Hello Rebeca, To generate the images you see in this paper for instance - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.05643, 1) If I want to render the particles as particles, I export them as CSV, if I want to render as a surface, I use the splashsurf export plugin on Chrono Main 2) Then I had ai generate a blender script for me (see attached). This script relies on using the ChBlender plugin for the Chrono bodies and the above csv/splashsurf surface.
Feel free to use the script. It will probably be rough on the edges (hard coded paths etc.) but should be modifiable for your purpose. Best Huzaifa On Saturday, June 6, 2026 at 7:18:48 AM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > Hello all! > > I am currently working on VIPER rover terramechanics SPH simulations using > the the ChTireTestRig and have been struggling to generate images and > animations that include the wheel, soil and complete rig mechanism. > > I was previously using *ParaView*, but `ChTireTestRig` doesn't have a > built-in function to save VTK files of the mechanism itself. Because of > this, my animations only showed a floating, single wheel gliding through > the soil. Let's just say that for the purpose of presenting results to > people who aren't familiar with terramechanics single-wheel tests, it looks > a bit mind-boggling! Haha. > > So, I decided to try *Blender*, since I've seen beautiful images and > animations on SBEL's website and knew, from SBEL's NASA Workshop slides, > that they were generated there. However, now I have the opposite problem: I > can only export the solids, not the soil. > > Here is what I have tried so far to bridge the gap: > > - > > *Exporting soil from ParaView to Blender:* I tried saving the soil as > an animated scene in ParaView, but it only exports in the .vtk.js > extension, which Blender doesn't support. > - > > *Using SciBlender:* I managed to export the soil in other formats, and > while it generates files for all timesteps, Blender only reads them as > individual static scenes. > - > > *StopMotionOBJ:* I tried using this add-on to handle the time > sequence, but I couldn't get it to show in the export/import menu, despite > installing it. > - > > *Exporting the mechanism from Blender to ParaView:* I attempted to > bring the rig into ParaView, but I couldn't export it as an animated scene. > > > Currently, the only workaround I have is generating static images in > ParaView by exporting the mechanism from Blender as a .glb file at the > exact timestep I need. Unfortunately, this means I cannot generate > animations. > > I apologize for the long text, but I thought it was important to share > what hasn't worked. Could anyone provide some guidance or a recommended > workflow on how to render animations that include the soil, the wheel, and > the rig mechanism all together? > > Thank you very much! > > --Rebeca > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ProjectChrono" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/projectchrono/5c753523-85a2-41f4-87c0-abbbc79f859an%40googlegroups.com.
chrono_blender_render.sh
Description: Bourne shell script
