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support@mecway.com
Mecway
FEA
Feature Request for next release
Hi, just a few wishes for a future release of Mecway:
1) Define names when the node/element set and material are created. I'm constantly editing the "unnamed" for more convenient ones, in a second step.
2) Use F2 key for changing names on the tree as usual in Windows
3) Select element/faces/nodes by angle, for orphan meshes is very usefull
4) Open .frd files in read only mode. Now if I open an .frd file while is calculating, it stops the solver to update the file. Would be great a way to "update the view" when new increments are computed
5) Move the node/face/element icon from the visualization window to the toolbar. Now if we want to take a screenshot of the results, they cannot be hiden
6) Add more data to the results header (file name, load case, date, solver, min/max values, deformation scale...) The usual way of reporting is take a screenshot of the visualization area (not the whole window), so there is some basic information needed for archive
7) Add more controls to the nolineal timeline like, advance to next step, advance to x increment, advance to the end... for calculus with many increments and steps takes time to handle manually
8) Add the file name to the name of the window (now if we open a frd. or .liml file cannot identify what files is opened actually)
9) Pure quad 2D meshes for imported dxf sketchs or faces of solids
10) When 2D mesh is extruded or revolved, if there are groups of nodes/faces/elements, a possibility to automaticly include the new nodes/faces/elements/ in the groups. The same in case of simmetry of the mesh
11) For keeping the same naming convention as other softwares, can be the "Named Selections" changed to "Groups"?
12) User editable material library?
13) Visualization of the .sta files for ccx calulation inside the Mecway window? Now I'm following with Tail for Win32, that update the visualization with every increment. Maybe could be a second tab on the CCX Output Window
14) Posibility to change the colors of the load/restrains representations
15) Some way to change the units when reading frd files. Now I'm modeling and making my meshes in mm units, applying loads in N. So I must be aware that when I postprocess in Mecway, his meters are milimiters, and his Pascals are MegaPascals.
16) New postprocessing mode "deformated with no result", without color scale. For parts with big deformations (hyperelastic or hyperfoam materials) or modal analysis sometimes is needed to see just the deformed model, and colors can be disturbing. Now what I'm doing is set up min/max of the scale to big numbers so the deformed part become only green.
17) Add an option to block the CTRL key for selecting. For long selections is hard to keep it pressed during long time (and if released all the selection is lost), Siemens NX has an option called "autoshift" that do this.
Regards!
1) Define names when the node/element set and material are created. I'm constantly editing the "unnamed" for more convenient ones, in a second step.
2) Use F2 key for changing names on the tree as usual in Windows
3) Select element/faces/nodes by angle, for orphan meshes is very usefull
4) Open .frd files in read only mode. Now if I open an .frd file while is calculating, it stops the solver to update the file. Would be great a way to "update the view" when new increments are computed
5) Move the node/face/element icon from the visualization window to the toolbar. Now if we want to take a screenshot of the results, they cannot be hiden
6) Add more data to the results header (file name, load case, date, solver, min/max values, deformation scale...) The usual way of reporting is take a screenshot of the visualization area (not the whole window), so there is some basic information needed for archive
7) Add more controls to the nolineal timeline like, advance to next step, advance to x increment, advance to the end... for calculus with many increments and steps takes time to handle manually
8) Add the file name to the name of the window (now if we open a frd. or .liml file cannot identify what files is opened actually)
9) Pure quad 2D meshes for imported dxf sketchs or faces of solids
10) When 2D mesh is extruded or revolved, if there are groups of nodes/faces/elements, a possibility to automaticly include the new nodes/faces/elements/ in the groups. The same in case of simmetry of the mesh
11) For keeping the same naming convention as other softwares, can be the "Named Selections" changed to "Groups"?
12) User editable material library?
13) Visualization of the .sta files for ccx calulation inside the Mecway window? Now I'm following with Tail for Win32, that update the visualization with every increment. Maybe could be a second tab on the CCX Output Window
14) Posibility to change the colors of the load/restrains representations
15) Some way to change the units when reading frd files. Now I'm modeling and making my meshes in mm units, applying loads in N. So I must be aware that when I postprocess in Mecway, his meters are milimiters, and his Pascals are MegaPascals.
16) New postprocessing mode "deformated with no result", without color scale. For parts with big deformations (hyperelastic or hyperfoam materials) or modal analysis sometimes is needed to see just the deformed model, and colors can be disturbing. Now what I'm doing is set up min/max of the scale to big numbers so the deformed part become only green.
17) Add an option to block the CTRL key for selecting. For long selections is hard to keep it pressed during long time (and if released all the selection is lost), Siemens NX has an option called "autoshift" that do this.
Regards!
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Comments
18) Possibility of preview the nodes that will be merged, and then select which one will be merged or not. Guess that the order should be selecting before the bunch of nodes, and then show what nodes are bellow the target distance (only in the selection), and then give the possibility of merge or not
18) Possibility of preview the nodes that will be merged, and then select which one will be merged or not. Guess that the order should be selecting before the bunch of nodes, and then show what nodes are bellow the target distance (only in the selection), and then give the possibility of merge or not
4) You can open a 2nd instance of Mecway to view intermediate .frd results without it stopping CCX. Ideally, I'd like it to display partial solutions automatically.
5) You can take a screenshot that doesn't have the buttons using either Edit -> Copy image or File -> Save As -> PNG Images.
8) It already does this for .liml files. I'm not sure if this will create problems for other file types since the title bar shows the file that will be saved to when you press Save, and no other file types can be saved faithfully or in that way. For example if it displayed .inp, it might feel like a .inp editor but when you finally save it, you'll find the contents are completely different and unsupported parts are missing.
11) I think "named selections" is better because it describes what it is in a bit more detail. If it was "groups", you'd have to learn the vocabulary of what that word means for this particular program and wonder what the difference is between a group and a component, which is already quite an ambiguous name.
17) Is the problem about accidentally releasing Ctrl and losing a complicated selection, or not being able to reach all the items without stopping to scroll or zoom during the selection? If the former, I wonder if a nicer solution might be some kind of undo selection tool? What I currently do for that is make a named selection every now and then to store it in but that's obviously a bit of work.
4) I have asociated the .frd files with Mecway and open from file explorer, then it stop my calculation on ccx (because ccx can't have access to write the .frd file) I will make more test on the matter
5) I use a third party program to take snapshoot, is just one keystroke and just select the area (then is automaticly copied to clipboard and saved in a special folder). But if exist a way of doing then is not neccesary the feature
8) Yes, I have checked and as you say, it work for lml files. But can you add at least for .frd files as well? I understand that maybe the problem can be the step/igs/inp files (not only saving could be the problem, you can import several of them in the same model, then, what should indicate the window name?) Maybe a convenient solution would be that when you import a file (and still the .lml has not saved), then the window name take the name of the imported file (and adding the next ones to reflect the fact that several files were imported maybe). Then if the user try to save the document, then a lml. file should be created
11) OK, you are rigth. Some program use Groups, other use Sets, and some use Named Selections :-)
17) Yes, that the problem. I'm doing a complex selection and at the end I just release the CTRL key and lost everithing, but even for simple selection is easier to have by default this behavieur, just keep adding items to the selection with no key pressed needed (in my opinion). Even for deselect can be the same, if something is selected, then a second clic could deselect without CTRL or SHIFT
And now two more new features:
19) If when local refinament is applied it appear as a new item on the tree, why not also the initial mesh definition not appear as an item? Another thing will be that it's names be editable as well
20) Normaly for applying local refinament I use a node position, could be added an option to the node contextual menu to copy his coordinates, and then an option to the local refinament window to paste this coordinates directly? Maybe could be an item on the node menu, just "add local refinament"
Best Regards!
21) Output console to centralize and keep (during the sesion) the output of the mesher and solver (all solvers) inside the Mecway window in a consistent way. Maybe nodes positions, areas, volumes, etc that are "asked" could be reflected in this console for future consultation
21) Output console to centralize and keep (during the sesion) the output of the mesher and solver (all solvers) inside the Mecway window in a consistent way. Maybe nodes positions, areas, volumes, etc that are "asked" could be reflected in this console for future consultation
18) Possibility of preview the nodes that will be merged, and then select which one will be merged. Maybe an opción to don't merge nodes from different materials or parts, now that is something that I cannot control
23) Posibility of select nodes/faces of elements or elements related to part surface or edge
17) I'd like it to behave more like Windows which everyone is familiar with.
20) I agree it's quite hard to specify local refinements. Some kind of mouse picking would be great.
18) I agree previews are good. The other details of 18 are quite specific. Can you explain your use case a bit more? I'm wary of adding options that only serve one narrow purpose and would prefer to look for more elegant solutions that solve several problems at the same time. Every extra button adds a little cognitive burden for everybody who sees it, which can be a problem if 99% of people don't need it.
22) Hold Shift while dragging to prevent node moving.
23) Do you mean part of a surface/edge, or surface/edge of a part? You can currently make a named selection from a CAD geometry surface, which then select the faces in the mesh view. Edges is something other people have asked for - especially for shells.
17) Yes, that the idea. Having a consistent interface makes the user more productive.
18) The main problem that I see now is that Mecway merge all the nodes of the model, and sometimes if you have diferent component/materials this nodes should not be merged (especifically my problem are the nodes at the simmetry plane, they coincide for all component but should not be merged, so I drag artificialy to increase the gap before merge and then drag again to the original position). Maybe could be a matter of merge all the visible nodes only (then the user just hide the element set that he doesn't want to be merged)
20) Guess that the main part of the problem is solved (because actually the mesh refinament works very good), is just the way it's accesed. My way of work is to make a normal mesh and run the analysis, then see where the stresses are important and then this areas should be refined, but I have to take note of the nodes position by hand and then fill the mesh refinament control. Maybe you just can "call" the actual refinament rutine in some way with the selected node coordinates (obviously in postrocesing mode because there is where you are seeing the hotspot). But I guess that having the nodes coordinates in memory to be pasted can be used for another purposses, what other features need node coordinates that can be loaded in that way? You could add then an option to the contextual menu "copy nodes coordinates" and a button on that windows to paste the nodal coordinates
23) Sometimes I need to make selections of nodes belongin to a CAD surface or edge, now I can make only faces selections. This faces selections are converted to node selections if loads are applied, but If want to export the model as .inp without a load, still is a set of faces. Again I guess that the procedure exists in the code, and maybe can be used to create a new feature "convert face selection to node selection".
On the other side, the selection based on geometry is very very powerfull, in NX the procedure is first select the kind of item you want to group (nodes/faces/element) and then select the geometrical feature that you will refereneciate (edges, faces or solid bodies), then is just a matter of select the geometrical features (that are also filtered for easy selection) to catch the associated items, very easy (for the enduser, not for the programmer surely) and powerfull.
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I'm talking a lot of "my problems" but I assume that are normal problems that any user can found, that's why I'm doing this request that could improve the program.
Best regards!
18) If you select some nodes before using merge, it only operates on those nodes. Is that what you're after?
23) I think I understand now. Making node selections from surfaces/edges/solids, rather than making only face or element selections from them? There's currently a round-about way to do that: Make a face selection from a CAD surface, click it, change to node selection mode, then create a named selection. That will then contain the nodes of the surface. I suppose you really want something that sticks around when you rebuild the mesh though?
18) That's what I need, thanks!
23) Thanks for let me know the workaround, having it "auto updatable" would be great also.
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Some new:
25) In post processing options, have the possibility to define two colors for out of range elements, one for the upper outside and one for the lower outside elements.
26) Add more CCX features to be applied from the Mecway interface, even with graphical representation (material no lineal definition, TIE, CONTACT, RIGID BODY...). Maybe a separate poll post can be made to see what are the most needed.
Regards!
27) Can be added in the geometry mode view the edges (a line) of the surfaces? Now is only the faces of the part that make hard to identify every surface.
Yes, load values (load factors) and the output displacements - or desired data - to listed together as pairs for each time step, in text format, for immediate use in a spreadsheet for making a diagram with desired multiple curves (for comparison reasons). For instance
load factor , Displ.X
0.1 , 0.001
0.2 , 0.0012
0.3 , 0.0015
etc
Anyway is always time vs field displayed value, having load/displacement would involve a radical new aproach on this plot feature (as he must read and summarize the nodal reactions to have the complete load on the increment). Hey, why not a .dat plot utility as is in Abaqus???? I will use a lot this feature.
Yes, the nonlinear plot on the lower side of the Mecway window
Edit: basically I am interesting for the case that in time=0 load is 0 and in time =1, load =100%. In this case, time step and load factor isn't practical the same thing regarding the nonlinear curve?
Sergio, that's a good idea about using reaction forces to show the loads. So you could also export a table containing reaction force at one node together with displacement at another node. As you say, combining forces from all the nodes would be complicated and probably depend on the model. For instance, a moment would be zero total force which is probably not useful. From what I can tell, Abaqus's .dat output is basically like Mecway's table, also without any fancy force summing.
Guess that in order to implement that you should read the ccx .dat file, allow to select the variable (in a fancy way, the names must come from the headers of the dat file) and the combination for plot, in the case of the load deflection is the displacement of one node of the movil side againt the nodal reaction summatory on the fixed side, all this info is in the .dat
A good graph utility would allow not only the load deflection curve that is one case, but any plot from the results (I don't know, stress in one node against applied load..), and performing some calculations also (summarize, multiply, divide, convert....) to take in count the simetries of the model, change units, reverse directions...
I'm aware of CCX's pilot node moment/force thing from your rubber bushing work. It's moments caused by pairs of forces that would be the problem - they would appear as a constant zero force on a graph of total force. That's where you'd need these more powerful postprocessing tools to sum specific applied loads or calculate some other metric for load factor.
Yes, the pre-selection of a face could be used for this purpose, thank you!
(although a new possibility of a selection of a node/element after solving, combined
with a new selection mode in the Table tool, such as ''ONLY SELECTED'' could be
more practical/useful generally, not only for the NL curves)
First I create two named selections with the faces in contact, then rename it (because as they will be several I need to recognize every pair). After that I must create the bounded contact (again several clics to get it, would be good to have a toolbar for the boundary conditions) condition and select the named selections from the dropbox.
And this is for every contact bounded area, I has done a model with 28 bonded areas... 56 named selections!
Maybe could be good having the dropbox with the named selection and a little button to select the surfaces directly (that will become named selections then) in the bounded condition window, then in this case would not be necessary rename the named selections.
Another improvement would be the posibility of keep creating bounded contact conditions (and other boundary conditions) without leaving the form (adding a "apply" button that would apply and clear the form to accept the new entries).
Guess that for having working this needs a new visualization mode for the geometry (transparent with surface edges), and a way to choose the right surface when the cursor is over two coincident surfaces.
Best Regards!