ParaView Plugin¶

MicPy provides a plugin that allows MICRESS simulation data to be loaded and explored directly inside ParaView. Once installed, MICRESS binary files, such as concentration and phase fields, can be opened without any conversion step. Unlike exported .vti files, the plugin also allows switching between CellData, PointData (averaged), and PointData (direct) representations directly from ParaView's Properties panel, without reopening the file or converting the dataset.

Three-dimensional visualization of the simulated microstructure following rapid solidification of the equiatomic FeCrCoMnNi high-entropy alloy within a computational domain of 1×2×2 μm³. The morphology of the individual phases is represented by 0.5 isosurfaces extracted from the corresponding MICRESS phase-fraction fields, revealing the spatial distribution and topology of the precipitates. The FCC phase is rendered in light cyan, the BCC phase in olive brown, the σ phase in red, and the Ni concentration field as a semi-transparent pink volume.

Choosing the Data Representation¶

After loading a MICRESS file, its VTK data representation can be changed using the corresponding drop-down list in ParaView's Properties panel. Select one of the following representations and click Apply.

• CellData stores the field as VTK CellData, with one value assigned to each cell.
• PointData (averaged) converts the field to VTK PointData by averaging adjacent cell values at each grid point. Additional boundary points are generated so that the original dataset bounds are preserved.
• PointData (direct) stores the field as VTK PointData without averaging. No additional boundary points are generated, so the resulting dataset is one cell smaller in each spatial direction and its bounds are reduced by one grid spacing.

Requirements¶

To use the MicPy ParaView plugin, ParaView must be able to import the MicPy Python package at runtime. The simplest way to ensure this is to run ParaView from a dedicated conda environment in which MicPy is installed.

The following instructions describe a recommended setup using conda and pip.

Installation¶

1. Create a conda environment with ParaView and MicPy¶

First, create a new conda environment for ParaView and MicPy. Make sure to select a Python version that is compatible with both ParaView and MicPy.

# Install ParaView and Python in a new conda environment
conda create -y -n micpy-pv -c conda-forge paraview=5.13 python=3.10

# Activate the environment
conda activate micpy-pv

# Install MicPy via pip
pip install micress-micpy

# Install ParaView and Python in a new conda environment
conda create -y -n micpy-pv -c conda-forge paraview=5.12 python=3.10

# Activate the environment
conda activate micpy-pv

# Install MicPy via pip
pip install micress-micpy

# Install ParaView and Python in a new conda environment
conda create -y -n micpy-pv -c conda-forge paraview=5.11 python=3.9

# Activate the environment
conda activate micpy-pv

# Install MicPy via pip
pip install micress-micpy

# Install ParaView and Python in a new conda environment
conda create -y -n micpy-pv -c conda-forge paraview=6.0 python=3.12

# Activate the environment
conda activate micpy-pv

# Install MicPy via pip
pip install micress-micpy

At this point, ParaView's Python interpreter (when launched from this environment) will be able to import MicPy.

2. Loading the plugin in ParaView¶

Once ParaView and MicPy are installed in the same environment, the plugin can be loaded in one of two ways:

python -c "import micpy.bin as b; print(b.pv_plugin_path())"

conda env config vars set PV_PLUGIN_PATH="$(python -c "import micpy.bin as b; print(b.pv_plugin_path())")"

conda deactivate
conda activate micpy-pv