Installation

PyTecplot is supported on 64 bit Python versions 2.7 and 3.4+. PyTecplot does not support 32 bit Python. Interacting with the Tecplot Engine requires a valid Tecplot 360 EX installation and Tecplot 360 EX License. Visit http://www.tecplot.com for more information about purchasing Tecplot 360 EX.

It is recommended to use pip to install PyTecplot from Python’s official PYPI servers:

pip install pytecplot

For those with a restricted internet connection, PyTecplot ships with Tecplot 360 EX and can be found in the installation under the “pytecplot” directory. You may run pip from within this directory to install pytecplot as follows. Notice the use of ”.” to indicate the current working directory:

cd "C:\Program Files\Tecplot\Tecplot 360 EX\pytecplot"
pip install .

If you get a “permission denied” error, then administrative (root) privileges may be required if you are attempting to install PyTecplot with a system-installed version of Python so you may have to open your console as an Administrator on Windows or run under “sudo” on Unix:

sudo pip install pytecplot

Alternatively, you may wish to install PyTecplot into your user-space (see the output of the commmand pip help for details):

pip install --user pytecplot

If you do not have pip installed and you are running Python version 2.7, you may be able to install it with easy_install:

easy_install pip

Again, you will likely need Administrative privileges to run the above command. If you still do not have pip installed, this installation guide may help.

All required dependencies will be included though you may install all optional modules that PyTecplot can make use of, such as Numpy and IPython, with the “extras” option passed to pip like this:

pip install pytecplot[extras]

Once installed, you will need to setup your environment so PyTecplot can find the dynamic libraries associated with the SDK. In general, this will be platform-specific.

Environment Setup

For all platforms, the Tecplot 360 EX application must be run once to establish a licensing method. This will be used when running any script which uses the python tecplot module.

Windows

If Tecplot 360 EX‘s bin directory is not already in the system’s PATH list, you will have to add it and make sure it is before any other Tecplot 360 EX installation. With a standard installation of Tecplot 360 EX, the path is usually something like:

C:\Program Files\Tecplot\Tecplot 360 EX\bin

Linux

If Tecplot 360 EX‘s bin and bin/sys directories are not already in the system’s dynamic library loader search path, you will need to set the following environment variable:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/tecplot360/bin:/path/to/tecplot360/bin/sys

Mac OS X

If Tecplot 360 EX‘s bin directory is not already in the system’s dynamic library loader search path, you will need to set the following environment variable:

export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="/Applications/Tecplot.../Contents/MacOS"

With a standard installation of Tecplot 360 EX, the “Tecplot...” above is usually something like:

"Tecplot 360 EX {VERSION}/Tecplot 360 EX {VERSION}.app"

Troubleshooting

  1. Verify that you have installed and can run Tecplot 360 EX.
  2. Verify that you are running 64 bit Python version 2.7 or 3.4+.
  3. Verify that you have run python -mpip install pytecplot with the correct python executable.
  4. Installing into the Python’s site-packages typically requires elevated privileges. Therefore the pip install command may need a sudo or “Run as Administrator” type of environment.
  5. Make sure the directory pointed to by PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH or DYLD_LiBRARY_PATH for Windows, Linux and OSX respectively exists and contains the Tecplot 360 EX executable and library files.
  6. If your script throws an exception when you attempt to call any pytecplot API, the most likely cause is a missing or invalid Tecplot 360 EX License.

Note

If the license is missing or invalid, try the following:

  1. Be sure that the latest version of Tecplot 360 EX is first in your path
  2. Check to see if you can run Tecplot 360 EX by double clicking on the desktop icon (Windows), or from the command prompt.
  3. pytecplot should be able to find your license if you are able to run Tecplot 360 EX
  4. If you are able to run Tecplot 360 EX but still cannot run pytecplot, contact Tecplot Technical Support.

See the Getting Help section under Quick Start for troubleshooting after installation is successful.