ParaView Visualization

Batch rendering helpers for turning DEM simulation results into ParaView movies.

The repository stores the rendering script, ParaView state files, and example job manifest. Large local assets are intentionally not tracked:

• ParaView-* application bundles
• results/ simulation output directories
• movies/ rendered animations

Requirements

• ParaView with Python support. The example command below uses the local ParaView-5.10.1-MPI-Linux-Python3.9-x86_64 bundle.
• Simulation result folders matching the paths in render_jobs.example.json.

Usage

From the repository root, run this after unpacking a ParaView binary tarball in the current directory. Adjust the ParaView folder name if you use a different version.

ParaView-5.10.1-MPI-Linux-Python3.9-x86_64/bin/pvpython --force-offscreen-rendering paraview_render_all.py render_jobs.example.json

By default, rendered movies are written to movies/.

If one job fails, for example because its result directory is missing, the script logs that failure and continues with the remaining jobs. At the end it prints a completed/failed summary. The process exits with code 1 if any job failed after all jobs have been attempted.

For state-file jobs, the script also expands numbered file series saved in the .pvsm file to the full matching series in each job's data_dir. This keeps a state file that was saved with only a short preview range from limiting the rendered movie. Use frame_window in the manifest to choose the output frame range after that expansion.

Render Jobs

paraview_render_all.py reads a JSON manifest with a defaults section and a jobs array. Each job can load a ParaView state file or open mesh/CSV data directly. The included render_jobs.example.json currently renders these state-based jobs:

Job	State file	Result directory	Output
FlexibleMesh	states/FlexibleMesh.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_FlexibleMesh	movies/FlexibleMesh.ogv
Electrostatic	states/Electrostatic.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_Electrostatic	movies/Electrostatic.ogv
GameOfLife	states/GameOfLife.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_GameOfLife	movies/GameOfLife.ogv
BallDrop	states/BallDrop.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_BallDrop	movies/BallDrop.ogv
BallDrop2D	states/BallDrop2D.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_BallDrop2D	movies/BallDrop2D.ogv
Centrifuge	states/Centrifuge.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_Centrifuge	movies/Centrifuge.ogv
Mixer	states/Mixer.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_Mixer	movies/Mixer.ogv
Repose2D	states/Repose2D.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_Repose2D	movies/Repose2D.ogv
Sieve	states/Sieve.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_Sieve	movies/Sieve.ogv
SolarSystem	states/SolarSystem.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_SolarSystem	movies/Repose2D.ogv
WheelDPSimplified	states/WheelDPSimplified.pvsm	results/DemoOutput_WheelDPSimplified	movies/WheelDPSimplified.ogv

To customize a run, copy or edit the manifest and update the state paths, result directories, output names, frame rate, resolution, or camera settings.

GitHub Setup

This local checkout is initialized on main with origin set to https://github.com/Ruochun/ParaView-Visualization.git.

If you need to recreate that setup elsewhere:

git remote add origin https://github.com/Ruochun/ParaView-Visualization.git
git branch -M main

For the first publish:

git add .
git commit -m "Initial ParaView visualization setup"
git push -u origin main