[Paraview] Can I generate a single file that contains data and filter settings?

[Cory Quammen]

Wyatt,

ParaView provides extensive Python scriptability. One solution is to
write out a Python script from your program. Within the Pythons
script, you set up the data, set up filters and modify visualization
settings just as you wish. Once it is loaded, you can continue to
explore your data by creating new filters, changing visualization
parameters, and so on.

Creating example Python scripts is easy using the Trace functionality
(Tools menu -> Start Trace) - you just interact with the UI and the
equivalent Python operations will be written to the trace file. Use
such a trace as a basis for what is written from your program.

To save the data to the Python script and then load it is a different
use case from what we typical support, but I think it is doable. It
would just look a little ugly (and it would only work in built-in
server mode). Basically, you could write out your data in a NumPy
array within the script, as if you were entering the array information
by hand, then provide that data to what's called a TrivialProducer
source. This source would stand in place of a reader. There is a
little bit of code required to do that that isn't super obvious -
before sketching it out, would this approach work for your needs?

Thanks,
Cory



On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 10:10 PM, Wyatt Spear <wspear at cs.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> Thanks, I'll take a look at this. My use case is pretty severely
> underutilizing ParaView's capabilities though. I'm rendering very large
> multi-variable heat maps. So color mapped 2d points are all I need rendered,
> (until I can figure out how to map glyph height to another variable).
>
> =Wyatt
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 27, 2018 at 8:52 AM Samuel Key <samuelkey at bresnan.net> wrote:
>>
>> Wyatt--
>>
>> While ParaView can read CSV files and subsequently generate images, the
>> CSV format for simulation results limits the functionality available to you
>> in ParaView. My suggestion is that you write your simulation results in a
>> format that contains geometry information, as well as, Point and Cell
>> centered values like displacement, velocity, acceleration, temperature,
>> concentrations, volume fractions, et cetera.
>>
>> The attached document is a good place to start. (This document is very
>> concise and very complete, but the information is only written down once. As
>> a result, the format information is sometimes not located where you need
>> it.)
>>
>> If your simulations are concerned with the deformation of 3-D solids and
>> structures, I can provide you with FORTRAN95 routines that you can use to
>> write VTK-formatted simulation results.
>>
>> Once you can generate VTK-formatted datum sets, The File > Save State
>> command will generate *.pvsm files that will let you "recreate" a previously
>> constructed Browser Pipeline. (The PV *.pvsm reader gives you the
>> opportunity to select a different datum set.)
>>
>> There is a small two-cell mesh file attached that might be helpful to you
>> when constructing a VTK-formatted file writer in your application.
>>
>> --Sam
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 1/27/2018 8:46 AM, Wyatt Spear wrote:
>>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> Currently I am using my own application to generate a simple CSV file
>> which can be loaded up in ParaView. I then create the visualization I want
>> with a few manual filter operations.
>>
>> What I would like is to generate a file, preferably still with a field for
>> CSV-like raw data, that tells ParaView to load the data and then apply the
>> filters I want, so the view I want is immediately available upon loading the
>> file and the raw data is available if I want to try other filters.
>>
>> I've taken a look at vpt and pvd files saved from my intended view but I'm
>> not seeing much correspondence between the CSV data I generate, the filters
>> I apply and the data fields in there. I'm also pondering the save-state and
>> trace/macro features of ParaView but I suspect those won't quite square with
>> my aim of generating a file in an external application which includes data.
>>
>> Could someone point me toward a proper way to do this? If it comes down to
>> plugin development I'm willing to take a look at that.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Wyatt Spear
>>
>>
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>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at
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>>
>> Please keep messages on-topic and check the ParaView Wiki at:
>> http://paraview.org/Wiki/ParaView
>>
>> Search the list archives at: http://markmail.org/search/?q=ParaView
>>
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Powered by www.kitware.com
>
> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at
> http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html
>
> Please keep messages on-topic and check the ParaView Wiki at:
> http://paraview.org/Wiki/ParaView
>
> Search the list archives at: http://markmail.org/search/?q=ParaView
>
> Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
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-- 
Cory Quammen
Staff R&D Engineer
Kitware, Inc.