3D Visualization: ParaView

openPMD data can be visualized by ParaView, an open source visualization and analysis software. ParaView can be downloaded and installed from httpshttps://www.paraview.org. Use the latest version for best results.

Tutorials

ParaView is a powerful, general parallel rendering program. If this is your first time using ParaView, consider starting with a tutorial.

• https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/The_ParaView_Tutorial

• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paraview+introduction

• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paraview+tutorial

openPMD

openPMD files can be visualized with ParaView 5.9+, using 5.11+ is recommended. ParaView supports ADIOS2 and HDF5 files, as it implements against the Python bindings of openPMD-api.

For openPMD output to be recognized, create a small textfile with .pmd ending per data series, which can be opened with ParaView:

$ cat paraview.pmd
openpmd_%06T.bp

The file contains the same string as one would put in an openPMD Series("....") object.

Tip

When you first open ParaView, adjust its global Settings (Linux: under menu item Edit). General -> Advanced -> Search for data -> Data Processing Options. Check the box Auto Convert Properties.

This will simplify application of filters, e.g., contouring of components of vector fields, without first adding a calculator that extracts a single component or magnitude.

Warning

As of ParaView 5.11 and older, the axisLabel is not yet read for fields. See, e.g., WarpX issue 21162. Please apply rotation of, e.g., 0 -90 0 to mesh data where needed.

Warning

ParaView issue 21837: In order to visualize particle traces with the Temporal Particles To Pathlines, you need to apply the Merge Blocks filter first.

If you have multiple species, you may have to extract the species you want with Extract Block before applying Merge Blocks.