ParaView/Users Guide/Loading Data

Loading Data

Loading data is a fundamental operation in using ParaView for visualization. There are a few methods for accomplishing this task in ParaView. Probably the most obvious is loading a data file using the Open option in the File menu. You can also load a data file using the data command-line argument (--data=data_file). Another option is to load a previously saved state file (File menu, Load State). This will return ParaView to its state at the time the file was saved by loading data files, applying filters, setting preferences, etc. There are also data set sources (available in the Sources menu) in ParaView that create data sets without loading data files. ParaView can process both structured and unstructured data sets. It also has some support for multi-block and time-varying data. These data sets can be read into ParaView from several different file formats, some of which ParaView also uses for saving data to a file.