VTKPlotter

class dolfin.cpp.io.VTKPlotter(*args)

Bases: dolfin.cpp.common.Variable

This class enables visualization of various DOLFIN entities. It supports visualization of meshes, functions, expressions, boundary conditions and mesh functions. It can plot data wrapped in classes conforming to the GenericVTKPlottable interface. The plotter has several parameters that the user can set and adjust to affect the appearance and behavior of the plot.

A plotter can be created and used in the following way:

Mesh mesh = ...; VTKPlotter plotter(mesh); plotter.plot();

Parameters can be adjusted at any time and will take effect on the next call to the plot() method. The following parameters exist:

Name Value type Default value Description
mode String “auto” For vector valued functions, this parameter may be set to “glyphs” or “displacement”. Scalars may be set to “warp” in 2D only. A value of “color” is valid in all cases; for vectors, the norms are used. See below for a summary of default modes, used when set to “auto”.
interactive Boolean False Enable/disable interactive mode for the rendering window. For repeated plots of the same object (animated plots), this parameter should be set to false.
wireframe Boolean True for meshes, else false Enable/disable wireframe rendering of the object.
title String Inherited from the name/label of the object The title of the rendering window
scale Double 1.0 Adjusts the scaling of the warping and glyphs
scalarbar Boolean False for meshes, else true Hide/show the colormapping bar
axes Boolean False Show X-Y-Z axes.
rescale Boolean True Enable/disable recomputation of the scalar to color mapping on every iteration when performing repeated/animated plots of the same data. If both range_min and range_max are set, this parameter is ignored.
range_min Double   Set lower range of data values. Disables automatic (re-)computation of the lower range.
range_max Double   Set upper range of data values. Disables automatic (re-)computation of the upper range.
elevate Double -65.0 for 2D warped scalars, 0.0 otherwise Set camera elevation.
prefix String dolfin_plot_ Filename prefix used when saving plots to file in interactive mode. An integer counter is appended after the prefix.
helptext Boolean True Enable/disable the hover-over help-text in interactive mode
window_width Integer 600 The width of the plotting window in pixels
window_height Integer 400 The height of the plotting window in pixels
tile_windows Boolean True Automatically tile plot windows.
key String   Key (id) of the plot window, used to decide if a new plotter should be created or a current one updated when called through the static plot() interface (in plot.h). If not set, the object’s unique id (Variable::id) is used.
input_keys String “” Synthesize key presses, as if these keys are pressed by the user in the plot window. For example: “ww++m” shows the data as large points on a wireframe mesh.
hide_above Double   If either of these are set, scalar
hide_below Double   values above or below will not be shown in the plot.

The default visualization mode for the different plot types are as follows:

Plot type Default visualization mode Alternatives
Meshes Wireframe rendering None
2D scalar functions Scalar warping Color mapping
3D scalar functions Color mapping None
2D/3D vector functions Glyphs (vector arrows) Displacements, Color mapping (norm)

Expressions and boundary conditions are also visualized according to the above table.

Overloaded versions

  • VTKPlotter(Variable>, NULL)

    Create plotter for a variable. If a widget is supplied, this widget will be used for drawing, instead of a new top-level widget. Ownership is transferred.

  • VTKPlotter(expression, mesh, NULL)

    Create plotter for an Expression with associated Mesh. If a widget is supplied, this widget will be used for drawing, instead of a new top-level widget. Ownership is transferred.

ALT = 512
CONTROL = 1024
SHIFT = 256
add_polygon()
static all_interactive(really=False)

Make all plot windows interactive. If really is set, the interactive mode is entered even if ‘Q’ has been pressed.

azimuth()

Camera control

static default_parameters()

Default parameter values

dolly()
elevate()
get_widget()
interactive()

Make the current plot interactive

is_compatible()
key()

Return key (i.e., plotter id) of the object to plot

key_pressed()
plot()

Plot the object

set_key()

Set the key (plotter id)

set_min_max()
set_viewangle()
thisown

The membership flag

static to_key(*args)

Return default key (plotter id) of a Variable (object to plot).

update()
write_pdf()

Save plot to PDF file (file suffix appended automatically, filename optionally built from prefix)

write_png()

Save plot to PNG file (file suffix appended automatically, filename optionally built from prefix)

zoom()