I had a model I couldn't mesh without having to make additional cuts in it. This caused a lot of elements where I didn't want them. The latest version can mesh the model now without the added cuts. So they must have improved something, but it's not listed in the change logs. The version that works good is 6.2.2105. If you have been having similar problems, you might want to test the new version. It can be found here,
https://github.com/NGSolve/ngsolve/releases
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For gmsh there is a way the user can select the path to his prefered gmsh release.
There is a very usefull feature on Netgen standalone for fixing geometry, the CAD Doctor, it was needed for meshing some complex models in my case.
If anyone is willing to go to the trouble of compiling it, here's the modified source code.
Overview: Mecway uses Netgen by starting the external program ngmesh.exe which calls functions in Netgen's nglib.dll. Ngmesh.exe is a wrapper I made to interface Netgen to Mecway. Meshing parameters are transferred from Mecway to ngmesh.exe by a dropfile and the mesh is returned by a .vol file created by Netgen.
I don't know how you would enable the geometry healing or other tools since they're not exposed by the nglib library. Perhaps newer Netgen versions have improved this or you can find the relevant functions in the main part of Netgen.
I have a video, showing how I use it. Since the video was made, I asked Victor about the midside node option in Mecway. He said that was something he added. He said Netgen always has that option checked. There is no option in Netgen to turn it off. However, that seems to be a good thing. With that option off, the new Mecway shell elements don't work right.
Link to the video; https://youtu.be/6amu7J26kqY
I generally only work on single parts. So I'm not sure what the process would be for an assembly.
However, if you do want to use Mecway's ngmesh, then yes, it can be run standalone. It needs:
Command line parameters:
ngmesh.exe {file name to mesh} {parameters file name}
eg:
ngmesh myfile.step parameters.txt
Parameters file:
Text file that contains these parameters in this order: optionally followed by local refinement data. For an example, see the parameters.txt file that appears in the temporary folder when you mesh something in Mecway.
As for their meaning. I'm, not sure there's really one source. Most or all are also parameters for Netgen's nglib interface, so you can probably find them there, but I seem to remember there wasn't much documentation.
Refinement data is: The last 4 lines are repeated for each point.
Units are always mm.
In case it's not clear, this file format is only used by Mecway to communicate between its own processes. Netgen doesn't know about it.