[Paraview] Best way to make a code's output Paraview-ready

[Samuel Key]

Fred,

Useful simulation results formats for ParaView depend on the size of the 
datum set. Here are two formats.

For medium to very large massively parallel datum sets, the ExodusII 
format works. The ExodusII format is binary, current, and well supported 
in ParaView. It is a no-cost, 3rd-party product ( 
https://github.com/gsjaardema/seacas ).

Another format that works well is the EnSight 'Gold' binary format. 
Apart from user-defined cell and point numerical identifiers that to me 
do not appear to be supported by ParaView, it can easily handle 10^6 
finite element workstation models. It is well documented by the EnSight 
organization. For example, ( 
http://www-vis.lbl.gov/NERSC/Software/ensight/doc/OnlineHelp/UM-C11.pdf 
). (The EnSight post-processor is a commercial product that is widely 
used and your simulation results can then be read by EnSight users as 
well.)  The format supports n-vertex polygons and polyhedrons where 
n=(1,2,3,...). The EnSight format has a PART-construct that the ParaView 
Extract Block filter allows one to display any combination of PART's.

I have attached an example of  the *.case ASCII-formatted meta file that 
the EnSight format uses to describe the file-set containing the binary 
data.

Hope this helps in your search for a suitable simulation results format 
for ParaView.

Sam Key


On 2/8/2017 3:14 AM, Frederic Perez wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am part of a development team for a scientific code, and we would
> like to make our code's output readable by Paraview. Unfortunately,
> there is no reasonable way we could have our code directly output to
> VTK formats for various reasons (performance, memory, etc.).
> Currently, the outputs are in HDF5 and have various structures: 1D to
> 3D vector fields, 1D to 3D scalar fields, and particle lists.
>
> Being new to Paraview and  VTK, I have found three options for making
> our results usable:
> 1) Write .xmf files that maps each of our individual pieces of data,
> so that the XDMF reader can import them.
> 2) Write a plugin that will convert the HDF5 files to VTK files and read.
> 3) Use Programmable Sources that extract the HDF5 data directly to VTK elements.
>
> Which one would you recommend? What are their qualities, especially in
> terms of versatility and stability? In addition, are they particularly
> hard to learn?
>
> Cheers
> Fred
> _______________________________________________
> Powered by www.kitware.com
>
> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html
>
> Please keep messages on-topic and check the ParaView Wiki at: http://paraview.org/Wiki/ParaView
>
> Search the list archives at: http://markmail.org/search/?q=ParaView
>
> Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://public.kitware.com/mailman/listinfo/paraview
>

-------------- next part --------------
FORMAT
type: ensight gold
GEOMETRY
model:                   1  1  fmaego.data.geom    change_coords_only
VARIABLE
vector per node:         1  1  Displacement          fmaego.data.ndis
vector per node:         1  1  Velocity              fmaego.data.nvel
vector per node:         1  1  Acceleration          fmaego.data.nacc
scalar per element:      1  1  Material              fmaego.data.emat
scalar per element:      1  1  Material-State        fmaego.data.esta
scalar per element:      1  1  Pressure              fmaego.data.eprs
scalar per element:      1  1  Bulk-Strain           fmaego.data.elnv
scalar per element:      1  1  Strain-Energy-Density fmaego.data.esed
scalar per element:      1  1  Effective-Stress      fmaego.data.edev
vector per element:      1  1  Stress*Vel            fmaego.data.estv
tensor symm per element: 1  1  Stress                fmaego.data.estr
TIME
time set:                1
number of steps:         7
time values:                  1.255489315792E-08      2.400086267127E-04
      4.800053377343E-04      7.200036715849E-04      9.600081684283E-04
      1.200002971217E-03      1.440003995610E-03
FILE
file set:                   1
number of steps:            7