# NETCDF Annotate Time Issue

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [January 9, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152 "2023-01-09T16:34:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/GPoveda)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/1 "2023-01-09T16:34:00Z")

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Hi,  
I am working with a 4D (x,y,z,t) Netcdf file (winds from a reanalysis). I like to make an animation of the 3D wind field in time. Paraview reads the time as hours since 1900. I like to annotate time in the animation as Month and Year rather than hours since 1900. I have tried all kind of possibilities using" Annotate Time Filter" and also using the “NETCDFTimeAnnotation” plug-in. Using the latter one, I get the following error message:

```auto
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 22, in <module>
  File "<string>", line 28, in RequestData
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'hasCftime' referenced before assignment
Need the python cftime (or the older netcdftime) module for the NetCDFTimeAnnotation plugin!
Failed to evaluate expression '"On %02i.%02i.%02i at %02i:%02i" % (Date[0], Date[1], Date[2], Date[3], Date[4])'. The following exception stack should provide additional developer specific information. This typically implies a malformed expression. Verify that the expression is valid.

Variables in current scope are ['input', 'time_value', 't_value', 'time_steps', 't_steps', 'time_range', 't_range', 'time_index', 't_index', 'time_units', 'time_calendar', 'u_units', 'v_units', 'w_units', 'RawDate'] 

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Applications/ParaView-5.10.1.app/Contents/Python/paraview/detail/annotation.py", line 95, in execute
    result = calculator.compute(inputs, expression, ns=ns)
  File "/Applications/ParaView-5.10.1.app/Contents/Python/paraview/detail/calculator.py", line 146, in compute
    retVal = eval(subEx, globals(), mylocals)
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'Date' is not defined

```

Any help will be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

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### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/2 "2023-01-09T19:14:56Z")

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@mwestphal NETCDFTimeAnnotation plugin issue

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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: [January 11, 2023, 8:17am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/3 "2023-01-11T08:17:47Z")

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Hi @GPoveda

Please share your data.

Best,

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/GPoveda)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/4 "2023-01-11T14:03:19Z")

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It does not go through. There is a limit of 4 MB and my file is 9.4MB.  
Many thanks in advance.  
Germán

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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: [January 11, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/5 "2023-01-11T14:33:05Z")

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Hi @GPoveda

Please use a service like wetransfer to share your data.

Best,

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/GPoveda)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/6 "2023-01-11T14:46:40Z")

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Hi Mathiew, many thanks. I’ve sent you over the data and the state file.  
Thank you very much for your kind help,  
Germán

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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: [January 11, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/7 "2023-01-11T16:01:32Z")

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Works here (ParaView 5.11):

 ![image](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f07ab6e92989d4a596f7ac8db64d5fce951642a6.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/GPoveda)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2023, 4:36pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/8 "2023-01-11T16:36:44Z")

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Did you use “Annotate Time Filter” along with “NETCDF Time Annotation”? I still get an error using ParaView 5.11.0

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<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: [January 11, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/9 "2023-01-11T16:58:47Z")

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No, I only add a "NETCDF Time Annotation” on the glyph.

[glyphs\_fechas\_kw.pvsm](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/cS57T11W3RuSwVpeVVoCg6tgBZs.pvsm) (1.4 MB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@GPoveda](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/GPoveda)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/netcdf-annotate-time-issue/11152/10 "2023-02-02T21:17:41Z")

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Thanks for your help. Now, how can I overlay the 3D topography on the bottom plane?