The Geometry tab of the model tree features two main containers – Parts and Mesh Setup. The first one stores all parts in the model, and the following options are available when right-clicking the part:

• Edit – allows editing of the name and the color of the part (can be accessed also by double clicking the part).
• Query – enables the Query tool.
• Preview Edge Mesh – displays points representing nodes in the mesh that will be generated (this way, it can be determined whether the size of the mesh is sufficient or not before generating it).
• Create Mesh – starts the mesher and creates the finite element mesh for the part.
• Copy Geometry to Results – allows to display geometry parts in the post-processing.
• Hide/Show/Show Only – options to hide and show the selected part, Spacebar can also be used to hide and show parts and other objects.
• Set Color/Reset Color/Set Transparency – setting color and transparency of the part.
• Delete – deletes the selected part.

Geometry Menu #

The Geometry menu contains the following options:

• Part – general part geometry options:
  • Edit: Name, Part type, Mesh, Appearance,
  • Transform,
    • Scale.
  • Copy Geometry to Results,
  • Hide/Show/Show Only,
  • Set Color/Reset Color/Set Transparency,
  • Delete.

• CAD Part – CAD part geometry options:
  • Flip Face Normal – flips the shell face orientation,
  • Split a Face Using Two Points – divides a face using two selected points by projection.

• Stl Part – STL part geometry options:
  • Find Model Edges by Angle – finds the model (feature) edges that fit into the specified angle criterion,
  • Flip Part Face Normals – flips the orientation of the surfaces,
  • Smooth Part – applies smoothing to STL part.
  • Delete Part Faces – deletes the selected faces.

• Create Compound Part – merges two or more parts into one part (body).
• Regenerate Compound Part – regenerates a compound part.
• Swap Part Geometries – swaps part geometries between two parts.
• Analyze – checks the geometry for the following:
  • Edges shorter than [specified value],
  • Edges closer than [specified value], – Faces smaller than [specified value],
  • Vertices with angle [specified value].

Mesh Menu #

The Mesh menu contains the following options:

• Mesh Setup Item: Create, Edit, Duplicate, Delete – settings for the mesher
• Preview Edge Mesh
• Create Mesh

The following mesh setup items can be created:

• Meshing parameters – global meshing settings:
  • Data
    • Name
    • Mesh settings: Basic, Advanced
  • Mesh size
    • Mesh size definition: Absolute, Relative,
    • Max element size (for Absolute) or Max element factor (for Relative),
    • Min element size (for Absolute) or Min element factor (for Relative),
    • Grading: 0 – uniform mesh, 1 – aggressive local grading,
    • Elements per edge – number of elements per edge of the geometry,
    • Elements per curvature – number of elements per curvature radius.
  • Mesh optimization
    • Optimize steps 2D – number of optimization steps to use for the 2D mesh,
    • Optimize steps 3D – number of optimization steps to use for the 3D mesh.
  • Mesh type
    • Second order: Yes/No,
    • Mid-side nodes on geometry – project the mid-side nodes on the geometry, options: Yes/No,
    • Quad-dominated mesh: Yes/No (for shell and 2D parts only).
  • Mesh operations
    • Split compound mesh: Yes/No (splits compound part mesh to unconnected part meshes),
    • Merge compound parts: Yes/No (merges compound part mesh to a single mesh part).
• Mesh Refinement – settings for local mesh refinement:
  • Name
  • Element size
• Shell Gmsh:
  • Name,
  • 2D meshing algorithm: MeshAdapt, Automatic, Initial mesh only, Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay for quads, Packing of parallelograms, Quasi-structured quad,
  • Recombine algorithm: None, Simple, Blossom, Simple full-quad, Blossom full-quad,
  • Transfinite 3-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Transfinite 4-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Mesh optimization:
    • First order elements: None, Laplace 2D, Relocate 2D, Quasi-structured quad.
• Thicken Shell Mesh – can be used to create extruded meshes based on the quasi-structured quad 2D algorithm, which is not supported by the Extrude Mesh feature:
  • Name,
  • Thickness,
  • Number of layers,
  • Offset,
  • Keep model edges: Yes/No.
• Tetrahedral Gmsh:
  • Name,
  • 2D meshing algorithm: MeshAdapt, Automatic, Initial mesh only, Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay,
  • Frontal-Delaunay for quads, Packing of parallelograms, Quasi-structured quad,
  • 3D meshing algorithm: Delaunay, Initial mesh only, Frontal, MMG3D, R-tree, HXT,
  • Transfinite 3-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Transfinite 4-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Experimental For Pyramids:
    • Recombine algorithm: None, Simple, Blossom, Simple full-quad, Blossom full-quad.
  • Mesh optimization:
  • First order elements: None, Gmsh, Netgen, Relocate 3D,
  • Second order elements: None, High order, High order elastic, High order fast curving
• Transfinite Mesh
  • Name,
  • Recombine: Yes/No,
  • Experimental For Pyramids:
    • Allow pyramid elements: No/Yes.
• Extrude Mesh – extrudes the surface mesh (can be previewed) created on a selected base face in automatically detected direction (shown by a pink arrow):
  • Name,
  • 2D meshing algorithm: MeshAdapt, Automatic, Initial mesh only, Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay for quads, Packing of parallelograms, Quasi-structured quad,
  • Recombine algorithm: None, Simple, Blossom, Simple full-quad, Blossom full-quad,
  • Transfinite 3-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Transfinite 4-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Element size in feature direction:
    • Defined by: Scale factor, Number of elements, Multi-layered
    • Scale factor \ Number of elements \ Relative layer sizes, Elements per layer
• Revolve Mesh – revolves the surface mesh (can be previewed) created on a selected base face in automatically detected direction (shown by a pink arrow with double arrowhead):
  • 2D meshing algorithm: MeshAdapt, Automatic, Initial mesh only, Delaunay, Frontal-Delaunay Frontal-Delaunay for quads, Packing of parallelograms, Quasi-structured quad,
  • Recombine algorithm: None, Simple, Blossom, Simple full-quad, Blossom full-quad,
  • Transfinite 3-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Transfinite 4-sided faces: Yes/No,
  • Element size in feature direction:
    • Defined by: Scale factor, Number of elements, Multi-layered
    • Scale factor \ Number of elements \ Relative layer sizes, Elements per layer

The relative mesh size specification was introduced for cases when the mesh should be denser only for the selected parts of the assembly and those parts are of different size so there’s no easy way to achieve this with a single absolute setting. Relative settings enable the creation of equally denser meshes on all parts in such cases.

The Mesh refinement option can be used for local mesh controls. A surface, edge or vertex can be selected, and local mesh size can be specified. The mesh refinement can be previewed before generating the mesh.

Hexahedral meshes can be created using three Gmsh mesh types: Transfinite, Extruded and Revolved. The following rules apply:

• Hexahedral meshes are never generated by default, recombination (of triangles into quads) is always necessary.
• For Extruded and Revolved mesh, transfinite algorithm can be used to obtain more structured meshes.
• Extruded and Revolved meshing can’t be applied to compound parts and thus base face partitions should be used instead of volume partitions. Those base face patches should be selected all at once using e.g. Surface angle selection mode.
• Extruded and Revolved meshing requires faces with 3 or 4 edges to utilize the transfinite algorithm.
• Transfinite meshing can be applied to compound parts so volume partitions are recommended.
• Transfinite meshing requires volumes with 5 or 6 faces. Those faces should have 3 or 4 edges each.