[Paraview] Using Paraview for modeling orbital motion of many objects/database connectivity?

[Samuel Key]

Cynthia--

If I may backup from David's comments --

If by "database" you mean a simulation results file format that ParaView 
can read and that stores such things satellite position, velocity, size, 
type, nominal orbit altitudes, .... as a function of time, the answer is 
"Yes."

Personally, I use the EnSight format for such data (large deformations 
of 3-D solids, shells, beams,...).  It is well documented format and was 
originated for large datum sets. I can tell you more about it, if you like.

On the other hand, if you already have a database that contains the 
satellite info of interest, David's comments is the place to start.

--Sam




On 2/2/2016 10:46 AM, David Thompson wrote:
> Hi Cynthia,
>
> It's not something ParaView supports without any modifications, but it is not impossible. VTK, the toolkit ParaView is built upon, provides ways to populate tables from SQL database queries and also ways to turn those tables into polygonal datasets that can be rendered. It would take a small amount of programming to connect those two together into a ParaView pipeline object.
>
> Depending on what's in the database, it would probably also require some filters to turn the satellite ephemera into a time-series of point coordinates for animations. I'm less certain about how much work that would be; I'm not familiar enough with orbital mechanics to know how much work that is.
>
> 	Hope that helps,
> 	David
>
>> On Feb 2, 2016, at 12:26 PM, Hart, Cynthia Joyce - (cyndyb)<cyndyb at email.arizona.edu>  wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks -
>>
>> Forgive me if this question is entirely out of scope of Paraview’s capabilities, but I’m new to the software, and still learning what it can and cannot do.  I have a rather large scale project that I have been asked to look into the feasibility of.  It involves a simulation of the display of a multitude of satellite ‘and other’ objects orbiting the Earth, with the correct orbital motions, and in an animated display, no less.  Due to the number of objects, I have the idea in mind that a database of some sort is the best way to store the information of the objects, and have whatever is driving the simulation call on that database.  I have no idea if Paraview could be - or has been - used with a database.  Is this at all do-able with Paraview?  And if not, what do you think I ought to be considering, for something of this scope?
>>
>> Thanks much,
>>
>> Cynthia
>>
>>
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