# Cumulative time step geometry

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [August 23, 2023, 9:09am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739 "2023-08-23T09:09:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/SJackson)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 9:09am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/1 "2023-08-23T09:09:55Z")

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Hi,

I am trying to visualize some results with geometries in each time step.

The data I import has geometry files separate for the time steps, however I want the geometries to display cumulatively eg. when viewing time step 5, the geometries from steps 1-4 remain visible. Is this possible with an existing filter?

Thanks,  
Simon

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 10:09am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/2 "2023-08-23T10:09:11Z")

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GroupTimeSteps should do the trick

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### Author: ![SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/SJackson)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 10:13am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/3 "2023-08-23T10:13:02Z")

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Thanks for the reply Mathieu,

GroupTimeSteps only allows me to group all the time steps and view them as a single object,

I have 41 steps in this case and want to be able to move between them showing just steps previous to the one I have selected.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 10:18am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/4 "2023-08-23T10:18:02Z")

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GroupTimeSteps create a multiblock datastructure that lets you hide/show any block correspoonding to your timesteps.

Use the `View/MultiBlockInspector` for that.

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### Author: ![SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@SJackson](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/SJackson)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 10:53am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/5 "2023-08-23T10:53:51Z")

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Thanks! wondered if I was missing something there…

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### Author: ![Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/kenneth_moreland/32/15033_2.png) [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/cumulative-time-step-geometry/12739/6 "2023-08-23T13:33:00Z")

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An alternate option to the multiblock inspector is to use the `Extract Time Steps` filter before the `Group Time Steps` filter. The multiblock inspector option that @mwestphal gave is certainly the easier approach, but `Extract Time Steps` can be automated. It’s a little tricky, but if you wanted to, for example, animate a group of 4 time steps over the time range, you could animate the `Extract Time Steps` options with the `Animation View`.