# 3. Understanding Data¶

## 3.1. VTK data model¶

To use ParaView effectively, you need to understand the ParaView data model. ParaView uses VTK, the Visualization Toolkit, to provide the visualization and data processing model. This chapter briefly introduces the VTK data model used by ParaView. For more details, refer to one of the VTK books.

The most fundamental data structure in VTK is a data object. Data objects can either be scientific datasets, such as rectilinear grids or finite elements meshes (see below), or more abstract data structures, such as graphs or trees. These datasets are formed from smaller building blocks: mesh (topology and geometry) and attributes.

### 3.1.1. Mesh¶

Even though the actual data structure used to store the mesh in memory depends on the type of the dataset, some abstractions are common to all types. In general, a mesh consists of vertices (points ) and cells (elements, zones). Cells are used to discretize a region and can have various types such as tetrahedra, hexahedra, etc. Each cell contains a set of vertices. The mapping from cells to vertices is called the connectivity. Note that even though it is possible to define data elements such as faces and edges, VTK does not represent these explicitly. Rather, they are implied by a cell’s type and by its connectivity. One exception to this rule is the arbitrary polyhedron, which explicitly stores its faces. Fig. 3.5 is an example mesh that consists of two cells. The first cell is defined by vertices $$(0, 1, 3, 4)$$, and the second cell is defined by vertices $$(1, 2, 4, 5)$$. These cells are neighbors because they share the edge defined by the points $$(1, 4)$$.

A mesh is fully defined by its topology and the spatial coordinates of its vertices. In VTK, the point coordinates may be implicit, or they may be explicitly defined by a data array of dimensions $$(number\_of\_points \times 3)$$.

### 3.1.2. Attributes (fields, arrays)¶

An attribute (or a data array or field) defines the discrete values of a field over the mesh. Examples of attributes include pressure, temperature, velocity, and stress tensor. Note that VTK does not specifically define different types of attributes. All attributes are stored as data arrays, which can have an arbitrary number of components. ParaView makes some assumptions in regards to the number of components. For example, a 3-component array is assumed to be an array of vectors. Attributes can be associated with points or cells. It is also possible to have attributes that are not associated with either. Fig. 3.2 demonstrates the use of a point-centered attribute. Note that the attribute is only defined on the vertices. Interpolation is used to obtain the values everywhere else. The interpolation functions used depend on the cell type. See the VTK documentation for details.

Fig. 3.3 demonstrates the use of a cell-centered attribute. Note that cell-centered attributes are assumed to be constant over each cell. Due to this property, many filters in VTK cannot be directly applied to cell-centered attributes. It is normally required to apply a Cell Data to Point Data filter. In ParaView, this filter is applied automatically, when necessary.

### 3.1.3. Uniform rectilinear grid (image data)¶

A uniform rectilinear grid, or image data, defines its topology and point coordinates implicitly (Fig. 3.4). To fully define the mesh for an image data, VTK uses the following:

• Extents - These define the minimum and maximum indices in each direction. For example, an image data of extents $$(0, 9)$$, $$(0, 19)$$, $$(0, 29)$$ has 10 points in the x-direction, 20 points in the y-direction, and 30 points in the z-direction. The total number of points is $$10 \times 20 \times 30$$.

• Origin - This is the position of a point defined with indices $$(0, 0, 0)$$.

• Spacing - This is the distance between each point. Spacing for each direction can defined independently.

The coordinate of each point is defined as follows: $$coordinate = origin + index \times spacing$$ where $$coordinate$$, $$origin$$, $$index$$, and $$spacing$$ are vectors of length 3.

Note that the generic VTK interface for all datasets uses a flat index. The $$(i,j,k)$$ index can be converted to this flat index as follows: $$idx\_flat = k \times (npts_x \times npts_y) + j \times nptr_x + i$$.

A uniform rectilinear grid consists of cells of the same type. This type is determined by the dimensionality of the dataset (based on the extents) and can either be vertex (0D), line (1D), pixel (2D), or voxel (3D).

Due to its regular nature, image data requires less storage than other datasets. Furthermore, many algorithms in VTK have been optimized to take advantage of this property and are more efficient for image data.

### 3.1.4. Rectilinear grid¶

A rectilinear grid, such as Fig. 3.5, defines its topology implicitly and point coordinates semi-implicitly. To fully define the mesh for a rectilinear grid, VTK uses the following:

• Extents - These define the minimum and maximum indices in each direction. For example, a rectilinear grid of extents $$(0, 9)$$, $$(0, 19)$$, $$(0, 29)$$ has 10 points in the x-direction, 20 points in the y-direction, and 30 points in the z-direction. The total number of points is $$10 \times 20 \times 30$$.

• Three arrays defining coordinates in the x-, y- and z-directions - These arrays are of length $$npts_x$$, $$npts_y$$, and $$npts_z$$. This is a significant savings in memory, as the total memory used by these arrays is $$npts_x+npts_y+npts_z$$ rather than $$npts_x \times npts_y \times npts_z$$.

The coordinate of each point is defined as follows:

$$coordinate = (coordinate\_array_x(i), coordinate\_array_y(j), coordinate\_array_z(k))$$.

Note that the generic VTK interface for all datasets uses a flat index. The $$(i,j,k)$$ index can be converted to this flat index as follows: $$idx\_flat = k \times (npts_x \times npts_y) + j \times nptr_x + i$$.

A rectilinear grid consists of cells of the same type. This type is determined by the dimensionality of the dataset (based on the extents) and can either be vertex (0D), line (1D), pixel (2D), or voxel (3D).

### 3.1.5. Curvilinear grid (structured grid)¶

A curvilinear grid, such as Fig. 3.6, defines its topology implicitly and point coordinates explicitly. To fully define the mesh for a curvilinear grid, VTK uses the following:

• Extents - These define the minimum and maximum indices in each direction. For example, a curvilinear grid of extents $$(0, 9)$$, $$(0, 19)$$, $$(0, 29)$$ has $$10 \times 20 \times 30$$ points regularly defined over a curvilinear mesh.

• An array of point coordinates - This array stores the position of each vertex explicitly.

The coordinate of each point is defined as follows: $$coordinate = coordinate\_array(idx\_flat)$$. The $$(i,j,k)$$ index can be converted to this flat index as follows: $$idx\_flat = k \times (npts_x \times npts_y) + j \times npts_x + i$$.

A curvilinear grid consists of cells of the same type. This type is determined by the dimensionality of the dataset (based on the extents) and can either be vertex (0D), line (1D), quad (2D), or hexahedron (3D).

### 3.1.6. AMR dataset¶

VTK natively supports Berger-Oliger type AMR datasets, as shown in Fig. 3.7. An AMR dataset is essentially a collection of uniform rectilinear grids grouped under increasing refinement ratios (decreasing spacing). VTK’s AMR dataset does not force any constraint on whether and how these grids should overlap. However, it provides support for masking (blanking) sub-regions of the rectilinear grids using an array of bytes. This allows VTK to process overlapping grids with minimal artifacts. VTK can automatically generate the masking arrays for Berger-Oliger compliant meshes.

### 3.1.7. Unstructured grid¶

An unstructured grid, such as Fig. 3.8, is the most general primitive dataset type. It stores topology and point coordinates explicitly. Even though VTK uses a memory-efficient data structure to store the topology, an unstructured grid uses significantly more memory to represent its mesh. Therefore, use an unstructured grid only when you cannot represent your dataset as one of the above datasets. VTK supports a large number of cell types, all of which can exist (heterogeneously) within one unstructured grid. The full list of all cell types supported by VTK can be found in the file vtkCellType.h in the VTK source code. Here is the list of cell types as of when this document was written:

Many of these cell types are straightforward. For details, see the VTK documentation.

### 3.1.8. Polygonal grid (polydata)¶

A polydata, such as Fig. 3.9, is a specialized version of an unstructured grid designed for efficient rendering. It consists of 0D cells (vertices and polyvertices), 1D cells (lines and polylines), and 2D cells (polygons and triangle strips). Certain filters that generate only these cell types will generate a polydata. Examples include the Contour and Slice filters. An unstructured grid, as long as it has only 2D cells supported by polydata, can be converted to a polydata using the Extract Surface Filter . A polydata can be converted to an unstructured grid using Clean to Grid .

### 3.1.9. Table¶

A table, such as Fig. 3.10, is a tabular dataset that consists of rows and columns. All chart views have been designed to work with tables. Therefore, all filters that can be shown within the chart views generate tables. Also, tables can be directly loaded using various file formats such as the comma-separated values format. Tables can be converted to other datasets as long as they are of the right format. Filters that convert tables include Table to Points and Table to Structured Grid .

### 3.1.10. Multiblock dataset¶

You can think of a multi-block dataset (Fig. 3.11) as a tree of datasets where the leaf nodes are simple datasets. All of the data types described above, except AMR, are simple datasets. Multi-block datasets are used to group together datasets that are related. The relation between these datasets is not necessarily defined by ParaView. A multi-block dataset can represent an assembly of parts or a collection of meshes of different types from a coupled simulation. Multi-block datasets can be loaded or created within ParaView using the Group filter. Note that the leaf nodes of a multi-block dataset do not all have to have the same attributes. If you apply a filter that requires an attribute, it will be applied only to blocks that have that attribute.

### 3.1.11. Multipiece dataset¶

Multi-piece datasets, such as Fig. 3.12, are similar to multi-block datasets in that they group together simple datasets. There is one key difference. Multi-piece datasets group together datasets that are part of a whole mesh - datasets of the same type and with the same attributes. This data structure is used to collect datasets produced by a parallel simulation without having to append the meshes together. Note that there is no way to create a multi-piece dataset within ParaView. It can only be created by using certain readers. Furthermore, multi-piece datasets act, for the most part, as simple datasets. For example, it is not possible to extract individual pieces or to obtain information about them.

## 3.2. Getting data information in paraview¶

In the visualization pipeline (Section 1.2), sources, readers, and filters are all producing data. In a VTK-based pipeline, this data is one of the types discussed. Thus, when you create a source or open a data file in paraview and hit Apply , data is being produced. The Information panel and the Statistics Inspector panel can be used to inspect the characteristics of the data produced by any pipeline module.

### 3.2.1. The Information panel¶

The Information panel provides summary information about the data produced by the active source. By default, this panel is tucked under a tab below the Properties panel. You can toggle its visibility using View > Information.

The Information panel shows the data information for the active source. Thus, similar to the Properties panel, it changes when the active source is changed (e.g., by changing the selection in the Pipeline Browser ). One way to think of this panel is as a panel showing a summary for the data currently produced by the active source. Remember that a newly-created pipeline module does not produce any data until you hit Apply . Thus, valid information for a newly-created source will be shown on this panel only after that Apply . Similarly, if you change properties on the source and hit Apply , this panel will reflect any changes in data characteristics. Additionally, for temporal pipelines, this panel shows information for the current timestep alone (except as noted). Thus, as you step through timesteps in a temporal dataset, the information displayed will potentially change, and the panel will reflect those changes.

Did you know?

Any text on this panel is copy-able. For example, if want to copy the number of points value to use it as a property value on the Properties panel, simply double-click on the number or click-and-drag to select the number and use the common keyboard shortcut CTRL + kbd:C (or + C) to copy that value to the clipboard. Now, you can paste it in an input widget in paraview or any other application, such as an editor, by using CTRL + V (or + V) or the application-specific shortcut for pasting text from the clipboard. The same is true for numbers shown in lists, such as the Data Ranges .

The panel itself is comprised of several groups of information. Groups may be hidden based on the type of pipeline module or the type of data being produced.

The file Properties group is shown for readers with information about the file that is opened. For a temporal file series, as you step through each time step, the file name is updated to point to the name of the file in the series that corresponds to the current time step.

The Statistics group provides a summary of the dataset produced including its type, its number of cells and points (or rows and columns in cases of Tabular datasets), and an estimate of the memory used by the dataset. This number only includes the memory space needed to save the data arrays for the dataset. It does not include the memory space used by the data structures themselves and, hence, must only be treated as an estimate.

The Data Arrays group lists all of the available point, cells, and field arrays, as well as their types and ranges for the current time step. The Current data time field shows the time value for the current timestep as a reference. As with other places in paraview, the icons , , and are used to indicate cell, point, and field data arrays. Since data arrays can have multiple components, the range for each component of the data array is shown.

Bounds shows the spatial bounds of the datasets in 3D Cartesian space. This will be unavailable for non-geometric datasets such as tables.

For reader modules, the Time group shows the available time steps and corresponding time values provided by the file.

For structured datasets such as uniform rectilinear grids or curvilinear grids, the Extents group is shown that displays the structured extents and dimensions of the datasets.

All of the summary information discussed so far provides a synopsis of the entire dataset produced by the pipeline module, including across all ranks (which will become clearer once we look at using ParaView for parallel data processing). In cases of composite datasets, such as mutliblock datasets or AMR datasets, recall that these are datasets that are comprised of other datasets. In such cases, these are summaries over all the blocks in the composite dataset. Every so often, you will notice that the Data Arrays table lists an array with the suffix (partial) (Figure Fig. 3.14). Such arrays are referred to as partial arrays. Partial arrays is a term used to refer to arrays that are present on some non-composite blocks or leaf nodes in a composite dataset, but not all. The (partial) suffix to indicate partial arrays is also used by paraview in other places in the UI.

While summaries over all of the datasets in the composite dataset are useful, you may also want to look at the data information for individual blocks. To do so, you can use the Data Hierarchy group, which appears when summarizing composite datasets. The Data Hierarchy widget shows the structure or hierarchy of the composite dataset (Figure Fig. 3.15). The Information panel switches to showing the summaries for the selected sub-tree. By default, the root element will be selected. You can now select any block in the hierarchy to view the summary limited to just that sub-tree.

Did you know?

Memory information shown on the Information panel and the Statistics Inspector should only be used as an approximate reference and does not translate to how much memory the data produced by a particular pipeline module takes. This is due to the following factors:

• The size does not include the amount of memory needed to build the data structures to store the data arrays. While, in most cases, this is negligible compared to that of the data arrays, it can be nontrivial, especially when dealing with deeply-nested composite datasets.

• Several filters such as Calculator and Shrink simply pass input data arrays through, so there’s no extra space needed for those data arrays that are shared with the input. The memory size numbers shown, however, do not take this into consideration.

If you need an overview of how much physical memory is being used by ParaView in its current state, you can use the Memory Inspector (Section 7).

### 3.2.2. The Statistics Inspector panel¶

The Information panel shows data information for the active source. If you need a quick summary of the data produced by all the pipeline modules, you can use the Statistics  Inspector panel. It’s accessible from Views > Statistics Inspector.

All of the information on this panel is also presented on the Information panel, except Geometry Size . This corresponds to how much memory is needed for the transformed dataset used for rendering in the active view. For example, to render a 3D dataset as a surface in the 3D view, ParaView must extract the surface mesh as a polydata. Geometry Size represents the memory needed for this polydata with the same memory-size-related caveats as with the Information panel.

## 3.3. Getting data information in pvpython¶

When scripting with ParaView, you will often find yourself needing information about the data. While paraview sets up filter properties and color tables automatically using the information from the data, you must do that explicitly when scripting.

In pvpython, for any pipeline module (sources, readers, or filters), you can use the following ways to get information about the data produced.

>>> from paraview.simple import *

# We need to update the pipeline. Otherwise, all of the data
# information we get will be from before the file is actually
# read and, hence, will be empty.
>>> UpdatePipeline()

# To get the number of cells or points in the dataset:
>>> dataInfo.GetNumberOfPoints()
10088
>>> dataInfo.GetNumberOfCells()
7152

# You can always nest the call, e.g.:
10088
7152

# Use source.PointData or source.CellData to get information about
# point data arrays and cell data arrays, respectively.

# Let's print the available point data arrays.
[Array: ACCL, Array: DISPL, Array: GlobalNodeId, Array: PedigreeNodeId, Array: VEL]

# Similarly, for cell data arrays:
[Array: EQPS, Array: GlobalElementId, Array: ObjectId, Array: PedigreeElementId]


PointData (and CellData ) is a map or dictionary where the keys are the names of the arrays, and the values are objects that provide more information about each of the arrays. In the rest of this section, anything we demonstrate on PointData is also applicable to CellData .

# Let's get the number of available point arrays.
5

# Print the names for all available point arrays.
['ACCL', 'DISPL', 'GlobalNodeId', 'PedigreeNodeId', 'VEL']

[Array: ACCL, Array: DISPL, Array: GlobalNodeId, Array: PedigreeNodeId, Array: VEL]

# To test if a particular array is present:
True

False


From PointData (or CellData ), you can get access to an object that provides information for each of the arrays. This object gives us methods to get data ranges, component counts, tuple counts, etc.

# Let's get information about 'ACCL' array.
>>> arrayInfo.GetName()
'ACCL'

# To get the number of components in each tuple and the number
# of tuples in the data array:
>>> arrayInfo.GetNumberOfTuples()
10088
>>> arrayInfo.GetNumberOfComponents()
3

# Alternative way for doing the same:
10088
3

# To get the range for a particular component, e.g. component 0:
(-4.965284006175352e-07, 3.212448973499704e-07)

# To get the range for the magnitude in cases of multi-component arrays
# use -1 as the component number.
(0.0, 1.3329898584157294e-05)

# To determine the data data type for this array:
>>> from paraview import vtk
True
# VTK_DOUBLE, VTK_FLOAT, VTK_INT, etc.

# Likewise, to test the dataset type, itself:
vtk.VTK_MULTIBLOCK_DATA_SET
True


Here’s a sample script to iterate over all point data arrays and print their magnitude ranges:

>>> def print_point_data_ranges(source):
...    """Prints array ranges for all point arrays"""
...    for arrayInfo in source.PointData:
...        # get the array's name
...        name = arrayInfo.GetName()
...        # get magnitude range
...        range = arrayInfo.GetRange(-1)
...        print "%s = [%.3f, %.3f]" % (name, range[0], range[1])

# Let's call this function on our reader.