pyvista.read

read(

filename: PathStrSeq,

force_ext: str | None = None,

file_format: str | None = None,

progress_bar: bool = False,

) → DataObject

Read any file type supported by vtk or meshio.

Automatically determines the correct reader to use then wraps the corresponding mesh as a pyvista object. Attempts native vtk readers first then tries to use meshio. Pickled meshes ('.pkl' or '.pickle') are also supported.

See pyvista.get_reader() for list of vtk formats supported.

ImageData File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
BMP	.bmp
DEM	.dem
DICOM	.dcm, .img
GaussianCube	.cube
GESigna	.mr
GIF	.gif
HDF	.hdf, .vtkhdf
HDR	.hdr
JPEG	.jpeg, .jpg
Meta	.mha, .mhd
MINC	.mnc
NIFTI	.nii, .nii.gz
NRRD	.nhdr, .nrrd
PNG	.png
PNM	.pnm
SegY	.segy, .sgy
SLC	.slc
TIFF	.tif, .tiff
VTK	.vtk
VTKP	.pvtk
XML	.vti
XMLP	.pvti

RectilinearGrid File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
VTK	.vtk
VTKP	.pvtk
Xdmf	.xdmf
XMLP	.pvtr
XML	.vtr

StructuredGrid File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
SegY	.segy, .sgy
VTK	.vtk
VTKP	.pvtk
Xdmf	.xdmf
XML	.vts

PolyData File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
BinaryMarchingCubes	.tri
BYU	.g
Facet	.facet
GaussianCube	.cube
HDF	.hdf, .vtkhdf
OBJ	.obj
Particle	.raw
PDB	.pdb
PLY	.ply
PTS	.pts
STL	.stl
VTK	.vtk
VTKP	.pvtk
XML	.vtp
Houdini	.geo
IV	.iv

UnstructuredGrid File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
AVSucd	.inp
Fluent	.cas
Gambit	.neu
HDF	.hdf, .vtkhdf
MFIX	.res
Nek5000	.nek5000
ProStar	.vrt
VTK	.vtk
VTKP	.pvtk
Xdmf	.xdmf
XMLP	.pvtu
XML	.vtu

MultiBlock File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
CGNS	.cgns
EnSight	.case
ExodusII	.e, .ex2, .exii, .exo
FLUENTCFF	.h5
GLTF	.glb, .gltf
HDF	.hdf, .vtkhdf
Plot3DMeta	.p3d
POpenFOAM	.foam
PVD	.pvd
Tecplot	.dat
Xdmf	.xdmf
XML	.vtm, .vtmb

PartitionedDataSet File Formats

File Format	File Extension(s)	read()	save()
HDF	.hdf, .vtkhdf
XML	.vtpd

Note

See nschloe/meshio for formats supported by meshio. Be sure to install meshio with pip install meshio if you wish to use it.

Added in version 0.45: Support reading pickled meshes.

Warning

The pickle module is not secure. Only read pickled mesh files ('.pkl' or '.pickle') you trust. See pickle for details.

Parameters:

filenamestr, Path, Sequence[str | Path]

The string path to the file to read. If a list of files is given, a pyvista.MultiBlock dataset is returned with each file being a separate block in the dataset.

force_extstr, optional

If specified, the reader will be chosen by an extension which is different to its actual extension. For example, '.vts', '.vtu'.

file_formatstr, optional

Format of file to read with meshio.

progress_barbool, default: False

Optionally show a progress bar. Ignored when using meshio.

Returns:

pyvista.DataSet

Wrapped PyVista dataset.

See also

pyvista.DataObject.save

Save a mesh to file.

Examples

Load an example mesh.

>>> import pyvista as pv
>>> from pyvista import examples
>>> mesh = pv.read(examples.antfile)
>>> mesh.plot(cpos='xz')

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Load a vtk file.

>>> mesh = pv.read('my_mesh.vtk')

Load a meshio file.

>>> mesh = pv.read('mesh.obj')

Load a pickled mesh file.

>>> mesh = pv.read('mesh.pkl')