Basic Usage

`ensight [options]` or `ensight_client [options]`
Section 1. EnSight Startup/Client-Server Options
-ar <f>	Restore from specified archive file "f"
-c [<host>[:<exe>]]	Do an auto connection, with optional "host" machine and executable. If only -c is used, the auto connection will be according to the values set in your ensight_conn_settings file (which is created in your EnSight Defaults directory (located at %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\(username)\.ensight251 commonly located at C:\Users\username\ on Win10, C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\ on older Windows, ~/.ensight251 on Linux, and in ~/Library/Application Support/EnSight251 on the Mac) if you connect via the Connect dialog). EnSight server will run on host if you include it after the `-c`. And you can also optionally specify the server executable to run on said host.
-case <f>	Read EnSight casefile name "f" and display part loader
-enshell [URL]	Start up EnSight and connect with URL, default URL is as follows: `- connect://localhost?port=1109&timeout=60`
-cfd_preppost	Can be given on the command line to force EnSight to utilize only the `cfd_preppost` increment for license check out. This will bypass the default priority of looking to occupy `ensight` or `ensight_enterprise` license increments first instead of `cfd_preppost`. The use of the `-cfd_preppost` command line option will force EnSight to only look for `cfd_preppost` increments. If none are found, then EnSight will stop.
-cierr	Connect auto and ignore errors
-cip	Send client's IP address to the server for auto connect. The IP address will be used instead of the internet hostname. This can be useful for clients which use dynamic IP address assignment (i.e. dhcp). (However, it may not send the correct address if the client computer has multiple network interfaces (for example, WiFi and wired ethernet).)
-cm	Do a manual connection of server
-ctx <f>	Applies context file "f" as soon as connection is made
-custom	Force the license manager to look for a custom token
-cwd <p>	Sets the client working directory to the path specified by 'p'
-d # -display #	With multiple displays, enter a number and EnSight will start up on that display. `ensight -d :0.1` will start up on display 1
-delay_refresh	Graphics window is not updated during command file playback, until finished
ensight -vnc [vnc_option_string]	To start EnSight/EnVision with an embedded VNC server which will start a VNC server on port 5900 with the password "veronica"., use a command line such as: `ensight -vnc "vnc://?primary_password=veronica"` The general form of the options string follows URI conventions: `vnc://?option1=val1&option2=val2&option3=val3 ...` Options can also be passed by setting the CEI_VNC_OPTIONS environmental variable to the option string. Current options: `rfb_port=<port>` This is the main port the VNC server is to listen for clients connecting on. If a range of ports is specified (e.g. "7000-8000"), the server will be opened on the first available port in that range of ports. Defaults to 5900. `use_auth=<0 or 1>` Require a password to connect. By default a password is required (1), but no default password is set. VNC server will attempt to match the password from the client to the primary password first, and to the read only password as a fallback. `primary_password=<plaintext password, max 8 characters>` If a session logs in using the primary password, the VNC client will receive images and send mouse/keyboard events. Setting a password also implicitly sets use_auth=1. The password match is done against the first 8 characters. `readonly_password=<plaintext password, max 8 characters>` If a session logs in using the readonly password, the VNC client will receive images, but will not send mouse/keyboard events `exit_on_last_disconnect=<0 or 1>` When the last VNC client disconnects, shut down the EnSight/EnVision. Defaults to 0. `timeout=<num seconds to wait for port to be free>` If the port or range of ports given in rfb_port is not free, wait this many seconds for a port to be free, or exit with an error. Default: try once, exit if not free. -1 means wait indefinitely. Important: The options string may pose problems with various command line shells due to its use of characters that cause issues with command line interpretation (e.g. '&'). It is legal to use URI escape codes within the options string to avoid these issues. Within the string the sequence %XY will be replaced by a single character with the hexadecimal ascii code of $XY. the '%' is therefore encoded as '%25'. This can be used to embed spaces (%20) and other characters to entirely eliminate the need to quote this string on the command line. One special case exists, placing a field transition character (e.g. '&') inside of an option/value or interpreting as the transition character. If the character should be part of a field, use %26 if it is the separator between fields, use %%26. Therefore, an option string that picks a port and a password with an '&' in the password might look like this: `vnc://?rfb_port=8000%%26primary_password=my%26password` for a password of `my&password`.
-extcfd	Extended CFD variables automatically placed in variable list
-externalcmdport	Specify the port on which to receive external commands. See -externalcmds.
-externalcmds	Has EnSight start listening for a connection on port 1104 (or the port specified with the `-externalcmdport`) for an external command stream. Once connected, all commands must then come from the external source - as the commands will be ignored.
-enterprise	Force the license manager to look for an EnSight Enterprise capability (formerly gold or HPC).
-gold	Deprecated; use -enterprise. Force the license manager to look for an EnSight Enterprise capability (formerly gold).
-hpc, -HPC	Deprecated; use -enterprise. Force the license manager to look for an EnSight Enterprise capability (formerly gold or hpc).
-hide_console	(Windows only) hides console on startup
-homecwd	(Windows only) Sets the client working directory to HOME
-localhostname <host>	Host name to force server(s) to use to connect to client
-no_delay_refresh	Graphics window is updated during command file playback, until finished
-p <f>	Plays playfile "f" as soon as connection is made
-part_loader	If a file is specified on the command line, this command will bring up the part loader to allow for part selection. If a file is specified on the command line without this command, all parts will be loaded.
-ports #	Allows user specification of socket communication port. (passed on to server or sos)
-prdist #	Specify a parallel rendering config file.
-pyargv . . . [-endpyargv]	Anything on the command line between these two options will appear as 'sys.argv' in Python. `sys.argv[0] = "ensight"` except if a python startup file is specified via `-qtguipy`, in which case, that filename becomes `sys.argv[0]`. Note: `-pyargv` will swallow arguments up to the end of the argument list or `-endpyargv`, whichever comes first.
-rsh <cmd>	Remote shell program to use for automatic connection. (passed on to server or sos)
-security [#]	Forces a handshake between the client and server using the # provided or a random number
-slim_on_server	Tells EnSight to look for the SLiM license key on the server. This works with the legacy SLiM license manager only. Server-side licensing is not enabled for the Ansys license manager.
-sos	Set up to connect to the Server-of-Servers (ensight.sos) instead of normal server.
-soshostname <host>	Host name to force server(s) to use to connect to Server-of-Servers
-standard	Force the license manager to look for a standard token
-timeout <#>	Number of seconds to wait for server connection; default = 60, infinite = -1
-token_try_again <#>	Applies only to the legacy SLiM license manager. If EnSight can't obtain a SLiM license token, try again in # minutes. where # is a float value. If neither `-token_wait_for` nor `-token_wait_until` is specified, will try for 1 hour.
-token_wait_for #	Applies only to the legacy SLiM license manager. If EnSight can't obtain a license token, try again for # minutes, where # is a float value. If `-token_try_again` is not specified, sets `-token_try_again` to 10. Supersedes `-token_wait_until`.
-token_wait_until #	Applies only to the legacy SLiM license manager. If EnSight can't obtain a license token, try again until the time is hour:minute. If `-token_try_again` is not specified, sets `-token_try_again` to 10.
-usage_feedback_always	EnSight will ask if certain usage and message data can be forwarded back to Ansys in order to enhance our support. This will force EnSight to always send user data regardless of the option that you choose. See the 2025 R1 Release Notes for more details.
-usage_feedback_never	EnSight will ask if certain usage and message data can be forwarded back to Ansys in order to enhance our support. This will force EnSight to never send user data regardless of the option that you choose. See the Global Release Notes for more details.
-v #	Output verbosity 0 to 9, none, normal, medium, high, debug, and full, respectively
-version	Prints out EnSight's version number. (Does not start EnSight)

Section 2. EnSight Client Options
-E<extension_name>	Call a method on a registered user-defined extension (see EnSight Extension Mechanism and Produce Customized Access to Tools & Features) using the name of the extension. There must be no space between the -E and the extension name and the option can be used repeatedly in the same command line (the order of execution matches the order on the command line). These calls are made just prior to playing command files or python files after EnSight starts up. By default, the method '`cmdLine()`' is invoked, but options exist to specify the method as well as parameters to the method. The whole option may need to be enclosed in quotes if some of these latter features are used. For example, suppose you have a registered extension named 'foo'. The following usages are permitted. '`-Efoo`' will call `foo.cmdLine()`. '`-Efoo.run()`' will call `foo.run()`, a specific object method. '`-Efoo=5.7`' will call `foo.cmdLine(5.7)`, the default method with a parameter. '`-Efoo.bar(5.7,"hello")`' will call `foo.bar(5.7, "hello")`, a specific object method with multiple parameters.
-jumboicons	Adds support for high resolution displays such as IBM Big Bertha (linux/unix) (see -mag)
-largeicons	Uses larger feature icons in EnSight (non-Windows only)
-smallscreen	Sets window based on the screen size of 1024x768 (non-Windows only)
-smallicons	Uses smaller feature icons in EnSight (default)
-theme <theme_name>	Specify a collection of rendering defaults by collection name, where the name can be 'modern', 'legacy', or product release number, such as '2025R1' or '25.1'. For theme set names "modern", "2025.1", "2025R1", or "25.1", the set of rendering defaults are: Viewport background Blended background with 2 levels (0,0,0)–(0.33,0.33,0.33). Hidden line mode Specify line overlay color checked, and weight value is set as 0.25. Part attribute Default part material changed to Plastic/Mid. Light source Light sources are set as "Shadow lighting" preset. Ground plane Ground plane is turned on. Shadow rendering Shadow rendering is turned on. Default palette Use Turbo_rainbow_mid as the default palette, which is a 19-point palette. Default video output file format Changed to mpeg4, instead of avi. On the other hand, when specifying a parameter such as "legacy", "2024.2", "2024R2", or "24.2", the old defaults used in EnSight 2024 R2 and before are used. To keep backward compatibility, if the -theme option is not specified in startup, EnSight will load command files, context files, session files, full backup files, and EnVision scenario files generated in previous releases of EnSight into the legacy theme mode. When the -theme option is used, EnSight will remain the same with no theme change. Note that the theme change will only be applied once during the lifetime of EnSight client process. Also note that there can be conflicts when some user specified preferences are used, such as viewport background color in Viewports preferences and user predefined palette in Color Palette Defaults preferences. To solve these kinds of problems, we set the theme defaults with the lowest priority so that user specified preferences can always override them.

Section 3. EnSight Server Specific Options
-buffer_size <#>	Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down)
-gdbg	Print some debugging info for EnSight format geometries (passed from client to server)
-maxoff	Turns off maxsize checking (passed from client to server)
-no_ghosts	Don't produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down).
-use_ghosts	Produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down). This action can also be turned on by setting the environment variable: UNSTRUCT_AUTODISTRIBUTE_USE_GHOSTS to `1`.
-no_metric	Don't print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down).
-use_metric	Print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passed from client down). This action can also be turned on by setting the environment variable: UNSTRUCT_AUTODISTRIBUTE_USE_METRIC to `1`.
-readerdbg	Prints user-defined-reader library loading information in shell window upon startup of server (passed from client to server)
-scaleg <#>	Provide scale factor to scale geometry by (passed from client to server)
-scalev <#>	Provide scale factor to scale all vectors by (passed from client to server)
-swd <dir>	Set the server working directory
-time	Prints out timing information (passed from client to server)
-writerdbg	Prints user-defined-writer library loading information in shell window upon startup of server (passed from client to server)

Section 4. Miscellaneous Options
-h, -help, -Z	Prints the usage list
-inputdbg	Prints user-defined input device information
-nb	No automatic backup recording
-no_file_locking	Turns off file locking (lock()). Some systems don't support this properly
-no_prefs	This is a debugging command that turns off all (system as well as user) preferences to their original defaults (except for mouse button settings). This command can result in unexpected systemic changes to EnSight's appearance or behavior and is not supported for general usage.
-range10	Use palette ranges which are 10% in from the extremes
-silent	Causes all stdout and stderr messages to be thrown away
-slimtimeout	Applies only to the legacy SLiM license manager. Allow the slimd token to expire if idle.
-stderr <f>	Cause all stderr messages to be written to the file.
-stdout <f>	Causes all stdout messages to be written to the file.

Section 5. Rendering Options
-batch <width>< height>	Batch mode with optional width and height.
-bbox	Render only bounding boxes in the window (useful for detached displays with `-prsd2` option). (See Setup For Parallel Rendering)
-box_resolution <#>	Resolution of bounding boxes for part culling (max 9). Implies`-no_display_list`
-ctarget <#>	Set the number of chunks per server for parallel rendering (passed from client to server(s)).
-dconfig	Specify a display configuration file
-display_list	Use OpenGL display lists
-egl	Use embedded OpenGL which directly calls the graphics card and no longer needs access to an X-server, nor uses the DISPLAY environmental variable. This option is only available on Linux using NVIDIA cards with driver 3.58.16 or later when using batch or when using parallel compositing.
-frustum_cull	Use frustum culling where possible
-glconfig	Prints current OpenGL configuration parameter defaults to screen
-glsw	Forces use of software implementation of OpenGL, bypassing the hardware graphics card (same as -X)
-gl	Sets line drawing mode to draw polygons
-ogl	Sets line drawing mode to draw lines
-no_display_list	Force EnSight to use immediate mode graphics
-no_frustum_cull	Do not use frustum culling
-norm_per_vert	Use one normal per vertex for flat-shading
-norm_per_poly	Use one normal per polygon for flat-shading
-multi_sampling	Turns MultiSampling on
-multi_sampling_sw	Use software MultiSampling
-no_multi_sampling	Do not use MultiSampling
-no_start_screen	Ignore the start screen image (Good for HP using TGS OpenGL)
-num_samples <#>	Specify number of samples for software multi-sampling
-num_samples_st <#>	Specify number of samples for hardware stereo multi-sampling
-occlusion_test	Use the HP occlusion extension if available
-no_occlusion_test	Do not use the HP occlusion extension
-stencil_buff	Use the OpenGL stencil buffer (even if not enabled by default)
-no_stencil_buff	Assumes there is not a working stencil buffer (some Windows video cards)
-double_buffer	Use double-buffering for the graphics window (default)
-single_buffer	Do not use double-buffering
-sort_first	Sets the default parallel rendering sorting method to be the sort first method
-sort_last	Sets the default parallel rendering sorting method to be the sort last method
-unmapdd	Don't map the detached display on startup
-vcount <#>	Specifies the maximum number of vertices between begin/end pairs in a OpenGL display list object. This option is useful for certain graphics cards (most modern Nvidia based) when dealing with large display objects - it will usually impact the performance of creating the display list objects. Every graphics card/driver will be optimal at a different vcount value so testing is necessary to achieve maximum performance.
-X	Starts the X version of EnSight (uses Mesa OpenGL instead of native OpenGL, bypassing the hardware graphics card. This is the same as `-glsw`)

Section 6. Resource Options
-chres <f>	Collab hub resource filename
-res <f>	Resource filename

Section 7. Distributed Rendering (Enterprise, formerly HPC/gold, & DR) Specific Options
-offscreen	Batch offscreen rendering
-onscreen	Batch onscreen rendering
-pc	Compositing mode

Client Examples

ensight -cm -p myplayfile

This will allow you to do a manual connection, after which the myplayfile will be run.

This will do an automatic connection (according to information in the user's ensight.connect.default file) on port 1310, using an Enterprise license. After the connection is made, the myfile.case casefile will be run.

ensight -rsh ssh (or ensight_client -c -rsh ssh )

This will use ssh as the remote shell for an automatic connection.

`ensight_server [options]`
-buffer_size <#>	Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute
-c <host>	"host" indicates where the client is running
-ctarget <#>	Set the number of chunks per server for parallel rendering.
-ctries <#>	The number of times (1 second per try) to try to connect client and server.
-ether <dev>	Ethernet device name such as ln0
-gdbg	Print some debugging info for EnSight format geometries
-h, -help	Prints the usage list
-maxoff	Turns off maxsize checking
-no_ghosts	Don't produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute
-no_metric	Don't print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute
-pipe	Forces the server to use a named pipe connection (must be on same machine)
-ports <#>	Allows user specification of socket communication port.
-readerdbg	Prints user-defined-reader lib loading information in shell window upon startup of server
-scaleg <#>	Provide scale factor to scale geometry by
-scalev <#>	Provide scale factor to scale all vectors by
-security <#>	Provide number for client to server security check or else random token is generated
-sock	Forces the server to use a socket connection
-soshostname <host>	Allows different name for servers to connect back to Server-of-Servers with
-time	Prints out timing information
-writerdbg	Prints user-defined-reader lib loading information in shell window upon startup of server

Server Examples (When Started Manually)

ensight_server -c clientmachine -readerdbg

Specifies clientmachine as the machine on which the client is running, and that information on user-defined reader library loading should be printed out.

ensight_server -ports 1310 -scaleg 3.7 -scalev 3.7

Specifies that communication is to occur on port 1310 and that the geometry and all vectors are to be scaled by a factor of 3.7.

ensight.sos [options]
-buffer_size <#>	Set element buffer size for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passes on to servers)
-c <host>	"host" indicates where the client is running
-cports	Allows specification of socket communication port to the client. See also `-ports`, `-sports`.
-ctarget <#>	Set the number of chunks per server for parallel rendering (passes on to servers).
-ctries <#>	The number of times (1 second per try) to try to connect client and server.
-ether	Ethernet device name such as ln0
-gdbg	Print some debugging info for EnSight format geometries (passes on to servers)
-h, -help	Prints the usage list
-maxoff	Turns off maxsize checking (passes on to servers)
-no_ghosts	Don't produce ghosts in Unstructured Auto Distribute (passes on to servers)
-no_metric	Don't print metric for Unstructured Auto Distribute (passes on to servers)
-pipe	Forces the server to use a named pipe connection (must be on same machine) (passes on to servers)
-ports <#>	Allows user specification of socket communication port. (passes on to servers) Has the effect of setting `-cports` and `-sports` to be the same.
-readerdbg	Prints user-defined-reader library loading information in shell window upon startup of server (passes on to servers)
-rsh <cmd>	Remote shell program to use for automatic connection of servers. (passes on to servers)
-scaleg <#>	Provide scale factor to scale geometry by (passes on to servers)
-scalev <#>	Provide scale factor to scale all vectors by (passes on to server)
-security <#>	Provide number for client to server security check (passes on to servers)
-slog <f>	Create SOS log file 'f'
-sock	Forces the server to use a socket connection
-soshostname <host>	Allows different name for servers to connect back to Server-of-Servers with (passes on to servers)
-sports	Allows specification of socket communication port to the servers. See also `-ports`, `-cports`.
-time	Prints out timing information (passes on to servers)
-writerdbg	Prints user-defined-reader library loading information in shell window upon startup of server (passes on to servers)

Sos (Server-Of-Servers) Examples (When Started Manually)

ensight.sos -c clientmachinename -soshostname sosmachinename

Specifies clientmachinename as the machine on which the client is running, and that the individual servers should connect back to sosmachinename.

ensight.sos -readerdbg -gdbg

Specifies that the sos and any servers print out user-defined-reader library loading information and that the servers print out EnSight data format geometry loading information.