How do I measure the surface area of a vtk file in ParaView

ParaView Support
1

Hello Everyone.
I have a number of .vtk files that make up the surfaces of a tetrahedral mesh. I need to measure the surface areas of a number of these .vtk files. Using ParaView 5.6.0, and following the procedure outlined within this thread, I was not able to find the surface area calculations I need. Does anyone here know how to properly calculate the surface areas of a .vtk file’s surface? Note that I can provide a sample file if necessary.

Thanks for your help!

2

Welcome to ParaView, @meng!

The Integrate Variables filter will give you the surface area when applied to a polygonal dataset. When you apply it, a SpreadSheet View will open showing you the integrated data values.

Change the Attribute to “Cell Data” and you will find the surface area in a column with the heading “Area”.

image

For a volumetric mesh, you can get the total volume using the same approach. Look for “Volume” instead of “Area” in the SpreadSheet View if you apply this to a mesh.

3

Thank you for the help, cory.quammen!

4

Hello everyone,
is there any possibilities to calculate the surface area of an stl file in Paraview?

kind regards,
Arghavan

5

Yes. ParaView can read stl files, and @cory.quammen’s instructions will work on an stl file (or any other surface).

6

thank you for your reply, I could do that. but I am getting the same value of the surface area in each plane. is it correct? or maybe surface area has difference with projection area. actually I want to get the projection area of the stl file.

best,
Arghavan

7

I don’t understand your question. The Integrate Variables will simply compute the area of each triangle in the stl and then sum those up. I don’t know what planes or projections have to do with any of that.

8

Thank you for your reply, The problem is solved.

9

Thanks for sharing this. I find it is useful you have a projected 2D plane mapping from a *.stl file, which is useful in external aerodynamic analysis.