# View Factor Format

**URL:** <https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [September 14, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404 "2024-09-14T20:09:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cmmcnamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@cmmcnamara](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/cmmcnamara)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404/1 "2024-09-14T20:09:08Z")

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Hello,  
I have been using Calculix and the various front ends like MECWAY and PrePoMax as a simulation tool for small thermal problems, typically only comprising conduction and convection for which it works very well.  
I have recently been exploring its use for performing surface to surface radiation exchange. It appears from poking around that there are typically two issues I see most having with such analyses which are either inaccurate results or excessively long calculation times for view factors.  
I not so recently recall playing around with this area of the tool and recall that the view factors that are output don’t appear to be in a readable or editable format (although I may be recalling incorrectly). Is there any way to substitute the view factor calculation step (pre-calculated, not changing during simulation) from an external tool on the same geometry? I was thinking of an external MCRT type tool that might speed up and increase accuracy to circumvent these apparent issues.

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**Author:** ![Calc\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Calc\_em](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Calc_em)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404/2 "2024-09-14T23:14:21Z")

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Check the `*VIEWFACTOR, READ, INPUT=…` keyword. It’s meant specifically for that.

[http://www.dhondt.de/ccx\_2.22.pdf#subsection.7.140](http://www.dhondt.de/ccx_2.22.pdf#subsection.7.140)

Btw. CalculiX uses parallelization when calculating viewfactors.

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**Author:** ![Disla](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/disla/32/3548_2.png) [@Disla](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Disla)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 7:11am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404/3 "2024-09-19T07:11:42Z")

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Hi,

Sorry if that’s a silly question but, Is there a way to Output the computed \*VIEWFACTORS in such a way that they can be read to make some checks?. Seems output deliver them only in binary.

 ![imagen](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/c/c2b92131c4d5110d96d37ce9717260077d9edcb6.png)

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Calc\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Calc\_em](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Calc_em)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 8:03am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404/4 "2024-09-19T08:03:06Z")

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Unfortunately, only this binary format is possible. Abaqus outputs view factor matrices to .fil file and its format can be changed to ASCII but it’s still not really readable.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Disla](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/disla/32/3548_2.png) [@Disla](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Disla)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 9:24am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/view-factor-format/2404/5 "2024-09-19T09:24:49Z")

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Thank you very much for the response