before, so far no one has done it in a robust
> enough manner to be widely used. The upcoming tutorial at SuperComputing
> (again the see wiki page) convers perhaps the best approach so far. It is
> also worth investigating XDMF's DSM layer which is another good approach.
> Finally, I personally did it in yet another way. My approach was to add an
> asynchronous polling loop to the client, in the same way that the streaming
> paraview app renders for pieces in a loop while the UI stays responsive..
>
>
> thanks, Randy
>
>
> np.
>
>
>
>
>    ****      Kenneth Moreland
>     ***      Sandia National Laboratories
> ***********
> *** *** ***  email: kmorel at sandia.gov
> **  ***  **  phone: (505) 844-8919
>     ***      web:   http://www.cs.unm.edu/~kmorel<http://www.cs.unm.edu/%7Ekmorel>
>
>
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-- 
Renato N. Elias
===================================
High Performance Computing Center (NACAD)
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sent from Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
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