[Paraview] Paraview 5.0.1: Export Scene to pdf -- appears in white

[David Lonie]

On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 10:16 PM, Utkarsh Ayachit <
utkarsh.ayachit at kitware.com> wrote:

> + Not sure what's the deal with 4.0.1, but it's too old at this point
> so let's ignore that.
> + When you downloaded ParaView 5.0.1 from paraview.org, starting with
> 5.0.1, we are using a new implementation of the rendering backend for
> our binaries [1]. This rendering backend, let's call OpenGL2, doesn't
> support exporting to PDF, at least, not in 5.0.1. It's been fixed in
> git "master".
> + I suspect ParaView 5.0.1 from Ubuntu is using the old rendering
> backend by default. The title bar should say something like "ParaView
> 5.0.1 (Legacy Rendering Backend)". This backend still support the old
> export to PDF code and hence should have that option.
> + When you compiled 5.0.1 from source, I suspect you are getting the
> old rendering backend too (unless you changed the CMake variable
> VTK_RENDERING_BACKEND to OpenGL2). Not entirely sure why export would
> fail in that case. There isn't any special flag to enable PDF export.
>
> However, the best option to try out Export to PDF would be build the
> latest "master" from source with VTK_RENDERING_BACKEND set to OpenGL2.
>
> (Dave, do correct me if I am misspoke).
>

This sounds about right. The gl2ps library we use to generate the pdfs was
not compatible with the new OpenGL2 backend, and I had to tweak it a bit to
get it working again. Looking at the git log, the modifications didn't make
it into the 5.0.1 release, so export would only work using the old backend
with that release.

The current development branch supports pdf export on both backends.

I'm curious about the white exported image, though. IIRC, the
vector-graphics export options shouldn't be shown on the versions of
paraview that don't support gl2ps, so if you're able to export, it should
be working. It sounds like you may have also brushed up against one of the
limitations of the gl2ps library -- for instance, it can't handle textured
objects (they'll just appear a solid color, rather than patterned). This
can be problematic as some of the color mapping techniques use textures.

If you're seeing incorrect output, try playing with the "rasterize 3D
geometry" and sort options to see if you can get a better representation of
the scene.

HTH,
Dave
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