schemaxisCFD post-processing guide
For a guided introduction, demonstration map, ParaView schemas and expression examples, start with the CFD README. For a completed case, follow the step-by-step post-processing guide.
This guide covers setup, the demonstration commands and the qualification boundary for post-processing OpenFOAM-format cases with ParaView.
Capability and acceptance boundary#
| Area | Implemented | Qualification and limits |
|---|---|---|
| ParaView post-processing | OpenFOAM readers, slices, contours, streamlines, measurements and verified publications | Recorded real-case and bounded MPI qualification exists. Your target versions and representative cases still need acceptance; output verification does not certify the CFD solution. |
| Orchestration | ParaView participates in scheduled schemaxis.workflow/1 operations, including handoffs to Blender and FFmpeg |
Handoffs carry declared artifacts such as glTF geometry or images, not complete CFD data. |
| Case preparation, meshing and solving | Not included | No adaptor in this repository prepares a case, generates a CFD mesh or runs a solver. Such providers can be installed separately as external adaptor packages. |
Historical evidence: real-case two-rank CFD qualification. Verification records preserve their original observations; they are not new acceptance runs or runtime dependencies. Bulk evidence and the source CFD case are not included in a fresh clone.
Host setup and authoring#
From the cloned repository root, with Python 3.10 or newer:
python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install .
schemaxis discover
schemaxis plan examples/schemaxis/branching.json
Alternatively use PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m schemaxis without installing. Planning
requires no native application.
Composition-capable adaptors share a bounded host-side resolver: put shared values
in dimensions, settings or definitions, reference them with $document, and
use declared $expr/$value calculations where needed. Normal plan and run
resolve these before typed adaptor validation. Unknown options, wrong resolved
types, missing/cyclic references and unsupported operations still fail. No native
methods or arbitrary Python are exposed. Export
schemaxis schema --authored --provider paraview for an editor; expanded schemas
describe the resolved values. Schemas check structure; planning checks reference
targets and semantics.
For direct use of the demonstration site.input.json, set settings.source to
the absolute path of examples/demos/sites.geojson in your checkout. The
demonstration helper sets that path from its own checkout location. Native
resource paths must be absolute.
Reading OpenFOAM-format cases#
ParaView's OpenFOAM reader opens a case through an empty .foam marker file in
the case root. Cases written by other OpenFOAM-derived codes can often be read the
same way, but confirm that your ParaView release reads your output format,
multi-region layout and processor decomposition before relying on it. See
preparing the case.
ParaView demonstration#
Provide an external ParaView installation with bin/pvbatch and an OpenFOAM case
with its .foam marker and underlying data. Recorded work used ParaView 5.13.3;
other target installations need acceptance. The supplied vehicle/mirror inputs
contain illustrative geometry, field names, patch groups and camera bounds for a
case that is not distributed. Review and adapt these to your case before executing;
replacing only the path does not adapt the physics or geometry.
export SCHEMAXIS_DEMO_PARAVIEW_ROOT=/absolute/ParaView
export SCHEMAXIS_DEMO_CASE=/absolute/case/case.foam
python3 examples/demos/demo.py doctor vehicle
python3 examples/demos/demo.py plan vehicle
python3 examples/demos/demo.py run vehicle
python3 examples/demos/demo.py show vehicle
--paraview-root and --case override those environment variables. The helper
retains the configured input, expanded command, native logs and verification in a
fresh evidence/demos directory. plan vehicle substitutes time 1.0 only for
planning; run and export keep native latest-time discovery. For direct CLI
use, export the configured input, then run it:
python3 examples/demos/demo.py export vehicle
schemaxis run evidence/demos/inputs/vehicle.json \
--paraview-root "$SCHEMAXIS_DEMO_PARAVIEW_ROOT" \
--output-directory evidence/paraview-first-acceptance --timeout 600
schemaxis verify evidence/paraview-first-acceptance
Only the selected demonstration's applications are required. Optional CAD,
rendering and video demonstrations accept --freecad, --freecad-gui,
--blender, --ffmpeg, --qgis, --godot and --aseprite, or
SCHEMAXIS_DEMO_ plus the upper-case option name with hyphens changed to
underscores. Use actual configured launchers; FFmpeg needs its matching FFprobe
installation and QGIS needs a Python environment with QGIS. doctor NAME checks
relevant files/executables, not licences or API compatibility. ParaView PATH is
not changed.