pyvista-3d

AI interface skill for PyVista 3D visualization --- VTK wrapper for mesh rendering, STL/OBJ/VTK I/O, scalar coloring, offscreen rendering, and engineering analysis post-processing.

5 stars

Best use case

pyvista-3d is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.

AI interface skill for PyVista 3D visualization --- VTK wrapper for mesh rendering, STL/OBJ/VTK I/O, scalar coloring, offscreen rendering, and engineering analysis post-processing.

Teams using pyvista-3d should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.

When to use this skill

  • You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.

When not to use this skill

  • You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
  • You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.

Installation

Claude Code / Cursor / Codex

$curl -o ~/.claude/skills/pyvista-3d/SKILL.md --create-dirs "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vamseeachanta/workspace-hub/main/.agents/skills/engineering/cad/pyvista-3d/SKILL.md"

Manual Installation

  1. Download SKILL.md from GitHub
  2. Place it in .claude/skills/pyvista-3d/SKILL.md inside your project
  3. Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill

How pyvista-3d Compares

Feature / Agentpyvista-3dStandard Approach
Platform SupportNot specifiedLimited / Varies
Context Awareness High Baseline
Installation ComplexityUnknownN/A

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this skill do?

AI interface skill for PyVista 3D visualization --- VTK wrapper for mesh rendering, STL/OBJ/VTK I/O, scalar coloring, offscreen rendering, and engineering analysis post-processing.

Where can I find the source code?

You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.

SKILL.md Source

# PyVista 3D Visualization

## Overview

PyVista (MIT, 3.6k stars) is a Pythonic wrapper around VTK for 3D spatial data visualization. It provides a streamlined API for rendering meshes, point clouds, STL/OBJ geometry, and scalar fields without low-level VTK boilerplate.

## Key Capabilities

| Feature | Details |
|---------|---------|
| Mesh rendering | Surface, wireframe, point cloud, volume rendering |
| Scalar coloring | Map data arrays to colormaps (coolwarm, viridis, plasma, etc.) |
| File I/O | STL, OBJ, PLY, VTK, VTP --- plus all meshio-supported formats |
| Offscreen rendering | `off_screen=True` for headless/CI environments |
| GPU acceleration | Uses OpenGL via VTK; works with NVIDIA GPUs |
| Jupyter integration | Interactive 3D in notebooks via trame |
| Mesh quality | Built-in quality metrics (scaled Jacobian, aspect ratio, etc.) |
| Engineering use | Pipe geometry, FEA results, terrain, bathymetry, point clouds |

## Quick Start

```python
import pyvista as pv

# Load and render a mesh
mesh = pv.read("geometry.stl")
mesh.plot(scalars="pressure", cmap="coolwarm")

# Offscreen rendering
plotter = pv.Plotter(off_screen=True, window_size=(1280, 720))
plotter.add_mesh(mesh, scalars="depth", cmap="viridis")
plotter.screenshot("output.png")
plotter.close()

# Pipe geometry from spline
import numpy as np
t = np.linspace(0, 10, 50)
points = np.column_stack((t, np.zeros_like(t), np.cosh((t-5)/5)))
spline = pv.Spline(points, n_points=200)
pipe = spline.tube(radius=0.15, n_sides=20)
pipe.plot()
```

## Environment

- **Python**: >= 3.10
- **Tested**: PyVista 0.47.1, VTK 9.6.0, NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti
- **Headless**: Set `PYVISTA_OFF_SCREEN=true` or use `off_screen=True` in Plotter

## Known Issues

- `cell_quality()` segfaults on tube meshes with VTK 9.6; use deprecated `compute_cell_quality()` until PyVista 0.48+
- First render in a session takes 500-700ms (OpenGL context init); subsequent renders are 35ms

## Related Skills

- [blender-interface](../blender/SKILL.md) --- Full 3D scene composition and rendering
- [gmsh-meshing](../gmsh-meshing/SKILL.md) --- Mesh generation for analysis
- [freecad-automation](../freecad-automation/SKILL.md) --- Parametric CAD geometry

## References

- PyVista docs: https://docs.pyvista.org/
- PyVista GitHub: https://github.com/pyvista/pyvista
- Evaluation script: `scripts/examples/pyvista_3d_evaluation.py`

Related Skills

test-oversized-skill

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

A test fixture skill that exceeds 200 lines with multiple H2/H3 sections for split testing.

interactive-report-generator

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Generate interactive HTML reports with Plotly visualizations from data analysis results. Supports dashboards, charts, and professional styling.

data-validation-reporter

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Generate interactive validation reports with quality scoring, missing data analysis, and type checking. Combines Pandas validation, Plotly visualization, and YAML configuration for comprehensive data quality reporting.

agent-os-framework

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Generate standardized .agent-os directory structure with product documentation, mission, tech-stack, roadmap, and decision records. Enables AI-native workflows.

OrcaFlex Specialist Skill

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

```yaml

repo-ecosystem-hygiene

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Interpret the daily read-only repo ecosystem hygiene audit and route remediation through approved workflows.

domain-knowledge-sweep

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Systematic multi-source research of an engineering domain. Spawns parent issue → 6 research subissues (Standards, Academic, Industry, LinkedIn-marketing, Code-audit, Synthesis) → gap implementation subissues. Replaces LinkedIn-only extraction with defensible comprehensive sourcing.

subagent-write-verification

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Independently verify subagent-claimed file writes with filesystem and git checks before treating the artifact as real, before committing it, and before referencing the path in downstream prompts.

git-operation-serialization-preflight

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Before any commit, stash, merge, reset, rebase, or checkout in a multi-agent or shared-checkout environment, run a bounded preflight to detect active git writers and stale index/config locks, then serialize the mutating step under a single-writer guarantee.

public-knowledge-graph-governance

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Maintain public-safe knowledge graph artifacts for llm-wiki and similar markdown knowledge bases. Use when changing graph generators, validators, schema docs, weekly freshness checks, or public/private source-scope boundaries.

llm-wiki-weekly-freshness

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Class-level governance workflow for keeping llm-wiki-style markdown knowledge bases current, public-safe, graph/index-valid, and useful for code development. Use when reviewing llm-wiki architecture/content, scanning new LLM concepts, maintaining public knowledge graphs, producing an issue roadmap, or running recurring freshness cadence.

llm-wiki-source-extraction-coverage

5
from vamseeachanta/workspace-hub

Doc-type-aware extraction contract for llm-wiki source ingestion with measurable coverage and source-anchored traceability. Use when (1) ingesting a PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HTML, or scanned-image source into a wiki `sources/` page, (2) computing the pre-extraction estimate (what fraction of the source we expect to recover) and post-extraction yield (what fraction we actually recovered), (3) anchoring wiki claims back to specific page / paragraph / cell / slide positions in the source so a reviewer can re-verify or revise against the actual document, (4) deciding whether OCR fallback or manual transcription is needed. Codifies workspace-hub's existing OCR fallback chain and python-docx / openpyxl / trafilatura patterns into a format-specific routing table. Companion to research/llm-wiki-page-shape-contract (Rule 7 input-layer pages) and research/llm-wiki — this skill is the defense against silent extraction failure.