Python: replicate Matlab's generateMesh function - python

I am in the process of converting a codebase from Matlab to Python and noticed that generateMesh gets called on some polygons before carrying out a finite element analysis.
What I need to get as an output is a list of all the elements and nodes, with their respective coordinates. I don't need any GUI, just the output nodes and elements information.
The best solution I came across is something like this done with gmsh. I know gmsh is a pretty big library and I am afraid it might be a little too much for my needs. Is there any other package you'd suggest?
Triangular meshes are fine for the moment, but I would like the package to support tetrahedral meshes as well in case it's needed in the future.
Thank you
edit: I forgot to mention that I am only dealing with 2D geometries, as the triangular and tetrahedral elements imply.

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How to create unstructured 2D meshes from CAD files in python

I'm working on a finite differences code to solve 2D problems. I want to be able to solve complex geometries written as STEP or IGES files. However I don't know how to read and mesh this kind of files.
While I know that there are free and independent meshing applications, I want my code to be self-contained. Is there a way to achieve this on python?
You might be interested in GMSH API. GMSH is well-known for a while as a free open-source mesher, and recently (by relative means), they introduced an API for C,C++, Python, and Julia.
At first, a simple usage of Top level functions GMSH::open and Mesh function GMSH::generate(2) can get you started.

Representing volumes using isosurfaces

I would like to represent a bunch of particles (~100k grains), for which I have the position (including rotation) and a discretized level set function (i.e. the signed distance of every voxel from surface). Due to the large sample, I'm searching for eficient solutions to visualize it.
I first went for vtk, using its python interface, but I'm not really sure if it's the best (and simplest) way to do it since, as far as I know, there is no direct implementation for getting an isosurface from a 3D data set. In the beginning I was thinking usind marching cubes, but then I still would have to use a threshold or to interpolate in order to get the voxels that are on the surface and label them in order to be used by the marching cubes.
Now I found mayavi which has a python function
mlab.pipeline.iso_surface()
I however did not find much documentation on it and was wondering how it behaves in terms of performance.
Does someone have experience with this kind of tools? Which would be the best solution (in terms of efficiency and, secondly, in terms of simplicity - I do not know the vtk library, but if there is a huge difference in performance I can dig into it, also without python interface).

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I have a numpy array of values and I wanted to scale (zoom) it. With floats I was able to use scipy.ndimage.zoom but now my array contains complex values which are not supported by scipy.ndimage.zoom. My workaround was to separate the array into two parts (real and imaginary) and scale them independently. After that I add them back together. Unfortunately this produces a lot of tiny artifacts in my 'image'. Does somebody know a better way? Maybe there also exists a python library for this? I couldn't find one.
Thank you!
This is not a good answer but it seems to work quite well. Instead of using the default parameters for the zoom method, I'm using order=0. I then proceed to deal with the real and imaginary part separately, as described in my question. This seems to reduce the artifacts although some smaller artifacts remain. It is by no means perfect and if somebody has a better answer, I would be very interested.

solving ODEs on networks with PyDSTool

After using scipy.integrate for a while I am at the point where I need more functions like bifurcation analysis or parameter estimation. This is why im interested in using the PyDSTool, but from the documentation I can't figure out how to work with ModelSpec and if this is actually what will lead me to the solution.
Here is a toy example of what I am trying to do: I have a network with two nodes, both having the same (SIR) dynamic, described by two ODEs, but different initial conditions. The equations are coupled between nodes via the Epsilon (see formula below).
formulas as a picture for better read, the 'n' and 'm' are indices, not exponents ~>
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2014/28/1404918182-odes.png
(could not use the upload on stack, sadly)
In the two node case my code (using PyDSTool) looks like this:
#multiple SIR metapopulations
#parameter and initial condition definition; a dict is a must
import PyDSTool as pdt
params={'alpha': 0.7, 'beta':0.1, 'epsilon1':0.5,'epsilon2':0.5}
ini={'s1':0.99,'s2':1,'i1':0.01,'i2':0.00}
DSargs=pdt.args(name='SIRtest_multi',
ics=ini,
pars=params,
tdata=[0,20],
#the for-macro generates formulas for s1,s2 and i1,i2;
#sum works similar but sums over the expressions in it
varspecs={'s[o]':'for(o,1,2,-alpha*s[o]*sum(k,1,2,epsilon[k]*i[k]))',
'i[l]':'for(l,1,2,alpha*s[l]*sum(m,1,2,epsilon[m]*i[m]))'})
#generator
DS = pdt.Generator.Vode_ODEsystem(DSargs)
#computation, a trajectory object is generated
trj=DS.compute('test')
#extraction of the points for plotting
pts=trj.sample()
#plotting; pylab is imported along with PyDSTool as plt
pdt.plt.plot(pts['t'],pts['s1'],label='s1')
pdt.plt.plot(pts['t'],pts['i1'],label='i1')
pdt.plt.plot(pts['t'],pts['s2'],label='s2')
pdt.plt.plot(pts['t'],pts['i2'],label='i2')
pdt.plt.legend()
pdt.plt.xlabel('t')
pdt.plt.show()
But in my original problem, there are more than 1000 nodes and 5 ODEs for each, every node is coupled to a different number of other nodes and the epsilon values are not equal for all the nodes. So tinkering with this syntax did not led me anywhere near the solution yet.
What I am actually thinking of is a way to construct separate sub-models/solver(?) for every node, having its own parameters (epsilons, since they are different for every node). Then link them to each other. And this is the point where I do not know wether it is possible in PyDSTool and if it is the way to handle this kind of problems.
I looked through the examples and the Docs of PyDSTool but could not figure out how to do it, so help is very appreciated! If the way I'm trying to do things is unorthodox or plain stupid, you are welcome to make suggestions how to do it more efficiently. (Which is actually more efficient/fast/better way to solve problems like this: subdivide it into many small (still not decoupled) models/solvers or one containing all the ODEs at once?)
(Im neither a mathematician nor a programmer, but willing to learn, so please be patient!)
The solution is definitely not to build separate simulation models. That won't work because so many variables will be continuously coupled between the sub-models. You absolutely must have all the ODEs in one place together.
It sounds like the solution you need is to use the ModelSpec object constructs. These let you hierarchically build the sub-model definitions out of symbolic pieces. They can have their own "epsilon" parameters, etc. You declare all the pieces when you're finished and let PyDSTool make the final strings containing the ODE definitions for you. I suggest you look at the tutorial example at:
http://www.ni.gsu.edu/~rclewley/PyDSTool/Tutorial/Tutorial_compneuro.html
and the provided examples: ModelSpec_test.py, MultiCompartments.py. But, remember that you still have to have a source for the parameters and coupling data (i.e., a big matrix or dictionary loaded from a file) to be able to automate the process of building the model, otherwise you'd still be writing it all out by hand.
You have to build some classes for the components that you want to have. You might also create a factory function (compare 'makeSoma' in the neuralcomp.py toolbox) that will take all your sub-components and create an ODE based on summing something up from each of the declared components. At the end, you can refer to the parameters by their position in the hierarchy. One might be 's1.epsilon' while another might be 'i4.epsilon'.
Unfortunately, to build models like this efficiently you will have to learn to do some more complex programming! So start by understanding all the steps in the tutorial. You can email me directly through the SourceForge support discussions or email once you've got started and have specific questions.

Data structure in python for 2d range counting queries

I need a data structure for doing 2d range counting queries (i.e. how many points are in a given rectangle).
I think my best bet is range tree (it can count in log^2, or even log after some optimizations). Does it sound like a good choice? Does anybody know about a python implementation or will I have to write one myself?
See scipy.spatial.KDTree for one implementation.
There's also a less generic (but occasionally more useful, particularly with regards to what you have in mind) implementation using shapelib's quadtree. See this blog and the corresponding package in PyPi.
There are probably other implementations, too, but those are the two that I've used...

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