# multiple timesteps with same Point/Cell data xml

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [February 5, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400 "2021-02-05T21:07:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![mersoj](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mersoj/32/5848_2.png) [@mersoj](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mersoj)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400/1 "2021-02-05T21:07:29Z")

</div>

I have a simulation that has multiple timesteps the data is saved as the original coordinates and displacements at each time step. Since the Points and Cells don’t change I’d like to only have to write this to disk once.

It seems like writing a file with just the Point and Cell data and including it in the other XML files might be a good solution. Is this possible with the vtu/pvd files?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### 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: [February 8, 2021, 9:51am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400/2 "2021-02-08T09:51:48Z")

</div>

Does your data change one timesteps to the next, but not your geometry ?

This is not supported by vtu/pvd file. It should be supported by EnSight and Exodus files though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![olesenm](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/olesenm/32/17416_2.png) [@olesenm](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/olesenm)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400/3 "2021-02-08T18:38:30Z")

</div>

Hi Jacob,  
Probably doesn’t qualify as a FAQ, but it is certainly a question that I have asked several times over the years. I think the @berkgeveci had an idea that the json readers might be able to be repurposed for that, but I guess that nothing has happened there. Perhaps with the static mesh plugin something might come.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![mersoj](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mersoj/32/5848_2.png) [@mersoj](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mersoj)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2021, 3:53am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/multiple-timesteps-with-same-point-cell-data-xml/6400/4 "2021-02-09T03:53:11Z")

</div>

Hi Mathieu and Mark. Thanks for getting back to me. I guess I will keep writing the data for each time step for now.
