portable and standalone CFD results

lovecraft22 · November 18, 2015, 15:57

Dear all,
I'm looking for a way to share some CFD results in a portable and standalone way. This mean that the recipient of the file will be able to have a look at those results without the need of installing anything. I was thinking of something like an executable file that can be opened directly to show the geometry and the results. I don't need any control from the final user over what is shown, just the ability to pan, zoom and so forth. Eventually what will be shown (pressure on a plane for instance) will be decided by the owner of the file while generating it.

A 3D pdf could be a way but I'm looking for other alternatives as well.

Any idea?

Thanks!

mprinkey · November 18, 2015, 22:51

There was some visualization work being done 7-8 years ago that tried to do what you are talking about, but there was still a bundler and a web browser plugin. I can't recall the name. Obviously, it didn't take off.

Passing an exe around is not the best idea, IMO. Aside from being locked down to a single OS (or creating/distributing/maintaining multiple exes), there are also potential library issues from system to system. Most anything is going to require an installer to resolve them unless very carefully crafted. Another issue is that many organizations don't allow their users to just download and run executables from email or web downloads. You may make something that is portable and does exactly what you want, but still gets blocked by the IT folks on the way to user.

If you insist on going that way, you might look at putting together a lightweight viewer in python and then using pyinstaller to convert it and the data files all into a standalone executable. That could make it both cross platform and will resolve most of the library issues. I've had good success generating cross platform deployable applications using this formula--but I've also encountered the same IT/email hurdles in getting the software to users.

The best bet is to probably just sent vtk files. Paraview installs pretty easily and instructions can be reasonably brief. And the end user would have the ability to dig into the data with all of the tools that Paraview offers.

November 18, 2015, 15:57	portable and standalone CFD results	#1
lovecraft22 Senior Member lore Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 460 Rep Power: 18	Dear all, I'm looking for a way to share some CFD results in a portable and standalone way. This mean that the recipient of the file will be able to have a look at those results without the need of installing anything. I was thinking of something like an executable file that can be opened directly to show the geometry and the results. I don't need any control from the final user over what is shown, just the ability to pan, zoom and so forth. Eventually what will be shown (pressure on a plane for instance) will be decided by the owner of the file while generating it. A 3D pdf could be a way but I'm looking for other alternatives as well. Any idea? Thanks!

November 18, 2015, 22:51		#2
mprinkey Senior Member Michael Prinkey Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 363 Rep Power: 25	There was some visualization work being done 7-8 years ago that tried to do what you are talking about, but there was still a bundler and a web browser plugin. I can't recall the name. Obviously, it didn't take off. Passing an exe around is not the best idea, IMO. Aside from being locked down to a single OS (or creating/distributing/maintaining multiple exes), there are also potential library issues from system to system. Most anything is going to require an installer to resolve them unless very carefully crafted. Another issue is that many organizations don't allow their users to just download and run executables from email or web downloads. You may make something that is portable and does exactly what you want, but still gets blocked by the IT folks on the way to user. If you insist on going that way, you might look at putting together a lightweight viewer in python and then using pyinstaller to convert it and the data files all into a standalone executable. That could make it both cross platform and will resolve most of the library issues. I've had good success generating cross platform deployable applications using this formula--but I've also encountered the same IT/email hurdles in getting the software to users. The best bet is to probably just sent vtk files. Paraview installs pretty easily and instructions can be reasonably brief. And the end user would have the ability to dig into the data with all of the tools that Paraview offers.