Installation

The FieldView Python package is bundled with FieldView and is loaded at runtime by FieldView. You can use it directly from the bundled path, or optionally install a matching wheel with pip into a user/venv location.

Requirements

  • FieldView installed on your system.

  • A Python runtime that matches one of the bundled module versions (FieldView ships multiple versions under pyfieldview/pythonXY).

  • Supported Python versions: 3.10 through 3.14.

Note

On Windows, PyFieldView requires a standard Python installation and does not support Microsoft Store Python. Download and install Python from python.org.

If FieldView cannot detect your Python runtime

At startup, FieldView looks for Python in your shell PATH (python3/python).

If Python is not found in PATH, set PYTHONHOME to the Python installation you want FieldView to use, then launch FieldView from the same shell.

On Windows, you can do the same from cmd.exe or PowerShell before launching fv.bat, or define PYTHONHOME in the system/user environment settings if you want that Python runtime to be used consistently.

Example (macOS, Homebrew Python 3.13):

PYTHONHOME=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.13/3.13.7/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.13/ \
/Applications/FieldView-2025.0.2.app/Contents/MacOS/fv

Example (Windows PowerShell):

$env:PYTHONHOME = "C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311"
& "C:\Program Files\Tecplot\FieldView 2025.0.12\bin\fv.bat"

In some setups, both supported and unsupported Python versions are installed, but your shell resolves python3/python to the older unsupported one first (for example, Python 3.9). In that case, startup can fail even though a supported Python version is available on the same system.

Linux example (multiple Python installs):

which -a python3 python
python3 --version
python --version

If those commands show that python3 or python points to an unsupported version, you can:

  1. Launch FieldView with a supported Python first in PATH.

    PATH=/opt/python/3.11/bin:$PATH /path/to/fv

  2. Or set PYTHONHOME to a supported Python runtime before launching.

    PYTHONHOME=/opt/python/3.11 /path/to/fv

Using FieldView’s bundled module

When you run a script with FieldView (for example via -python or the Execute Python File menu), FieldView sets up the import path so that import fieldview works automatically. If a user-local site-packages install is present, FieldView checks that location first and then falls back to the bundled <FV_HOME>/pyfieldview/pythonXY path. A warning is printed when the bundled version is newer than the user-local version.

Using PyFieldView from user-local Python packages (IDE/autocomplete)

In some workflows, installing PyFieldView in a user-level Python environment can simplify IDE integration, especially when the IDE is already configured to use that interpreter for code completion, linting, and source navigation.

In that case, install a matching bundled wheel with that same interpreter:

FieldView builds and ships per-version wheel files under:

<FV_HOME>/pyfieldview/wheels

Install the wheel that matches your Python runtime:

# Example for Python 3.10 (cp310). Use cp311/cp312/... for other versions.
python -m pip install --user "<FV_HOME>/pyfieldview/wheels/fieldview-*-cp310-*.whl"

# Windows PowerShell example for Python 3.11 (cp311).
py -3.11 -m pip install --user "$env:FV_HOME\pyfieldview\wheels\fieldview-*-cp311-*.whl"

In a virtual environment, omit --user.

To confirm wheel compatibility, check the tags supported by your active Python interpreter and make sure they match the wheel filename tag (for example, cp311):

python -m pip debug --verbose

If you are using FieldView’s bundled module directly (no pip install), point your IDE to the bundled path for autocomplete:

  1. Locate the bundled module folder that matches your Python version:

    <FV_HOME>/pyfieldview/python311 (example)

  2. Add that folder to your IDE’s Python search path.

    • VS Code: python.analysis.extraPaths (example)

Verify the install

Run this in a FieldView Python script:

import fieldview as fv


print(fv.__file__)

If the install is working correctly, the script should print the path to the imported PyFieldView module. Use that path to confirm whether FieldView is using the bundled module or a user-installed package. Where this output appears depends on how FieldView was launched and on your operating system: if FieldView was started from a terminal on Linux or macOS, or from Command Prompt/PowerShell on Windows, the output is printed in that shell window. If FieldView was started directly from the GUI and no shell is attached, the output appears in the FieldView console output area instead.