# Visualizing particle trajectory

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [October 15, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730 "2018-10-15T16:30:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/45deac/32.png) [@xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/xikaij)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730/1 "2018-10-15T16:30:31Z")

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Hi,

I’m using Paraview to visualize particle trajectories. The trajectories are written to disk in ExodusII format using libMesh (finite element library). When I visualize the particles, their trajectory is random as shown in Paraview, however, they should be moving along a straight line (based on simulation’s raw output of particle center). Has anyone met this issue before or could provides some hints to address it?

Attached are the movie showing particle’s random trajectory visualized by Paraview, and the trajectory files in ExodusII format.

[https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/7f8c96eee692a5231531f3d19153233b571e61c3.mp4](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/7f8c96eee692a5231531f3d19153233b571e61c3.mp4)

[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000004](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/d7aea4a523be72ad8647a2e958684357cdb3c002.0000004) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000001](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/26429b95f97ef85181beb133e45cb0e2d4bbf741.0000001) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000000](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/9db91dd7701e3edc21542ceb6d7a8d1e355a069f.0000000) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000003](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/fbae7f79b5607aae6926f344ba5d8f866cbdb931.0000003) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000002](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/d160767950b7e98cec8acf6f894ef02f25183f3a.0000002) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000007](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/a4c4e5a8a85c8baf6e860f5752c7459fb6df43e1.0000007) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000005](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/9419572f7a14034ea6789b759b7a040458404991.0000005) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000008](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/28b2bdd2ac4e051255864b13749b3148b7c92aeb.0000008) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000006](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/5c0e56f0eb592d619524159570d6e2f8ab19d350.0000006) (6.2 KB)  
[out\_particle\_6.e-s.0000009](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/1X/3cc14ab122caeb74c476aaa9b32734db25f0b737.0000009) (6.2 KB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/kenneth_moreland/32/15033_2.png) [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730/2 "2018-10-15T17:25:10Z")

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I cannot replicate this problem. I downloaded these 10 trajectory files, loaded them into ParaView, and hit play. The particle moved a small but linear amount for those 10 time steps.

I tried this with ParaView 5.5.2 and 5.6.0-RC2, and it worked fine in both. What version of ParaView are you using? Could you try updating?

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### Author: ![xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/45deac/32.png) [@xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/xikaij)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730/3 "2018-10-15T18:25:39Z")

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Thanks for your reply. I did the same steps as yours, but the particle moves randomly.

I tried ParaView 5.5.2 and 5.6.0-RC2 on a Macbook with macOS High Sierra version 10.13.6, and also tried ParaView 5.1.2 on a linux machine (Fedora 4.5.5), they all show the random trajectory, instead of the small, linear amount movement.

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### Author: ![Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/kenneth_moreland/32/15033_2.png) [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730/4 "2018-10-15T21:08:36Z")

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Wow, that’s weird. I get the same behavior when I try on Mac.

I’m not sure why you appear to get the files out of order. One thing I notice is that your Exodus files do not have a time step in them. That might be throwing the reader off. Can you write out your files with at least one field for a time step with a particular time value?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/45deac/32.png) [@xikaij](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/xikaij)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/visualizing-particle-trajectory/730/5 "2018-10-16T17:38:05Z")

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Hi,

Followed your suggestion, I have written a time step with a particular time value and one field onto the output mesh, now the particle is moving along a straight line as I visualize it with ParaView!

Thanks for your help!