Mechanical API Known Issues and Limitations

This section lists known issues and limitations related to Mechanical APIs.

Note:  For general ACT known issues and limitations, see Known Issues and Limitations in the ACT Developer's Guide.

General Issues and Limitations

ACT is unable to create a chart from Ansys Mechanical

When using ACT to create a figure from the chart API, the following error prevents the graphics display in the Mechanical window:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

As a workaround, add the following code to your script to create an empty window in which the chart can display:

import clr
clr.AddReference("Ans.UI.Toolkit")
clr.AddReference("Ans.UI.Toolkit.Base")
import Ansys.UI.Toolkit
if Ansys.UI.Toolkit.Window.MainWindow == None: 
   Ansys.UI.Toolkit.Window.MainWindow = Ansys.UI.Toolkit.Window()

ExtAPI.Graphics.ExportScreenToImage() does not work if Mechanical is not open

If Mechanical is not open, ExtAPI.Graphics.ExportScreenToImage() does not work. This means that ACT cannot be used to export images from a DesignXplorer Design of Experiments or in batch mode.

Limitations on ACT Postprocessing of Mechanical Results

  • Scoping for custom results defined in ACT extensions not supported

    Custom results do not support using a geometric path as scoping. You can only use a selection of nodes and elements as scoping.

  • Scoping limitation for results using external solvers

    Results using external solvers cannot be scoped to ElemNodal locations. This is not currently supported.

  • Exporting external solver results to a text file

    When exporting results obtained from an external solver to a text file, the Include Node Location option is not currently supported.

  • Solution Combination for external solvers

    You cannot currently combine results with the Solution Combination object to when using results from an external solver.

  • Compressed result file not supported

    The ACT postprocessing API does not support the compressed result file for Mechanical, which is created by the Mechanical APDL command /FCOMP.

  • A node merge action on the mesh is unsupported

    The ACT postprocessing API does not support a node merge action on the mesh.

  • ShellPosition command on shell bodies is unsupported

    The ACT postprocessing API does not account for the ShellPosition command for dealing with shell bodies.

  • Orientation nodes on beam bodies are not discarded

    The ACT postprocessing API returns the results on orientation nodes when dealing with beam bodies, even though these results are irrelevant.

  • Substep changes require clean and re-solve

    If you change Analysis Settings substep entries, to see this change reflected in the ACT Custom results, you must run the Clear Generated Data option and re-solve your analysis.

Mechanical Limitations Unique to Running on Linux

  • Some property controls are not supported

    Mechanical does not support the following property controls on Linux:

    • FileOpen

    • FolderOpen

    • PropertyTable

    These controls are implemented using the Ansys UI Toolkit, which is currently not supported on Linux when executed within Mechanical.

  • Graphics API issues in Mechanical when no extensions are loaded

    When no extensions are loaded, there are some limitations on the Graphics API from the ACT Console in Mechanical (and also in Ansys DesignModeler). For instance, Factory2D does not work. Therefore, you should load one or more extensions before using the Graphics API from the ACT Console.