The following geometry preferences are accessible at the locations listed below and may vary in name depending on the location (for example, for CAD Associativity in the Workbench Options, the counterpart is Use Associativity in the Workbench Project Schematic).
Workbench Options: On the Workbench main menu, navigate to Tools> Options> Geometry Import to set the default values of the preferences. A checked check box indicates enabled or yes, and an unchecked check box indicates disabled or no.
Workbench Project Schematic: Right-click the Geometry cell on a system and choose Properties.
Note: In addition to their appearances in the Workbench Options and Workbench Project Schematic, read-only indications of the settings are shown in the Details View of the Geometry object in Workbench applications.
The preferences are displayed in two categories:
DesignModeler and SpaceClaim Functionality
When DesignModeler or SpaceClaim is configured in add-in mode (and the geometry model source is DesignModeler or SpaceClaim), most of the import preferences listed below are hidden. Except for the analysis-specific preferences (Analysis Type and Compare Parts On Update), all the applicable model data in the applications is transferred transparently.
Basic Geometry Options
| Workbench Options> Geometry Import Selections | Project Schematic Selections | Description | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Solid Bodies
(check box) |
Solid Bodies
(check box) | Imports solid bodies.[1]
The default is .
The preference applies to the following:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Surface Bodies
(check box) |
Surface Bodies
(check box) | Imports surface bodies.[1]
The default is .
The preference applies to the following:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Line Bodies
(check box) |
Line Bodies
(check box) | Imports line bodies. The default is . The preference applies to the
following:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Parameters
(drop-down menu) |
Parameters
(drop-down menu) | Controls parameter
processing, which can slow down overall import performance.
Choices are:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Parameters> Filtering Prefixes and
Suffixes
(text field) |
Parameter Key
(text field) | When
Parameters is set to
All or
Independent, enables you to specify a key
that must appear at the beginning or end of a CAD parameter name
for that parameter to be enabled in Workbench. The default is
ANS;DS. You may specify multiple prefix/suffix values, with each one separated by a semicolon. For example, if you want to import some parameters that are keyed with DS and others that are keyed with PARAM, enter DS;PARAM. The text field is case-insensitve, so entering ds;param works just as effectively. There is no limit on the number of prefixes/suffixes that can be specified in a single key preference. | |||||||||||||||||
|
CAD Attributes
(check box) |
Attributes
(check box) | Allows import of CAD system attributes into the Ansys Mechanical
application models. Enable this option to import
Motion Loads. The default is . The preference applies to the
following:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
CAD Attributes> Filtering
Prefixes
(text field) |
Attribute Key
(text field) | This field can contain any number of prefixes, with each prefix delimited by a semicolon. By default, the filter is set to SDFEA;DDM. If the filter is set to an empty string, all applicable entities are imported as CAD system attributes. | |||||||||||||||||
|
Named Selections
(check box) |
Named Selections
(check box) | Creates a named selection based on data generated in the CAD
system or in the DesignModeler application.
You must set the value in the Filtering Prefixes field (described below) to
the desired value. Upon attaching or updating, a Named Selection branch is added
to the tree and its name appears in the drop-down display within
the Named Selection
Toolbar. It is maintained as a CAD named
selection unless the branch is altered (for example, if entities
are added or deleted, or a selection is renamed). After
updating, CAD named selections are deleted and replaced with
named selections that are imported for the updated
model.[2] The default is . The preference applies to
the following:
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Named Selections> Filtering
Prefixes
(text field) |
Named Selection Key
(text field) | (Displayed only when Named Selection Processing is set to in the Details View.) Allows you to set the named selection processing prefix key. The default is NS. This field can have any number of prefixes with each prefix delimited by a semicolon (for example: NS_ForceFaces;NS_FixedSupports;NS_BoltLoaded). By default the filter is set to NS. If the filter is set to an empty string all applicable entities will be imported as named selections. | |||||||||||||||||
|
Material Properties
(check box) |
Material Properties
(check box) | Allows import of material data defined in
the CAD system. Only a subset of material data will be imported.
This will include Young's Modulus, Poisson Ratio, Mass Density,
Specific Heat, Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Expansion
Coefficient. Limited additional data may be imported depending
on CAD support. A material file will be created that reflects
each of the CAD materials assigned to the model. You can
validate the imported data as well as edit all of the material
property values in Engineering Data. Choosing Update will allow you to import
new materials but will not update values of previously imported
materials. This is done to avoid overwriting user changes to
previously imported material files. The default is . The preference applies to
the following:
|
[1] These preferences are on a per part basis. Parts with solid bodies and surface bodies will result in an attach failure if both import type preferences are selected. For assemblies however, where different components are solely solid body or surface body, import of each part will be successful.
[2] Limitations on importing named selections:
If you use a CAD system filter for entities, you must be able to create entities with names that correspond to the filter.
Named selection sets should contain entities of only a single dimension (for example, faces or edges).
Refer to the Named Selection Import based on Entities table to determine the CAD system support for the various entities (vertex, edge, face, and body).
Advanced Geometry Options
| Workbench Options> Geometry Import Selections | Project Schematic Selections | Description | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Analysis Type
(drop-down menu) |
Analysis Type
(drop-down menu) |
| ||||||||||||||||
|
CAD Associativity
(check box) |
Use Associativity
(check box) | Indicates if action should be taken to allow associativity.
This option is present because some CAD systems take too long to
compute associativity. The default is Yes. The preference applies to the
following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Coordinate Systems
(check box) |
Import Coordinate Systems
(check box) | Specifies whether coordinate systems created in the CAD application should be
imported into the AnsysMechanical application. The
default is No. The
preference applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Coordinate Systems> Filtering
Prefixes
(text field) |
Coordinate System Key
(text field) | This field can contain any number of prefixes, with each prefix delimited by a semicolon. By default, the filter is empty, which means all coordinate systems are imported. | ||||||||||||||||
|
Import Work Points
(check box) |
Import Work Points
(check box) | The default is No. The
preference applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Reader Save Part File
(check box) |
Reader Mode Saves Updated
File
(check box) | When set to Yes, the
interface will save the part file of a model at the end of an
update process using the same file name in the same directory.
The default is No. The
preference applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Import Using Instances
(check box) |
Import Using Instances
(check box) | Processes a CAD model by honoring its part instances to
produce faster attach times and smaller database sizes. The
default is Yes. The
preference applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Smart Update
(check box) |
Smart CAD Update
(check box) | Speeds up refresh of models that have
unmodified components. If set to Yes and changes are made to other preferences,
these will not be respected if the component is smart updated.
The default is Yes. The
preference applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Compare Parts On Update
(drop-down) |
Compare Parts on
Update
(drop-down) | For more information, see Compare Parts on
Update. The default is No. The choices are:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Compare Parts Tolerance
(drop-down) |
Compare Parts Tolerance
(drop-down) | Use to set the tolerance. The preference is only displayed in
the Properties panel if the compare parts have a value to
compare. Note that although the choices are the same, the
Compare Parts Tolerance
and Model Tolerance in
DesignModeler are unrelated.
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Process Enclosures
(check box) |
Enclosure and Symmetry
Processing
(check box) | Use to turn on/off the processing of enclosure and symmetry named selections. The default is Yes. The preference applies to the following: | ||||||||||||||||
|
Decompose Disjoint Geometry
(check box) |
Decompose Disjoint Geometry
(check box) | The default is Yes. The preference
applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
(check box) |
(check box) | Use to remove unwanted features when transferring geometry to Ansys
Mechanical or Ansys Meshing. Clicking the check box will result in the removal of
all unessential edges, vertices, and features; for example, small faces will be
merged into larger faces.The default is No. The preference
applies to the following:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
(drop-down menu) |
(drop-down menu) | Use to join surfaces when transferring geometry to Ansys Mechanical or Ansys
Meshing. The default is None. Note that selection of an IGES
file will change the default to Program Tolerance. The
options are:
| ||||||||||||||||
|
(value field) |
(value field) | This field is displayed if the Stitch Surfaces On Import option is set to User Tolerance. The field contains the user-defined stitch tolerance. The Stitch Surface Tolerance is always in meters. By default, the tolerance is 1E-07. | ||||||||||||||||
|
(drop-down) |
(drop-down) | Allows parts of mixed dimension to be
imported as components of assemblies which have parts of
different dimension. The options are:
| ||||||||||||||||
The options listed below are available for import facet quality.
The default value is Source meaning that the facets as
represented in the CAD system or use a Normal option for those
that do not have display. The others are relative settings
compared to "normal" facet quality. Typically, better facet
quality requires more memory and may take additional time to
import/update.
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
( button to Open file dialog) |
( button to Open file dialog) | A script that will be executed after the completion of the attach of an active geometry when using the Workbench button in the Ansys menu inside the CAD system. This extensible functionality allows you to create and import into a specified system, set geometry import preferences for the import, and execute other scriptable functionality. Simple example scripts can be found in <Ansys_InstallDir>\aisol\CommonFiles\CommonPages\PostImportScripts. |
Expected Body Imports
The following table shows the expected body imports based on the composition of the part (top row) and the mixed dimension import resolution preference. It is assumed for this table that the body types indicated in the part are selected in the primary import options.
| Solid-Surface-Line | Solid-Surface | Solid-Line | Surface-Line | |
| None | No import | No import | No import | No import |
| Solid | Solid | Solid | Solid | No import |
| Surface | Surface | Surface | No import | Surface |
| Line | Line | No import | Line | Line |
| Solid and Surface | Solid and Surface | Solid and Surface | Solid | Surface |
| Solid and Line | Solid and Line | Solid | Solid and Line | Line |
| Surface and Line | Surface and Line | Surface | Line | Surface and Line |
| Solid, Surface and Line | Solid, Surface and Line | Solid and Surface | Solid and Line | Surface and Line |
This processing becomes significant after handling the basic import options (for example, if a part is Solid-Surface-Line, if only Import Solids is selected, then only solid bodies would be imported) regardless of the Mixed Import Resolution.
However, when transferring the model from the Ansys DesignModeler or SpaceClaim application to the Ansys Mechanical application for a 3D Analysis, the basic import options and Mixed Import Resolution option are not applicable. All unsuppressed bodies/parts in the model will be transferred to the Ansys Mechanical application.
Note: The Solid and Line option and the Solid, Surface and Line option are not supported for SOLIDWORKS Associative Geometry Interface.
Note: In the case of a 2D analysis, you should suppress all solid bodies in DesignModeler for a successful transfer.