Use this section to explore the five major parts of the FreeFlow user interface, and learn when and why you might access them.

Figure 2.1: The five main components of the FreeFlow user interface

What would you like to do?

See Also:

The menu is always located at the very top of the FreeFlow main screen and is one of the few UI elements in FreeFlow that is static in its location. From the FreeFlow menu, you can do all of the following tasks:

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Figure 2.2: Additional Features

Experimental (Beta) Features

The Experimental (Beta) Features checkbox enable you to use FreeFlow beta features, these features are described in this document with the reference that they are still beta and will only appear in the UI if this check box is activated.

Faster Motion Visualization for walls

Enable this beta feature to speed up the 3D post processing for cases containing geometries with huge triangle counts.

Limitations:

•Walls with wear model enabled will not benefit from the performance improvement

Advanced Features

The Advanced Features checkbox enable you to use FreeFlow Advanced features, these features are described in this document with the reference that they are advanced and will only appear in the UI if this check box is activated.

See Also:

The toolbar is, by default, located at the top of the FreeFlow main screen just below the menu. There are several individual toolbar components that can make up the main FreeFlow toolbar, including the following:

These individual toolbar components can be moved or made to float independent of the screen by clicking a toolbar handle and then dragging it and dropping it with the mouse. You can also show/hide individual toolbars by right clicking a toolbar and selecting or clearing the options at the very bottom of the contextual menu.

See Also:

Below the toolbar and surrounding the Workspace are various floating panels that enable you to set parameters and choose options for your simulation and its resulting data. The primary panels for configuring your simulation are the Data and Data Editors panels that appear (by default) to the left of the Workspace; the primary panels for post-processing are the Windows and Windows Editors panels that appear (by default) to the right of the Workspace. Also showing (by default) to the right of the Workspace, you can display various tools panels such as Animations or PrePost Script. You can choose to show/hide multiple panels through both the View and Tools menus located at the top of the screen.

All panels in FreeFlow can be resized, moved, nested with other panels, and undocked to float independent of the FreeFlow main screen. Specifically:

Show/hide multiple panels by right clicking a panel's title bar and selecting or clearing the options at the top and middle of the contextual menu.

What would you like to do?

See Also:

The Data panel is the area you use to select the entity with which you want to interact. The tree-like structure is hierarchical and is roughly organized by the steps required to setup, process, and analyze your project. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 2.3: Data Panel, default view

By clicking Study on the menu, more parameters can be added to Data Panel, as shown in the image below:

Figure 2.4: Data Panel, additional Study parameters

The top-level items in the Data panel include the following entities:

Once selected in the Data panel, options for the item are generally shown in the Data Editors panel (see also About the Data Editors Panel), or through the item's right-click menu. Note: With the exception of the Study item, which has its own settings, top-level Data panel items are for categorization only and do not have settings associated with them. Only the sub-items listed beneath these categories will have settings upon which you can take action.

The Data panel also includes a search box to help you find items in the panel quickly. (See also Use the Data Panel Search Bar to Quickly Find Components.) You may also duplicate many of the items in the Data panel to save time on setup.

See Also:

The Data Editors panel shows the settings and parameters available for the item selected in the Data panel (see also About the Data Panel).

Figure 2.5: Data Editors panel Coloring Tab

What is shown for an entity on the Data Editors panel can include action buttons, like those provided at the top of Figure 1, and settings and information organized into various tabs, such as the following:

Some entities in the Data panel, such as Calculations and Color Scales, are categories only and will have no information displayed in the Data Editors panel. However, sub-items within these categories will have information upon which you can take action.

See Also:

The Info tab is one of several tabs that appear on the Data Editors panel when a simulation entity is selected in the Data panel. Though purely informational, the Info tab does show some data about the selected entity that could be useful when setting up or analyzing your simulation.

ABOUT THE INFO TAB FOR MODULES

The Info tab on individual Modules (see also About Modules Parameters) describes the Author and Version details for the Module, and lists what other entities in the FreeFlow UI are affected by enabling that particular Module. For example, the Info tab for the SPH Density Monitor describes three places in the FreeFlow UI affected by that module.

Figure 2.6: Info tab for the SPH Density Monitor Module

This information can help you verify that the parameters in those locations are set correctly for the feature enabled by the module.

INFO TAB PROPERTY DEFINITIONS

See tables below to help you understand more about the Info tab.

Table 1: Info tab definitions for individual Geometry components

Table 2: Info tab definitions for individual Modules (Figure 2 above) (See also About Modules Parameters.)

See Also:

The Coloring tab, located on the Data Editors panel when a simulation entity is selected in the Data panel, helps you change the colors and data attributes of your selected entity.

The options displayed on the tab are dependent upon which type of window you select. If a 3D Plot window is selected, the Coloring tab shows options that enable you to change the appearance of the entity you have selected in the Data panel (Figure 1). Those changes will be visible in the 3D View.

Figure 2.7: Coloring tab when a 3D View window is selected

If a plot or histogram window is selected, the Coloring tab shows the data sets that are already calculated and ready to display in the window (Figure 2). The active data sets are indicated with an "open" eye icon. (See also Show/Hide Components by Using Eye Icons and Checkboxes.) Unlike when a 3D View window is selected, the data on the Coloring tab when a plot or histogram window is selected is not dependent upon what is selected in the Data panel.

Figure 2.8: Coloring tab when a plot or histogram window is selected

If a Motion Preview window is selected, the Coloring tab shows options related to the axes of the Frame that is selected in the Data panel.

Figure 2.9: Coloring tab when a Motion Frame is selected in the Data panel AND a Motion Preview window is selected

If the Details window is selected, the Coloring tab shows options that will enable you to change the appearance of the SPH elements you have selected to display. You can also adjust the transparency settings, allowing you to finely tune the opacity of the SPH elements and achive the desired level of transparency (Figure 4).

The Windows panel enables you to easily view, create, or remove the various FreeFlow windows-including 3D View windows, Motion Preview windows, and plots and histogram windows-all in one place (Figure 1).

Figure 2.10: Windows panel showing one open 3D View window

It is hidden by default when you first open FreeFlow, but can be shown by selecting Windows from the View menu.

On the Windows panel, existing windows are listed below their categories, and new windows can be created from the button bar at the top of the panel. And by using the checkboxes, windows can be shown or hidden from the workspace without actually removing them from the project. (See also Show/Hide Components by Using Eye icons and Checkboxes.)

Selecting a window from this panel will enable that window's editable properties in the Window Editors panel.

See Also:

The Window Editors panel (Figure 1) displays the editable settings and parameters for the FreeFlow window that is selected in the Windows panel (see also About the Windows Panel).

Figure 2.11: The Window Editors panel showing editable options for a 3D View window

Depending upon the type of window that is selected, different options will be presented, such as the following:

See Also:

The Log panel is for more advanced users of FreeFlow. Its purpose is to display the actions you have taken in the program that FreeFlow records for bug reporting purposes (Figure 1). When an error is shown in the program, you are sometimes given the option of submitting a report with your feedback. That report would contain details regarding the actions displayed in this panel.

This kind of information can be useful when writing and testing scripts.

For example, the actions displayed on the Log panel can be referenced while playing a script (Figure 1), which can be useful for debugging purposes.

  Figure 1: Log panel showing some actions that were recorded

In addition, if a print function is referenced when creating a script, it will appear in the Log panel when the script is played (Figure 3).

  Figure 2: Example script making use of a print function

  Figure 3: Log panel showing print function when example script is played

The Log is for display only and cannot be edited. Like the Undo/Redo history panel (see also About the Undo/Redo History Panel), the items displayed in this panel are cleared every time you close and open the project.

See Also:

The Simulation Log panel displays any solver-related warnings, errors, or other information that happen during processing (Figure 1), no matter whether you are running your simulations using CPU or GPU resources. This kind of information can be useful when troubleshooting issues that occur when you process your simulation project.

Figure 2.12: Simulation Log panel showing some warnings and information that was logged during processing

The Simulation Log is for display only and cannot be edited. But because it is possible to get many messages per simulation, you are able to filter the results and/or have FreeFlow automatically scroll to the bottom of the list by using the Filter and Auto Scroll buttons, respectively, at the top of the panel.

Unlike the other Log panels in FreeFlow, the items displayed in this panel are retained when the project is closed. This is to help you troubleshoot any issues with the Solver that might have caused FreeFlow to stop processing.

The Simulation Log is cleared whenever a new simulation or project is started.

Tip: For details about some of the more asked-about warnings and errors that can appear on your Simulation Log panel.

SIMULATION LOG PANEL FUNCTIONALITY

See the table below for information about the Simulation Log panel functionality.

Table 1: Simulation Log panel functionality

See Also:

The Cache panel is for more advanced users of FreeFlow. It is designed to list the FreeFlow processes that take up memory (Figure 1), and also enables you to remove any unused processes that are no longer needed (Figure 2). This information can be used to optimize how FreeFlow uses the memory available.

Figure 2.13: Cache Panel showing currently unused items in red

Figure 2.14: Cache Panel after unused items have been removed

Use the table below and images above to help you understand more about the Cache panel.

Table 1: Cache panel settings

See Also:

The Debug Info panel is for advanced users of FreeFlow. It is designed to list code-related items for the purpose of solving issues found within the program (Figure 1).

Figure 2.15: Debug Info panel

See Also:

The Undo/Redo history panel Figure 2.16: Undo/Redo history panel showing some example actions is one way you can review and undo the actions you took on your project. Each separate step you take or setting you change is chronologically listed in this panel. When you Undo or Redo an action- either by using the panel, the toolbar, or keyboard - the choices you make are reflected here. The last action applied to the project is marked with a blue arrow; active actions are listed in black; inactive (or "undone") actions are listed in gray Figure 2.17: Undo/Redo history panel showing some example actions that have been undone.

Figure 2.16: Undo/Redo history panel showing some example actions

Figure 2.17: Undo/Redo history panel showing some example actions that have been undone

You can use the toolbar or keyboard to undo or redo one action at a time. You can use the panel to undo or redo every action up to the action you select. In this way, you can "undo" or "redo" as many actions as you like with only a double-click.

The actions listed in the panel are cleared every time you close and open the project.

What do you want to do?

UNDO OR REDO SEVERAL ACTIONS AT ONCE

See Also:

UNDO OR REDO A SINGLE ACTION AT ONCE

See Also:

A Workspace is a collection of FreeFlow windows. Located in the center of the FreeFlow screen, the windows that make up a Workspace are where you choose to view the physical components of your simulation setup (3D View windows), and interact with the graphical results of your simulation.

You can have multiple Workspaces for different purposes, such as by analysis type. These are designated by Workspace tabs along the bottom of the Workspace area Figure 2.18: Example of the Workspace area, which can also be renamed to help you better categorize your data. You can also use the tiling options in the Windows menu to better organize your windows on the Workspace.

Figure 2.18: Example of the Workspace area

What would you like to do?

See Also:

CREATE A NEW WORKSPACE

Tips:

See Also:

EDIT OR REMOVE A WORKSPACE

Do one or more of the following:

See Also:

This section covers the not-so-obvious but useful features scattered throughout the FreeFlow UI and how it might benefit you to use them.

What would you like to do?

See Also:

NAME COMPONENTS TO AFFECT SORT ORDER

Sorting in FreeFlow follows the rules for Extended ASCII character codes. In general, Names beginning with spaces are sorted first, followed by most special characters, followed by numbers, followed by uppercase letters, and ending with lowercase letters.

For example, FreeFlow would sort the following 12 geometry components in the order shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2.19: Example sort order in FreeFlow

See Also:

SHOW/HIDE COMPONENTS BY USING EYE INCONS AND CHECKBOXES

FreeFlow provides two complementary methods for determining whether a component or family of components will be shown or hidden in the Workspace: The eye icon (Figure 1), which affects the visibility of only that individual component, and the checkbox (Figure 2), which affects the visibility of all sub-components beneath the object.

An "open" eye icon (default setting) indicates that particular object is visible or shown in 3D View windows, plots, or histograms. A "closed" eye icon keeps that item in the simulation's calculations but makes the object appear invisible or hidden in the window. This is useful for seeing behind one object to another in an animation, for example, or for focusing on a particular curve in a plot.

Checkbox

In the Data panel, the checkbox has the same visibility affect as the eye icon but is hierarchical, meaning it affects all children components directly beneath that item in the Data panel. For example, clearing the checkbox to the left of Geometries hides all individual geometry components listed beneath it.

In the Windows panel, the checkbox acts like the eye icon does in the Data panel: it shows/hides the individual object—in this case, various windows in the Workspace. Unlike in the Data panel, checkboxes in the Windows panel are not hierarchical.

See Also:

SEE INPUT/OUTPUT RELATIONSHIPS IN THE DATA PANEL WHEN COMPONENT NAMES ARE BOLD

Linked objects refer to the ability of a geometry component, to provide data to a particular User Process, thus establishing an input/output relationship between them. This linkage is illustrated in the Data panel by the name of the object providing the data (output) turning bold when the User Process that is accepting the data (input) is selected, as shown in Figure 1.

To create this kind of input/output relationship, the User Process must be created directly from the object providing the data. In the example above, the Cube <01> user process was created by selecting the dropweight geometry and then creating a Cube user process from either the Data Editor or right-click menu.

See Also:

DETERMINE THE FREQUENCY OF CALCULATIONS BY PINNING/UNPINNING ITEMS

After processing your simulation, you can view various types of data on the Properties and Curves tabs for your simulation settings like geometry components. Each of the items listed on these tabs has a pin icon to the left of it, as illustrated in Figure 1.

  Figure 1 : Pin icons on the Properties tab of the Data Editors panel

The color of these pin icons indicates how often FreeFlow calculates the particular item, as follows

Tip: To pin or unpin an item, just left-click the pin icon.

Alternately, you can choose to have FreeFlow calculate any values you are interested in once, by right-clicking the item and choosing Compute Statistics. (See also About Viewing an Individual Statistic.)

See Also:

Recognize Data Placeholders

FreeFlow uses several different characters and strings as placeholders for calculations or explanations that would take up too much room in the UI. Here is a quick list of some placeholders you might run across and what they mean.

See Also:

DOUBLE-CLICK THE STATUS PANEL TO JUMP TO THE APPROPRIATE UI LOCATION

If you have errors listed in the Status panel (Figure 1), you can double-click those errors to be taken to the location in the Data panel where you would address them.

Figure 2.20: Example of errors shown on the Status panel

For example, if you double-click the "There are no geometries in the simulation" error, FreeFlow would enable the Geometries item in the Data panel.

See Also:

USE COLORED TEXT TO VALIDATE THE SYNTAX OF YOUR ENTRIES

FreeFlow provides instant feedback for entering functions and variables into a parameter text field by coloring the text as you type, as explained below:

See Also:

DRAG/DROP ITEMS INTO WINDOWS

There are several tasks in FreeFlow that can be accomplished more easily by dragging items with your mouse and dropping them to another location, as described below:

Tip: You can also multi-select items to drag and drop. (For example, show multiple geometry components at once in a 3D View.) Just hold the Ctrl or Shift key while left clicking your selections with the mouse, and then drag and drop as usual.

See Also:

ACCESS THE RIGHT-CLICK MENU FOR ADDITIONAL FEATURES

There are a few things in FreeFlow that can only be accomplished by right-clicking the item, as described below:

See Also:

USE THE DATA PANEL SEARCH BAR TO QUICKLY FIND COMPONENTS

The search bar is located at the very top right of the Data panel, as shown in Figure 1.

  Figure 1 : Data panel search bar

When you start typing into it, FreeFlow immediately displays in the Data panel the entire hierarchy of the component(s) that best match what you typed. In a simulation setup with many different components, using the search bar can help you find what you need faster than scrolling.

See Also:

REFER TO THE FREEFLOW TITLE BAR FOR SIMULATION PROGRESS DETAILS

When you are actively processing a simulation, the Title bar for the FreeFlow program displays useful details about the simulation's progress. (Figure 1.)

  Figure 1 : Example of Title bar progress information shown while a simulation is processing

This progress information in the Title bar includes the following:

See Also:

LOCK A CURVE SELECTION TO A PLOT TO QUICKLY CHANGE THE DATA SHOWN

If you want to see the same curve (for example, Particle Mass) in a plot (for example, Time Plot) across many similar Data panel elements, you can use the Replace Curves According to Data Tree Selection toggle button (Figure 1), which is available for any Time Plot, Multi Time Plot, or Cross Plot.

Figure 2.21: Location of toggle button

When you toggle (push in) this button on a plot you have created and then select another similar item on the Data panel, the curve you original selected stays the same but the data is replaced with the data corresponding to the item you just selected (Figure 2).

Figure 2.22: Original plot (top); second Data panel option selected with button toggled (middle); third Data panel option selected with button toggled (bottom)

In this way, you can quickly compare the same curve across many similar Data panel items without having to create many separate plots. This button also works if you multi-select curves.

To turn off this feature, click the toggle button again to push it out.

See Also:

DOUBLE-CLICK A PLOT LINE, BAR, OR POINT TO CHANGE ITS APPEARANCE

Similar to the Edit Expression dialog that you get when you click the Edit Formula button on the Table tab of a Time Plot, you can also change the Pen style, color, and width as well as the data point appearance by double-clicking the line, bar, or point in the plot or histogram. This will bring up the Edit Curves dialog (Figure 1) and from there, you can change the settings as you like.

See the image, table, and procedure below for information about the Edit Curves dialog.

Figure 2.23: Edit Curves dialog for a Time Plot

Table 1: Edit Curves dialog options

TO CHANGE THE APPEARANCE OF A PLOT LINE, BAR, OR POINT:

See Also:

RECOGNIZE SHARED PARAMETERS WITH ASTERISKS (*)

Occasionally, module parameters in FreeFlow will be shared by parameters of other Modules. This means that a value entered in one location in the FreeFlow UI will be automatically duplicated in the other location.

To help you understand when this is happening, FreeFlow will place an asterisk (*) after the parameter name that is being shared. If you then hover your mouse cursor over the field for that asterisked parameter (Figure 1), the tooltip that appears will tell you what other Modules are sharing that same parameter.

If you change the value for this shared parameter, it will automatically be updated in the other location(s).

See Also:

USE COLORED DIRECTIONAL HANDLES

When viewed in a 3D View window, you can change the shape and location of some User Process, Volume Fill, and Region of Interest shapes by using the colored directional handles, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 below.

Figure 2.24: Directional handles for a Cube (left) and a Cylinder (right) Region of Interest

Figure 2.25: Directional handles for a Plane User Process

HANDLE DEFINITIONS FOR SHAPES

For shapes like Cubes and Cylinders (Figure 1), the colors of the handles are defined in Table 1.

Table 1: Handle color definitions for shapes

HANDLE DEFINITIONS FOR PLANES

For planes (Figure 2), the directional handles are colored according to the Font Color specified for the 3D View. The shapes of these colored handles are defined in Table 2.

Table 2: Handle shape definitions for planes

Using the Handles

Within the 3D View window, you can click and drag these handles to the new location you want.

Or, for more precise control, you can enter exact values in the Data Editors panel.

See Also:

KEYBOARD ACCESSIBILITY AND SHORTCUTS

While FreeFlow was not designed for full software accessibility, it does offer some limited features for keyboard control. For example:

TO VIEW THE FULL KEYBOARD SHORTCUT LIST:

See Also:

FILE TYPES AND FOLDERS IN FREEFLOW FILE

There are several unique file types and folders used in FreeFlow, and several common ones. Use the tables below to identify when and why certain file types and/or folder locations are used.

Note: Only the simulation project file is saved to the directory location you choose. All other files created by FreeFlow (marked as "System" below) are saved to a project subfolder created automatically within the same directory as your project file. System files are critical for FreeFlow functioning and should not be edited, moved, or deleted.

Files you choose to export out of FreeFlow, including animation, image, and data files, are saved to the locations you specify. See the below tables for more detail.

Table 1: File Types Used in FreeFlow

Table 2: Common Folder Locations Used in FreeFlow

Tip: Performing a clean install of FreeFlow may involve renaming and/or archiving these folders after uninstalling FreeFlow and prior to reinstalling it.

See Also:

SIMULATION LOG FILE

The simulation log is one of the solver output files that FreeFlow provides while processing a project. (See also File Types and Folders in FreeFlow). It contains simple information, such as hardware details, to more complex data about the simulation, such as triangles, and contacts information; memory consumption and free memory; and other solver process information.

To access the simulation log file for a specific project, follow the steps below:

The simulation log file is located inside the simulation folder and is named FreeFlow_simulation.FreeFlow20.log (as shown in Figure 1). It is a Text Document, so you can open it with any text editor.

Figure 2.26: Example simulation log file location

FILE CONTENT

Inside the file, information is arranged similarly to the figures shown in this section. Some key areas are enumerated and explained below.

In Figure 2 (shown below), you can see the following:

Figure 2.27: Example simulation log file showing project information

Next, you will see everything that is related to the project setup including the physical models enabled, particle groups defined, materials, boundary limits, solver options, coupling mode, motion frames, and more (Figure 3).

Figure 2.28: Setup information shown in an example simulation log file

After that, the file shows a structure (Figures 4 and 5) that repeats for each output time and contains the following details:

Figure 2.29: Example simulation log file showing project data per output time

Figure 2.30: Example simulation log file showing contacts data per output time

GPU-SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Finally, we have some additional information for simulations with GPU usage. Figures 6-8 show an example of a simulation log file for a project processed with 3 GPUs. The data shown includes the following:

Figure 2.33: GPU memory status shown in the simulation log file