[Paraview] Bus error from vtkProjectedTetrahedraMapper in ParaView latest stable on SGI running IRIX 6.5.27 - update and more questions

[Gage, Kenneth]

Dear ParaView List -

I've been attempting to debug the problem I have been having with ParaView crashing when trying to volume visualize large grids; unfortunately I'm ending up with more questions than answers :)

I am creating a mesh within GAMBIT, running a simulation in FLUENT and then exporting the data in Ensight Gold format. I remeshed the original geometry with all tetrahedrons and then imported the dataset into ParaView; however, the same error (non-tetrahedral cell encountered) occurred and ParaView died shortly thereafter with the same error as before (bus error).  After reading through the docs for vtkProjectedTetrahedraMapper, I was wondering if the bus error indicates a problem interfacing with the SGI graphics board with openGL - could a non-tet cell cause a bus error in this situation? Is it possible to select an alternate volume visualization method for ParaView to use other than vtkProjectedTetrahedraMapper?

I noticed ParaView ran vtkDatasetTriangleFilter on the data even though it was all tets / tris at the beginning. Does ParaView always call vtkDatasetTriangleFilter for all grids no matter what cell types are present prior to volume visualization? Can it be turned off if ones knows the cells are all tets? 

Thanks for any suggestions / advice that can be provided.  I know other folks on the list use ParaView to postprocess CFD jobs run in FLUENT and I would be interested to hear if you have experienced the same or similar issues.

Best regards -
Ken

Kenneth Gage
MD-PhD Student
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
228 MCGOWN
3025 East Carson Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-2155