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No plot appears when using the plot command

+1 vote

I am new to FEniCS. Tried running the first example code. Everything appears to run ok except no plot appears as far as I can tell. I'm running the code in Python 2.7 on the spyder IDE. Anyone know why I wouldn't be able to see a plot? Just for reference, matpotlib works just fine.

asked Jan 19, 2016 by desanti6 FEniCS Novice (130 points)

Does a window come up? Does the program run to completion?

(As far as I know, dolfin plot is not a matplotlib command.)

commented Jan 20, 2016 by michele.zaffalon FEniCS Novice (450 points)

Do you get a plot if you don't run the code in the spyder IDE? Can you give some more information about your platform and how you installed FEniCS?

Also: questions like these are often better to be asked at the fenics-support mailing list.

commented Jan 20, 2016 by johannr FEniCS Expert (17,350 points)

@ michele,

No window comes up at all. I know matplotlib is something different. I just used it to check if general plotting was available to make sure the problem wasn't more widespread. I believe the program is running to completion. I get a new input line in the console at least... if I dump the file to a save point, it does appear in the folder.

@ johannr

I haven't really ever worked outside of the spyder IDE. I've only been using python a month or two. I will try it and get back to you. I am actually running this through a virtualbox with Ubuntu 15.1 installed. I followed the instructions for a conda install of Fenics. It came up with no trouble.

New info though: after running the function, I got a warning message in the console saying:
"***Warning: Plotting not available. DOLFIN has been compiled without VTK support."

I looked at the package list and VTK is definitely there. I also checked back and VTK was installed when I installed the Fenics package. Not sure what to make of all that.

Thanks for the help

commented Jan 20, 2016 by desanti6 FEniCS Novice (130 points)

Ok, so the problem is that DOLFIN is not compiled with VTK support. You should contact the maintainer of the conda packages (see here).

commented Jan 20, 2016 by johannr FEniCS Expert (17,350 points)

Thanks. I'll contact them and see if I can get anywhere.

commented Jan 20, 2016 by desanti6 FEniCS Novice (130 points)
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