[OpenFOAM] Do not render volume elements, only the surface elements in ParaView

voyage · October 15, 2025, 05:38

Hi,

I have a large mesh with both volume and surface elements, which I want to visualize in ParaView. However, ParaView opens it slowly because it renders all the volume elements. A ParaView developer told me that to only render the surface elements, I need to do the following:
1. Put my mesh into a .vtm file, separating the surface elements from the volume elements.
2. Implement a new representation to only show the surface elements from the .vtm file.

He mentioned that probably step 2 has already been implemented in OpenFOAM. If this is true, could you please point me to the source code?

Thank you.

JBeilke · October 15, 2025, 10:26

Filters -> Alphabetical -> Extract Block

voyage · October 15, 2025, 11:03

So once I have a partitioned dataset, I can extract the blocks with the "Extract Block" filter that correspond to the surface mesh? Is that the idea?

October 15, 2025, 05:38	Do not render volume elements, only the surface elements in ParaView	#1
voyage New Member Join Date: Oct 2025 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Hi, I have a large mesh with both volume and surface elements, which I want to visualize in ParaView. However, ParaView opens it slowly because it renders all the volume elements. A ParaView developer told me that to only render the surface elements, I need to do the following: 1. Put my mesh into a .vtm file, separating the surface elements from the volume elements. 2. Implement a new representation to only show the surface elements from the .vtm file. He mentioned that probably step 2 has already been implemented in OpenFOAM. If this is true, could you please point me to the source code? Thank you.

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October 15, 2025, 10:26		#2
JBeilke Senior Member Joern Beilke Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Dresden Posts: 615 Rep Power: 22	Filters -> Alphabetical -> Extract Block

October 15, 2025, 11:03		#3
voyage New Member Join Date: Oct 2025 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	So once I have a partitioned dataset, I can extract the blocks with the "Extract Block" filter that correspond to the surface mesh? Is that the idea?