[eno]

I installed paraView 3.4.0 in windows to work with OpenFOAM in cygWin. However the animation does not start and it appears that the data are not read except at t = 0.
It worked fine when paraview 3.2.1 was installed.

[dbxmcf]

Hi, Sean:

Maybe not the best solution for you, however, if you don't want to waste time on compiling, you can just install a native windows version of paraview 3.4 (it does not require cygwin), then use foamToVTK to convert to the vtk format which can be read by paraview, the rest is the same as paraFoam.

[eno]

Thanks Roy, Will try this.

[francois]

Hi,

I'm using a fresh 8.10 Ubuntu with OpenFOAM 1.5 and just have downloaded Paraview 3.4.0.

I have a few issues with this combo :

* the view area in paraview is grey, can't see anything: must drag or zoom to se something and it disappear as soon as I release the mouse.

* in Paraview 3.4.0 you can import/open OpenFOAM files (*.foam) but how can I export OpenFOAM results to *.foam files ?

Must I use paraFoam to do that which is not available with Paraview 3.4.0 or is there a script/utility that can do this ?

I someone has found a workaround ...
Thank you very much

Best regards
Francois

[elorriaux]

Salut François ;)

Using gentoo, i don't have problems to visualize my cases with Paraview 3.4.0 (i've tried binaries and self-compiled version without any problems). I don't think your visualization problem is an OF issue, it must be related to ubuntu libraries and paraview or your graphics drivers. Perhaps you should try to build paraview 3.4.0 from sources (new laptop ???!!! ;)).

I've noticed some strange issues with OF-1.5 when i try to visualize multiple domains (fluid/structure interaction), but i think it comes from me or the foamToVTK tool.

I don't think Paraview 3.4.0 includes an OpenFOAM writer. If paraFoam can do that, it's surely an improvement from OF stuff.

Actually, i don't use the OF import in paraview, I export my results with foamToVTK. You should perhaps try it....

Bye, Etienne.

[francois]

Hi Etienne !

Nice to have some news from you, I'm happy to see that you still are on the bleeding edge of CFD and a Gentoo power user !!! Hope everything is fine for you in your new job.

The Ubuntu blank/gray view problem with paraview 3.4.0 is related to the visual effects available with gnome (think it's compiz). When you don't enable them everything is fine now. ATI cards were always a problem for me with Linux (and yes Etienne I've got a new laptop ... crazy isn't it ?)

As you have just suggested I'm usually using foamToVTK to export my results and think I will continue to do that until I will find a solution to create .foam files.

Has someone an idea to create those file, must I always use paraFoam for that ?

Thanks.

ps: C'est super sympa Etienne d'avoir de tes news comme ça, j'espère que tout se passe bien pour toi là-bas et que tu t'éclates dans ton nouveau job. Donne nous des nouvelles de temps en temps, au plaisir de te revoir ...

[olesen]

> Has someone an idea to create those file, must I always use paraFoam for that ?


You could just touch it into existence (like paraFoam does inside).
For the current working directly, you can just define an alias:

alias touchFoam='touch ${PWD##*/}.OpenFOAM'

[francois]

Thanks Mark for your answer !

But I'm not sure to understand your advice.

Correct me if I'm wrong, with this alias I only have an empty ${PWD##*/}.OpenFOAM file (which I move to ${PWD##*/}.foam because this is the extension known by paraview).

And trying to open this empty file in paraview cause a crash.

May I miss something ?

Best regards
Francois

[olesen]

Okay, now I understand (I think).

The .foam file extension is used by the OpenFOAM reader included in ParaView, which I know crashes almost immediately. The same extension (.foam) is used by Takuya's version of the same reader. This version is generally really good, but you'll have to get the code from the wiki and compile it yourself.

The .OpenFOAM file extension is used by the OpenFOAM library reader included with OpenFOAM (applications/postProcessing/graphics/PV3Reader). I've found it to be really stable as well, but here you might have to recompile paraview etc.
You should find enough messages on the forum about people having problems getting this built just right if there are any differences in Qt versions etc.

[francois]

Thanks Mark for your clear answer, I understand your last answer greater now.

Will look on the forum/wiki for the Takuya's version of OpenFOAm in Paraview.

By the way I'm still surprised that the file needed will be empty.

Have a nice day.
Thanks again

[olesen]

> By the way I'm still surprised that the file needed will be empty.

It is only that Paraview/VTK uses the file extension to determine which reader to use. If the reader can actually read the contents of the file, that's another issue. The OpenFOAM readers don't need the contents of this file, they just need to know in which case directory they are being started.

BTW: you can simply touch a .foam/.OpenFOAM file into existence even if you've already started Paraview.