# Can't animate \*.cas.h5 files from ANSYS

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [October 15, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555 "2024-10-15T00:00:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/1 "2024-10-15T00:00:01Z")

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Hello all,  
I am trying to animate the output files from ANSYS but the video is weird. I have attached both what it is [supposed to look like](https://mstate-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/as4934_msstate_edu/ETCivbFBdw9Mib6y0uZ1Zx4BaA0wvboLfH0HHEsI2D_ytQ?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJPbmVEcml2ZUZvckJ1c2luZXNzIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXciLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJNeUZpbGVzTGlua0NvcHkifX0&e=efMPup) and [what it looks like and how I am doing it](https://mstate-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/as4934_msstate_edu/EUq9b0UwjatEkNIgpzZNqw0BUAowBwbUSHbTloV0Vk4PQg?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJPbmVEcml2ZUZvckJ1c2luZXNzIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXciLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJNeUZpbGVzTGlua0NvcHkifX0&e=7IWgYo). I have also attached the data file [here](https://mstate-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/as4934_msstate_edu/EdDUeJmOGOJMun5O72mKIOsBX9gQvm8kXixb3nQh6PKUPQ?e=GFK3eu). Any help is appreciated. Thank you

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### Author: ![sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/sherin.sugathan/32/15264_2.png) [@sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/sherin.sugathan)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/2 "2024-10-15T13:43:21Z")

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Hi!  
Welcome to the ParaView community! 🙂 The animation is not working because the whole series is not loaded in ParaView. I saw your shared video, wherein you see the files as a group in the file selection dialog and you are selecting the Group, which indeed give an impression that the whole series is going to be read. I think the reader that you use to open the group of files does not support loading a group (time series). As a solution, I tried converting a few files to \*.vtkhdf format and then loaded that group in ParaView, and then the animation was working. You can do the same by converting the files to a suitable format you like, but I think the important thing is that the reader should support series files.

For conversion, you may write some python code inside paraview (recommended) or outside paraview.

Remember to mark this as a solution, if this resolves your question.

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### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/3 "2024-10-15T15:50:30Z")

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Hello Sherin,  
Thank you for your help! Do you have any documentation or a tutorial I can refer to on how to convert the .cas.h5 files to .vtkhdf files?

Thank you!

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### Author: ![sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/sherin.sugathan/32/15264_2.png) [@sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/sherin.sugathan)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2024, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/4 "2024-10-16T10:15:17Z")

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I don’t have a script in hand because I manually converted couple of files in ParaView for testing. It is not practical for you to do a manual conversion of all files one by one in ParaView.

If you use **Tools** → **Start Trace** , then you will be able to record your actions in ParaView. The recording will generate Python code, which you can save and rerun later without performing any manual steps in ParaView.

1. After enabling the trace (“Start Trace”), open a single cas.h5 file, and then go to **File** → **Save Data** , choose vtkhdf, hit **Save** , and finally click on **Tools** → **Stop Trace**
2. This will generate you a python code on “how to” converting a single file.
3. Modify the python code to introduce a simple loop to go through all files and do the conversion.
4. Run the modified code to convert all files.

If you want to look at some relevant documentation, there are subchapters 12.6 and 12.7 in [12. Python & Batch: ParaView & Python — ParaView Documentation 5.12.0 documentation](https://docs.paraview.org/en/latest/Tutorials/ClassroomTutorials/pythonAndBatchParaViewAndPython.html#)

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### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/5 "2024-10-16T18:53:09Z")

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Hello Sherin,  
I appreciate your guidance. However, I am not able to find an option to save the file as a vtfhdf file when I try to save the data. I have attached a video [here](https://mstate-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/as4934_msstate_edu/EaJhlOQbsk9Ftwa5Sg34KYgBMX09ClLWZ9qKydGc1nbugg?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJPbmVEcml2ZUZvckJ1c2luZXNzIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXciLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJNeUZpbGVzTGlua0NvcHkifX0&e=KEVKS7) for your reference. I appreciate your help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/6 "2024-10-16T19:11:05Z")

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Would you be able to share a video of how you are loading it? That would help me understand better. Thank you!

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### Author: ![sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/sherin.sugathan/32/15264_2.png) [@sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/sherin.sugathan)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/7 "2024-10-16T21:43:42Z")

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You are note seeing .vtkhdf because you are not using the latest ParaView (which is 5.13). Try the latest ParaView binaries and you should be able to convert.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/8 "2024-10-17T00:00:32Z")

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Hi Sherin,  
Thank you for that information. Do you recommend I use version 5.13.0 or 5.13.1?

Thank you,  
Abishek

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/sherin.sugathan/32/15264_2.png) [@sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/sherin.sugathan)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/9 "2024-10-17T08:34:32Z")

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- both versions are fine in terms of the availability of .vtkhdf exports.
- I recommend that one should always try to use the latest version because it will have the latest features and bug fixes.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/10 "2024-10-17T18:03:25Z")

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Hi Sherin,  
Thank you for your help. I am now able to convert files to .vtfhdf format. However, it still does not load as a time series. I have attached a video [here](https://mstate-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/as4934_msstate_edu/EenughxIMUhFolH0OnrjfFABIQ4vF-YrhvqnQsxCBMXEAg?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJPbmVEcml2ZUZvckJ1c2luZXNzIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXciLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJNeUZpbGVzTGlua0NvcHkifX0&e=YBIiBi). Thank you again for all your help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/sherin.sugathan/32/15264_2.png) [@sherin.sugathan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/sherin.sugathan)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/11 "2024-10-18T09:28:28Z")

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> [@as4934](#):
>
> convert files to .vtfhdf format. However, it still does not load as a time series. I have attached a v

The naming of your files is causing the problem now. Can you try renaming those four files to **f1, f2, f3, f4** and try again? I think if you use just numbers in the filename, it may not get grouped by ParaView.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@as4934](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/as4934)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cant-animate-cas-h5-files-from-ansys/15555/12 "2024-10-18T18:08:04Z")

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Thank you so much for your help. That worked!