[Gmsh] further explanation to deformed mesh visualization

[Christophe Geuzaine]

José M. Sancho wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am using Gmsh to postprocess 3D tetrahedral meshes. I am not able 
> to obtain deformed   meshes imposing displacement vectorial views 
> (Section 9.2) over meshes in Gmsh Mesh file format (Section 9.1).
> 
> However I can do it using two postprocessing views.  (Two views in 
> format Section 9.2) In this case only the tetrahedral line edges are 
> visible and the solid rendering of the mesh with lighting properties 
> is not posible.
> 

You cannot deform the actual mesh--only the post-processing views. But 
you can achieve the same "solid" rendering in various ways:

The most efficient way is to only draw the boundary of the 
post-processing view (use Plugin(Skin) to extract that), with "Element 
Edges" turned on in Options->View->Visibility. You could also generate 
your post-processing views with both tetrahedra and triangles, and only
draw the triangles (uncheck "Tetrahedra" in Options->View->Visibility).

Another way is to draw the data on the boundary of the post-processing
elements by selecting "Boundary = Dimension - 1" in
Options->View->Visibility. It's not as efficient (since internal faces
are also drawn), but it can be very useful if you want to clip/cut the
view, or use transparency.

Christophe


> Can I visualize a deformed 3D Mesh with the rendering quality 
> achievable with Gmsh Mesh file format?
> 
> Thanks and congratulations for such a good piece of software.
> 
> 
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> gmsh at geuz.org http://www.geuz.org/mailman/listinfo/gmsh
> 


-- 
Christophe Geuzaine
Assistant Professor, Case University, Mathematics
http://www.case.edu/artsci/math/geuzaine