Pointwise V17 Training
Notes
Pointwise Training Syllabus
Introduction: Definitions, Terminology, GUI, Manipulation, Selection, Meshing Process, Help
Database Creation: Layers, Draw Curve, Revolve, Attributes, Copy and Paste with Translate,
Interpolate, Plane, Intersect, Project Export
3D Structured: Project Import, Defaults, Properties, CAE, Curve Creation, Domain Creation, Assemble,
Spacings, Diagnostics, Set BCs
Structured Solver: Block and Domain Interior and Boundary Control Functions, Subgrids
3D Unstructured: More Database, Defaults, Draw Curves, Assemble, Distribution, Diagnostics
Unstructured Solver: Block and Domain Attributes
Extrusions: Face assembly, Normal, Rotate, Translate, Path, Hybrid Grids
More Tools: Editing, Distribute, Dimension
Solid Modeling: Database Import, Assemble Models, Assemble Quilts, Trimming
T-Rex: 2D, 3D, Push Attributes, Baffles, Recombination, Growth Distribution, Pyramid Crossing
Glyph 2: Execution, Basics, Tcl/Tk, Resources
2
Table of Contents
Section
Introduction.....................................................................
Slide
3
Database Creation...........................................................
34
3D Structured.................................................................
53
Structured Solver............................................................
82
3D Unstructured............................................................
117
Unstructured Solver.......................................................
126
Extrusions....................................................................
132
More Tools....................................................................
156
Solid Modeling...............................................................
175
T-Rex...........................................................................
190
Glyph 2........................................................................
221
3
Introduction
•
Definitions
•
Terminology
•
GUI
•
Manipulation
•
Selection
•
Meshing Process
4
Definitions
•
Topology – The manner in which
blocks of cells are combined to fill
the analysis volume. For example,
H-style or C-style grids.
•
Cell Types – Pointwise supports two
surface cell types: quadrilaterals
and triangles, and four volume cell
types: hexahedra, tetrahedra,
prisms and pyramids.
•
Structured Grid – only quads and
hexes are used.
•
Unstructured Grid – only tris and
tets are used.
Hybrid Grid – mixes the structured
and unstructured types and may
add pyramids and/or prisms.
•
5
Terminology
•
Connector – 1D Grid element.
Foundation for all other grid
hierarchy.
•
Domain – 2D Grid element. Can be
structured or unstructured.
•
Block – 3D Grid element. Can be
structured, unstructured or hybrid.
•
Database – CAD geometry. Can be
imported or created directly.
Entity – An individual grid or
database element.
•
6
Terminology
•
•
•
•
•
•
Control Point – User defined points
specifying the shape of curve entities.
Node – First and last control point
defining a connector. Must match
within Node Tolerance to form a
domain.
Spacing Constraint – User defined grid
point spacing adjacent to connector
nodes.
Dimension – Number of grid points
assigned to a connector.
Edge – Boundary of a domain. Exactly
four for structured. One or more for
unstructured.
Face – Boundary of a block. Exactly six
for structured. One or more for
unstructured.
7
GUI
Menus
Panels
Two Level
Progress Bar
Undo Button!
Toolbars
Display Window
Messages
Window
Status Bar
8
GUI
Frequently used commands have
unique icons assigned. The same icon
for a command will appear in the
associated menu and on the toolbar.
For instance, the Spacing command.
Specific color coding is used to
indicate entity specific commands.
• Bright green for connectors.
• Light blue for domains.
• Dark blue for blocks.
• Magenta for database.
• Teal for non-specific commands.
9
GUI
Panels
•
Three permanent panels provide continuous access
to frequently used functionality: the List, Layers, and
Defaults panels.
•
Command panels appear as a new tab with the three
that are always present.
•
Functionality available in the various panels will be
dependent on any command panel that may be open
or the current entity selection.
•
The panels area of the GUI cannot be closed, but can
be repositioned to the right side of the GUI or torn
off into a floating window.
10
GUI
Preferences
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Preferences command gives
you additional control over
various GUI options.
You can set bottom and top colors
for the Display window
background or whether you wish
to use gradient blending.
Switch between “on box” and “in
box” style selection box.
Change selection style.
Switch mouse button
functionality.
You can specify the maximum
number of Undo levels, number
of saved “most recently used
(MRU) files”, and “most recently
executed (MRE) scripts”. Keep in
mind that all Undo states are
maintained in memory.
You can switch on or off the
various forms of text output
which appears in the Messages
window.
11
GUI
Customization
•
View, Toolbars command provides
menu control for closing and opening
the Messages window.
•
Note that a right-click while the mouse
is over a toolbar, the title bar for the
Panels or the title bar for the Messages
window presents the same set of options
shown in the View, Toolbars pull-right.
•
View, Toolbars also allows you to
toggle which toolbars are displayed.
•
Customize… provides further control
over the toolbars and how they look…
12
GUI
Customization Continued
•
Set your preferred icon size.
•
Set whether or where text is displayed
with icons.
•
Set which commands are available per
each toolbar. Each toolbar’s commands
can be toggled by opening the frame for
that toolbar.
•
Reset all toolbars to the default
command set.
•
Reset toolbar or GUI layout.
13
GUI
Toolbar vs.. Menu Command Implementation
Toolbar command implementations do not necessarily
simply open the command panel for a given command.
On the contrary, effort has been made to provide direct
shortcut capability right on the toolbar:
Select one or more
connectors and enter
their dimension directly
into the field on the
toolbar.
Likewise for spacing
constraints.
Elliptically smooth structured
domains or blocks using their
current attributes until
instructed to stop.
14
GUI
OK – Cancel – Apply and Undo
•
OK – Save any pending changes and close the panel. This operation creates an
Undo level.
•
Cancel – Drop any pending changes and close the panel. This operation does
not create an Undo level.
•
Apply – Save any pending changes and keep the panel open for additional
work. This operation creates an Undo level.
15
GUI
Accelerators
•
Accelerators are keyboard shortcuts to frequently used commands such as Ctrl+C for
copy.
•
These commands are globally available throughout the application.
•
Accelerators are shown right justified in command menus.
•
Below is a short list of commonly used accelerators:
Ctrl+A
Select All
Delete
Delete
Alt+1 (-6) Save View 1 (-6)
Ctrl+D
Unselect All
Ctrl+Z
Undo
Ctrl+1 (-6) Recall View 1 (-6)
Ctrl+C
Copy
Ctrl+Y
Redo
Ctrl+R
Ctrl+V
Paste
Ctrl+N
File, New
Ctrl+Enter OK
Ctrl+X
Cut
Ctrl+O
File, Open
Ctrl+F
Reset, View
“Do It” (
) command
16
Manipulation
Model Orientations
•
Pointwise uses two reference axis
systems.
•
The body axes are the coordinates
associated with your geometry and
grid.
•
The screen axes are aligned with the
display screen with screen Z
pointing out of the screen toward
you.
•
All model manipulations occur
relative to one of these reference
axis systems.
•
The center of rotation for
manipulations is located where the
red body axes are rendered. This
center of rotation can be transferred
to any pickable point at any time
using Ctrl+Shift+right mouse.
17
Manipulation
Default Model Orientations
Ctrl + right mouse
Rotation
Shift + right mouse
Pan
middle mouse, scroll wheel
Zoom
Keypad Num Lock
Body-x Rotation
Keypad /
Body-y Rotation
Keypad *
Body-z Rotation
Keypad 7
Screen-x Rotation
Keypad 8
Screen-y Rotation
Keypad 9
Screen-z Rotation
18
Manipulation
Standard Orientations
•
Use standard orientations
via the View, Manage
Views menu or toolbar.
•
The Dynamic View
returns to the last
orientation prior to using a
preset view.
•
Align View to Surface is
available for domains and
database surfaces.
19
Manipulation
Saved Orientations
•
Manage Views is also a tool for
saving, recalling, naming and
clearing, if necessary, user preferred
model orientations.
•
In the panel, select the radio button
for the desired user view, 1 through
6, then click Save. Once saved, a
unique text name can be applied in
the adjacent field.
•
Views can also be saved using the Alt
+1 through Alt+6 accelerators and
recalled using the Ctrl+1 through Ctrl
+6 accelerators.
•
User views can also be recalled using
the View toolbar.
20
Manipulation
Model Orientations Continued
Zoom Box
•
Pointwise provides a zoom box
for quick zooming of an area of
the Display using Shift+middle
mouse.
•
Your first mouse click will be
the center of the zoom box.
•
Pull down/to the right to zoom
in.
•
Pull up/to the left to zoom out.
•
Hold and drag the mouse to
size the box.
21
Selection
•
Pointwise supports continuous selection of any entities subject to the selection Mask,
Layers, and Show/Hide status.
•
Entities can be selected simply by placing the mouse cursor over the entity in the
Display window or List panel and clicking the left mouse. Entities highlight in the List
and Display window simultaneously.
•
When selecting entities in the display window a standard pointer cursor (
seen when only one selectable object lies below the cursor.
) will be
22
Selection
Multi-Cursor
•
A multi-pointer cursor (
the cursor.
) will be seen when multiple selectable objects lie below
•
Use the spacebar to cycle through selectable objects.
23
Selection
Selection Box
Pick box (on box style) selection is always available in the Display window by clicking and
dragging out a selection box. Temporarily change pick box style between on box and in
box styles using the Shift meta key.
24
Selection
Meta Key Use
Use the Shift key for contiguous
selection in the List panel.
Shift
Use the Ctrl key for multiple noncontiguous selection in the Display
Ctrl
window or List panel.
25
Selection
List
•
The list panel is primarily used for selection.
•
Expand and close entity type sub-lists as
needed.
•
Grayed out entities cannot be selected due to
Mask settings.
•
Parentheses after the entity icon indicate
number of entities shown for that type. Two
numbers indicate how many of those shown
are currently selected. Mousing over the
parentheses provides tooltip text showing
selected/shown/total values.
•
Selected entities have a royal blue
background highlight.
•
Mousing over entities produces a bold typeface highlight for selectable entities.
26
Selection
List
•
Click a header bar to sort list on that column.
•
Double click an entity name to edit directly in
the list.
•
Clicking on an entity header icon will select all
entities of that type.
27
Selection
Mask
•
The Mask toolbar provides quick access to global masking of entities by type.
•
Clicking the Mask icon will uncheck all boxes for all types if any are currently
checked. If all are currently unchecked, clicking the Mask icon will check all
boxes for all types.
•
A number of commands automatically override mask settings within the
command.
28
Selection
Mask
•
More fine-grain masking control is
available via the Select, Mask
command.
•
When a subset of an entity type is
masked, a filled check-box will
result in the Mask toolbar.
29
Help
Help – Pointwise Help
•
•
•
•
Extensive integral Help tool.
Access via the F1 hot key or menu
for context sensitive information.
Easy back and forth navigation via
browser style Back and Forward
buttons.
Embedded links for quick
navigation to related topics or for
more detailed information.
30
Help
Help – Documentation and Support
•
•
Direct access to the User Manual,
the Tutorial Workbook, and the
Glyph Reference Manual in PDF
format.
Direct web links to the Glyph2
man pages, Installation
Instructions and the Support
pages on the Pointwise web site.
31
Help
Help – About
•
•
•
Provides version, build,
platform and bit level
information.
Text can be copied and
pasted into email when
requesting technical
support.
Access via the Help menu.
32
Meshing Process
•
•
•
•
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Obtain the cleanest database model available containing only the necessary
geometry to bound your mesh.
Import your database model.
Further refine and add to your database model as necessary. Scale the model
now if you plan to create and run solutions on a scale of the original geometry.
Select your CAE solver.
Create as necessary:
•
•
•
Connectors
Domains (2D)
Blocks (3D)
•
Refine or smooth the mesh as necessary.
Set boundary and volume conditions.
Export your mesh to your CAE format.
•
Save your project.
•
•
Syllabus
33