Command Line Interface

To create a rendering, execute the following command from the anaconda prompt (after activating the appropriate environment):

python -m veux model.json -o model.html

where model.json is a file that defines a finite element model. A common file type is the JSON output produced by the OpenSees print method.

Note Printing depends on the JSON output of a model. Several materials and elements in the OpenSeesPy and upstream OpenSees implementations do not correctly print to JSON. For the most reliable results, use the newer OpenSeesRT distribution.

If you omit the -o <file.html> portion, it will plot immediately in a new window using the matplotlib canvas. You can also use a .png extension to save a static image file, as opposed to the interactive html.

By default, the rendering treats the $y$ coordinate as vertical. In order to manually control this behavior, pass the option --vert 3 to render model $z$ vertically, or --vert 2 to render model $y$ vertically.

If the opensees package is installed, you can directly render an OpenSees Tcl script without first printing to JSON, by just passing a Tcl script instead of the JSON file:

python -m veux model.tcl -o model.html

This is implemented efficiently leveraging the new OpenSeesRT interpreter backend to first disable all analysis commands before the Tcl script is evaluated.

To plot an elevation (elev) plan (plan) or section (sect) view, use the --view flag:

python -m veux model.json --view elev

and add -o <file.extension> as appropriate.

To see the full help page run

python -m veux --help