t.rast.out.vtk(1)

📦
version 8.4.2 · 8 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ t.rast.out.vtk — the GRASS GIS manual, but make it cute ✨

okay bestie, gather round 🫶 this is t.rast.out.vtk(1) from the GRASS GIS User's Manual, and it's genuinely iconic. Let's get into it 💅

🌈 NAME

t.rast.out.vtk — exports a space time raster dataset as a VTK time series. no cap, that's literally the whole job 💖

🎀 KEYWORDS

temporal, export, output, raster, VTK, time ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS

t.rast.out.vtk
t.rast.out.vtk --help
t.rast.out.vtk [-pcg] input=name directory=string  [elevation=name]
[where=sql_query]   [null=float]   [--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]
[--ui]

🌸 Flags

  • -p — create VTK point data instead of VTK cell data (only when you're not giving it an elevation map)
  • -c — correct the coordinates so they actually fit inside VTK-OpenGL precision
  • -g — export the files using the space time dataset granularity, so the maps get equidistant time between them — and heads up, the where statement gets ignored when you do this 👀
  • --help — print the usage summary
  • --verbose — verbose module output (it will yap, affectionately)
  • --quiet — quiet module output
  • --ui — force launching the GUI dialog

🍓 Parameters

  • input=name [required] — name of the input space time raster dataset
  • directory=string [required] — path to the export directory
  • elevation=name — name of the input elevation raster map
  • where=sql_query — WHERE conditions of an SQL statement, written without the 'where' keyword, used in the temporal GIS framework
    • Example: start_time > '2001-01-01 12:30:00'
  • null=float — the value used to represent a no-data cell
    • Default: -99999.99

💜 DESCRIPTION

t.rast.out.vtk exports all maps registered in a space time raster dataset as VTK legacy files, and it numbers them using a numerical numbering scheme 🔢✨

Those VTK files can be visualized with any VTK-based visualizer. Our preferred tool? ParaView, periodt 👑

And the VTK legacy files themselves are created using r.out.vtk 🫶

🔥 EXAMPLE

okay so in this simple example we create several raster maps with random values plus one elevation map. The random value raster maps get registered in a space time raster dataset, and then every map in that space time raster dataset gets exported with t.rast.out.vtk into the directory /tmp/export 💖

mkdir /tmp/export
t.rast.out.vtk input=precip_abs directory=/tmp/export/ elevation=elevation
ls -1 /tmp/export
000000_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000001_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000002_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000003_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000004_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000005_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000006_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000007_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000008_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000009_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000010_tempmean_monthly.vtk
000011_tempmean_monthly.vtk

look at that numbering, so satisfying, chef's kiss 😭💅

🌟 SEE ALSO

  • r.out.vtk
  • ParaView

👑 AUTHOR

Sören Gebbert, Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture 🫶

⭐ SOURCE CODE

Available at: t.rast.out.vtk source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:41:53 2026

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© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual

and that's the whole page, bestie — GRASS 8.4.2, t.rast.out.vtk(1), accessed Saturday Jan 17 05:41:53 2026 💖✨ go export something gorgeous 🦋

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