[Paraview] CoProcessing/Client-Server Paraview

[Olumide]

This email was originally sent as a reply to a thread 
http://markmail.org/message/t22jsckztvnoyafz?q=Paraview started by 
Alexander. For some reason no one responded to my comments. Nevertheless 
the important question Andy Bauer raised is if Paraview is used for 
tasks that do not require the VTK pipeline (paraphrasing). To this I can 
reply and emphatic yes. I use Paraview for visualization because the VTK 
format is the only graphics file format the supports points, line, and 
surfaces and as a ready-made viewer (Paraview). Therefore my programs 
(I'm doing geometry processing) save point, line and surface data as VTK 
files and no pipeline is required -- just a viewer. What would be nice 
would be a *simple* communication mechanism with which my program can 
instruct Paraview to just load processed data as soon as they become 
available.

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I'd like to know the difference between CoProcessing and the following 
feature that is currently being implemented:

http://paraview.uservoice.com/forums/11350-general/suggestions/456005-writing-to-paraview-from-an-external-program?ref=title
(an ETA on this feature would be nice)

 From a cursory glance and my experience with other 3d apps (namely 
AutoDesk Maya) I find the current CoProcessing(?) implementation a bit 
too complicated.

AutoDesk Maya, a highend 3d animation program, has a commandPort feature 
that very simple to use. All it requires is a single command that 
creates a socket and binds a specified port number to it. Thereafter any 
external app can send commands to Maya in its primary scripting language 
(MEL) and I suspect now also python. For example, I've configured my 
toolchain/IDE (Visual Studio) to send Maya a command, via the 
commandPort channel, to unload plugins before attempting to rebuild 
them. After building the toolchain/IDE sends another command to Maya 
asking it to reload the plugin. Basically, any scripting command that 
Maya accepts can be sent by and external app via the commandPort.

http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/2011help/CommandsPython/commandPort.html

Can communication between Paraview and external apps be made this simple?



- Olumide