# Render of 3D surface in 2D Interaction Mode

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/render-of-3d-surface-in-2d-interaction-mode/10442
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Tags:** python
**Created:** [October 3, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/render-of-3d-surface-in-2d-interaction-mode/10442 "2022-10-03T14:48:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![thibaultDrt](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/thibaultdrt/32/10101_2.png) [@thibaultDrt](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/thibaultDrt)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/render-of-3d-surface-in-2d-interaction-mode/10442/1 "2022-10-03T14:48:25Z")

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Hi,

I couldn’t find information about that so I take my chance here.  
I am using pvpython 3.8 with on Paraview/5.9.1.

I attempt to generate a screenshot of a 3D surface in a 2D Interaction Mode.  
The 3D surface is a cylinder made of triangles. The source is read from a .xmf file based of an HDF5 mesh file.

By setting the `renderView.InteractionMode = '3D'`, the source is well represented.  
 ![cylinder_3d](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/7/7357e003a4af10d8bbd1c1e76be718d84cf4dd15.png)

However, I would rather use a 2D Interaction Mode for a question of perspective. But by setting `renderView.InteractionMode = '2D'`, the PNG file obtained by `SaveScreenshot()` has a bad rendering:  
 ![cylinder_2d](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/0/0ce04d88d1ba66bca8083401ae176e37bbf1ecf9.png)

Here is the triangle mesh of the source:  
 ![cylinder_2d_edges](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/6/62783726b698e183675489e3ee358cecc2cf3515.png)

Here is a simple example of my code :

```auto
renderView = GetActiveView()
renderView.InteractionMode = '2D' # Or '3D'

xmf = XDMFReader(FileNames=['file.xmf'])

display = Show(xmf, renderView)
display.SetRepresentationType('Surface')
display.SetScalarColoring(None, 0)

SaveScreenshot('output.png', renderView, ImageResolution=(252, 256), TransparentBackgound=1)

```

Do you have an idea on how to have the same rendering in ‘2D’ perspective than in ‘3D’ ?

Have a nice day,

Thibault

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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: [October 4, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/render-of-3d-surface-in-2d-interaction-mode/10442/2 "2022-10-04T01:48:50Z")

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Hi @thibaultDrt ,

Please share your data.

Best,

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![thibaultDrt](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/thibaultdrt/32/10101_2.png) [@thibaultDrt](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/thibaultDrt)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/render-of-3d-surface-in-2d-interaction-mode/10442/3 "2022-10-04T16:13:11Z")

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Hi @mwestphal ,

Thanks for your quick answer.  
Trying to isolate my cylinder to share it here, I finally found the answer myself.

I was setting the `renderView.CameraPosition` to something far away from the `renderView.CameraFocalPoint`, thinking it didn’t really matter in 2D:  
`renderView.CameraPosition = [0.042, -0.006, 1000]`

Apparently it mattered. Setting it to something closer (without being the real distance from the CameraFocalPoint) fix the problem. And if I get further (`[0.042, -0.006, 2000]`), the quality of the rendering goes even lower.

Sorry for bothering, and hoping it could help someone else,

Best,