[Question / Enhancement] How to do screenshot of plots?

[jfthuong]

2 functions mention off_screen argument to be easier for doing a screenshot:

• https://dpfdocs.pyansys.com/api/ansys.dpf.core.plotter.html?highlight=screenshot#ansys.dpf.core.plotter.Plotter.plot_chart
• https://dpfdocs.pyansys.com/api/ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.html?highlight=screenshot#ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.MeshedRegion.plot

But the question remains: how to perform a screenshot (i.e. save to a file) a given plot?

I tried using off_screen=True and it does not seem to do anything.

With pymapdl, you could do something like:

result = pymapdl_reader.read_binary("knight data/Kight_vv.rst")
result.plot_nodal_displacement(0,  screenshot='knight.png')

But using the argument screenshot does not seem to work in pydpf: so how to do?

Ideally, it would be nice to have features like the function show of pyvista:
https://docs.pyvista.org/examples/02-plot/screenshot.html
... which also gives the possibility to do plotter.image to be able to load the picture in matplotlib.

[jfthuong]

@PProfizi Any idea on how to do? [Ramdane told me to ask you :) ]

[PProfizi]

This works for a bare mesh when plotting from a model object:
model.plot(off_screen=True, screenshot='file.png')
as this calls directly the pyvista plot function.
I'll look into what happens for plot_contour and MeshedRegion.plot

[jfthuong]

I see...

Indeed, it works well when run from inside a .py file.

What troubled me is that this does not work in Jupyter (at least in Jupyter run in VS Code).

Maybe we need to add an argument related to pyvista or ipyvtklink ??

[PProfizi]

Indeed neither arguments in model.plot(off_screen=True, screenshot='file.png') seem to do anything from within a Jupyter notebook.
One actually has to use model.plot(notebook=False, screenshot='file.png') to get a png file, the off_screen keyword only to be set depending on whether one wants to get the interactive pop-up (which is not preferred if creating a lot of screenshots).
I hope this answers the question regarding MeshedRegion.plot(), which once again is directly linked to the behavior of the pyvista.Plotter().
PR pending for the rest of the plot capabilities in PyDPF-Core.

[PProfizi]

#194 has been merged.

[PProfizi]

@jfthuong The keywords now work, however one has to use the combination:

model.plot(off_screen=True, notebook=False, screenshot='model_plot.png')

for it to save the image.

It should be working for all plot commands.

[PProfizi]

Fixing the behavior for certain plot commands when in a Jupyter notebook and using notebook=False with #259.

[PProfizi]

Yet, the answer stands:
If you want to make a screenshot from within a notebook, you should use the combination of options (notebook=False, screenshot=***) whether or not off_screen is active. off_screen will only prevent the GUI from appearing.
The notebook=False is currently required for screenshots.
This is a PyVista issue, see here and here