Sequence for animation disappear after closing Fluent
Hi all,
More a technical than theoretical problem, I work transient state and need to do videos of my simulation. So (Fluent 19.2) I use calculation activities >>solution animations and I define record after every 100 time steps and storage type is HSF file sequence.
It works but the problem is if I close Fluent then reopen it with the case and data saved the sequence (hsf and cxa files) disappear.
Does anyone have the same problem and know how to solve it ?
Thanks a lot!
Comments
Yeah, I had the same problem in Fluent 18.1. The animation tool worked only with the current .cas and .dat files that started the sequence. Even though I stored the .cxa and .hsf files correctly, once you close the fluent session that started the animation export, you won't be able to re-animate with a new session.
What I did was to export .ppm and manually post-process them with Matlab. I personally prefer ..tiff formats (high-quality images).
There are no files. It was all deleted.
what do you mean with your comment?
This "problem" was related in version 18.1 by alainislas, And is still happening in version 19.2.
Is It a problem of Fluent version ? Can be solved somehow ?
Best Regards
The alternative is to write the images out every some time steps and stitch them together afterwards. Animations may need to be saved before you shut down (I don't use them as I've lost too many due to system outages or solver issues caused by working on support cases).
Thank you. I will follow your suggestions.
What do you mean with "Animations may need to be saved before you shut down" ?
Would be to copy and paste somewhere before finish Fluent session ?
Thanks.
Hi, @Rob and @DrAmine,
I am facing the same problem as discussed above. I created an animation and selected the .hsf file format to save animation files. However, I closed the fluent before playing and writing the animation video. Now, even though I find all saved animation hsf files in the folder, I am unable to play the sequence after re-opening the fluent session.
Any idea or suggestion on how to restore the animation?
Hi @Hafiz
As you can see above I had exactly the same problem in fluent 18.1. Even though you save all .hsf and .cxa correctly, if you re-open these files with a different fluent session somehow it doesn't play the animation. I don't know if this has been fixed in later releases.
Anyways, my suggestion is to export hard copies instead, and then post-process the animation manually with any other program (matlab, ffmpeg, etc..)
Thank you for your suggestion.
You mean instead of saving hsf files, choose ppm file format to save sequence images?
Yep, or you can also change the file format to .jpg, .tiff, etc...
It should open the animation file in Fluent session even without loading the case file. I prefer a pragmatic way in exporting images via execute commands and using ffmpeg or Ansys Env to create animations. Same can be done with Solution Animation and afterwards storing the playback as images.
Thank you. The problem has been solved.
I first selected a ppm file format before starting the simulation to save the animation. Later, I saved animation images as picture files ( jpeg and tiff format separately) and combined them using a windows video editor. It works well.
I also had the same problem that after reopening the fluent and reading case and data the .cxa file didn't work for me.
I tried it again by reopening a new fluent session and NOT reading the case an data and then I was able to play the .cxa and made MPEG video.