Accessing the Post-Processing Menu

Post-processing options are configured through a menu accessed by clicking the ‘Edit PostPro’ settings on the ‘PostPro Setup’ tab of the detailed run view.

From this menu it is possible to add/edit custom variables, edit palettes and define new postpro options.

These settings are global to the account, so be sure that any changes won’t impact the post-processing being generated for other programmes and projects.  If you are unsure, it is safer to add new options rather than editing existing ones.

Palette – Add or edit palettes for variables including setting the min/max range and number of levels.

Calculations – Define custom calculations for new variables.

Library – Create/edit settings for the different plots and movies choices.

Composition – Edit settings that control how the main image and footer are arranged.

View Variant – Setting controlling how objects are rendered, including image resolution

Adding a New Post-Processing Option

Step 1

A new post-processing option is added from the ‘Library’ tab of the ‘Edit PostPro’ menu.  There are a number of options that need to be set when configuring a new plot or movie.  Using an existing and similar postpro option as a template is a good choice.

Begin by clicking the ‘+ New’ button.  This will add a new row with all the mandatory fields highlighted.  Begin by filling in a Name and a Description.  The ‘Name’ will be used for the postpro selection button in the run setup view.  Once you’ve done this, fill in the ‘Task’ field which tells bramble what code it should execute when generating the postpro.

For plots, this setting should be: bramble.postpro.jobs.task.SurfacePlots

For movies, it should be: bramble.postpro.jobs.task.StandardMovie

Step 2

Next add in ‘Views’, ‘Cameras’ and ‘Times’ fields.

The ‘Views’ option will be one of four choices depending on the type of post-processing being generated.  Enter ‘Plot’ for surface plots or ‘LIC’ for surface plots with oilflow enabled.  Otherwise, enter ‘Movie’ for a movie or ‘MovieLIC’ for movies with oilflow enabled.

In the ‘Cameras’ field enter a regular expression to match the names of the different cameras you wish to use when generating the images.  For most plots, the regular expression should be (top|bottom|front|rear|left|right).* as this will match all standard cameras.  For X, Y and Z movies, enter front$, left$, or top$ respectively.

The ‘Times’ field should be set to the default of latest.

Step 3

Next add in ‘Input Files’, ‘Output Files’ and ‘Variables’.

The ‘Input Files’ contains a list of exports will be used when generating the post-processing.  The naming of the input needs to match correctly with the exports that bramble has generated when running the CFD models, but will typically be of the form: postProcessing/**OFFSET**<export>/**FIRST**.case.

For example, postProcessing/**OFFSET**isosurfaces_CpT/**FIRST**.case. The **OFFSET** and **FIRST** tags are special tags used by bramble to identify exports for following vehicle simulations and situations where more than one export exists in a folder.

The output field should be of a specific format to ensure the images /movies generated by bramble can be correctly processed.  Copying the settings from an existing option is best here.

For the ‘Variables’ you can choose from a list of standard colours (e.g. red) or from variables defined in the Calculations tab.  One set of plots or one movie will be produced for each variable selected.

Step 4

Finally there are a number of optional settings that can be defined.

‘reflect_half_domains’ should be toggled on if you desire bramble to reflect the export from left to right.  This is used, for example, to turn half models into full when rendering.  Note, bramble is intelligent enough to only reflect half-domain models; separate postpro options are not needed for half and full domain runs.

Camera Settings are used to override certain camera settings.  As an example, this might be used to produce a more zoomed out camera.

Category is used to group up the postpro selection buttons in the run view.  Useful, when there are a large number of post-processing options.

A Regex can be defined to extract a subset of an export when generating the post-processing.  For example, to generate plots of just a front wing rather than the whole car.