EnSight has long had the ability to load multiple datasets and included tools to help compare them. Each of these datasets is loaded as a separate EnSight Case. But no functionality or capability existed to try to make case comparison easy or automated for the user.
The first step instructions on using multiple EnSight cases, is to see Load Multiple Datasets (Cases) which will explain how multiple cases are loaded in EnSight. All of this functionality for reading and comparing multiple cases is available to you in a somewhat tedious step-by-step process. This How To was written to document a new and more automated case compare capability named case linking which is intended to provide easy case comparison functionality.
The goal of linking all the cases is to quickly and uniformly perform the same operation over all of the cases. So transformations, part attribute changes, part and variable creation and query operations are performed automatically and uniformly across all of the loaded cases. When one case is changed, all are changed in the same way.
To use case linking, first load a dataset and perhaps set up what you want to visualize. Then load the next case and toggle on Link operations for all cases. This will read in the new case, apply the context file from the first case and automatically place the new case in its own linked viewport. Subsequent cases loaded will also be linked together and each appear in their own linked viewport.
Case linking remains on until you turn it off (either right-click a case in the parts dialog or turn it off via the Case pulldown). Once turned off, the case linking can not be turned back on in the current session.
Limitations
Every dataset must contain the same number of parts.
By default Case linking does not use part id nor part name, but rather part order in the part list to match up the linked parts. It is therefore vital that the parts - irrespective of what names they might have - be in the same order between the cases. One work around for this issue is to toggle on the Link model parts by name optional setting. This toggle will:
avoid the renaming of the parts as the new case is loaded
link up model parts by the same name during any operation.
This toggle only affects model parts during the linking operation, that is, created parts will always be linked up using the part list order.
Same model variables must exist with same names across the cases. Load all cases prior to doing calculations.
The geometry must be in roughly the same dimensions.
What Are Linked?
Once turned on, case linking applies all of the previous and subsequent operations that have been and will be applied to any case and applies them to all of the cases as follows:
Any case added will apply the context file from the first case and place the new case in a new, linked viewport.
The second case will automatically split the screen into a left/right viewport. Other cases added will produce "thumbnail" viewports down the left side.
Once the number of cases added is greater than the number of viewports that can be viewed, a scroll bar is added.
All transformations in all viewports are linked.
Any part attribute modified will be applied to the corresponding parts of the other cases.
Any part created (for example, a clip part) will be created through the same parts of the other cases.
Any variable created will be duplicated across all loaded cases. Constant variables will have the case number appended to their name (for example,
variable_02). Scalar and vector variables will appear only once in the variable list.Queries will be performed through all cases and plotted on the same plotter.
Interactive probe queries will be performed at the same screen position in the linked viewports.
Rotational and mirrored symmetry will be applied to all the cases.
Caveat
This is a capability that is evolving. For the most current conditions and limitations refer to ???? and ????. If your data does not fall within the limitations, the new capability will not be of benefit and instead use the step-by-step manual method of comparing cases described in Load Multiple Datasets (Cases).