[vtkusers] Streamlines around a Simple Sphere

[David E DeMarle]

VTK isn't good at modeling, it is more about displaying data that has been
produced by some other simulation or modeling package. So, say you had a
vector field that had vector data that approached, wrapped around and then
moved away from a sphere, VTK could easily create the streamlines in that
field and draw them for you.

To produce such a vector field, you might look into CFD packages like
OpenFOAM. With these you could specify the initial vector field (everything
going in one direction), add in a spherical object to block the flow, and
then have the solver iterate until you get a physically based solution
vector field where the vectors naturally wrap around the sphere as they
would in real life.

For a non physically based solution and with a problem that is so ideal,
you could also programmatically create the vector field yourself without
resorting to the complexity of a big software package like OpenFOAM.




David E DeMarle
Kitware, Inc.
R&D Engineer
21 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-881-4909


On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 4:08 PM, Joey <joeymu at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am trying to get a handle on how to draw (what I think are) streamlines
> around a simple sphere source.
>
> I just want a series of lines to start at the edge of my window and
> "drape" along a sphere.  Eventually, I might like to change the sphere to
> an ellipse and/or change the spacing of the lines: either from the sphere
> or between each line.
>
> Is a streamline the way to go about this?  Maybe there is an easier option
> I'm missing?  In looking at the examples, everything is relying on a data
> source.  For my data source, I just want the line to be each of tangents of
> the sphere so that might be why I'm confused.
>
> Thanks in advance for any insight!
>
> Joey
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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 VTK FAQ at:
> http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK_FAQ
>
> Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://www.vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.vtk.org/pipermail/vtkusers/attachments/20140106/a0f16d99/attachment.htm>