Tecplot’s Create-Zone is an easy way to create rectangular and circular regions – and their 3D equivalents – and Data-Alter allows you to easily transform these to shapes like Spheres. But what if you want to visualize results on more complex regions of your flow-domain? Here’s an example of how versatile these options can be.

Eric is easily the best name for a Python-related product but our vote for the best debugger goes to Thonny. Designed for both learning and teaching, it’s great for the non-professional programmer. Installation is easier than some reviews suggest, and a ready set of supporting websites makes it our choice by quite a wide margin. Want to consider more options? TechRadar’s review is a quick-start.

Pointwise’s automation API, Glyph, is implemented as a set of Tcl procedures that have an object-oriented feel. You can do a lot with TCL. But you can do most things a lot more easily with Python. Even more so with libraries like NumPy. If your work calls for no more than an occasional tweak of readily available Glyph scripts, TCL is fine. But if you’re planning on more involved automation, we recommend you install Pointwise’s Python Client and start down this route.