VTKpytools

2021-01-14T16:05:25Z

Aviral2000: /* Normal Use */

'''vtkpytools''' is a python package developed in house that has useful tools for generating Visualization ToolKit (VTK) files, and for extracting and manipulating data from VTK files. The code is hosted on a [https://github.com/PHASTA/vtkpytools repository in PHASTA's GitHub organization].

vtkpytools heavily utilizes the [https://docs.pyvista.org/ pyvista] Python package, which provides a Pythonic interface to VTK objects, and the Python bindings for the VTK library itself (which are simply one-to-one copies of the C++ API).

== Using vtkpytools ==

=== Installation ===

==== Normal Use ====
vtkpytools is already installed on the global (<code>main</code>) [[Anaconda|conda environment]] installed on the viz nodes. This also makes all vtkpytool scripts (ie. <code>bar2vtk.py</code> and <code>barsplit.py</code>, etc.) available in your <code>$PATH</code> when the conda environment is active, allowing them to be used in command line without specifying a path to them.

This installation is with be updated periodically as updates are made. It is installed from a cloned repository at <code>/projects/tools/vtkpytools</code> and running <code>pip install .</code> with the conda environment active (see [[Anaconda#Activating_conda_Environment]]). ''Please do not make any changes to this repository''; clone/fork your own copy and make any changes you want there. See next section for how to use your own copy of the package repository

==== Development Use ====
If you're making changes to the code and want to test it out, there are two ways to "override" the normal installation.

====== Adding to Path ======
First is adding the development repository to the path that Python searches for packages. This maybe done by modifying the <code>$PYTHONPATH</code> environment variable:

PYTHONPATH=path/to/vtkpytools/repository/directory:$PYTHONPATH

or by using the following commands in a script:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, 'path/to/vtkpytools/repository/directory')

====== Creating a New (personal) Conda Environment ======
The second way is [https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html#creating-an-environment-with-commands creating a new (personal) conda environment] and installing your copy of the repository there. If going this route, it is recommended to install the package via <code>python setup.py develop</code> as this will allow updates to be tested without reinstalling the package every time.

=== Abbreviation ===

In Python, it is somewhat customary to use an abbreviation for packages when importing them (<code>numpy -> np</code> or <code>pandas -> pd</code>). In that same vein, <code>vtkpytools</code> maybe abbreviated to <code>vpt</code>. For those unfamiliar, this maybe done by

import vtkpytools as vpt

== Expanding vtkpytools ==

Currently, the vtkpytools repository is structured so that it can be expanded to host useful functions/utilities/scripts for many different kinds of problems/uses. If you would like to make changes/additions to the package, see the (to be added) <code>CONTRIBUTING.md</code> file in the repository for instructions.

== Tutorials/Related pages ==

Here's a list of tutorial pages related to vtkpytools. This is manually updated, so [[:Category:VTKpytools]] may have more up-to-date references to vtkpytools related wiki pages (''Hint: if it does, add them onto this page!'')

* [[Bar2vtk]]
* [[Barfiletools]]

[[Category:Post-processing]]
[[Category:VTKpytools]]

PHASTA Wiki - User contributions [en]

VTKpytools