[Paraview] Vis template by changing reader file names?

[Eric E. Monson]

Hey again,

Okay, I just saw a partial answer on the ParaView FAQ "Why can't I  
change the filename on my reader?".

If other people have a similar situation, though, with trying to set  
up and change files using a "template" for a more complicated,  
multiple-file visualization, I'd appreciate it if you could share your  
techniques for making this as easy as possible for the user.

Thanks,
-Eric


On Aug 25, 2008, at 3:22 PM, Eric E. Monson wrote:

> Hey All,
>
> My group wants to use ParaView for debugging their simulation  
> system, where they might output many different files in a day with  
> tweaked parameters and want to quickly view the results to see  
> whether things are changing the way they expect.
>
> The problem is that for each run there are three different output  
> (unstructured grid) files, and to make a nice visualization each has  
> to be glyphed or colored or filtered in some special way. I can do  
> this, and it looks great, but it takes a while to set up each time a  
> new set of files is generated, so it's a bit of a pain.
>
> Therefore, main question: Once a visualization pipeline is set up,  
> is there any easy way to pick new files for the readers so new data  
> could quickly be visualized using an existing "template"?
>
> I have tried reading in new files and using the "Change Input..."  
> menu item, but it's a bit of a pain because it's a multi-step method  
> that changes the order of items in the Pipeline Browser each time  
> you do it. I know how to save a state file and then edit the source  
> file names for the readers, but this takes the user out of ParaView  
> and is a little clunky, but do-able. I can also write a python  
> script that loads a state file and changes the input files and  
> creates an animation automatically, but that isn't as flexible as  
> looking at the data in ParaView itself. (I also tried to change a  
> source file name from the Python shell within ParaView, but at least  
> with an Xdmf file, that always crashes ParaView when I'm driving...)
>
> Am I missing something clean and easy? Is this a typical thing  
> people would want to routinely do with ParaView?
>
> Thanks,
> -Eric
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Eric E Monson
> Duke Visualization Technology Group
>
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