User feedback: how do you interact with the ParaView client UI?

Development
1

The recent UI improvements proposals made me reflect on how I interact with the ParaView client, what I really use and what I never use.

I’m currently experimenting a setup where I removed all the toolbars which are useless to me and I end up with this:

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I need to spend some time using it to be sure, but I think this pretty much all I need.

What I am using ParaView for

  • CFD with OpenFOAM, mostly for visualization (post-processing is done as much as possible directly in OpenFOAM)
  • Since OpenFOAM has no GUI, I use ParaView at different steps of the workflow: visualizing the input geometries (STL/OBJ), mesh, results
  • Mostly locally, sometimes connecting to remote paraview servers if I’m too short on memory locally

How I use ParaView

  • I always use the quick search menu (ctrl+space) to select filters, never the toolbars (which I removed) I find everything I need this way.
  • Main controls toolbar could be useful but I never know which button I should click on and it’s just easier for me to click on File > and select what I need as it is explicitly written. It’s pretty close to the toolbar so I don’t feel like it’s an extra effort to click on File instead of hovering each button one by one to find the one I’m looking for (which I would probably end up remembering if I was using it more often)
  • I use almost all the buttons on the toolbars in my screenshot on a regular basis. There are only a few I seldom use

What I am missing / What annoys me

  • Scrolling through properties is annoying and I struggle to find what I look for (I am using the Separate panels for each type of properties mode)
  • I don’t use the search menu which is odd since I love the search menu for filters. I’m not sure why I don’t use it
  • I toggle advanced properties everywhere and I wish there was an option to toggle it by default (sorry if there is one, I couldn’t find it!)

I realize some things don’t really make sense but that’s how I experience it!

I don’t know if this is the right place for it but I’d be curious to have such general feedback from other users about their own habits with the UI.
Hopefully it could help to identify some patterns or find more ideas for improvements!

2

@lucas.gottar

3

What I am using ParaView for

  • FEA / IGA / CFD analysis for clients
  • Software development support (e.g., debugging our IGA software via looking at results)
  • Producing technical-marketing material
  • Usually local, but very large files I do remote ParaView sessions… since I have 512 GB RAM locally the decision point for me is usually file-transfer from the HPC. If I’m just needing a quick look at current state of results, remote session. If I need interactivity, local.
How I use ParaView

My setup:

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I also generally keep non-modal dialogs open (via Apply rather than OK) on my second monitor for quick access:

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I keep all the toolbars, and I try to keep the common filters close to my pipeline browser since I’m often doing workflows like:

  1. Click object
  2. Warp by Vector
  3. Clip with Implicit Function

And I like that that’s only three button-clicks with minimal mouse movement rather than:

  1. Right-Click object
  2. Move mouse down to Add Filters
  3. Move mouse to the right
  4. Move mouse down to Common
  5. Move mouse to the right
  6. Move mouse down to Warp by Vector
  7. Left-click
  8. Right-Click new pipeline object
  9. Move mouse down to Add Filtersf
  10. Move mouse to the right
  11. Move mouse down to Common
  12. Move mouse to the right
  13. Move mouse down to Clip
  14. Left-click

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And Lord help me if I mis-move my mouse and the dialog disappears… (e.g., accurate mouse movement required).

I rarely use the quick search menu, as that then often requires two hands on the keyboard + moving hand back to mouse to make the final selection. For example, here I’ve used my left hand to Ctrl - Space and type wa so that I can Warp by Vector… but the default / first option is Warp by Scalar – if I hit Enter now, it’ll be the wrong filter. And typing vec has Merge Vector Components as the first item. Sure I could remember that I can type wa v but this is my general issue with this - have to type cli to get Clip (which isn’t natural with one hand), ext ce ty for Extract Cells by Type… I can’t remember all these “shortcuts” well enough to avoid the “hand to keyboard & back to mouse” workflow… so I prefer “just keep hand on mouse” workflows.

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I keep all my properties in a single tab, because again I like to minimize mouse movement. I just move my mouse over the Properties tab and spin my wheel – all the way to the bottom for ray-tracing, parallel perspective, or orientation axes; all the way to the top for filter properties and basic display properties, mid-way for nonlinear subdivision levels… muscle memory to me at this point.

  • I agree that I wish that there was a global setting to toggle all Advanced Options buttons.
  • I also keep the Apply changes automatically on to avoid always clicking Apply.
  • I turn off all LOD settings when running locally (NVIDIA RTX A2000 12GB, 512GB RAM)
    • I do wish I could either set “Remote” vs “Local” session properties (maybe I can already?) so that when I’m doing remote sessions I would have LOD to a reasonable setting.
  • I aggressively utilize the Custom Viewpoint toolbar - very valuable for creating consistent visualizations over a several-day-long session.