ParaView – post-processing visualization engine

ParaView is a multi-platform data analysis and visualization application based on Visualization Toolkit (VTK).

ParaView’s desktop application is intended for the post-processing of simulation results. You can create visualization pipelines that can easily handle complex use cases and generate informative and insightful visualizations. It supports many file formats, and can read additional formats via reader plugins.

It can be used to build visualizations to analyze data using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The data exploration can be done interactively in 3D or programmatically using ParaView’s batch processing capabilities

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Displaying data – create different views to visualize data simultaneously and easily identify corresponding data elements. These views can also be customized (e.g. creating C++ plugins to add new types of views).
  • Filtering data – transform your data to generate visualizations that are easier to understand using ParaView filters. While an extensive list of filters is already provided, you can add custom filtering operations through Python scripting via a plugin or with a Programmable Filter.
  • Querying data – provides a way to inspect the data by querying for elements that satisfy certain criteria using the “Find Data” dialog. The UI makes it easy to build simple queries to find matching elements. Complex queries are also possible using a Python-based syntax.
  • Animations – set up complex animations involving changes to parameters of filters or sources, and you can move the camera to orbit around the dataset, along an arbitrary path, or follow data as it moves over time. Generated animations can be exported in common video formats (e.g. AVI, OGG, etc.) or as a series of PNG or JPEG image files.
  • Exporting scenes – export rendered scenes from ParaView in formats used by 3D rendering tools (e.g. VRML, X3D, and GEO). They can then be imported into other rendering tools or saved as a self-contained HTML page that uses WebGL to do the rendering in a Web browser.
  • Readers and filters for a wide range of formats:
    • ADIOS 2.
    • AMReX.
    • Ansys Ensight.
    • CAM.
    • CGNS.
    • Chombo.
    • CFD.
    • CONVERGE CFD.
    • CosmoReader (Cosmo and Gadget2 particle formats).
    • EnSight CASE.
    • Enzo.
    • EXODUS.
    • Flash.
    • Fluent.
    • GenericIO.
    • GDAL.
    • LAMPSS.
    • LS-DYNA.
    • FEM.
    • MOC.
    • MPAS.
    • Nek5000.
    • NetCDF (CF).
    • OpenFOAM.
    • Plot3D.
    • Protein Data Bank.
    • Spyplot.
    • Tecplot.
    • Unstructured POP.
    • XDMF.
  • More than 200 filters are available.
  • Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Website: www.paraview.org
Support: Code Repository
Developer: ParaView Team
License: BSD 3-Clause ‘New’ or ‘Revised’ License

ParaView in action
Click image for full size

ParaView is written in C, C++, Fortran, and Python. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn Fortran with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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