Plotting data from arbitrary points or cells

Hi,

is it possible to plot data from any selected point/cell over time (2D plot) in ParaView ? I know about the “Find Data” tool but it allows me to create plots only for points/cells that have the value of a selected variable in a given range (for example velocity >= 12). But I’d like to be able to choose any locations in the mesh that I want (something like Probe Location filter but with plotting). Also, is there a way to create 2D graphs for simulation not involving time ? Results of static mechanical analyses are often divided into load increments, instead of physical time frames. It seems that ParaView requires actual time for 2D plotting but maybe there is a workaround.

Yes: ExtractSelection + PlotData

Also, is there a way to create 2D graphs for simulation not involving time ?

What do you want as your X axis ?

Thank you for the reply. The results of the analyses that I usually perform are usually a function of load increments. Basically, due to the nature of the method used for nonlinear static analyses, simulation software divides the load in small fragments (called increments) and provides results for each increment. For example, if the total force applied to the structure is 200 N and the increment size is 0.1 then there will be results for 20 N, 40 N, 60 N, 80 N and so on (up to 200 N). It’s usually not that regular since increment size may change during the analysis (depending on how difficult the problem is for the solver) but this should show you what I mean. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to import such results to ParaView without losing the division to increments but if it can work like that then it would be great to have an option to plot against increments as well.

Eventually, I’d like to be able to create combined plots too. So if I have two quantities (let’s call them A and B) as output for a given location then the software should let me plot A vs B (and vice versa). But, from what I’ve seen in some older thread, it’s probably impossible in ParaView at the moment so I can export two plots and combine them using a spreadsheet (assuming that it’s possible to export data like that but it shouldn’t be a problem).

That sounds possible, depending on how your data is formatted.

please share your data.

Thanks, I attached exemplary files below. Converter to ParaView format creates a separate vtk file for each frame (increment) but I’ve noticed that in ParaView I can open the whole group and switch between frames using arrows. However, I haven’t managed to plot the selected quantity (for example Displacement Z) for the selected point (for example one of the points furthest away in Z direction). I tried this approach:

  1. “Select Points On”, pick a point,
  2. “Extract Selection”,
  3. “Plot Selection Over Time”,

but the resulting graph is empty. I also tried to add “Integrate Variables” between 2) and 3) but it didn’t help as well. This filter shows all the output values (not just the desired one) for selected point and the resulting plot is empty or 0 (and features all variables instead of just one in the legend). Do I need to configure these filters somehow to make this work ? Is there an option where I could select which output variable to use for further processing (plotting) ?

beampd.zip (190.7 KB)

Still unsure of what you want to obtain but PlotSelectionOverTime should be what you are looking for.

  • Open ParaView
  • Open beampd.*, Apply
  • Select a point using a selection tool
  • PlotSelectionOverTimeApply
  • Result:

Peek 2021-12-09 09-38

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Great, that’s just what I wanted to achieve. It seems that I was using the “Extract Selection” filter unnecessarily. And it’s possible to restrict the plot to only one selected output variable using “Series Parameters” - looking at the initial graph legend, I was afraid that it always plots all outputs for a given point/cell. It’s just a bit strange that it renames the displacement components X,Y and Z to (0), (1) and (2), respectively but it’s not a big problem.

If I want to export such a plot to Excel, the “Integrate Variables” filter is the only option, right ?

Not at all, just save to a .csv, you can even look at the data it in the spreadsheet view directly.

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