ParaView MFEM Reader

ParaView plugin for reading MFEM files.

This plugin can be used to read MFEM mesh (.mesh and .mesh.gz) files as well as other mesh formats supported by MFEM such as Gmsh (.msh) files. It can also be used to read MFEM data collection (.mfem_root) files that contain a mesh and associated fields.

Installing

This plugin requires PyMFEM to be installed within the ParaView Python environment. Please see the references below for additional details.

1. Set variables:

    export PV_PY_VER=3.7.4
    export PV_NP_VER=1.16.4
    export PV_SIX_VER=1.11.0
    export PV_PY_PREFIX=/opt/paraview/pvpy-${PV_PY_VER}
    export PV_PY_VENV=${PV_PY_PREFIX}-venv
   

2. Install Python:

    wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/${PV_PY_VER}/Python-${PV_PY_VER}.tgz
    tar xzvf Python-${PV_PY_VER}.tgz
    cd Python-${PV_PY_VER}
    ./configure --enable-optimizations --prefix=${PV_PY_PREFIX}
    make
    make install
    cd ..
   

3. Create virtual environment:

    ${PV_PY_PREFIX}/bin/python3 -m venv ${PV_PY_VENV}
   

4. Install packages into virtual environment:

    source ${PV_PY_PREFIX}-venv/bin/activate
    pip uninstall -y numpy
    pip install --ignore-installed numpy==$PV_NP_VER
    pip uninstall -y six
    pip install --ignore-installed six==$PV_SIX_VER
    pip install mfem
   

5. Before starting ParaView (note that python3.7 is used here):

    export PYTHONPATH=${PV_PY_VENV}/lib/python3.7/site-packages
   

6. Load the MFEMReader.py module in ParaView via Tools → Manage Plugins → Load New. You can optionally check the Auto Load option.

You should now be able to open MFEM files using File → Open.

References

• https://github.com/DaanVanVugt/paraview-python-file-reader
• https://www.litianyi.me/2019/10/27/paraview-meshio-plugin/
• https://github.com/tianyikillua/paraview-dolfinx-reader
• https://github.com/nschloe/meshio/blob/main/tools/paraview-meshio-plugin.py
• https://blog.kitware.com/easy-customization-of-the-paraview-python-programmable-filter-property-panel
• https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/Python_calculator_and_programmable_filter
• https://public.kitware.com/pipermail/paraview-developers/2017-January/005051.html
• https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-can-i-install-and-import-other-modules-inside-pvpython/3067/6
• https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/-/issues/17891
• https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html
• https://www.kitware.com/easy-data-conversion-to-vtk-with-python/