Advanced State Management

Introduction

This tutorial covers different types of state management.

Save State / Load State

ParaView state files are saved by selecting the menu option File → Save State. The pipeline, orientation of the data set, and all view windows are saved. Select File → Load State to open a saved ParaView state file.

Save Data

The Save Data feature is selected from the main menu: File → Save Data. This feature will save the data output from the selected source/filter. The data type is the same as that produced by the source/filter. For example, the data can be an unstructured grid, image data, etc…

Export

The Export feature is selected from the main menu: File → Export. Export will write the actual data from a graph or spreadsheet to a file. For instance, if a spreadsheet is highlighted, you will write a .csv file. Csv files can be read by excel, which can then sort and plot this data.

You can also export the data from a 2d plot, using a trick. After creating your 2d plot, split the window and select spreadsheet. The data from your 2d plot filter will be displayed in the spreadsheet view, and this can be exported as described above.

Example:

• Open disk_out_ref.exo. turn on all variables. Press Apply.
• Drag the object around with the left mouse button until you can see the inside.
• Select the Filters → Data Analysis→ Plot over line button. Apply.
• Split the 2d plot vertically. Spreadsheet view.
• File/Export. This will export the data in the spreadsheet view. Note that the rows will be numbered from 0 to 100, representing 101 steps down the line. Notice that there is a column named "arc_length" that represents the X axis of the plot.

Traces

ParaView can now automatically save traces, or macros. This means that you can start recording a trace, do something, stop recording a trace, and save this trace into a file. You can then use this trace file as input to the pvbatch program, or as a macro within ParaView.

Example:

• Start ParaView (3.6.2 or later)
• Tools/ Python Shell/ Trace/ Start Trace.
• Open disk_out_ref.exo, all variables on, Apply.
• Clip, Z normal, unselect show plane, Apply.
• Slice, unselect show plane, Apply.
• Color by Temp.
• In the Python Shell window, Stop Trace.
• Save trace. Save this file somewhere.
• Edit/ Delete All

Now, lets run the trace.

• In the Python Shell window, Run Script. Select your trace file.

Notice a few things:

• The Show Plane tool does not turn off. This is a bug that will be resolved soon.

• With multi-file CTH files, ParaView does not create internal variable names correctly. Before using the trace file, edit this file and change names that look like spcta_a_0* to spcta_a_0. I.e., get rid of the *. This is also true for multi-file Exodus datasets.

• The Save Screenshot does not work. You can add the following code to the trace, and screenshots will be saved. You want to replace the line at the bottom of the trace that says Render()

WriteImage("/path/to/image.png")

For Windows XP, use the following:

WriteImage("c:/wherever you want/fileName.png")

Saving an animation isn't much harder - you use the following code in place of the Render() call.

AnimateReader(reader, filename=".../movie.avi")

Acknowledgements

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.