ParaView is a powerful scientific visualization software that empowers researchers and scientists to explore, analyze, and communicate complex data sets. By providing an intuitive and versatile platform, Paraview enables the transformation of scientific data into visually compelling representations, facilitating the understanding of intricate patterns and structures. With its extensive range of visualization techniques and interactive features, Paraview offers an essential tool for investigating scientific phenomena, uncovering insights, and conveying findings effectively in various fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, and environmental sciences.

We will be going through the steps to create visualizations using Paraview.

Step 0: Understanding the Interface

1. User Interface



2. Simple Camera Manipulations
   
   
   1. Drag left, middle, right buttons for rotate, pan and zoom.
   2. Also use Shift, Ctrl, Alt modifiers
   3. Also try holding down x, y, z

   

3. Getting Back Graphical User Interface(GUI) Components
   
   
   1. Menu Bar
   2. View -> Toolbars

   

4. Help Menu



5. Undo/Redo



6. Copy/Paste/Reset/Save Parameters



7. Pipeline Object Control



8. Using Auto Apply
   
   
   1. Click Auto Apply.
   2. Change the Resolution parameter (or any other parameter).
   3. Note that the visualization automatically updates without having to hit Apply.

   

Step 1: Creating a Cylinder Source

1. Go to the Sources menu.
2. Select Geometric Shapes.
3. Select Cylinder.



4. A Cylinder1 object should appear in the pipeline browser
5. If the cylinder does not automatically appear in the 3D viewer click the Apply Button (on the Properties Tab)



6. Explore the resolution feature
7. Adjust the Resolution slider



8. Explore the resoulution feature by adjusting the Resolution slider or type in a value.
9. Click the Apply button to accept changes.
10. Display Properties



11. Change Render Properties
    
    
    1. Scroll down to the Display (Geometry Representation) section
    2. Click the Edit button. This button is replicated in the tool bar
    3. Select a new color for the cylinder.

    

12. Render View Options



13. Resulting Cylinder



14. Changing the Color Palette
    
    
    1. Make sure the orientation axes are visible in the lower left corner.
    2. Click the color palette button and change the colors.
    3. Try several color palettes or edit the current color palatte.
15. Edit Color Palette



16. Choose Color Palette



17. Advanced Properties



18. Searching Properties
    
    
    1. Type “specular” in the properties search box
    2. Change Specular value to 1 (makes the cylinder shiny)

    

    3. Other interesting properties incluse Axes Grids and Opacity amongst others.

Step 2: Let's start working with Training data.

1. Click on the button on the banner saying “Edit” and then "Reset".



2. Click on the button on the banner saying “File” and then "Open" after locating the file 'headsq.vti'



1. New Object in Pipeline Browser
2. Click Apply to update the viewer window if necessary.



3. You should see a bounding box in the 3D viewer window

Step 3:: Creating an Isosurface

1. On the upper ribbon, you will find a tab called "Filters". Click on Common and then Contour



2. A new object appeared in the pipeline browser (Contour 1)
3. Contour – Extracts the points, curves, or surfaces where a scalar field is equal to a user-defined value.
   The surface is often also called an isosurface.



4. Value Range for the data set is now visible



5. Value Range for the data set is [ 0, 4095 ]
6. Only one value is showing: 2047.5
7. Click Apply to see what points, curves, or surfaces in the dataset have a value of 2047.5



8. If you do not see anything in the 3D window click the eye icon next to Contour1 in the Pipeline Browser
9. This allows you to toggle between views in the 3D Viewer





10. Visually explore the dataset by looking at the visualization from all angles.

Step 4:: Isosurfaces

You should be here:

Pipeline Browser:
1. Two Objects
2. Value Range [0, 4095]

1. Select 2047.5 showing in Value Range. Selecting the value should highlight it.
2. Delete that value (click the minus button to remove all values)



3. Click the button below the minus button to: Add a Range Of Values



4. Should see the Add Range Window
   
   
   1. Use this window to set the range of values
   2. For this tutorial
      Min: 0
      Max: 4095
   3. Feel free to pay around with the range (between 0 and 4905)
   4. Click OK

   

   5. Notice the Value Range: [0, 4095]
      There are 10 values (steps) showing values between 0 and 4095

   

5. Apply the Contour



6. This may take a few seconds to render.



7. Explore the rendering.

Step 5:: Explore the data set

Let's start working on varying the set value range

1. Reset Vaues
   
   
   1. Click red X – Remove all entries.

   

   2. Click Add a range of values button

   

   3. Click OK.
   4. Click Apply.
2. You should be here:



3. Clip Isosurface
   
   
   1. CLIP - Intersects the geometry with a half space.
      The effect is to remove all the geometry on one side of a user-defined plane.
      
   2. Select Contour 1: (in pipeline Browser)
   3. Filters
   4. Common
   5. Clip

   

   6. A new object appeared in the pipeline browser (Clip 1).
   7. Clipping plane (see red vertical line and horizontal arrow)

   

   8. Select the arrow point (arrow turns red)
   9. Rotate (drag) the arrow point until the arrow is pointing out of the screen toward you

   

   10. Resulting visualization.

   

   11. Click Apply after making your selection.

   

   12. Make sure the eye icon is not greyed out on the Clip1 object in the Pipeline Browser

   

   13. Rotating the view reveals the clipped isosurface

   

   14. Click Apply after making your selection.
4. Inside Out Property
   
   If this property is set to 0, then clip filter will return that portion of the dataset that lies within the clip function.
   
   If set to 1, the portions of the dataset that lie outside the clip function will be returned instead

   

   Slice Isosurface
   
   
   1. Click the eye icon next to Clip1 in the pipeline browser (hide the clip plot).
   2. Select Contour 1

   

   3. Select Filters then Common and finally Slice.
   On the map, click any state to view the pop-up. It should look like this:

   

   4. Select Slice1.

   

   5. Resulting Visualizations

   

   6. Click Apply

   

5. Pipeline Browser

Step 6:: Saving your work.

There are many options to save your work:

1. Save State
   It saves the state of the visualization pipeline itself, including all the pipeline modules, views, their layout, and their properties.
   This is referred to as the application state or, just, state.
   
   In Paraview, you can save the state using the File Save State . . . menu option.
   Conversely, to load a saved state file, you can use File Load State. . . .
2. Save Data
   You can save the dataset produced by any pipeline module in ParaView, including sources, readers, and filters.
   To save the dataset in paraview, begin by selecting the pipeline module in the Pipeline browser to make it the active source.
   For modules with multiple output ports, select the output port producing the dataset of interest.
   To save the dataset, use the File Save Data menu or the button in the Main Controls toolbar. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + S (or + S ).
   
   The Save File dialog will allow you to select the filename and the file format. The available list of file formats depends on the type of the dataset you are trying to save.
3. Save Screenshot
   To save the render image from a view in paraview, use the File Save Screenshot menu option. This will pop up the Save Screenshot Options dialog.
   
   This dialog allows you to select various image parameters, such as image resolution and image quality (which depends on the file format chosen).

   

   The dialog also provides an option to change the color palette to use to save the image using Override Color Palette.
   
   By default, Paraview will save rendered results from the active view. Optionally, you can save an image comprising of all the views layed out exactly as on the screen by unchecking the Save only selected view button.

Conclusion

After following this tutorial you should be able to get started with creating custom scientific visualizations using Paraview.
here are some additional resources to help you learn more about using Paraview:

1. ParaView Documentation: The official ParaView documentation is an excellent resource for understanding the software's features, workflows, and capabilities. It provides detailed explanations, tutorials, and examples to help users get started and explore advanced topics. You can find the documentation at: https://docs.paraview.org/
2. ParaView Tutorial Videos: The ParaView website offers a collection of tutorial videos covering various aspects of using ParaView for scientific visualization. These videos provide step-by-step instructions and demonstrations, making it easier to grasp the software's functionality. You can access the tutorial videos at: https://www.paraview.org/tutorial/
3. ParaView Guide: "The ParaView Guide" is a comprehensive book written by the creators of ParaView. It provides in-depth coverage of ParaView's features, including data processing, visualization techniques, and advanced topics. The guide offers practical examples and insights into effective scientific visualization practices. You can find the book on the ParaView website or online booksellers.
4. Online Courses and Webinars: Several online platforms and institutions offer courses and webinars specifically designed to teach ParaView. These resources provide structured learning experiences, often with hands-on exercises, to help users gain proficiency in using the software. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and edX may have relevant courses available.
5. Example Data and Tutorials: ParaView provides a collection of example datasets and tutorials that cover various scientific visualization scenarios. These resources can be accessed within the software itself and offer practical hands-on experience to learn specific visualization techniques and workflows.

We will be going through the steps to utlize the Python Shell for scripting in Paraview.

Step 0: Setting up the Python Shell

1. Click on Edit in the toolbar and select Reset Session.
2. Setting up the Python Shell



3. Click on View in the toolbar and check the Python Shell.



4. Interface



5. About ParaView and Python Shell
   
   
   1. You can copy commands from elsewhere and paste them into the Python Shell
   2. Python is case sensitive. Be sure to use the correct capitalization as shown.
   3. Python is indent sensitive. Be sure to not indent.
6. Saving your output
   
   
   1. Save a Screenshot
   2. Must show render window and python scripting window
   3. Save as PythonScritping output
      
      LastnameFirstInitial_ParaViewPythonFig#.jpg

Step 1: Creating a Pipeline

1. Type the following into the Python Shell.
   
   >>> sphere = Sphere()
   >>> Show()
   >>> Render()
   >>> ResetCamera()



2. In Python Shell create a source
   
   >>> sphere = Sphere()
   >>> Show()
   >>> Render()
   >>> ResetCamera()
3. Then feed that into a filter
   
   >>> Hide()
   >>> shrink = Shrink()
   >>> Show()
   >>> Render()

Step 2: Changing Properties

1. Get listing of sphere’s properties
   
   >>> dir(sphere)
2. Examine and then change one
   
   >>> print(sphere.ThetaResolution)
   >>> sphere.ThetaResolution=16
   >>> Render()
3. Change a different filter
   
   >>> shrink.ShrinkFactor = 0.25
   >>> Render()

Step 3: Branching and Merging Pipelines

1. Feed sphere’s output into a second filter
   
   >>> wireframe = ExtractEdges(Input=sphere)
   >>> Show()
   >>> Render()
2. Feed two filters into one
   
   >>> group = GroupDatasets(Input=[shrink,wireframe])
   >>> Show()
   >>> Hide(shrink)
   >>> Hide(wireframe)
   >>> Render()
3. Change a different filter
   
   >>> shrink.ShrinkFactor = 0.25
   >>> Render()

Finding Pipeline Objects

1. GetSources() - Returns a list of objects listed in the Pipeline Browser
2. GetActiveSource() - Returns the object selected in the Pipeline Browser
3. SetActiveSource() - Sets the object selected in the Pipeline Browser to the given object

Exercise

1. Create a new pipeline
   
   >>> cone = Cone()
   >>> help(cone)
2. This gives you the full list of properties. What is the resolution?
   
   >>> cone.Resolution
3. Increase the resolution to 32.
4. What is the cone’s center? Change the center to 1, 2, 3.
   
   >>> cone.Center=[1,2,3]
5. Apply a shrink filter to the cone.
   
   >>> shrinkFilter = Shrink(cone)
   >>> shrinkFilter.Input
6. Create a Cone Object
   
   >>> shrinkFilter.UpdatePipeline()
   >>> shrinkFilter.GetDataInformation().GetNumberOfCells()
   >>> shrinkFilter.GetDataInformation().GetNumberOfPoints()
7. What we did:
   
   
   1. Create Cone Object
   2. Set Cone Resolution
   3. Set Cone Center Properties
   4. Apply Shrink Filter to the Cone
   5. Update Pipeline
8. Rendering
   
   Two objects are needed to render the output
   
   
   1. A representation – takes a data object and renders it in a view
   2. A view – is responsible for managing a render context and a collection of representations
   3. Rendering the Object
      
      >>> Show(shrinkFilter)
      >>> Render()