CEI offers several free tutorials that help you understand EnSight's functions. Below you will find tutorials on basic loading of data and visualization, feature extraction, transient data, custom operations, biomedical data analysis and advanced features.

Basic Load/Visualize 

Getting Started with EnSight 9
This tutorial is the first in a series of screencasts introducing the new features and user interaction capabilities of EnSight 9. The new functionality of the part select, part highlight, right mouse button menu, and the click-n-go features are demonstrated. Each of these new features allows an easier interaction with the software and faster, direct interaction with the most common tasks.

Getting Started with EnSight 9 – Part 2
This tutorial is the second in a series of screencasts introducing the new features and user interaction capabilities of EnSight 9. This tutorial expands on the new methods and user action of streamline creation/modification, image drag-n-drop and viewport modifications. These additional capabilities provided to the user greatly simplifies typical tasks and allows a quicker and even more interactive analysis of the model results. 
 

A simple tutorial on how to use EnSight 8.2

This tutorial provides a step-by-step demonstration of basic EnSight operation. After successfully completing this tutorial, you should be able to start EnSight, read a dataset and load a model, transform objects in the Graphics Window, reset transformation, work with parts and change part attributes, save an image to a file, and exit EnSight.

A two part tutorial on how to use EnSight, specifically for CFD 

Part1: This tutorial provides a step by step instruction for performing many of the basic post processing operations, particularly those relevant to CFD analysis. Part 1 of 2, this tutorial illustrates the basic loading of data, coloring parts with variables and palette operation, contour operations.
Part 2: In part 2 of 2 of the basic EnSight operation, the tutorial covers the methods used to generate annotations, vector plots, isosurfaces, streamlines, and finally the export of animations and images to external files. The interactivity of EnSight is highlighted here, as well as the introduction of feature detail editors to customize further the parts and display within EnSight.

EnVe usage

CEI’s EnVe application is a general purpose animation post-processing tool. It can be used to take series of images and/or animation files and splice them together to generate a new animation. This tutorial covers some of the basic operations of EnVe to take a series of TIFF, PNG, and AVI files from a variety of different originating programs, and generate one single animation file of a different format. We cover taking files from PPT to use as title images, using fade in/out for an animation, using a sequence of image files for animation, as well as combining a predefined AVI file into the animation as well.

CAD import functionality

This tutorial exhibits the EnSight CAD import functionality. In this example, either single CAD files, or multiple assemblies can be imported into EnSight through our standard File Open functionality. This operation can be very useful to combine CAD with your analysis visualization, or as method for interrogating or utilizing CAD data by itself. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Color by Variable
Color any part in the EnSight environment by a variable with this brief tutorial, and interactively manipulate the color palette.

Palettes and Annotations
Watch this demonstration to learn how to modify palettes and create user customized color palettes. In addition, more advanced features of annotation such as variable linked annotations, 3D arrows, and interactive query annotations are shown. 

Client Server

A majority of EnSight users operate both client/server mode on a single machine. However, the power of EnSight can be greatly enhanced by utilizing one local machine as a client (good graphics, small memory), and a second machine (larger memory, but no graphics capability) to handle larger dataset sizes. Using a local machine and a secondary machine allows you to use your existing hardware more efficiently. This method is far superior to using outdated methods like “export DISPLAY”, and handles the communication from remote machines more effectively. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Read Multiple Cases

With the standard version of EnSight, you can read up to 16 cases into a single EnSight session simultaneously. This screen cast illustrates the ease of reading in multiple cases (same model, different results, or different models, or even different classes of simulation (eg. FEA and CFD)). This tutorial also shows some of the simple tools to allow quantification of the differences in the results, as well as ways to organize your multiple model view inside EnSight. 

Keyframe Tutorials

Part 1:

Part 2:

This tutorial illustrates the basics involved with creating keyframe animations in EnSight. With keyframe animations, the user can control the movement through/around the model, as well as control what entities are being shown during the animations. Basic and complex keyframe operations, including spline camera control, are demonstrated. In addition, this tutorial covers using these keyframe animations with EnVe, CEI’s free video editing software. Simple operations such as stringing  animations together into a single animation, adding titles, images, fades, and file format conversion (EVO to AVI, or MPEG, Quicktime, etc) is also covered. If you prefer to download the Keyframe Part 1 screencast, Keyframe Part 2 right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Copy Feature

In this tutorial, we will cover the use of EnSight’s “copy” command. This will allow you to create a ‘shallow’ copy of your model parts in EnSight so that you can visualize multiple variables on a single plane. The use of multiple variables within a single display can greatly increase the understanding and analytical content of your visualization by allowing the user to compare and contrast values. This tutorial will illustrate using the Mirror Function with the original instance turned off to allow multiple variables on a symmetric part. In addition, the use of viewports and visibility per viewport is covered in the context of part copies. This allows for various viewports on a single display to illustrate multiple variables. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Extract and Split

This tutorial explores the use of the Extract and Split operations within EnSight to further help visualize your dataset. The “extract” feature is used to pull off 2D surface elements from a 3D part if none exist. The Split function within EnSight, via the “In/Out” option in the Clip Plane, allows the user to split a single part into multiple pieces. With this part split, we  illustrate how to either color the part with multiple variables, or using the Frame Mode, open this part up like a book to visualize the interior detail that may be hidden from standard views. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Velocity Profile Graph Animation
Inspection of your results in a dynamic and interactive way is one of the key benefits of EnSight. This tutorial illustrates how you can create a query of the velocity profile within your CFD results, as well as creating a dynamically updated graph of this profile. This feature is useful for not only interactive investigation into your results, but also allows you to output to an animation for presentation.

Creating Clips of Clips
This tutorial illustrates one of a few ways to generate clips of clips within EnSight. This function allows you to augment the clip operation by restricting your original clips and performing additional clips. This gives you the ability to create sector clips of the geometry that have additional constraints, other than an RTZ alone, or an XYZ alone, etc.  In order to use this feature, you must use the advanced feature detail editor to correctly select the parent part, or update the parent used for the creation. In this tutorial, we have also included the generation of duplicate clips within EnSight. With multiple clips, you can change display characteristics of one clip to show an outline, while the other clip may show a filled contour, or perhaps an isobar.

STAR-CD Particle Track information into EnSight

Each EnSight installation includes a conversion routine to turn STAR-CD particle track files into a format that EnSight can read. Once converted, this information reads directly into EnSight where it can be viewed, analyzed, and interrogated just like other data. You can change size of the particle (either constant or based on a variable), as well as the color of the particles based on any of their variables. This process works the same whether the solution domain is steady state or transient, in both instances the particles come into EnSight as a time dependant solution.

Creating Macros within EnSight

This tutorial illustrates typical commands used to calculate quantities and how easy it is to apply these commands with a macro. Once defined, the user can easily calculate these derived quantities that may not explicitly exist within the original data files.

Prostar/STAR-CD export to EnSight

This tutorial illustrates two different methods for exporting your steady state model from Prostar/STAR-CD into EnSight. Both methods write EnSight Gold case format files, and both methods work with for both the Prostar 3x and 4x families. The first method shows you how EnSight Files are generated by using the automatic routines within the NavCenter. This method is easy, but does not allow the user much control. The second method uses both SetFile, to control which parts are written to EnSight, and the separate “ensi” commands, to control which variables get exported to EnSight. 

Custom Operations 

Visualize FLUENT particle tracks in EnSight

In this tutorial, we will illustrate how to take your particle track information generated in FLUENT and visualize within EnSight. We provide step by step instructions on exporting your data from FLUENT, then show you how to use EnSight’s external translator, and finally read the data into EnSight. Once in EnSight, we will illustrate how to visualize, interrogate, and analyze this particle track information within EnSight. 

FLUENT exports directly to EnSight

FLUENT users can either export their model directly to EnSight’s case format, or EnSight can read the FLUENT .cas and .dat files directly. This tutorial illustrates how to export from FLUENT into EnSight, and illustrates that the model hierarchy and organization within your FLUENT model is transferred directly into EnSight. This tutorial will also show you how to use the FLUENT Reader in order to read your .cas and .dat files directly into EnSight. Some of the key features of the FLUENT Beta reader are also highlighted. You can download the example dataset provide through this FLUENT_Export.zip.

STAR-CCM+ exports directly to EnSight

This tutorial illustrates how to export from STAR-CCM+ into EnSight, and illustrates that the model hierarchy and organization within your STAR-CCM+ model is transferred directly into EnSight.

Exporting STAR-CD transient results to EnSight
In addition to exporting steady state models from pro-STAR to EnSight, you can easily convert transient models into EnSight for post processing. This translation process handles moving mesh as well as cell layer/addition cases. This tutorial illustrates the typical commands used in pro-STAR to export your model to EnSight format, as well as loading these files into EnSight, and illustrating the ease of analyzing transient models. Dynamic and interactive analysis and 3D animations can be created within EnSight. 

User Defined Tools
Customization of EnSight using the user defined tools capability. Tutorial demonstrates the use and creation of new icons within the ‘UserDefinedTool’ menu system.  

Flow Field Clip
In this short screencast, the basics operation of coloring parts, adjusting the color scale, and the generation of clip planes is covered. Utilizing the dynamic and interactive nature of EnSight, the use of Clip planes can easily allow the user to query off-body values within your simulation.

Detailed Part List

In EnSight 8.2, you can now utilize a detailed part list for part list manipulation. This feature allows the user to bring more detailed part information into EnSight, and be able to select parts based on this new information. The part list can further be organized into groups and subgroups to allow the user to classify and group different parts within the model. Detailed part names, descriptions, and material properties can be specified for each part and/or grouping.

Vector Glyphs

This tutorials shows users how to add discrete force vectors or moment vectors into your EnSight visualization. These force and moment values are read in from an external file and can be viewed with the 3D Arrow portion of the Annotate tab. This tutorial illustrates the file format used to read in this data, as well as how to display these values and customize their representation inside EnSight. You can download this example dataset to follow along.

Aerodynamics Analysis

This tutorial shows users how to generate new field variables like Cp and “Downforce per unit area,” which add greatly to the understanding of where downforce and lift are being generated. In addition, this tutorial illustrates how to generate Cp graphs, and spanwise loading. The spanwise loading takes the previously shown downforce variable and integrates this quantity over the section, sweeping this section along the span of the wing and generating a graph of the resultant load distribution. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Embedding External Video within EnSight
Importing external video content into an EnSight session is easy to do, as shown in the following tutorial. Importing external video allows you to include experimental recordings, live footage, or additional substance to not only your animation, but also to interactive sessions of EnSight. The external video is automatically synced in absolute time and time increment, so that both the computational animation and the external video play together. Further background information can be found on this page, EnSight QuickTools Part I: Animated Annotations and CSV Files.  

Feature Extraction

Flow Feature Extraction
In this tutorial you will learn the use of EnSight’s vortex core, separation and attachment line, and boundary layer extraction tools.

Quantify Reverse Flow
This tutorial teaches you how to use the integrate command and limits to quantify the amount of reverse flow through a plane.

Elevated Surface Creation
Tutorial shows the creation of an elevated surface to generate a 3D representation of the scalar values on a surface. In this instance, the velocity magnitude is used to generate the elevated surface to help illustrate the wake region. Elevated surface can also be used from a computational surface to help visualize boundary layer growth and development.

Transient Data

Transient Min/Max/Average Temporal
Tutorial demonstrates how to calculate and graph minimum, maximum and average data on parts for transient runs. In addition, this tutorial displays the use of temporal average function with transient data to produce an average over time for your domain.

Transient Max
Part 2 in the sequence of Transient post processing. This short tutorial focuses on extracting quantitative temporal information (Max over whole domain and time) from a transient run. This tutorial also illustrates how Python scripting can be introduced to perform macro operations within EnSight, greatly enhancing the power and functionality of EnSight to do repetitive or complex tasks with ease. Click to download the example python file.

Reading Transient FLUENT models into EnSight

For users of Transient FLUENT models, you have two choices to read your data into EnSight. You can either export your transient data from FLUENT into EnSight case format (Option #1), or use EnSight’s FLUENT reader to read in the transient data files (Option #2). This tutorial discusses Option #1 : how to export from Fluent to EnSight case format. This method of exporting from FLUENT can be done using the scheme file. This scheme file is run within FLUENT, and essentially loops through the series of .cas and .dat files to export out a set of EnSight case format files which can then be read into EnSight.

Pathlines

This tutorial illustrates how to generate and visualize pathlines within EnSight. Pathlines are different from streamlines in that they are used within transient analyses, and are integrated with respect to your time domain and the time step information from your solution. This integration of the particle path with respect to time, and updated with the new flowfield at each time step allows the user to generate an accurate path of a particle, based on the transient flow solution. To use this feature, the advanced feature detail editor is used to select the various time relevant parameters for release and calculation of the pathline. 

Biomedical Data Analysis
Medical Visualization of the Heart
In this tutorial for analysis and quantification of medical data, EnSight is used to visualize a transient medical dataset. EnSight is used to visualize the velocity at any arbitrary location, as well as quantify the flow rate through any region of interest. Although this example shows a single plane used for investigation, any number of planes can be displayed at once, with multiple graphs of flow rate over time for each region of interest. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

NIfTI Import, Component Mapping and Isosurfaces with Medical Data
In this EnSight tutorial the NIfTI/ANALZE format is first imported into EnSight. The tutorial then goes through the process of using EnSight’s unique texture mapping functionality to examine two different variables at once with component mapping in the HSV space. Finally, the tutorial shows how using an isosurface of one variable, colored with a second variable, will allow the user to more easily identify regions of interest while interrogating variables on this surface. Dataset courtesy of Randall Frank, CEI. 

Advanced Features

Command Test 2d Plot
This tutorial exhibits the EnSight command “ test: special 2d plot” to automatically generate graphs based on integrated values on a plane swept through the model. This type of command is particularly useful for generating graphs of mass flux average temperature through the domain, or average swirl velocity, etc.

5 minutes, 42 seconds 

Background

This tutorial shows users how to customize the Viewports within EnSight. Viewports can help to demonstrate multiple views of your geometry at once, or illustrate icon locations for your clip planes. In addition, the background of the viewport can be modified to include experimental data/images or add additional presentation value by implementing images for the background, or to make title bars for your visualization.

Extrusion
EnSight’s extrusion functionality can take a 2D dataset, and replicate this into a 3D domain. This functionality allows the user to display and represent their 2D problem (in this example axi-symmetric) in a 3D sense, to communicate and visualize this data in 3D. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Splines

This tutorial illustrates a few methods for creating splines within your model. We will cover the generation of splines via screen picks, xyz input, or from streamlines. We will then illustrate using splines to control clip planes (clip planes along a spline), as well as camera movement. Finally, this tutorial will illustrate using splines for dataset queries to allow more customized extraction of data from your results. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Textures

In this tutorial we illustrate two more advanced features of texture application; single sided textures and application of textures onto a moving grid geometry. First, using the tool selection and the subset parts, the user can apply the texture to a portion of a model part, thus allowing the texture to show only on a single side, rather than both sides (by default). Second, for transient moving grid models, we illustrate how the texture can be tied to the geometry so that the texture remains fixed relative to the geometry. If you prefer to download this screencast, right click on the link and save locally to your machine.

Context File Example
EnSight context files can be used to duplicate the current EnSight state with the same or a different, but similar, dataset.  The context mechanism is more generic than command files, as it allows models with different parts or variables to be used. User Manual Section 2.7 has additional information on the use of Context Files. This tutorials provides an example of how the use of Context files can improve your efficiency of analyzing and post-processing your datasets.

Command Language with Python

EnSight command language is a journaling language that works great for a specific dataset. With the addition of Python, the user can make their EnSight command files become powerful drivers of EnSight for a generic dataset. This tutorial contains an example of Python coding within a User Defined Tool, which allows the user to open up and load a generic Plot3D dataset (independent of the grid size or IJK extents), create an isosurface automatically, and then color that isosurface automatically. This script illustrates the general application of python, and ability to code EnSight command files in a manner which is no longer constrained by the size of data, number of parts, or prior knowledge of the dataset. You can download the User Defined Tool from this Load_Iso.zip.

EnSight Gold Server of Server Introduction
When your dataset gets too large for the memory of our local single server, look to EnSight Gold’s Server of Server capability. This tutorial introduces the use of parallel post-processing through EnSight Gold’s Server Of Server (SoS) capability. In this mode of operation, the dataset is partitioned to N number of server machines, allowing both parallel post-processing with N number of cpus, as well as distributed memory allocation. This tutorial illustrates using a local set of servers, as well as illustrating using a local client & remote servers to perform parallel post-processing. The example dataset used in this tutorial can be download here.