VisualEnvironment 10.7 ReleaseNotes

Visual-Environment 10.
Release Notes
Visual-Environment 10.7
RELEASE NOTES
The documents and related know-how herein provided by ESI Group subject to
contractual conditions are to remain confidential. The CLIENT shall not disclose
the documentation and/or related know-how in whole or in part to any third party
without the prior written permission of ESI Group.
© 2015 ESI Group. All rights reserved.
April 2015
Visual-Environment 10.7 i RELEASE NOTES
© 2015 ESI Group (released: Apr-15)
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Visual-Cast 2
Optimization Workflow -------------------------------------------------------------------2
QuikCAST Support------------------------------------------------------------------------3
Grid Definition Support ....................................................................................3
Piston Process Condition ................................................................................4
Implicit Mold Process Condition ......................................................................4
Cooling Process Condition ..............................................................................5
Contact Resistance Process Condition ...........................................................5
CCT and TTT Diagram Display --------------------------------------------------------6
Standalone DataCAST -------------------------------------------------------------------7
Other Updates ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7
Bug Fixes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
Limitations ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
ProCAST Solver 2015.0 Updates -------------------------------------------------- 11
Main Updates ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Improved User Functions Capabilities ---------------------------------------------- 11
Other Updates---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Limitations--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Visual-Mesh (Cast) 12
CAD Import ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Change / Convert Length Units ------------------------------------------------------ 12
Surface Selection------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12
Surface Repair --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
Volume Computation ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
Topo Mesh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
Check Surface Mesh ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15
3D Mesh Quality Checks -------------------------------------------------------------- 15
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15
Visual-Viewer (Cast) 16
CAFE Histogram------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
CAFE Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
CAFE Pole Figure ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
Bug Fixes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Known Issues ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Core Dump Tracker 20

Installation Requirements 22
On UNIX/Linux--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Hardware ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
CONTENTS
RELEASE NOTES ii Visual-Environment 10.7
(released: Apr-15) © 2015 ESI Group
Linux ..............................................................................................................22
Software ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Shell Compliance ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22
On Windows ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23
Licensing System 24
Types of Licenses ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Feature System ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Context System ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
List of Compatible Contexts----------------------------------------------------------- 25
Token System --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Number of Tokens by Context ------------------------------------------------------- 25
Used Tokens in a Session ------------------------------------------------------------ 26
Synthesis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27
List of Third Party Components Not Included in Either Context or
Token -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28
License Strategy Configuration ----------------------------------------------------- 29
License Strategy Manager ----------------------------------------------------------- 30
myESI Customer Portal 32

Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
CONTENTS
Visual-Environment 10.7 1 RELEASE NOTES
INTRODUCTION
Visual-Environment 10.7 is an update release after VE 10.5 to address customer-
specific requirements in the following applications:
Visual-Cast is the single integrated environment for all of your casting needs. The pre-
processor helps in model set-up, aided by definition of physics on topology and tailored
process flowchart using integrated Visual-Process. Visual-Cast is also linked to
Thermodynamic Databases for the automatic determination of the material properties.
Visual-Mesh (Cast) is a complete meshing tool for Casting and other volume based
applications. This supports a multi-model environment with model explorer and
powerful display controls. It facilitates import of CAD and mesh data from various
sources, repair CAD geometry, assembly of volumes, generation of surface mesh,
validation and correction of surface mesh and finally generation of volume meshes.
Visual-Viewer (Cast) is the visualization and plotting tool that helps in analyzing
ProCAST and QuikCAST results data within a uniform interface. It performs
automated tasks and generates customized reports, thereby increasing engineer
productivity.
Introduction
RELEASE NOTES 2 Visual-Environment 10.7
VISUAL-CAST
Optimization Workflow
 The Optimization solvers from PAM-OPT are fully integrated with ProCAST
solvers by means of a step-by-step workflow created in Visual-Environment for
process engineers to easily setup, track and post-process the optimization
simulation. The following capabilities are available through this workflow:
o Design of Experiment: This can be used beneficially to detect the
sensitivity of a solution with respect to the variation of the declared
design parameters.
o Optimization: This can be used to determine the best set of casting
process parameters for a given objective.
o Robustness Analysis: This can be beneficial in studying the influence of
stochastic parameters on a solution.
Visual-Cast
o Inverse Modeling (curve fitting): The old ProCAST Inverse module is

back with advanced solvers of PAM-OPT. This can be used to determine
thermo-physical material data or boundary conditions from simple and
well controlled temperature measurements.
QuikCAST Support
Platform convergence for Casting Solutions has progressed further. From Visual-
Environment, one can use the Finite Element approach (ProCAST solvers) or the Finite
Difference approach (QuikCAST solvers). QuikCAST solvers have now become a
module of ProCAST.
Grid Definition Support

Basic functionality of grid definition was supported in VE10.5. In the current version,
all remaining functionalities are supported.
 The following options are available:

o Auto: "Uniform" and "Advanced" options are supported.
o Creating: Create Gridlines with following options are supported:
 User Keyboard Input
 Points
 Min Extents of Regions
 Max Extents of Regions
 Min. Max. Extents of Regions
o Modify: Allows for modification of a grid line location.
o Insert: Allows inserting several grid lines inside of a selected grid line
range.
Visual-Cast
o Delete: Allows deleting several grid lines in a selected grid lines range.
Piston Process Condition
 A new GUI is developed to define piston process condition.

 The piston material can be selected using material database selection.
 The piston velocity can be selected using process condition database selection.
 The piston entities can be selected using region and volume selection buttons.
 The "Gate and runner" selection is enabled only for "Velocity calculator" type.
Implicit Mold Process Condition
 A new GUI is developed to define Implicit mold process condition.

 The Implicit mold material can be selected using material selection.
 The Implicit mold regions can be selected using region selection button.
 Right-click on the "Name" column and click "Add thickness" field for defining
mold thickness for each process condition. The defined thickness will appear in
the bottom of the dialog box.
Visual-Cast
Cooling Process Condition
 The cooling process condition regions can be selected using region selection
button.
 The history points can be selected using list selection.
 The cooling process condition can be selected using process condition selection.
Contact Resistance Process Condition
 The Contact resistance process condition is supported inside interface folder.

 The Contact resistance region can be selected using region selection button.
 The Contact resistance process condition can be selected using process condition
selection.
Existing capabilities of QuikCAST supported in Visual-Cast are as follows:
 PMF file loading for flow and thermal cases
 Ability to define/Edit grid
 Access to QuikCAST material database
 Support of following Boundary Conditions:
Visual-Cast
o Hydraulic Conditions: Initial Fluid (Only Initial), Inlet, Pressure (Only

Imposed), Velocity, Flow paths, Permeability, Region Roughness and
Piston
o Thermal Conditions: Temperature, Heat Transfer Coefficient, External
Exchange, Die coating, Heat Flux, Thermal coefficients, Die Spray,
Mold Opening, Third stage effect, Implicit Mold, Cooling and Contact
Resistance
CCT and TTT Diagram Display
 CCT / TTT diagrams are now supported in material editor.
Visual-Cast
 Selecting a “CCT/TTT Data” in the Microstructure tab will bring up the

CCT/TTT tab.
 The CCT/TTT tab allows the user to edit and create their own CCT/TTT
diagrams by specifying the Start/End temperatures, Min/Max cooling rate, etc.
Standalone DataCAST
Standalone DataCAST executable can be launched using <VE installation
folder>\Windows-x64\Tools\VDBTools\datacast.cmd batch file.
Usage: <VE installation folder>\Windows-x64\Tools\VDBTools\datacast.cmd <vdb
file prefix><version><options>
Versions: 20150, 20145, 20140 etc.
Options: -d -l -u -v –coin
 -u: Stands for "update", it should only be used if INILEV is not zero. If "-u" is
used, it means all the result files (t.unf, u.unf, p.unf... etc.) from previous
calculation are to be kept.
 -v: Is what will be very helpful for debugging, it writes out coordinate and
connectivity data.
 -d: Check for zero or negative volumes. Bad elements will be printed
 -coin: Check for error in coincident interface and free face compatibility.
OTHER UPDATES
 In Simulation Parameters, the APM tab, an option to enter 3 coordinates of a
pressure point for contiguous casting type, is introduced.
 A second generation of the Advanced Porosity Module APM (beta version) is
now available with new parallel version.
 Pre-defined output criterion (used for Optimization): Mean and Variance option
are added for shrinkage porosity.
 User function capabilities for Displacement in X, Y and Z.
 Process Condition without assigning DB entry or the entity will give warning in
Data Checks.
 If the interface Alloy-Filter has been defined as COINC an error is generated in
Data Checks.
 Spraying effect in Die Combo.
 Start Simulation ->Options tab “Export d.dat” is introduced. If this option is ON,
on DataCAST or on RUN, <prefix>d.dat is exported in the project folder.
NOTE: This option is yet in BETA state.
Visual-Cast
BUG FIXES
 Inconel 713 solidus property was wrong in public database. This is corrected.
 Enclosure regions coming from .mesh format (6 4 cards) were not listed in
Process Condition manager. This is now fixed.
 Open a d.dat file with a cafe setup (in the folder, where d.dat, p.dat and mica.d
are available). Save the model as vdb and start the simulation. The mica.d
disappears from the folder. This now works fine.
 Using the Mass Flow Rate Calculator, the initial temperature is set to default to
273°C. Changing this value to the casting temperature and compute the
boundary conditions which results in a new temperature which is 273 °C higher
than the chosen casting temperature. This unit conversion issue is addressed.
 When no material is assigned to volume and MICRO is ON, solver RUN was
causing a stability issue. This issue is now fixed.
 During creation of symmetry process condition and frequently changing regions
was causing a stability issue. This issue is now fixed.
 When trying to create a QuikCAST job entirely in visual and use Computherm
to generate material data, the QuikCAST solver wouldn't launch. This issue is
now fixed.
 The unit for average temperature parameter in Die spray was wrong. This issue
is fixed.
 When pmf file is imported, the contiguous selection is not always working in
element face. This issue is now fixed.
LIMITATIONS
 The following are not supported in d.dat reading:
o 2D Model - Loading will terminate in this case.
o Reading d.dat files of ProCAST version below 2008.1 - Will continue to
load. It allows for checking and making necessary changes if required in
GUI.
 Extraction/Mapping functionality is not supported for MILE cases.
 To run solver from "Start Simulation" GUI, the solver path must have solver
version number. Example: 2014.0 or 2013.5, etc. This path should not have any
"." in the path other than version number.
 Loading <prefix>d.dat files with special characters in material name may
sometimes fail in Linux versions. Workaround: Edit such files and rename
material by removing special characters.
 For defining "Run List" in "Start Simulation" having user functions, selected
cases should belong to the same drive.
 In "Start Simulation" -hostlist can be specified only in option1.
 In "Start Simulation" on Windows platform, avoid specifying both -hostlist in
option1 and hostfile together.
Visual-Cast
 When several files are appended to the existing model, volume should be
checked for unique name. Unique volume names should be maintained in order
to update regions correctly.
 If mold and alloy are connected by a line of common nodes instead of interfaces,
solver will throw error when launched. Workaround: Create COINC nodes at
these locations in Visual-Mesh.
 Frequencies defined, for example, TFREQ, VFREQ, cannot be changed when
calling "Restart". Workaround: Use extract and define new TFREQ and
VFREQ.
 User functions should be defined always in CGS units.
 .sm files (for example, with enclosures for radiation problems) should be
appended to the existing model only after loading/appending other files.
 The Stress calculations are not supported in new multi-radius accordion
calculations.
 Computation of m and k values using back diffusion method on LINUX
platform is not correct. Workaround: Use Scheil, Lever, or Compute on
Windows platform.
 APM, HCS, CAFE in post-processor mode are not fully compatible with the
new storage frequency capabilities.
 Ladle Calculator and Mass Flow Calculator panels show temperature value in
Celsius unit. The unit selected in ‘Cast Preferences’ is not reflected in these
panels.
 The units selected in the ‘Cast Preferences’ are not reflected in the database
editor.
 Avoid special characters in project folder path (name). Solver fails to launch if
the folder name contains special characters.
 QuikCAST is not supported on Linux platforms.
 While importing ‘vdb’ files saved in previous version that contain wrap process
condition values, the 'Heat Vs. Thickness' curve is not displayed in the wrap
database. It is advised to redefine heat values for different thickness input as
explained in the user manual.
 'Run Multi-Stage' on Linux will run the batch file in the same shell window that
will start running the solver. Hence, it is advised to 'Generate' batch file and data
separately, and then launch this batch file.
 During pmf file import, if default regions have been renamed, then the file
import fails. The user has to rename it manually in QuikCAST and then import.
 All the Initial conditions imported from a pmf are treated as "Initial" as default.
When Pressure/Velocity bc is present in the model and these BC's are applied to
the volumes having fill % 100, then the initial fluid condition will be set as
"Imposed". In VE10.5, "Imposed" was the default option.
 All the thermal process conditions are applicable to both Filling and
Solidification. If exemesh fails for some pmf files, try again after computing
volumes.
 On systems with AMD graphic cards, if you experience stability issues when
displaying the model, toggle off ‘Enable optimized rendering’ option in the
Visual-Cast
Graphics tab of Preferences panel (To post this panel, select File > Preferences
from the menu).
Visual-Cast
PROCAST SOLVER 2015.0 UPDATES

Main Updates
 The dimensionless Niyama porosity model has been introduced and allows for
micro-porosity calculations, which take into account the alloy properties.
 The interpenetrating mesh algorithm has been redesigned to lower the mesh
dependency and better model shot piston, open mold foaming, etc.
 A second generation of the Advanced Porosity Module APM (beta version) has
been developed for shrinkage and gas porosity defects, taking into account the
liquid pressure. Performance in terms of memory requirement and solving time
(DMP version) has been significantly improved.
Improved User Functions Capabilities

 User functions func_sprayhtc() and func_spraytemp() have been implemented to
handle complex spaying effects.
Other Updates
 Shrinkage porosity algorithm has been reviewed and calculation time is reduced
compared to previous versions.
 The oxidation algorithm has been enhanced and the user can now modify β
parameter (growth coefficient to model oxygen pick up at free surface) in the
inclusion equation.
 Improved stability, solution quality and robustness for FLOW at Pool model
switch and in the mushy zone.
 For Optimization, extension of capabilities for more advanced output criterion
(new results and computation zone)
 JUNCTION criteria, such as “oxides”, “front tracking”, “material age” and
“flow length “can now be used independently for Optimization outputs criteria.
Files size generated through usage of CAFÉ coupling has been significantly
reduced.
Limitations
 For pressure inlet driven cases, like Lost Foam, it is recommended to reduce the
convergence parameter PCONVTOL to 1e-04 for better convergence.
 New fluid flow solver does not yet support the cases with Accordion.
 For ductile iron, it is advised to ignore P and S components that could prevent
computation of ferrite and pearlite phases.
Visual-Cast
VISUAL-MESH (CAST)
CAD Import
 New CAD formats support: AutoCAD files with extension *.dxf, *.dwg is
supported (versions 2.5 to 2014on Windows only).
 STL Import: Improved STL import. Nodes are fused within parts at the time of
import.
Change / Convert Length Units
Dialog has been modified to provide additional information of length unit conversion.
Surface Selection
 When CAD parts are displayed in feature-line mode, surfaces can be selected by
picking on the internal feature lines:
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Surface Repair
 For ‘Delete Edges’ function, entity selector is enabled with which multiple
edges can be selected using rectangle pick.
Volume Computation
 More meaningful status of representation of volumes is provided in Compute
volume dialogs. Create-Cavities option is also provided in this message box
itself now:
 New option “Compute Volumes at Model Import Stage” has been added to
control volume computation at the time of model import. This is required for
STL meshes used in finite difference analysis:
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Topo Mesh
 For ‘Delete Edges’ function, entity selector is enabled, with which multiple
 Unfix Mesh: If mesh on some surfaces is fixed, it can be unfixed with this
option.
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Check Surface Mesh
Bad Quality option is disabled for the Coarse Mesh scheme to support STL meshes used
in finite difference analysis (like QuikCAST simulations). It is not important to have
high quality elements, since the STL is only used to define volumes.
3D Mesh Quality Checks

 Computation performance has been improved.
LIMITATIONS
 Due to up gradation of Interop to R25, to support new CAD formats, there may
be regression in STEP and ProE files import.
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Limitations
VISUAL-VIEWER (CAST)
CAFE Histogram
This tool plots the histogram of different stereological parameters like grain size, grain
orientation and shape factor. The analysis can be done only on one section cut. If there
are more than one section cuts, the latest visible section cut will be considered. The
entry in menu will be disabled if there is no section cut or if the result applied is not of
CAFE.
 Options
o Grain Orientation Deviation: This is the deviation of grain with respect
to defined orientation axis.
o Grain Size: This is the cut area of grain, sliced by the section cut plane.
o Shape Factor: This is an indicator of the shape of the grain. The value ~1
means the grain is close to a disk.
CAFE Statistics
This tool displays the statistics of grain size, orientation as well as grain stereological
information. The analysis can be done only on one section cut. If there are more than
one section cuts, the latest visible section cut will be considered. The entry in menu will
be disabled if there is no section cut or if the result applied is not of CAFE.
Visual-Viewer (Cast)
CAFE Pole Figure

This tool displays the stereographic representation of grain orientation with respect to a
[001] axis. The analysis can be done only on one section cut. If there are more than one
section cuts, the latest visible section cut will be considered. The entry in menu will be
disabled if there is no section cut or if the result applied is not of CAFE.
BUG FIXES
 Changing context from Visual-Viewer Cast to Visual-Cast was not loading
corresponding .pmf file in case of QuikCAST set-up. This issue is now fixed.
 QuikCAST tilt models were not animating properly. This issue is now fixed.
KNOWN ISSUES
 Updating APM results during solver run may sometimes crash the application.
 If you select 'View'>Home Page when a model is active, the Contour dialog still
remains. If you select a different result, when the model is displayed, the contour
colors will not be correct. Workaround: This can be corrected by selecting the
result again or by posting the Spectrum dialog.
 If more than one Principal stress is selected for display as vectors, its maximum
value will not be displayed properly in the legend.
 If units are changed in the cut-off mode, contours will not be displayed properly.
You are advised to change it in the snapshot mode and then switch to cut-off
mode.
 During copying and pasting of model from one window or page to another, the
image may not be displayed as expected. Workaround: The model is displayed
properly by pressing 'F', i.e. fitting the model within the window.
 During CAFE result display, sometimes the model is not refreshed.
Workaround: Click on the model window and rotate.
 In deform export, coincident and equivalent interfaces are detected using
<prefix>ff.unf file. If this file is not present, then the exported file will not be
proper. It is then recommended to export only the final single part to be
imported into DEFORM rather than the whole model, as DEFORM manages
interface differently.
 In case of Profile plotting for dynamic models like MILE, the profile created at
one step will give incorrect result if plotted during another step.
LIMITATIONS
 Template does not support calculated particles, free surface / point XY-plotting.
 Entity Selector may become inactive in some situations. To activate it again,
activate the model window and press Escape key.
 Volume of porosity computation is linked to the mesh size; consequently, this is
an approximated value.
 For QuikCAST models, tilt and explode cannot be applied simultaneously.
Bug Fixes
 Exporting the evolution curves plotted has a problem. If the curve names are not
present in the "Page/File View" tab, exporting two or more curves by pressing
Control key and right clicking will give error.
 Stress tensors are not displayed on mold.
 To view solver calculation status in "Calculation Monitoring" GUI, the solver
path must have solver version number. Example: 2013.5 or 2013.0, etc.
 Misrun is caused by a combined effect of viscosity and permeability. The risk
indicator is not applicable to thixo casting since the metal at inlet is already in
the mushy zone.
 Unit conversion is not supported for "Temperature gradient" results. It is always
displayed in K/cm units.
 The model path should have write permission.
 Since the Inclusion Particle Tracking tool acts in post-processing mode, it relies
on the frequency of the result storage, controlled by the run parameter VFREQ.
With high values of VFREQ, there may be too little information to displace the
trace. Therefore, the results may not be very accurate, with the trace leaving the
alloy domain. In that case it is advised to reduce VFREQ.
Limitations
CORE DUMP TRACKER

You can register any crash that occurs while you are working with Visual-Environment
through the Core Dump Tracker utility. This utility is available only on Windows
systems.
Whenever the application crashes, you will see the following dialog box:
 Click on ‘Send Error Report’ to send the report and close both the dialog box
and the application.
 Click on ‘Don’t Send’ to close the dialog box and the application without
sending a report.
 Click on ‘View Report Details…’ to check details of the report that will be
sent. You will see the following dialog listing of the files that will be sent:
Core Dump Tracker

 By default, the check box to send additional files is OFF and only the files
marked with a ‘*’ against their name will be sent.
 To send the additional files, check the box ON.
Please note that the session file is not sent by default.
You can also set the following variables in the VisualEnvrc.bat file residing in your
‘Site’ folder to customize the settings:
 If you wish to send your session file, add the following line:
set VHOST_COREDUMPTRACKERFILES_ENABLE=1
 If you do not want to use the Core Dump Tracker, add the following line:
set VHOST_COREDUMPTRACKER_ENABLE=0
We would appreciate your help to improve your experience with Visual-Environment by
sending us a report through this utility. We assure you that the information you send us
will be used only to solve the reported problem and confidentiality of the information
will be fully maintained.
Core Dump Tracker

INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS
ON UNIX/LINUX
Hardware
 1 gigabyte of RAM recommended.
 2 GB main memory and fastest CPU is recommended for large CAD/FE model
operations.
 OpenGL hardware graphic accelerator (highly recommended). Systems without
an OpenGL graphic board will perform significantly slower.
 4.4 GB disk (free) space for complete installation.
 Super VGA monitor with the following settings:
o Screen resolution set to at least 1280 x 1024.
o Small fonts selected.
 Three button mouse (middle button required for dynamic rotations in graphic
window).
Linux
 Visual 64-Bit version: GlibC 2.5 (RedHat EL 5/6, SUSE 11).
Software
 Unix/Linux OS (Refer to the file README_Visual-Environment_10.7 under
info directory for system requirement details).
 You need to have any product able to display pdf files (like Adobe Reader – see
www.adobe.com).
 You need to have any product able to display Html files (like Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.).
Shell Compliance
 csh and its variant tcsh are supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 ksh is supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 bash is supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 sh is supported in the following cases:
o HP HP-UX: /usr/bin/sh (Posix compliant).
o SUN SOLARIS: /usr/xpg4/bin/sh (Xpg4 compliant).
Old sh implementations are not supported. Future Posix sh implementations will
be supported.
Installation Requirements
On UNIX/Linux
ON WINDOWS
 Visual 64-Bit version:
o Windows 8.1 with Update
o Windows Server 2012 R2 with Update
o Windows 7 SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
o Windows Vista SP2
o Windows Server 2008 SP2
Note: On Windows Vista, it is recommended to work with “Classic” theme.
 Administrative privileges recommended during installation.
 x86 or x64 compatible processors (Intel, AMD …).
 2 gigabytes of RAM recommended.
 OpenGL hardware graphic accelerator (highly recommended). A minimum of
OpenGL 1.2 compatible drivers. Systems without an OpenGL graphic board
will perform significantly slower.
 4.6 GB disk (free) space required in the Program Files folder.
window).
On Windows
LICENSING SYSTEM
TYPES OF LICENSES
Three different types of licenses exist:
 FEATURE: Licenses based on features.
 CONTEXT: Licenses based on contexts count.
o VISUAL_CONTEXT1: One context can be used.
o VISUAL_CONTEXT2: Two contexts can be used simultaneously.
o VISUAL_CONTEXT3: Three or more contexts can be used
simultaneously.
 TOKEN: Licenses based on tokens count.
o Each context is converted in VISUAL_TOKEN tokens.
o Usage of contexts increases the number of tokens requested.
In all cases, a VISUAL_BASE seat is required to launch Visual-Environment.
FEATURE SYSTEM
 It is the previous licensing system.
 To add flexibility, two strategies to checkout the features are proposed:
o On Init: The features are requested during the initialization phase.
o On Fly: The features are requested during the usage, when entering the
contexts.
 Unavailable contexts (no licenses) are now grayed in Context bar and Context
Manager.
 VISUAL_BASE seat required to launch VE.
CONTEXT SYSTEM
 This system is based on the number of contexts to be used.
 There are three options:
simultaneously.
 Selected contexts can be managed and modified during the session using the
Context Manager in the Context bar.
 Third-party options are not converted in contexts and require standard features.
Licensing System
Types of Licenses
List of Compatible Contexts

All contexts except:
 Visual-Seal
 Visual-Process Builder
 Visual-CAD Clean
 All contexts from Visual-Seat Solution.
TOKEN SYSTEM
 This system is based on the usage of VISUAL_TOKEN tokens.
 Each context is converted in tokens.
 Depending of the usage, tokens are requested.
o The number of tokens actually used is computed in a way to limit the
maximum number of tokens used in a single session (maximum of 12
tokens per session).
 Third-party options are not converted in tokens and require standard features.
Number of Tokens by Context

All contexts check out 6 tokens except:
 Visual-Mesh: 4 tokens
 VisualDSS: 2 tokens
 Visual-Seal: not available in Tokens mode
 Visual-SDK: not available in Tokens mode
Licensing System
Token System
Used Tokens in a Session
Used tokens in a session
14
18 30
12
12 12
10
Tokens cost
8
6 Tokens taken
6
6
4
2
0
0
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Sum of tokens
 From 0 to 6 tokens (first context): Full “tokens price”.

 From 6 to 18 tokens (second and third contexts): Half “tokens price”.
 More than 18 tokens (Three and more contexts): No more tokens taken.
 One VISUAL_BASE seat by session.
This doesn’t apply to the contexts of Visual-Seat and Visual-DIEMAKER where the
full tokens price is taken.
Licensing System
Token System
SYNTHESIS
Compatibility of applications versus strategy:
Application name FEATURE CONTEXT TOKENS
Visual-Process Executive VISUAL_PROCESS_EXECUTIVE 6
Visual-Mesh VISUAL_MESH 4
Visual-Viewer VISUAL_VIEWER 6
Visual-OPT VISUAL_OPT 6
VisualDSS VISUAL_COMPOSER 2
Visual-Seal VISUAL_SEAL
Visual-Crash PAM VISUAL_CRASH_PAM 6
Visual-Crash DYNA VISUAL_CRASH_DYNA 6
Visual-Crash RAD VISUAL_CRASH_RAD 6
Visual-Safe VISUAL_SAFE 6
Visual-Safe MAD VISUAL_SAFE_MAD 6
Visual-Shock VISUAL_HVI 6
Visual-Seat Single Core Model VISUAL_SEAT_BASE 6*
Visual-Seat Trim Manufacturing VISUAL_SEAT_TRIMMANUF 3*
Visual-Seat Static Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_STATICCOMF 3*
Visual-Seat Whiplash VISUAL_SEAT_WHIPLASH 3*
Visual-Seat Dynamic Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_DYNAMICCOMF 3*
Visual-Seat Thermal Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_THERMALCOMF 3*
Visual-MEDYSA VISUAL_MEDYSA 6
Visual-Life NASTRAN VISUAL_LIFE_NASTRAN 6
Visual-SYSTUS VISUAL_SYSTUS 6
Visual CFD VISUAL_CFD 6
Visual-CEM VISUAL_CEM 6
Visual-VTM VISUAL_RAYON 6
Visual-Cast VISUAL_CAST 6
Visual-CAD Clean VISUAL_CADCLEAN
Visual-Quoting VISUAL_QUOTING 4
Visual-DIEMAKER VISUAL_DIEMAKER 12*
Licensing System
Synthesis
Visual-Local Model Advisor VISUAL_LMA 6

Visual-Weld VISUAL_WELD 6
Visual-Heat Treatment VISUAL_HT 6
Visual-Materials (Composites) VISUAL_COMPOSITES 6
Visual-FORM VISUAL_FORM 6
Visual-Distortion VISUAL_DISTORTION 6
Visual-RTM VISUAL_RTM 6
Visual-SDK VISUAL_PROCESS_BUILDER
Note: For all applications with a ‘*’ in the tokens column, full tokens are consumed.
LIST OF THIRD PARTY COMPONENTS NOT

INCLUDED IN EITHER CONTEXT OR TOKEN
 The Visual-Environment seat:
o VISUAL_BASE
 The CAD converters:
o VISUAL_CATIA (import CATIA V4 files)
o VISUAL_CATIAV5 (import CATIA V5 files)
o VISUAL_UNIGRAPHICS (import UG files)
o VISUAL_PARASOLID (import Parasolid files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP_STEP (import Step files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP_PROE (import Pro Engineer files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP (Import Pro/E, STEP, ACIS, Inventor, Solid Edge
and SolidWorks files. Inventor, Solid Edge and SolidWorks are
supported on Windows only)
 Thermal properties calculation in Visual-Cast:
 COMPUTHERM_AL
 COMPUTHERM_NI
 COMPUTHERM_FE
 COMPUTHERM_TI
 COMPUTHERM_MG
 COMPUTHERM_CU
 Other tools:
o VISUAL_VKI (to read NASTRAN op2 files)
o VISUAL_RADPAM
o VISUAL_FULLSTS/VISUAL_ALLSTS (for Morphing)
o VISUAL_WISETEX (for Wisetex)
o CRIPTE_BASE (for CRIPTE Tools)
Licensing System
List of Third Party Components Not Included in Either Context or Token
LICENSE STRATEGY CONFIGURATION

License checkout strategy, which will be used by the application, is determined in the
following order:
 The first level of checks is made at the license file level (Enterprise level).
o If ‘USER_INFO’ is specified in the license file, this information will be
used to detect the license strategy.
o This field is managed by the client and not by ESI’s licensing team. It is
one of the very rare modifications that the client is allowed to make in
the license file.
 The second level checks are made at the ‘Site’ installation directory level
(Enterprise level).
o If the ‘checkout_strategy.cfg’ file exists in the Site installation directory,
this shared configuration is used instead of the configuration stored in
User Local Data.
o This can be very useful in a ‘network’ installation configuration.
 The last level of check is at the End User level.
o At this level, if a 'checkout_strategy.cfg' is available under 'User Local
Data', it will be used.
Licensing System
License Strategy Configuration
o Otherwise, the application decides which license strategy to use based on

the information available in the license file. In this case, no
‘checkout_strategy.cfg' file is written.
LICENSE STRATEGY MANAGER

License strategy manager is a tool that allows you to check the available options for
license strategy. You can also redefine the license strategy to be used by the application,
overriding the decision made by the application.
If needed, you can invoke this tool through the desktop shortcut 'Licensing Strategy' on
Windows or by keying in '<alias for VE> -strategy' on Linux systems. The following
dialog will be posted:
Important Note: By default, 'Tokens' is switched on in this dialog. After posting this
dialog, if you select OK, a ‘checkout_strategy.cfg' file will be saved with this
strategy and the application will attempt to use this strategy in the future.
 License Type: Choice between the 3 strategies:

o FEATURE Features based strategy.
o CONTEXT Contexts based strategy using VISUAL_CONTEXT.
o TOKEN Tokens strategy using VISUAL_TOKEN.
 Checkout strategy: In FEATURE strategy, choice of the checkout option:
o ON_INIT To checkout the features On Initialization.
o ON_FLY To checkout the features On Fly when using the context.
 Contexts: In CONTEXT strategy, choice of the option:
o CONTEXT1 To use 1 Context.
o CONTEXT2 To use2 Contexts simultaneously.
o CONTEXT3 To use3 Contexts and more simultaneously.
Licensing System
License Strategy Manager
 Options: Activate a log file to analyze the licenses usage during a session:
o LOGFILE Create log file. The file is stored with the session file.
o Log is also activated when setting FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTICS variable.
 Check the license strategies and license file or server:
o Features OK A VISUAL_BASE seat is available (license system OK).
o Contexts OK VISUAL_CONTEXT are available.
o Tokens OK Some VISUAL_TOKEN are available.
 Usage gives a detailed list of users.
 Defaults: Reset to default (FEATURE ON_FLY).
Licensing System
myESI CUSTOMER PORTAL

INTRODUCTION
ESI Group launched its customer portal, myESI. The primary goal is to provide you
with valuable content.
myESI’s dedicated Visual-Environment and Virtual Integration Platform content is
accessible once you login to myesi.esi-group.com.
With your account, you can benefit from Tips & Tricks and explore worldwide trainings
which are available in the online training schedule. You can also access the download
section with technical documentation, including product manuals, release notes, specific
tutorial guides and add-ons.
Specific to Visual-Environment, you will find the Release Notes.

Under Downloads, you can access ESI’s new license-free and browser-based tool called
ESI-Player, to visualize ESI result files.
The content provided on the portal is continuously updated.
If you do not already have a myESI account, join by clicking on Create new account to
get started!
myESI Customer Portal

Introduction
Visual-Environment 10.5
RELEASE NOTES
The documents and related know-how herein provided by ESI Group subject to
contractual conditions are to remain confidential. The CLIENT shall not disclose
the documentation and/or related know-how in whole or in part to any third party
without the prior written permission of ESI Group.
© 2015 ESI Group. All rights reserved.
January 2015
Visual-Environment 10.5 i RELEASE NOTES
© 2015 ESI Group (released: Jan-15)
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Visual-Environment 6
Usability Updates --------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Delete Dialog Modification ------------------------------------------------------------ 11
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Visual-Assembly 12
Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Pre-Positioning Advisor --------------------------------------------------------------- 13
General Description--------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
Holding Advisor -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
General Description--------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
Guides and Locators ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15
Positioning and Holding Tools ------------------------------------------------------- 16
Visual-Cast 17
Multistage --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
EMAG (Beta) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
Pouring Cup Control -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
QuikCAST Support---------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Other Updates --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
Bug Fixes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
ProCAST Solvers 2014.5 Updates ------------------------------------------------- 22
Main Updates ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Improved User Functions Capabilities ---------------------------------------------- 22
Other Updates---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Limitations--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Visual-Mesh (Cast) 23
CAD Import ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23
Surface Repair --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23
Topo Mesh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
3D Mesh Quality Checks -------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Visual-Viewer (Cast) 25
Mold Erosion Risk ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Export of Model in ERFH5 Format -------------------------------------------------- 25
Inclusion Particle Track ---------------------------------------------------------------- 26
Vector Display Enhanced-------------------------------------------------------------- 26
CONTENTS
RELEASE NOTES ii Visual-Environment 10.5
(released: Jan-15) © 2015 ESI Group
Default fvol Cutoff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 27

Bug Fixes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28
Known Issues ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29
Visual-CEM 30
CEM Solutions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30
Optimized Management of Very Large STL Files ------------------------------- 30
Scaling/Part Segmentation GUI ------------------------------------------------------ 31
Cable Property (Shield Parameters) ------------------------------------------------ 31
Display of Elevation Angle for Monostatic RCS ---------------------------------- 32
Efield Solutions -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
EfieldTD Migration Towards VE ----------------------------------------------------- 33
Display of EfieldFD Probes ----------------------------------------------------------- 34
Display of GFD Entity (General Field Distribution) ------------------------------ 34
Equivalent Electric/Magnetic Current Sources in EfieldFD -------------------- 35
Support of EfieldTD Wires in Visual-CEM ----------------------------------------- 36
Support of EfieldTD Lumped Elements Assigned to Line Geometry -------- 36
Support for Modeling of Printed Strip Glass Antennas ------------------------- 37
EfieldFD SWE Setup ------------------------------------------------------------------- 38
Export of Part Setup to EfieldFD bem File----------------------------------------- 38
Saving of EfieldFD System Matrix and Right Hand Side in Visual-
CEM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
Specifying Type of Ground Plane in EfieldFD ------------------------------------ 39
Visual-CFD 40
Explorer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 41
Primitive Parts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42
Volume Parts ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44
Heat Exchanger-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45
Monitor Surfaces ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 46
Refinement Region --------------------------------------------------------------------- 47
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48
Visual-Crash DYNA 49
New Keyword Support ----------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Sectional Properties -------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Other Updates --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52
Bug Fixes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53
Visual-Crash PAM 54
VPS Solver Format Support ---------------------------------------------------------- 54
Improvements in the Handling of Modular Input Format of VPS 2014 ------ 54
Improvements in Conversion Utilities ----------------------------------------------- 56
Improvements in Acoustic Coupling Visualization ------------------------------- 58
Improvements in MLOAD: Automatic Creation ----------------------------------- 59
Other Updates --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60
Bug Fixes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61
CONTENTS
Visual-Environment 10.5 iii RELEASE NOTES
Visual-Distortion 63
Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63
What’s New for PAM-DISTORTION in Visual-Distortion? --------------------- 65
Solver -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 72
VisualDSS 73
Global/Local Synchronization -------------------------------------------------------- 73
File Server Support --------------------------------------------------------------------- 73
Visual-RTM 74
Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74
What’s New for PAM-RTM in Visual? ---------------------------------------------- 76
Limitations--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82
Solver -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82
Visual-Mesh 83
CAD Import ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83
Surface Repair --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83
2D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84
Topo Mesh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 85
Element Geometry ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 86
Mesh-to-Mesh 87
STL Import -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 87
Shell Split ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 87
2D Grow ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88
Element Geometry ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 89
Visual-Quoting 90
Foreword ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90
Pam-Stamp Quoting Solution on Visual Platform ------------------------------ 90
Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90
Quoting Solution ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91
Project Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 92
Blank Outline ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 93
Nesting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 94
Automatic Reporting -------------------------------------------------------------------- 95
Other Updates --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 96
Known Issues ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 98
Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 98
Visual-Safe 99
Sim-Folder -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99
Visual-Systems 101
CONTENTS
RELEASE NOTES iv Visual-Environment 10.5
Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 101

Library Management------------------------------------------------------------------ 103
Model Visualization ------------------------------------------------------------------- 105
Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 106
Post Processing ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 107
Model Editing --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 108
Known Issues -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 110
Visual-Viewer 111
Support for CFD ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 111
Gray Transparency ------------------------------------------------------------------- 112
Support of EFieldTD and PAMCEM-HF (Beta) for E-field ------------------- 113
Advanced Display for sph and fpm ------------------------------------------------ 114
Op2 to ERF Conversion (Beta) ---------------------------------------------------- 114
Other Updates ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 114
Known Issues -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 115
Limitations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 115
Visual-VTM 116
Improvements in Acoustic Coupling Visualization ----------------------------- 116
Improvements in MLOAD: Automatic Creation --------------------------------- 117
Improvements in Conversion Utilities --------------------------------------------- 117
Bug Fixes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 119
Visual-Weld 120
Foreword -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 120
Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 121
Material ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 122
Heat Source Advisor & Predefined Mesh -------------------------------------- 125
Predefined Mesh ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 125
Heat Source Advisor (Beta) --------------------------------------------------------- 128
Welding Advisor ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 131
General Description------------------------------------------------------------------- 131
Heat Source XML File ---------------------------------------------------------------- 132
Visual-Heat Treatment--------------------------------------------------------------- 133
Stop Clamp ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 133
Contact Management ---------------------------------------------------------------- 133
Other Updates ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 134
Known Issues -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 135
Limitations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 135
Visual-Mesh (Weld) 137

Create Weld Bead -------------------------------------------------------------------- 137
Core Dump Tracker 139

Installation Requirements 141
On UNIX/Linux------------------------------------------------------------------------- 141
Hardware -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 141
CONTENTS
Visual-Environment 10.5 v RELEASE NOTES
Software --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 141

Shell Compliance ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 141
On Windows ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 142
Licensing System 143

Types of Licenses -------------------------------------------------------------------- 143
Feature System ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 143
Context System ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 143
List of Compatible Contexts--------------------------------------------------------- 144
Token System ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 144
Number of Tokens by Context ----------------------------------------------------- 144
Used Tokens in a Session ---------------------------------------------------------- 145
Synthesis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 146
List of Third Party Components Not Included in Either Context or
Token ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 147
License Strategy Configuration --------------------------------------------------- 148
License Strategy Manager --------------------------------------------------------- 149
myESI Customer Portal 151

Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 151
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Visual-EnvironmentTM (VE) is the first brick of the environment for ESI Group’s
leading suite of software products. Visual-EnvironmentTM provides one single
environment that encompasses the complete workflow for realistic simulation based
design. It covers all of the activities of a CAE engineer, starting from interfacing to
CAD formats, CAD cleanup, meshing, assembling the model, model set-up and post-
processing, using a single core extendable compute model. It further provides tools to
automate the tasks through scripts, macros and processes. It is comprised of many
applications dedicated to each task. The following sections detail the different
applications. VE is a multi-model/multi-window/multi-application environment. The
embedded data model offers a very versatile environment where new applications and
interfaces can easily be implemented.
Visual-Assembly is the new-generation, easy-to-use assembly simulation tool
developed in Visual-Environment that encompasses the complete workflow for a
realistic simulation-based design. Visual-Assembly covers all of the activities of
Assembly process starting from the stamped part, to pre-positioning, and to the
holding/clamping procedure. It is a beta version and can be accessed by invoking
VisualEnvironmentBeta.bat script from your installation.
Visual-CAD Clean is provided to quickly repair dirty geometry coming from different
sources.
Visual-Cast is the single integrated environment for all of your casting needs. The pre-
processor helps in model set-up, aided by definition of physics on topology and tailored
process flowchart using integrated Visual-Process. Visual-Cast is also linked to
Thermodynamic Databases for the automatic determination of the material properties.
Visual-Viewer (Cast) is the visualization and plotting tool that helps in analyzing
ProCAST and QuikCAST results data within a uniform interface. It performs
automated tasks and generates customized reports, thereby increasing engineer
productivity. Visual-Mesh (Cast) is a complete meshing tool for Casting and other
volume based applications. This supports a multi-model environment with model
explorer and powerful display controls. It facilitates import of CAD and mesh data from
various sources, repair CAD geometry, assembly of volumes, generation of surface
mesh, validation and correction of surface mesh and finally generation of volume
meshes.
Visual-CEM is a dedicated environment allowing the intuitive and efficient
management of the complete simulation process, when dealing with Computational
Electromagnetics (CEM). Whatever their operating mode (standalone use or coupled
configuration), all electromagnetic solvers appearing in the PAM-CEM Simulation
Suite can be easily addressed and monitored.
Visual-CFD is the new integrated environment for Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD). The current release mainly targets OpenFOAM applications for External
Aerodynamics.
Introduction
Visual-Crash DYNA (VCD) provides LS-Dyna users with fast iteration and rapid
model revision process, from data input to visualization for crashworthiness simulation
and design. This environment provides quick model browsing, advanced mesh editing
capabilities and rapid graphical assembly of system models. VCD allows graphical
creation, modification and deletion of LS-Dyna entities. In VCD, you are provided with
tools for checking model quality and simulation parameters prior to launching
calculations with the solver. These tools help in correcting errors and fine-tuning the
model and simulation before submitting it to the solver, thus saving time and resources.
Visual-Crash PAMTM (VCP) provides PAM-CRASH users with fast iteration and
rapid model revision process, from data input to visualization for crashworthiness
simulation and design. This environment provides quick model browsing, advanced
mesh editing capabilities and rapid graphical assembly of system models. VCP allows
graphical creation, modification and deletion of contacts, materials, constraints, control
cards and all crash entities. In VCP, you are provided with tools for checking model
quality and simulation parameters prior to launching calculations with the solver. These
tools help in correcting errors and fine-tuning the model and simulation before
submitting it to the solver, thus saving precious time and resources. Visual-NVH &
Interior Acoustics skin is mainly dedicated to efficiently computing the vibro-acoustic
response of large size fluid-structure models, including 3D Porous Elastic Media
(PEM), which can be coupled with the structure part and with internal or external fluid
domains.
Visual-Crash RAD (VCR) provides RADIOSS users with fast iteration and rapid
model revision process, from data input to visualization for crashworthiness simulation
and design. This environment provides quick model browsing, advanced mesh editing
capabilities and rapid graphical assembly of system models. VCR allows graphical
creation, modification and deletion of interfaces, materials, control cards and all crash
entities. In VCR, you are provided with tools for checking model quality and simulation
parameters prior to launching calculations with the Solver. These tools help in
correcting errors and fine-tuning the model and simulation before submitting it to the
solver, thus saving time and resources.
Visual-Distortion is used to set up the pre-processor part of the PAM-DISTORTION,
which is used to compute residual stresses and geometrical shape distortions induced by
the manufacturing process of composite parts made of thermoset resins. It accounts for
strains generated by the modification of material properties of the part due to its phase
transformations (liquid > rubbery > glassy). Visual-RTM is part of the Composites
trade available in the Visual-Environment suite. It is an integrated solution for the
manufacturing of composites structural parts made of reinforcements (carbon or glass
fibers) and resin (thermoplastic or thermoset).
VisualDSS is a Simulation Lifecycle Management tool that aims at providing end-to-
end decision-making support for simulations.
Visual-Life NASTRAN (VLN) is a comprehensive, integrated environment for
NASTRAN simulations with powerful enterprise capabilities. VLN is a high-
performance software to manage and assemble large and complex finite element system
models for NASTRAN, NVH and durability analysis with its unique multi-
Introduction
window/multi model environment providing high productivity with powerful

visualization and model browsing.
Visual-Local Model AdvisorTM (VLMA) is a wizard-like tool to help users create
Local Models for PAM-ASSEMBLY. VLMA is very intuitive, with a well-defined
process flow for Local Model creation. VLMA allows users of PAM-ASSEMBLY to
perform welding assembly simulations based on the local-global approach without the
necessity of having knowledge in Nonlinear Finite Element methods.
Visual-Materials (Composites) is another application of Visual-EnvironmentTM that
supports creation and management of Composite materials. It allows for the creation of
Constituent, Reinforcement, Ply and Laminate materials.
Visual-MEDYSA guides PAM-MEDYSA 2G users in building system models for
design optimization and performance validation of complex mechanical systems.
Mechanical systems such as engine, tires, chassis, suspensions, and machinery
transmissions can be modeled with ease in this environment.
Visual-Mesh is a complete meshing tool that supports CAD import, 2D and 3D
meshing and editing for linear and quadratic meshes. Some of the features, which work
only on mesh, will be available in other pre-processor applications (like VCP, VLN,
VCD, VCR, VSM, etc.).
Visual-OPT (VOPT) is a comprehensive solution in Visual-Environment providing a
seamless interface to optimization solvers and DoE studies. It currently supports PAM-
OPT. Only a demo version is available.
The process-oriented philosophy of Visual-Process ExecutiveTM brings a compelling
advantage to Visual-Environment users to build processes quickly by customizing GUIs
and executing them.
Visual-Quoting is an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface to facilitate the efficient
generation of Nesting layout.
Visual-Safe is dedicated to Safety utilities. High productivity tools such as advanced
dummy positioning, seat morphing, belt fitting and airbag folder are provided in this
application. Simulation-based airbag folding is completed supported.
Visual-Safe MAD (VSM) is a complete, efficient and productive CAE environment for
multi-body and finite element occupant safety simulations using MADYMO. It utilizes
the multi-window/multi-model/multi-application environment of VE very efficiently. It
provides complete flexibility of working for both the experienced and the novice
MADYMO users alike. It incorporates a vast database of customer requirements and
over a decade’s worth of feedback.
Visual-Software Development Kit (Visual-SDK) enables customizing/extending
Visual-Environment by providing features required for development of process
templates and macros.
Visual-Seal provides advanced capability and fast-guided model building of Seal
models. It uses the multi-window/multi-model/multi-application environment very
Introduction
efficiently. With visual verification, complete model-building activity can be performed

efficiently.
Visual-Seat is the environment for Virtual Seat Solution, an end-to-end integrated
solution to design, engineer and deliver a safe, lightweight and comfortable seat right
the first time, using Virtual Seat Prototypes.
Visual-Shock (High Velocity Impact) simulation is used to analyze the dynamic
behavior of materials under very high-speed impacts. Visual-Shock supports PAM -
SHOCK users in modeling such material data easily. This typically finds application in
aerospace where you need to understand the damage suffered by a spacecraft when it
encounters space debris, such as micrometeoroids.
Visual-Systems provide tools required to build, simulate and validate multi-domain
modeling systems. These tools include a lot of different libraries, model building,
simulation and post processing. It is beta version and can be accessed by invoking
Visual-SYSTUS is a multi-physics simulation software environment for the SYSTUS
solver. SYSTUS is an implicit code that covers fields as diverse as civil and mechanical
engineering, energy and transportation. Visual-SYSTUS is a high-performance software
to manage complex finite element system models for analysis with its unique multi-
window / multi model environment providing high productivity with powerful
visualization and model browsing. Visual-SYSTUS, as part of the Visual-Environment,
has a sleek, intuitive user interface with a Windows look and feel. All GUIs are
command-driven and can be easily programmed for process automation.
Visual-ViewerTM is a new-generation, post-processing tool with state-of-the-art
plotting utilities. It caters to the requirements of the CAE community. Visual-Viewer is
built on a multi-page / multi-plot environment, which enables you to group the data into
pages and plots. It is designed with an intuitive and sleek user interface with a Windows
look and feel. Complete sessions can be re-run without loss of any data. It is completely
command driven and this enables you to execute commands with ease. With Visual-
Viewer being a multi-page environment, you are allowed to create any number of pages
and you can have up to 16 windows on a single page. These windows can be plot,
animation, video, model or drawing block windows.
Visual-VTM is a plug-in application within Visual-Environment that enables you to set
up a simple trimmed Vibro-Acoustic model. All the inputs (meshes and modal bases)
are already prepared in a NASTRAN format.
Visual-Weld is the new-generation easy to use welding simulation tool developed in
Visual-Environment that encompasses the complete workflow for a realistic simulation
based design. Visual-Weld coupled with Visual-Mesh and Visual-ViewerTM covers all
the activities of a Welding Engineer starting from interfacing to CAD formats, CAD
clean-up, meshing, model set-up, post-processing using one single data model. Visual-
Heat Treatment is the new-generation, easy-to-use Heat-Treatment simulation tool
developed in Visual-Environment that encompasses the complete workflow for a
realistic simulation based design. It offers the full set of Heat Treatment engineering
methodologies needed by designers, process planners and manufacturing practitioners.
Introduction
Visual-Heat Treatment coupled with Visual-Mesh and Visual-Viewer cover all the
activities of a Heat Treatment Engineer starting from interfacing to CAD formats, CAD
cleanup, meshing, model set-up, post processing using one single data model.
Introduction
VISUAL-ENVIRONMENT
Usability Updates
Thumbnail View on Home Page
On the Home Page, a preview of recently opened files is provided to facilitate file
identification. A single click on the thumbnail view immediately opens the
corresponding file.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
Contact Support
You can easily reach the Support team either from the “Help” menu or from the
“Support” link at the bottom of the Home Page.
A click on this item opens a dialog box where you can provide details about your
request. Details will be sent to the local support team for efficient processing of your
request.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
Survey
A gift will be sent out to the 50 first respondents of the survey in recognition of the time
spent to provide valuable feedback.
Interactive Handles Manipulation

Inside the Section Cut and Volume Cut dialogs, an interactive tool has been added for
quickly positioning and resizing. When you move your mouse over a handle, the
relevant axes are shown. Click an axis then drag to move in a specific direction.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
Last Used Option Highlight in Menus

In applicable menus, the last used option is dynamically listed above others for quick
access.
Windows Background Menu

Inside the Window Background menu, standard and custom colors can now be easily
distinguished thanks to the introduction of labeled separators.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
Preferences
When modifying preferences, you are now informed about whether the change will be
applicable immediately, on model reload, or on application restart.
Dock/Undock Window
More explicit icons are used to represent dock and undock window actions and make
them easier to identify.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
Delete Dialog Modification

The Delete dialog, which gets opened by right-clicking explorer and choosing Delete
menu or graphically selecting entities in the 3D window and pressing Delete key, has
been modified to make it more meaningful.
 The icon has been changed to warning sign to indicate associated risk.
 Message in the dialog is reformulated for better understanding.
 ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ button are closely placed and the ‘Details’ button icon is
oriented vertically to show the correct state of the dialog.
Before After
LIMITATIONS
 The modified date of the recently opened file will not be displayed in Home
Page.
Visual-Environment
Limitations
VISUAL-ASSEMBLY
Introduction
Virtual Product Engineering solutions enables you to virtually manufacture and
assemble, part by part, end-to-end and physically realistic virtual products and
components, long before their physical prototypes can be tested. The benefits include
reduced costs in both design and manufacturing as physical prototyping and testing is
dramatically reduced.
Visual-Assembly is specially designed for this purpose. It offers the possibility to
position the different Stamp deformed parts inside the reference point system and to
hold the components inside the clamping system before spot welding and/or seam
welding. It offers a complete step by step procedure to assemble the components,
thereby giving to the manufacturing practitioners an insight into the stresses, strains and
distortions occurring during the process.
Visual-Assembly is a new-generation, easy-to-use assembly simulation tool developed
in Visual-Environment that encompasses the complete workflow for a realistic
simulation based design. Visual-Assembly covers all the activities of the Assembly
process starting from the stamped part to pre-positioning and to the holding/clamping
procedure. It consists of two advisors, Pre-Positioning and Holding, which provide an
easy step-by-step procedure for performing an assembly. The value proposition is to
keep the distortion of the Stamp-Weld chaining assembly manufacturing processes
within tolerances. Visual-Assembly also enables product performance improvement by
taking into account all Stamp-Weld Manufacturing effects upfront in the design process,
when it is necessary.
Note: Visual-Assembly is a beta version and can be accessed by invoking
Visual-Assembly
PRE-POSITIONING ADVISOR
General Description
Pre-Positioning advisor is an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you to
import the deformed mesh after stamping, map the stamped key data results, such as
plastic strain, stresses and variable thickness if available, and create different tools, such
as Guides, Locators and Clamps, to build the Reference Point System (RPS) on which
the different components will be positioned. The complete workflow is represented as
different steps and you are efficiently guided to complete the set-up with minimum
input.
Pre-Positioning advisor allows automatic generation of Input Data needed for the
solver. Once the positioning simulation is performed, you can directly check if the
different components are well positioned inside the reference point system and the GAP
between the components satisfy the geometrical tolerance. When this operation is done,
the model is ready for the next holding step.
Visual-Assembly
Pre-Positioning Advisor
HOLDING ADVISOR
General Description
Holding advisor is an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you to define
the clamping system that will be used to press the components together inside the
reference point system to reduce the GAP between the components before any joining
operation. You can import the geometry and mesh of the assembly after prepositioning,
define, automatically, the shape and the location of the clamps and finally the sequence
in which the holding has to be performed. During the computation, the motion of the
clamp will operate automatically based on the information you provide. The complete
workflow is represented as different steps and you are efficiently guided to complete the
set-up with minimum input.
The use of the Holding advisor enables optimization of the holding process by
modifying various process parameters such as the number and the position of clamps,
clamp offset, different types of shapes used for clamps and also the sequence in which
the holding has to be performed.
Holding advisor allows for generation of the Input data for the next operation which can
be any joining operation through Visual-Weld or Weld Planner. It exports the M01 files
which contain the result information such as the Stresses, the Plastic Strains and the
Variable Thickness. The deformed geometry and mesh is also exported with a single
click and the model will be ready for the next Joining/Welding process simulation.
Visual-Assembly
Holding Advisor
GUIDES AND LOCATORS

In order to achieve proper Pre-Positioning, tools such as Locator Pins and Guides are
used. The Locator Pin helps in guiding the components precisely through the holes and
the Guides act as dampeners which will allow the tool to move down slowly.
Tools such as Guides and Locator Pins can be created with minimum effort.
Visual-Assembly
Guides and Locators
POSITIONING AND HOLDING TOOLS

During Pre-Positioning, while the Locator Pins and Guides allow for precise positioning
of the components, the structure, as such, is held in proper position by the Clamps.
Generally, in Pre-Positioning, stable/rigid tools are used to act as a bench. These tools
hold the structure via contacts created.
Types of Clamps that can be created are:
Stable (Fixed)
Translational (Movable)
The clamps can be of any shape. Following are some of the supported Clamp shapes.
Visual-Assembly
Positioning and Holding Tools
VISUAL-CAST
Multistage
 Option to define zero displacement regions. Here, any type of region can be
selected for zero displacement condition.
 If the model contains virtual mold, same will be hidden automatically and
removed from following operations.
EMAG (Beta)
Electromagnetics (EM) problems, such as EM stirring or induction heating, can now be
defined. Following process conditions can be set:
1. Voltage
2. Integrated current
3. Magnetic Flux Density
4. Magnetic scalar potential
Important Note: EMAG capabilities are not part of the standard solver of ProCAST. In
order to use these new functionalities with ProCAST, please contact your local support.
Visual-Cast
Pouring Cup Control
 Pouring Cup GUI is improved for better user experience. You can now define
the level of the metal in the pouring cup.
QuikCAST Support
QuikCAST 2014.0 is now accessible through Visual-Cast in VE 10.5 in line with the
ESI Casting Simulation Solution, ProCAST. This version does not contain the full
scope of capabilities of QuikCAST, although already a strong basis is available with
already integrated QuikCAST capabilities (as detailed below) and the benefit of the
existing Visual-Cast.
It is intended to migrate the remaining QuikCAST capabilities (especially advanced
grid definition, implicit mold, remaining process conditions, cycle and core blowing) in
the coming Visual versions.
Visual-Cast
Existing capabilities of QuikCAST support in Visual-Cast are as follows:

 PMF file loading for flow and thermal cases.
 Grid Definition dialog (Only Auto tab is supported).
 Ability to save grid info into the .vdb file.
 Access to QuikCAST material database.
 Support of following Boundary Conditions:
o Hydraulic Conditions
 Initial Fluid
 Inlet
 Pressure
 Velocity
 Flow paths
 Permeability
 Region Roughness
o Thermal Conditions
 Temperature
 Heat Transfer Coefficient
 External Exchange
 Die coating
 Heat Flux
 Thermal coefficients
 Die Spray
 Mold Opening
 Third stage effect
OTHER UPDATES
 Improved support for p.dat: p.dat import (PreCAST models). Now extract
results (from .ini file) can be imported (supports Temperature, Porosity, FVOL,
Stress and Domain Displacement).
 Model comments are now included in the summary report.
 Predefined output criterion can now be defined with sphere and cylinder in
preparation for next version but will not be taken into account by ProCAST.
BUG FIXES
 Data-Check used to show an erroneous message that flow properties of semi-
solid materials were missing. Now, this error message is corrected.
 Setting gravity to zero was not possible. Now this is made possible.
 It was difficult to add a new User Function to the version. Now this is addressed.
The new User Function should only be copied to <version-
folder>\COMMON\Resources\VisualCast\UserFunctions.
Visual-Cast
Other Updates
 To set-up multistage simulation, the project folder should be writable. There was
no warning to the user if it is read-only. This is fixed.
 If the solver is re-run in the project folder where there are already existing files,
the same was not cleaned properly before running. Particularly the post-
processed files prefixe1.unf, prefixe2.unf, prefixe3.unf, prefixex.unf,
prefixey.unf, prefixez.unf, prefixexy.unf, prefixeyz.unf and prefixexz.unf. This
is cleaned correctly now.
 Selection of Elasto-Plastic Stress type when the material is defined using
digitized hardening curve was not possible. The Elasto-Plastic option simply is
not available in right-click menu if table option is selected for strain hardening.
This is now made possible.
 Defining displacement process condition was always showing ‘cm’ unit. But,
the entry was taken as ‘m’ unit. This is fixed.
 Now volume ID’s are displayed in explorer listing. Ex. “1=>Steel-Mold-Low”
first number is ID of the volume.
 In simulation parameters it was not possible to give small values Ex. 2.0e-5 to
PERGROW. Now this is fixed.
 Virtual Mold cases were not supported in multistage. This is now supported.
 Sometimes when material properties were generated, solid fraction curve would
have several inputs for the same solidus temperature. This is now automatically
cleaned.
 Transfer of intf.db from old version to VE10.0 was not working properly. This is
fixed.
 Issue with wrong temperature units during transfer of matl.db into Visual is now
corrected.
LIMITATIONS
 The following are not supported in d.dat reading.
o 2D Model - Loading will terminate in this case.
o Reading d.dat files of ProCAST version below 2008.1 - Will continue to
load. It allows checking and making necessary changes if required in
GUI.
 Extraction/Mapping functionality is not supported for MILE cases.
 To run solver from "Start Simulation" GUI, the solver path must have solver
version number. Example: 2014.0 or 2013.5, etc. This path should not have any
"." in the path other than version number.
 Loading <prefix>d.dat files with special characters in material name may
sometimes fail in Linux versions. Workaround: Edit such files and rename
material by removing special characters.
 For defining "Run List" in "Start Simulation" having user functions, selected
cases should belong to the same drive.
 In "Start Simulation" -hostlist can be specified only in option1.
Visual-Cast
Limitations
 In "Start Simulation" on Windows platform, avoid specifying both -hostlist in

option1 and hostfile together.
 When several files are appended to the existing model, volume should be
checked for unique name. Unique volume names should be maintained in order
to update regions correctly.
 If mold and alloy are connected by a line of common nodes instead of interfaces,
solver will throw error when launched. Workaround: Create COINC nodes at
these locations in Visual-Mesh.
 Frequencies defined, for example, TFREQ, VFREQ, cannot be changed when
calling "Restart". Workaround: Use extract and define new TFREQ and
VFREQ.
 User functions should be defined always in CGS units.
 .sm files (for example, with enclosures for radiation problems) should be
appended to the existing model only after loading/appending other files.
 The Stress calculations are not supported in new multi-radius accordion
calculations.
 Computation of m and k values using back diffusion method on LINUX
platform is not proper. Workaround: Use Scheil, Lever, or Compute on
Windows platform.
 APM, HCS, CAFE in post-processor mode are not fully compatible with the
new storage frequency capabilities.
 Ladle Calculator and Mass Flow Calculator panels show temperature value in
Celsius unit. The unit selected in ‘Cast Preferences’ is not reflected in these
panels.
 The units selected in the ‘Cast Preferences’ are not reflected in the database
editor.
 Model Summary may show wrong ‘Area’ for the ‘vdb’ files saved in VE9.6. In
order to correct this, open process condition manager once before using model
summary.
 Avoid special characters in project folder path (name). Solver fails to launch if
the folder name contains special characters.
 QuikCAST is not supported on Linux platforms.
 While importing ‘vdb’ files saved in previous version that contain wrap process
condition values, the 'Heat Vs. Thickness' curve is not displayed in the wrap
database. It is advised to redefine heat values for different thickness input as
explained in the user manual.
 'Run Multi Stage' on Linux will run the batch file in the same shell window that
will start running the solver. Hence, it is advised to 'Generate' batch file and data
separately, and then launch this batch file.
Visual-Cast
Limitations
PROCAST SOLVERS 2014.5 UPDATES

Main Updates
 Increase storage frequency capabilities: storage capabilities of ProCAST have
been enhanced to allow in addition to step frequency, the support of storage
frequency based on time, percentage of filling and percentage of solidification.
 Temperature stop Criteria has been enhanced and can now be defined on
selected volumes.
 A new result criterion is now output for flow calculation that provides nodal
temperature at filling time.
 The EBFEM discretization method, introduced in ProCAST 2013.0, extended in
2013.5 has been improved in term of accuracy, robustness and speed.
Improved User Functions Capabilities

 External compute function (func_externalcompute.c) which allows getting value
of the main fields (e.g. temperature, fraction of solid, velocities ...) at any
location of the model at the main time of the resolution, has been rewritten for
better handling of DMP capabilities and enriched to provide access to more
information.
Other Updates
 RDEBUG is now fully supported with ProCAST.
 New capabilities for a better control of solver convergence for MiLE cases.
 Air entrainment is now supported as a possible additional output criterion
(optimization).
Limitations
 For pressure inlet driven cases, like Lost Foam, it is recommended to reduce the
convergence parameter PCONVTOL to 1e-04 for better convergence.
 New fluid flow does not yet support the cases with Accordion.
For ductile iron, it is advised to ignore P and S components that could prevent compute
ferrite and pearlite phases.
Visual-Cast
ProCAST Solvers 2014.5 Updates
VISUAL-MESH (CAST)
CAD Import
supported (versions 2.5 to 2014 on Windows only).
import.
Surface Selection
 When CAD parts are displayed in feature-line mode, surfaces can be picked by
picking on the internal feature lines.
Surface Repair
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Volume Computation
itself now.
Topo Mesh
option.
3D Mesh Quality Checks

 Computation performance has been improved.
LIMITATIONS
 Due to up gradation of Interop to R25, to support new CAD formats, there may
be regression in STEP and ProE files import.
Visual-Mesh (Cast)
Limitations
VISUAL-VIEWER (CAST)
Mold Erosion Risk
 Mold Erosion occurs when the velocity of alloy is high enough to wash away the
mold particles at the interface.
 Based on Critical Velocity and Critical Time, mold erosion contour is generated.
 Limited, High and Maximum risk are shown in contour.
Export of Model in ERFH5 Format

 Export to .erfh5 format which can be used in ESI-Player.
 Following results can be visualized in ESI-Player: Temperature, Fraction Solid,
Shrinkage Porosity, Fluid-Velocity Magnitude and Voids (ESI-Player can be
downloaded from myESI portal.
Note: CAFE and NAPM results are not yet supported in .erfh5 export.
Inclusion Particle Track
 This provides the capability to inject particles into fluid stream and check their
path.
 Option to specify radius, density and drag coefficient of particles.
Vector Display Enhanced
 Option to define node interval at which vectors are to be displayed.

 For easy visualization and analyzing flow with vectors.
 This option will be useful to take images for reports with less cluttered display.
 Very useful in models with a large number of nodes.
Default fvol Cutoff
 Only elements with a ratio of volume filled above the fvol Cutoff value are
displayed.
BUG FIXES
 The avi generation was not working with large files. Now this is addressed.
 Cut-off parameters are now remembered when moving across results.
 The discrepancy in export of results in NASTRAN format between Windows
and Linux machines is now corrected.
 When two models with moving volumes (Ex. Piston movement in HPDC) are
synchronized, animation was not proper. This is now fixed.
 It was not possible to load in newer versions, the Slice information saved in xml
file in older versions. This is now supported.
 Display of vectors in copied and coupled window was not working properly.
This is now fixed.
 Run a calculation with CAFE results. Try to save a picture of the results; if you
modify the zoom with the mouse, the background was automatically changed to
black. This is fixed.
 In models with filter volumes, selection of point to plot any XY curve was not
proper. The point selection GUI was not able to select the required point. This is
now corrected.
KNOWN ISSUES
 Updating APM results during solver run may sometimes crash the application.
 If you select 'View'>Home Page when a model is active, the Contour dialog still
remains. If you select a different result, when the model is displayed, the contour
colors will not be correct. Workaround: This can be corrected by selecting the
result again or by posting the Spectrum dialog.
 If more than one Principal stress is selected for display as vectors, its maximum
value will not be displayed properly in the legend.
 If units are changed in the cut-off mode, contours will not be displayed properly.
You are advised to change it in the snapshot mode and then switch to cut-off
mode.
 During copying and pasting of model from one window or page to another, the
image may not be displayed as expected. Workaround: The model is displayed
properly on pressing 'F', i.e. fitting the model within the window.
 During CAFE result display, sometimes model is not refreshed. Workaround:
Click on model window and rotate.
 In deform export, coincident and equivalent interfaces are detected using
<prefix>ff.unf file. If this file is not present, then exported file will not be
proper. It is then recommended to export only the final single part to be
imported into DEFORM rather than the whole model, as DEFORM manages
interface differently.
 In case of Profile plotting for dynamic models like MILE, the profile created at
one step, will give wrong result if plotted at some other step.
Bug Fixes
LIMITATIONS
 Template does not support calculated particles, free surface / point XY-plotting.
 Entity Selector may become inactive in some situations. To activate it again,
activate the model window and press Escape key.
 Volume of porosity computation is linked to the mesh size; consequently, this is
an approximated value.
 For QuikCAST models, tilt and explode cannot be applied simultaneously.
 Exporting the evolution curves plotted has a problem. If the curve names are not
present in the "Page/File View" tab, exporting two or more curves by pressing
Control key and right clicking will give error.
 Stress tensors are not displayed on mold.
 To view solver calculation status in "Calculation Monitoring" GUI, the solver
path must have solver version number. Example: 2013.5 or 2013.0, etc.
 Misrun is caused by a combined effect of viscosity and permeability. The risk
indicator is not applicable to thixo casting since the metal at inlet is already in
the mushy zone.
 Unit conversion is not supported for "Temperature gradient" results. It is always
displayed in K/cm units.
 The model path should have write permission.
 Since the Inclusion Particle Tracking tool acts in post-processing mode, it relies
on the frequency of the result storage, controlled by the run parameter VFREQ.
With high values of VFREQ, there may be too little information to displace the
trace and therefore the results may not be very accurate, with the trace leaving
the alloy domain. In that case, it is advised to reduce VFREQ.
Limitations
VISUAL-CEM
CEM SOLUTIONS
Optimized Management of Very Large STL Files
With the previous (standard) import feature used up to version 9.5, CPU time
performance was much too low when managing huge STL files.
Main problems were appearing when fusing coincident nodes and elements, in the
scaling process or in the creation of one single part for the entire STL model (whatever
the triangulation quality). Within the frame of the last two development stages (Visual-
CEM 10.0 and 10.5), all those issues were carefully reviewed and the STL import
process was optimized with a special focus on the management of very large models.
This feature is quite important within the frame of the PAM-CEM/FD process.
A dedicated Part Segmentation feature (detailed in next section) has been included in
the process, together with automatic scaling (from millimeters to meters). But it
appeared that CPU performance could be significantly improved by optimizing the
fusing stage of coincident nodes and elements, with a special focus on the number of
parts created when reading STL files. The process was made step-by-step by analyzing
both parameters (fusing threshold & break angle).
In the end, CPU performance could be optimized up to the same level as the previous
PRE-FLOW/CEM module, i.e. a few seconds for about 400,000 elements, one minute
when reading 4 million STL triangles. All stages of the process have been optimized,
STL files import (reading and parts splitting), saving stage, reading again CEM
projects. It should be noticed that reading and saving stages of native VDB files are
significantly faster than processing CEM projects.
With the previous Visual-CEM 10.0 version, you were supposed to manage the STL
import process on your own, while this stage has been now fully automated with the
10.5 update. The related Visual-CEM performances stand at the same level as PRE-
FLOW/CEM while larger files can be now managed and gathered, nine million
elements read in three and a half minutes (45 seconds to save the related VDB file).
In the table below, all CPU times in seconds
Elements in STL File size Import STL Save/Read CEM Save/Read
file (MB) file project VDB
43 206 - NS 4/5 -
381 988 - 10 5/4 -
2 043 775 611 45 30/20 -
2 189 730 652 55 55/25 -
4 411 459 1 291 90 55/- 15/25
9 343 218 2 989 [ projects 240/220 45/90
merged ]
Visual-CEM
CEM Solutions
Scaling/Part Segmentation GUI

This scaling & part segmentation feature has been imported into Visual-CEM (from
CFD context) with the aim of optimizing STL datafiles import. As mentioned in
previous section, automated scaling can be selected by you while part segmentation
(merging stage of STL triangles in other words) can be monitored using the so-called
“break angle” parameter (model parts created from contiguous triangles, “smoothly”
connected one to the other, i.e., within the limit of the break angle).
This panel features a “Do not post this dialog” check box in order to prevent you from
answering the same questions again and again when appending many STL datafiles to
create the full model. This upgrade will be made complete within the next version by
avoiding the append dialog from being posted each time.
Cable Property (Shield Parameters)

In previous Visual-CEM versions, the two different groups of shield parameters
(Properties and Transfer Impedance for shielded cables to be managed by the CRIPTE
solver) were always saved together in the input file whatever “toggle” was selected.
But, since C3M was always using transfer impedance parameters when appearing in the
cable property shielding section (even if set to zero), you were unable to specify
properly and to use properties for the cable shielding.
This trouble has been fixed in Visual-CEM 10.5 and the selected toggle, either
Properties or Transfer Impedance, is saved in the input file. For your information, this
stage will be further improved in next version by saving both sets of parameters
(properties and transfer impedance) and the convenient set to be used.
Visual-CEM
CEM Solutions
Display of Elevation Angle for Monostatic RCS

Within this Visual-CEM 10.5 version, several display features were improved with the
aim of facilitating the user management of output requests, as illustrated below with the
elevation angle for monostatic RCS (RADAR Cross Section) computation.
Beyond previous upgrades, this Visual-CEM 10.5 version also includes the following
display improvements (see also next sections):
 Enhanced display of far field plane, angular sweep.
 Display of original position of SWE source.
 Mesh visibility icons.
 Display of nodes & points coordinates in console.
 Display of GFD, General Field Distribution entity.
 Display of Efield probes.
Visual-CEM
CEM Solutions
EFIELD SOLUTIONS
EfieldTD Migration Towards VE
Within Visual-CEM 10.5, the migration of EfieldTD to Visual has been made complete
(except hybrid FDTD-FEM since no such meshing is currently supported within
Visual). Full simulation chain for EfieldTD modeling is available and tested thoroughly.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
Display of EfieldFD Probes

When creating EfieldFD probes, they are displayed, which makes it easier for you to
define them and to see they are created as was intended. The types of probes where
display is supported are Sphere/Box/Plane/Line as shown below.
Display of GFD Entity (General Field Distribution)

When a GFD file is read, the coordinate values present in the file are read and displayed
by a circular entity as shown in figure below.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
Equivalent Electric/Magnetic Current Sources in EfieldFD

In integral equation formulation (EfieldFD), equivalent current sources are useful
primarily for glass antenna application, to take into account external excitation. They
also make it possible to use near field sources computed by Efield or OBO sources
computed by Efield or PAM-CEM/FD.
This kind of source is handled in the GUI in a similar manner as the sampled source in
PAM-CEM/FD. It is located under “Excitations and Sources”. The filename of the
source is specified.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
Support of EfieldTD Wires in Visual-CEM

In Visual-CEM 10.5, management of EfieldTD wires is included. The EfieldTD wire is
a mesh of 1D elements. To set up wire boundary conditions, sources and loads, a
dedicated Visual-CEM GUI is created.
 Among general settings, the interpolation technique and interpolation radius are
specified.
 In the Boundary condition tab, the boundary at wire end points is set.
 In Loads tab, loads on the wire are specified.
 In Generators tab, sources on the wire are specified.
Support of EfieldTD Lumped Elements Assigned to Line

Geometry
In Visual-CEM 10.0, management of EfieldTD models with lumped elements assigned
to surfaces was supported. However, often lumped elements are defined on line
geometry and such cases were not managed. With Visual-CEM 10.5, the support is
extended to lumped elements assigned to 1D element. A restriction is however that
these 1D elements have to be aligned with the FD grid edges and the length of each
segment has to be equal to the FD mesh cell size.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
Support for Modeling of Printed Strip Glass Antennas

Support for modeling of printed strip glass antennas using modified Green's function
approach is included in Visual-CEM 10.5. In such approach, only the metallic strips are
modeled which are assigned a new material type that takes into account the multi-layer
structure (thickness of each layer and material parameters).
In addition the mesh files have been updated to point out the additional property and the
name of the material. Under "Output Param >> Final Output" some additional
properties of the method (kmax and Observation region) has been added.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
EfieldFD SWE Setup

In the EfieldFD SWE setup and excitation GUIs, the local coordinate system is now
described by specifying the coordinate of the origin and, in addition, the local x-axis
and y-axis directions. The local z-axis direction is then computed to form a right hand
system.
Export of Part Setup to EfieldFD bem File

To be able to have the same part setup in Visual-Viewer as in Visual-CEM for
EfieldFD, part name and ID is written to EfieldFD bem file in Visual-CEM 10.5.
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
Saving of EfieldFD System Matrix and Right Hand Side in

Visual-CEM
This facility is provided to write the system matrix (also called impedance matrix in
CEM) and/or the system right hand side (also called excitation or voltage vector in
CEM). It is made available in Visual-CEM 10.5 under "Output Param >> Final Output".
When "Save Solution File" is checked on, two additional outputs "Save System Matrix"
and "Save System Rhs" are added.
Specifying Type of Ground Plane in EfieldFD

In CEM Solutions 2015.0, EfieldFD support for both perfectly electric conducting
(PEC) and perfectly magnetic conducting (PMC) infinite ground plane will be available.
In the VCEM panel located under BC >> Ground EfieldFD, it is now possible to
specify the type of ground plane:
 PEC - Perfectly electric conductor
 PMC - Perfectly magnetic conductor
Visual-CEM
Efield Solutions
VISUAL-CFD
Visual-CFD is the new user interface with a state-of-the-art multi-window / multi-
model environment for CFD. The current release is mainly targeting OpenFOAM
applications for simple Flow and Turbulence modeling. It has a very sleek interface
with a lot of intelligence built into it with state-of-the-art graphics. Unlike many other
CFD based user interfaces, and even in OpenFOAM, intelligence is built-in so that
boundary conditions can be set up directly on the CAD geometry (STL). The Explorer,
Menu system, and GUI are configured in such a way that they reflect the customer’s
workflow.
The current version of Visual-CFD 10.5 supports OpenFOAM 2.3 solver.
Visual-CFD
Explorer
Physics folder has been removed and all contents are displayed outside.
Volume Conditions are further categorized into Porous, MRF, Heat Source and Heat
Exchanger.
Database Entities folder contains entities like Cut Section, Streak lines, etc.
Visual-CFD
Primitive Parts
Primitive geometries like Box, Cylinder and Sphere can be created in Visual-CFD using
the following GUIs. These can be further used to represent either a Domain (Primary or
Secondary), Monitor Surface or Refinement Region.
Box Primitive dialog:
Sphere Primitive dialog:
Visual-CFD
Cylinder Primitive dialog:
Visual-CFD
Volume Parts
Creation of Primary and Secondary domain.
Visual-CFD
Heat Exchanger
Heat Exchanger Model is used to simulate Heat Exchangers.
Visual-CFD
Monitor Surfaces
You can monitor and save data on interested surface.
The different types of monitoring surfaces are by File, Part and Primitive geometry.
Visual-CFD
Refinement Region
Refinement Regions can be specified by Box, Sphere, File, Part and Cylinder.
Visual-CFD
LIMITATIONS
 Regular expressions are not supported during import of Native OpenFOAM case
in this version.
 Reading of non-uniform internal Field values in flow variable files is not
supported.
 Meshing in parallel is supported only for OpenFOAM SnappyHex Mesher.
 VisCARTMesher is only available for Single Domain meshing.
 Automatic calculation of projected area is not available.
 Aborting mesher is not supported.
 When the solver run is going on, you should not open any other panel in Visual-
CFD. If you do, this will stop updating the solver log. The simulation may run in
background.
 Macros cannot capture meshing and simulations in one go. You are advised to
create separate macros for meshing and simulation.
 Reset button will not work across in Physics Menus.
 OpenFOAM case files cannot be updated during running of the simulation.
 Full-fledged Post-processing of CFD results is not supported at this stage.
 A single STL file (imported) can be used to define a Primary Domain,
Secondary Domain, Refinement Region or a Monitor Surface. If you need to
reuse the same STL file, it has to be copied and renamed and then appended
(imported) into Visual-CFD.
 Fan boundary condition is in beta stage. Please check whether fan direction is
proper. The flow direction is same as fan normal direction.
 Heat exchanger model is in beta stage. You must make sure that heat exchanger
inlet plane is in a separate face zone to define the heat exchanger conditions.
 OpenFOAM is not officially supported on Windows. While using latest
OpenFOAM 2.3 with Visual-CFD on windows, proper setting of environment
variable is needed. This means that you have to source the OpenFOAM variable
file, generally called 'setvars.bat'.
 Coupled baffle boundary condition for OpenFOAM 2.3 is not supported.
Visual-CFD
Limitations
VISUAL-CRASH DYNA
New Keyword Support
Based on customer requests, the following LS-DYNA keywords are updated in this
release as per Version 971 / Rev 7:
 *RIGIDWALL_PLANAR_FINITE
 *DEFINE_BOX_LOCAL_TITLE
 *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_SLIPRING – Dependency on ONID is removed.
 *CONTACT_OPTION1_{OPTION2}... – Optional card 6 is supported.
Sectional Properties
 Sectional properties, namely Center of Gravity, Area, Inertias and Moments can
be calculated for the *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_PLANE, or for any
temporary Cross Section created through Tools > Section Cut.
Visual-Crash DYNA
Crash > Database > Cross Section
 A new Properties tab is added to display the sectional properties.
Visual-Crash DYNA
Tools > Section Cut, Properties > Compute
 On selecting , section properties of the chosen section in the above

table are computed and shown in a list box, as shown below:
Visual-Crash DYNA
 Click on Save to write the above table info to the csv file. The hyperlink
of the saved file will be written to the console window.
 Click on Close to close the above panel.
Limitations:
 Properties will be computed only for shells.
 Even if an element is cut partly by the section plane, the full element will be
considered for the computation.
OTHER UPDATES
 PART NAME = MAT NAME = SECTION NAME under ‘Time Savers’ will
make the Material name and Section name same as the Part name. If more than
one Part refers to the same Material or Section, and Material or Section IDs are
not same as Part IDs, please execute PID = MID = SID utility under ‘Time
Savers’.
 Model Compare tool can be activated in command line as:
VisualEnvironment.bat -ftype p -mctmplt
D:\temp\ModelCompareTemplateDyna.txt
-mcout D:\temp\modelcompare.csv -compare E:\Model_A.k E:\Model_B.k -
nodisplay -exit
-mctmplt and -mcout are optional.
Visual-Crash DYNA
Other Updates
-mcout path: To write the report in given path. If not provided, the report will be
written in the user directory path, with file name as ‘model_compare.csv’.
-mctmplt path: If you want to overwrite the default checking criteria
(Id/name/index). If not provided, the default setting will be used.
 In Export panel, under Advanced options, a new check-box ‘Replace Parameter
value’ is provided to export the file with PARAMETER or value in all its
references. This option status is not remembered in VisualEnvironment.ini file.
 Option to create Time History card for Retractor first node, joining retractor
internal and outer elements is provided in the Seat Belt GUI.
BUG FIXES
 When one of the parts of *ELEMENT_BEAM_PID was 0 (or missing), VCD
created elements and nodes with 0 ID which could be seen under Missing
Entities sub-model, and there were no clear messages about these entities
created for this scenario. This is fixed.
 Entities identified as Missing Entities during model loading were being listed for
renumbering. This is fixed.
 Older versions of VCD exported spaces after KEYWORD in the KEYWORD
line for some of the KEYWORDS. This is fixed.
 On defining *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGIDBODY using
*SET_NODE_ADD, on displaying the NRB, graphical display was not shown.
Only the nodes were displayed. This is fixed.
 Displaying Element Normals using arrows (from Checks menu), after the
application of transformations as per DEFINE_TRANSFORM card, if available,
was not proper. This is fixed.
 Stability issue while running Rapid Model Checker is fixed.
 Issue in IO for MAT_077: On using -ve PR, the solver inserted one row above
‘mu’ parameters for hysteresis (damage) table, but in VCD, this was not seen
and it removed the ‘mu’ parameters from the Ogden material. This is fixed.
 In older versions of VCD, working with models that had large number of
ELEMENT_MASS was slow. This is improved.
 In Linux, on importing a DYNA file with includes that had Windows path, the
Missing Includes dialog would be posted to select the correct path. If you chose
the option to assign the same directory path to all the includes that has an invalid
path, the software was not handling it properly. This issue is fixed.
Visual-Crash DYNA
Bug Fixes
VISUAL-CRASH PAM
VPS Solver Format Support
A few options of earlier solver versions that were not handled properly are fixed in the
current version. They are:
 FPCTRL -> LEAKAGE_MODEL which was mistakenly added in the 10.0
release has been removed.
 CDATA inside METRIC can be read and written out.
Limitation: However, CDATA inside metric card may not follow the same order
(same line) as it is in the imported file. VPS allows CDATA inside any keyword
which is not handled by VCP.
 In PKCTRL control, PICK_COORDINATE optional control is supported.
Improvements in the Handling of Modular Input Format of

VPS 2014
Selection Toolbar Enhancements
Note: For modular files, Entity Selector list posting with module hierarchy at top will
be enabled with environmental variable: VE_ENABLE_MODULAR_ESLIST=1
The list option in the selection toolbar would list the module hierarchy tree on top of the
splitter list dialog box. The entities in the corresponding module will be listed at the
bottom portion of the splitter dialog.
Visual-Crash PAM
Filter option in the list can be made use of to filter the desired range in a chosen
module. A value of “1-<blank” in the filter will list all entities in the chosen module
from ID 1.
Handling GLOBAL Module

Right click menu: “Activate Global in Modules” is provided on Global Module in Sub-
Model explorer.
This option will provide you with a list of modules on choosing which Global Module
will be activated.
However, you can create ACTIVATE GLOBAL control under any Module by
activating “Create Active Global” right click menu provided on every Module in the
Sub-Model explorer as shown below. If Global is already activated, this menu will
change as “Edit Activate Global”
Visual-Crash PAM
Improvements in Conversion Utilities

Convert NASTRAN Entities to VPS Implicit (More…)
PATH: Tools > Modeling Conversion Utilities > Convert NASTRAN Entities to VPS
Implicit.
 TEMPERATURE (LOAD), in general, is converted to TEMBC. But if
TEMPERATURE (LOAD) was defined inside subcase, it was not converted.
This is fixed.
 The vector 2 calculation of ORI file that is generated during conversion was
wrong. This is fixed. The ORI file that is generated during conversion will be
written in the folder from where data file is loaded if it has write permission else
will be written in user defined folder.
 When THLOC definition is moved across stages, the nodes on which it was
defined was not moved. This is fixed.
 PCOMPG + MAT1/MAT2/MAT8 is converted to SHELL PART + MAT 131 +
PLY + LAYER.
 RBAR1 is converted to MTOCO
 CSHEAR is converted to SHELL element + Material 151
 MAT1 + MATS1 combination is converted to Material 1 if referred by solid part
and converted to Material 103 if referred by shell part.
 DLOAD Conversions:
o DLOAD referring RLOAD1/RLOAD2 and RLOAD1/RLOAD2
referring FORCE, FORCE1, FORCE2, MOMENT, MOMENT1 and
MOMENT2 is converted to CONLO.
referring PLOAD1 is converted to PREBM.
referring PLOAD2 and PLOAD4 is converted to PREFA
 If MEFFMASS is defined inside SUBCASE , CHECK YES EFFECTIVE_
MASS will be set in EIGEN control card
 TABLED4 referred by RLOAD1 and RLOAD2 is converted to FUNCT
(FUNTYP= EPYFUN) + PYFUNC.
 If a Nastran data file is defined with SOL ID 200, 106 or no id but it has
SUBCASE definition and in the SUBCASEs definition, if one SUBCASE is
defined with MODES and other SUBCASE(s) defined with STATIC, two stages
will be created. First stage will be Eigen Stage which will consist of the
MLOAD and other entities if any from the MODES SUBCASE. Second stage
will be Static Stage which will consist of the loads and other entities if any from
STATIC defined stages.
 Usually SOL 103 has METHOD defined globally or inside each stage. But in
preload case it can have stage without METHOD but consists of LOAD and
STATSUB referencing the linear preload. In such case converter creates two
stages. Stage 1 is “Preload Stage” which will consist of the loads from the
Visual-Crash PAM
SUBCASE containing LOAD and STATSUB. Stage 2 is “Eigen Stage” which

will contain the loads defined in the SUBCASE consisting METHOD
 BLSEG is converted to GROUP
 PARAM Conversions:
o If PARAM INREL -1 or -2 is found, INERTIA_RELIEF
ANALYTICAL 111111 is set in ICTRL control card. For -1 value
SUPORT is converted to BOUNC
o PARAM, COUPMASS <=0 or nothing, MASS_MATRIX LUMPED is
set in EIGEN control card
o PARAM, COUPMASS > 0, MASS_MATRIX CONSISTANT is set in
EIGEN control card
Convert ABAQUS Entities to VPS Implicit (More…)

PATH: Tools > Modeling Conversion Utilities > Convert Abaqus Entities to VPS
Implicit.
 If *CLEARANCE definition detected, on converting *CONTACT PAIR, hcont
is set to CLEARANCE VALUE
 *ELEMENT, TYPE=JOINTC is converted to MTOJNT(NTYP=GENERAL) +
Part(ATYPE=MTOJNT) + Material 230.
 *CONNECTOR SECTION, ELSET = xxx AXIAL, ALIGN is converted to
MTOJNT (TYPE : TRANSLAT).
Convert LS-DYNA Entities to VPS Entities (More…)

PATH: Tools > Modeling Conversion Utilities > Convert LS-DYNA Entities to VPS
Entities.
 *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_SLIPRING is converted to SLIPR
 As part of 1D Element conversion, Johnson-Cook material is converted to
MATER 213
Visual-Crash PAM
Improvements in Acoustic Coupling Visualization

PATH: NVH-IA > Acoustic Coupling Visualization
GROUPs created
 Create Groups: This option in Acoustic Coupling Visualization GUI allows you
to group the segments according to the rules given below:
o Identify PEM segments defined in VACPL that are:
 Undefined by solver, and
 Identified by solver.
o Identify segments defined in PEM DOMAIN, which are not part of
VACPL definition.
Visual-Crash PAM
Improvements in MLOAD: Automatic Creation

Automatic creation of MLOADs with minimum input, which is the nodal point data on
which the CONLO has to be applied, is improved further.
PATH: In the Explorer, right-click on Loads > Multi Load folder and select New from
the posted menu. Click on Auto create MLOADs button in the posted Multi Load Cases
panel, or NVH-IA > MLOAD: Automatic Creation
 The xml file that specifies the point list to create loads is enhanced to input
CLOAD or LCURV as well.
 The points for which node IDs are found are not allowed to edit X, Y and Z
values.
 Right click menu option “Add MLOAD” is removed and a new button is
provided to add new points.
 For the created MLOAD right click menu option “Properties” is provided which
lists the details of the created MLOAD, Output and OTMCO if any.
Note: Applicable only in Visual-NVH and Interior Acoustic and Visual-VTM contexts
only.
Visual-Crash PAM
OTHER UPDATES
 NVH-IA -> Create Microphone Cards is improved for usability similar to the
MLOAD: Automatic Creation GUI.
 .veatr files are supported for ERF output files as well. The procedure is, if
filename_<postfix>.erfh5 is loaded, first filename_<postfix>.veatr is searched.
If attrib file is not found, the post fix after underscore is removed (only for files
with extension as .erfh5) and so filename.veatr is searched and applied.
 Plink Creation Improvements:
o During Plink creation using the card image, if “Auto Create” toggle is
ON, NLAYER value once set, is reused and the Selection mode is set to
Node by Node to facilitate quick picking for IDNOD .
o During creation, if the picked node is connected to a structure, an error
message is posted.
o In VE Data checker, all those plinks whose nodes are connected to any
structure or defined with a kinematic condition are captured as an error.
 Model Compare tool can be activated in command line as :
VisualEnvironment.bat -ftype p -mctmplt
D:\temp\ModelCompareTemplatePam.txt
-mcout D:\temp\modelcompare.csv -compare E:\Model_A.pc E:\Model_B.pc -
nodisplay –exit
-mctmplt and -mcout are optional.
-mcout path: To write the report in given path. If not provided, the report would
be written in user directory path, with file name as model_compare.csv
-mctmplt path: If one desires to overwrite the default checking criteria
(Id/name/index). If not provided, the default setting would be used.
 Automatic creation of IFRA in THLOC: On selecting AutoFrame option in the
menu of IFRA in card image, if the selected IDNOD is connected to shell or
solid element, a frame is automatically created such that the normal is in Z
direction.
 Option to create Time History card for Retractor first node, joining retractor
internal and outer elements is provided in the Seat Belt GUI.
 On filtering the node in explorer, Edit menu is provided at the Nodes leaf
individually which will post the card image to edit the data. Delete option is
provided as well.
 In Checks-> Solver Data Checker, a new menu option "Show information" is
provided to filter only the information in the output file.
 In Export GUI, under Advanced options, a new check box "Replace PYVAR
value" is provided to export the file with PYVAR variable or value in all its
references. This option status is not remembered in VisualEnvironment.ini file.
 Duplicate PYVARs will be renamed on read/append. The references are
automatically updated with new name. However, if TITLE is represented by a
mixed variable, and if one of these variables get renamed, this is not taken care
of.
Visual-Crash PAM
Other Updates
 Model Compare is updated to compare IMPORT cards using NAME of

IMPORT Part rather than with TITLE. Index-wise compare option is also given
for this keyword.
 In INCLU, if the file names are longer than 80 characters, a warning message is
posted. However, on write from VCP, it splits the name with minus as required
by the long format.
 If a GROUP, THNOD, THELE, THLOC, GASPEC or SENPT is created with a
NAME that already exists, a warning is posted.
 Tool tip is provided in the Link Manger status column, if status message exceeds
the width.
BUG FIXES
 PYVARs, if assigned as variable width with ‘+’ to a free format field like
MOVE of TRSFM, on export, VCP adds an extra’+’. This is fixed.
 PYVARS with lead minus character was getting exported with value as zero
when written out from VCP. This is fixed.
 In a Modular Input data, if an include file is referred more than once at different
levels of MODULES, on exporting from VCP, the tree displayed in the Export
GUI is not correct. This is fixed.
 In a Modular Input data, if an entity with MOD ALL is edited in card image and
the MOD ALL definition is changed to a selection with MOD hierarchy, the
hierarchy is not shown properly. This is fixed.
 For IMPMA card, if the input has long file format, VCP doesn’t read properly.
This is fixed.
 In PICK and ORTHF, if the TITLE value starts at 5th Character, VCP ignores
the name. This is fixed.
 An entity referring a PYVAR loses its reference if editing the PYVAR results in
a PYTHON error. This is fixed.
 On drag and drop a .dsy and .erf files from remote machine, in to Visual, .veatr
attributes were not applied. This is fixed.
 If PLINKs are created between Bar/Beam and Shell element, VCP will not
project in Plink Projection GUI. This is fixed.
 VCP penetration check does not take into account the parameter IAC32 (Tied
contact compatibility). This is fixed.
 In Checks-> Penetration/Intersection tool, if no penetration is found with the
selected contact, the solver run time is unrealistically high. This is fixed.
 When fiber angles are defined in METRIC, the display of the same was not
correct in VCP. This is fixed.
Visual-Crash PAM
Bug Fixes
 Solver Data Checks fail if a relative path is specified for external reference files
in EXPORT.
 In Export GUI, if few files are selected to be written out, Solver files like M01
also gets written out even if it is not selected. This is fixed.
 An inconsistent crash could have been happening in the following path in
version 10.0. Which is: Export a file with includes. Load another model without
includes and while trying to export the same, browse for a directory folder and
click on “Update Tree”. This might have been resulted in a crash. This is fixed.
Visual-Crash PAM
Bug Fixes
VISUAL-DISTORTION
Introduction
ESI composites manufacturing simulation solution is a unique industrial solution for the
manufacturing of composites components made of reinforcements (glass or carbon
fibers) and a resin (thermoplastic or thermoset).
PAM-DISTORTION is one of the three main applications (PAM-FORM, PAM-RTM
and PAM-DISTORTION) included in that solution. PAM-DISTORTION is used to
compute stresses induced by the curing process and to predict resulting geometrical
distortions (spring-in/warping) on thermoset composites parts.
The plan is to have the three applications listed above integrated in Visual-
Environment. This migration will lead to a unique, user-friendly and powerful
simulation solution with common language, formats, etc. and seamless links. That
migration is completed for PAM-DISTORTION (Visual-Distortion) and for PAM-RTM
(Visual-RTM). Next, and last, will be PAM-FORM (Visual-FORM).
The main objective of this version was to ease the creation of PAM-DISTORTION
solver input files and to ensure a global uniformity and similar workflow with PAM-
RTM.
As a consequence, the same process oriented menu as the one available for RTM
modeling in Visual-RTM now guides the Visual-Distortion users through a step by step
approach.
Distortion process oriented menu
Visual-Distortion
This step-by-step approach is also available through a dedicated toolbar:
Distortion toolbar
Finally, a process oriented Explorer tree allows the editing of process parameters:
Distortion process oriented explorer tree
Visual-Distortion
What’s New for PAM-DISTORTION in Visual-Distortion?

Material Database
Material database menu, common to Visual-RTM and Visual-Distortion, now allows
the saving of material data in one single file, common to PAM-RTM and PAM-
DISTORTION. Thus, a unique material database working for both applications (PAM-
RTM and PAM-DISTORTION) can be defined.
Material Database Menu
Visual-Distortion
Start Simulation
Manual operations are no longer required to generate PAM-DISTORTION input files
and to launch the computation. It is now fully managed through a “Start Simulation”
menu that is similar to the “Start Simulation” menu available in Visual-RTM.
Mapping of curing results, determination of proper time steps, and writing of all
required input files are automatically performed by clicking on “Write Solver Input”
button. The “Run” button does the same but also launches the computation using the
specified solver executable file.
Start Simulation Menu
Visual-Distortion
Simulation Parameters
Simulation type can now be defined in a “Simulation Parameters” menu (on the same
model as what is done in Visual-RTM).
It allows specifying if the distortions are computed while the part is still in the mold
(during curing) or after de-molding (After curing).
Gravity effect can be added to the computation of the distortion (identical to what is
done in Visual-RTM).
Simulation Parameters Menu
Visual-Distortion
Gravity effect in Simulation Parameters Menu
Visual-Distortion
Import Draping Files

The Import Draping Files menu allows a direct import of XML files generated by
CATIA CPD or FiberSim. (This new easy-to-use option comes in replacement of
previously existing DEX process that is no longer maintained).
From this import, the staking definition is automatically retrieved into the Layer Design
Manager.
Import Draping Files Menu
Visual-Distortion
Part Manager
The “Part Manager” menu is now available for a more convenient definition of the
material, thickness and initial temperature to be applied on the molds.
Part Manager Menu
Visual-Distortion
Process Conditions
Specific or Isostatic locking conditions, as well as pressure conditions, can now be
easily defined in the “Process Conditions” menu.
For the locking conditions, nodes can be selected and degree of freedom specified in the
desired coordinate frame.
Process conditions can be saved in a database (.mtxdb file) and appended to a specific
project when needed.
Process Condition Menu
Visual-Distortion
Lamina Characterization
Lamina characterization tool computes, on a unit cell, the material properties of a UD
ply based on the properties of its constituents, the resin and the fibers, and on the fiber
volume content.
Lamina characterization option is available in the “Tools” menu as well as the Laminate
characterization option.
Lamina characterization Menu
Solver
All PAM-DISTORTION solver improvements and new functionalities are available in
the “Composites Simulation Solution 2015.0” Release Note, accessible through the
Start menu of Windows.
Visual-Distortion
VISUALDSS
Global/Local Synchronization
This module enables synchronization between global server and local client.
 Client can Pull data from global server, partially or fully.
 Client can Push data to global server, partially or fully.
 To have good version management across global server and local client.
 To manage objects between global server and local client.
File Server Support

 This module enables File Server support. Now, files can be pointed to a shared
location that can be accessed by other clients.
 File Server can be accessed by either of the following two modes, File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) or by HTTP.
VisualDSS
VISUAL-RTM
Introduction
ESI Composites Manufacturing Simulation Solution is a unique industrial solution for
the manufacturing of composites components made of reinforcements (glass or carbon
fibers) and a resin (thermoplastic or thermoset).
PAM-RTM is one of the three main applications (PAM-FORM, PAM-RTM and PAM-
DISTORTION) included in that solution. PAM-RTM is used to analyze the resin flow
during its injection or its infusion in a preformed reinforcement. It is also used for the
analysis of the curing of a thermoset composites part.
For the last 10 years, PAM-RTM has been interfaced in a standalone application named
RTM-VIEW. PAM-RTM now leads the market for Liquid Composites Molding
simulation and it was time to move it to a higher performance graphical interface,
Visual-Environment, that includes more functionalities and allows for the treatment of
larger models.
Moreover, the plan is to have the three applications, listed above, integrated in Visual-
Environment. This migration will lead to a unique, user-friendly and powerful
simulation solution with common language, formats, etc. and seamless links. That
migration is completed for PAM-DISTORTION (Visual-Distortion) and now for PAM-
RTM (Visual-RTM). Next, and last, will be PAM-FORM (Visual-FORM).
The same process oriented menu as the one available for distortion modeling in Visual-
Distortion guides the Visual-RTM users through a step by step approach.
RTM process oriented menu
Visual-RTM
This step by step approach is also available through a dedicated toolbar:
RTM toolbar
Finally, a process oriented Explorer tree allows the edition of process parameters:
RTM process oriented explorer tree

Visual-RTM is now the default environment for PAM-RTM and thus, all existing
PAM-RTM users should be trained on Visual-Environment.
Please contact your local ESI representative for more information.
Visual-RTM
What’s New for PAM-RTM in Visual?

CAD & Mesh
Visual-RTM is on a common ESI platform that also contains a mesher, Visual-Mesh. A
Visual-Mesh access is automatically granted with the lease of “Visual for RTM and
Distortion” commercial package.
Visual-RTM can import existing meshes. Through Visual-Mesh, you are now also
allowed to import CAD files from numerous formats and to mesh the part according to
PAM-RTM requirements. With RTM-VIEW, only the import of a mesh was possible.
Some manipulations of the CAD entities and simple geometry creations are also
available in Visual-Mesh:
Surface and Volume manipulation tools in Visual-Mesh
Visual-RTM
A variety of tools to create or to modify 1D, 2D or 3D elements are available in Visual-

Mesh:
Tools for creation of 1D, 2D and 3D elements

Finally, an advanced mesh check is accessible in Visual-Mesh:
Mesh Checks menu in Visual-Mesh

Part of these meshing tools is directly available through Visual-RTM application.
The use of Visual-Mesh for PAM-RTM applications requires a dedicated training.
Please contact your local ESI representative for more information.
Visual-RTM
Material Database
The material database menu, common to Visual-RTM and Visual-Distortion, now
allows the saving of material data in one single file, common to PAM-RTM and PAM-
DISTORTION. Thus, a unique material database working for both applications (PAM-
RTM and PAM-DISTORTION) can be defined.
Material Database menu
Visual-RTM
Unit System Management

The unit system used for the entered data (material properties, process parameters, etc.)
is automatically managed by Visual-RTM.
As a consequence, value can be entered in any unit system that just needs to be
specified in the “value unit” drop-down menu. The unit consistency between all the
entered data is then automatically managed by the application. In the same way,
conversion of a value to different unit system can also be done by just selecting a
different “value unit”.
Example of “Value Unit” drop-down menu
Curve Editor
Visual-RTM benefits from Visual-Environment curve editor, a common tool to all
Visual applications.
This advanced curve editor allows multiple display possibilities and operations
(derivative, integral, trigonometric functions, etc.) on curves.
Curve editor in Visual-Environment
Visual-RTM
Simplified Multi-stage
The type of simulation (Preheating, Filling, Heated Filling or Curing) selected for an
existing model can easily be modified by changing the simulation type in the
“simulation parameters” menu (you should account for process parameter modifications
in agreement with the selected simulation type).
This simplification in the way of working is particularly interesting and time-saving in
multi-stage analysis as, for instance, a filling followed by a curing. In that case, the
initial vdb file used for filling can be loaded, switched to curing simulation type,
adapted to curing and saved under a different name.
Simulation Parameters menu to select Simulation Type
Visual-RTM
Micro-Macro Voids (DMP solver)

Because the micro-macro voids detection functionality has been integrated in PAM-
RTM DMP solver, it is now also available for definition in Visual-RTM environment.
The option is accessible through the “Advanced” section of the “Simulation
Parameters” menu.
This option is used to automatically regulate the resin flow rate at the injection gate so
as to minimize the level of porosities in the injected part.
User Libraries Compilation

The compilation of User libraries (also called User dll) that can, for instance, be created
for specific cure kinetics models or viscosity models is now simplified. The compilation
is automatically executed by the application at the start of the computation. The path to
the compiler just needs to be specified in the “Start Simulation” menu of the
application.
Post Treatment
PAM-RTM inputs are created in Visual-RTM and results are analyzed in Visual-
Viewer. A Visual-Viewer access is automatically granted with the lease of “Visual for
RTM and Distortion” commercial package.
Visual-Viewer, that is the common post-treatment application for all ESI products,
offers numerous advanced functionalities.
The non-exhaustive list of added functionalities in regards to RTM-VIEW is:
 Multiple window capability for the display of several results (contours, sections,
curves) on the same model but also on different models with the possibility to
synchronize actions (movements or display type).
 Unit system management (see above description) also available in Visual-
Viewer to display results in desired Unit System.
 Curve editor (see above description) also available in Visual-Viewer with
numerous functionalities as for instance the display of curves using different
unit system on the same graph.
 Template for post-processing can be created and automatically applied to a
model and saved in a PowerPoint or PDF file for quick analysis and reporting.
 ERF file that contains the results of the simulation can be loaded and reloaded
while the computation is running to get an updated view of the results during
computation.
 ERF file generated by the solver can be, once created, minimized to the main
results of interest and re-saved in a smaller file for archiving.
Visual-RTM
Limitations
 Visual-RTM is used to generate input files for PAM-RTM DMP Solver.
Standard solver is not supported by that new environment.
 Draping results computed with PAM-FORM cannot be used as initial state in
that version of Visual-RTM.
 Overfilling is not yet implemented in that version of Visual-RTM.
 Mixture rule is used to compute conductivity of filled area: effective
conductivity cannot be entered as a data in that version of Visual-RTM.
 When *.dtf file is imported, retrieved simulation parameters are not correctly
updated in the 'Simulation Parameters' GUI.
Solver
All PAM-RTM solver improvements and new functionalities are available in the
“Composites Simulation Solution 2015.0” Release Note accessible through the Start
menu of Windows.
Visual-RTM
VISUAL-MESH
CAD Import
supported (versions 2.5 to 2014 on Windows only)
import
Surface Selection
Surface Repair
Visual-Mesh
2D
Shell Split
 Collector Updation: While splitting, if the elements being split are part of some
Collectors, the split elements will be updated to the corresponding Collectors.
2D Grow
 While growing multiple layers, in the ‘height’ text field, a gap between each
layer can be specified with comma separated format (Ex: to specify gaps for first
4 layers, it can be given as 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5).
Visual-Mesh
Topo Mesh
option.
Volume Computation
itself now.
Visual-Mesh
Element Geometry
 New computation scheme is added for CFD work flow, which computes Aspect
Ratio and Skew suitable to check 2D and 3D mesh quality for CFD.
Visual-Mesh
MESH-TO-MESH
STL Import
 Improved STL import. Nodes are fused with in parts at the time of import.
Surface Selection
Shell Split
 Collector Updation: While splitting, if the elements being split are part of some
Collectors, the split elements will be updated to the corresponding Collectors.
Mesh-to-Mesh
2D Grow
 While growing multiple layers, in the ‘height’ text field, a gap between each
layer can be specified with comma separated format (Ex: to specify gaps for first
4 layers, it can be given as 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5).
Mesh-to-Mesh
Element Geometry
 New computation scheme is added for CFD work flow, which computes Aspect
Ratio and Skew suitable to check 2D and 3D mesh quality for CFD.
Mesh-to-Mesh
VISUAL-QUOTING
Foreword
Dear Customer,
We are pleased to present the latest release of our new application Visual-Quoting. Our
major motivation is to implement your requirements for an easy-to-use and robust
software package, which can quickly develop the flattened part outline and determine
the optimal nesting layout in the coil corresponding to the lowest piece price. Today,
you have at your disposal, a fully industrialized solution incorporating the following
major elements:
Visual-Mesh: A complete meshing tool which supports CAD import, 2D and 3D
meshing and editing for linear and quadratic meshes.
Visual-Quoting: An easy-to-use Graphical User Interface to facilitate the
efficient generation of Nesting layout.
Visual-Viewer: A new-generation post-processing tool with state-of-the-art
plotting utilities. Visual-Viewer is built on a multi-page / multi-plot
environment, which enables you to group the data into pages and plots.
Complete sessions can be re-run without loss of any data. It is completely
command driven and this enables you to execute commands with ease.
The following pages will help you navigate through Visual-Quoting 10.5.
At this point, we would like to thank you for your continued support. Our main goal for
the future will be the continuous improvement of the code as driven by your
requirements.
PAM-STAMP QUOTING SOLUTION ON VISUAL

PLATFORM
Introduction
Car bodies are made from a few hundred metal parts. In the production process, these
three-dimensional parts are cut from two-dimensional sheet metal before they are
formed and welded together. The two-dimensional sheet metal is available as long rolls,
better known as ‘coils’, which can have different widths, material properties and prices
and nowadays can even have different thickness along the roll.
Taking the full part geometry as starting point, the application can quickly develop the
flattened part outline and determine the optimal nesting layout in the coil corresponding
to the lowest piece price.
Visual-Quoting
Pam-Stamp Quoting Solution on Visual Platform
Quoting Solution
The application contains an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you to
generate optimized nesting layout. The complete workflow is represented as different
steps and you are efficiently guided to complete the setup with minimum effort.
Visual-Quoting
Project Description
The part(s) can be imported as a surface or solid model. A dedicated functionality for
extracting the top and bottom surface of the solid model, as well as generation of the
mid-surface, is also integrated in the application. In addition, functionality for cleaning
the CAD model, filling holes and symmetry plane definition is included. The selected
part can be assigned with required material and thickness information. More models can
be appended to existing model.
Visual-Quoting
Blank Outline
The Quoting solution is based on ESI Group’s best-in-market one-step solver. In the
shortest possible time, it accurately determines the flattened part outline (even if
undercut areas exist), based on the full 3D part model and few process parameters, like
binder force, material definition and thickness. In addition to the developed outline, part
feasibility can be directly and thoroughly analyzed through various contours like
Thinning, Thickness, Forming Limit Diagram (FLD), Major Strain and Minor Strain.
Direct import of a blank outline is supported as well.
Smoothening and offset can be provided to computed or imported outlines. In addition,
IGES export of outline is supported.
Visual-Quoting
Nesting
The developed blank outline can be used in the nesting process. Multiple nesting
layouts are supported, such as One up, Two up, Mirror, Two pair and Transfer Die
(rectangle, parallelogram, sweep and trapeze shapes are supported), for optimal material
utilization calculation and cost computation for each layouts. Multiple curve nesting can
also be performed.
Nesting layouts can be exported in *.iges format.
Visual-Quoting
Automatic Reporting
The solution includes an automated report generator for quotation of the part material.
This functionality includes export of material utilization, cost per blank/cost per pitch,
fall off, pitch, coil width, blank area and pictures of the nesting sequence and developed
blank outline.
Visual-Quoting
OTHER UPDATES
 CAD part or Part outline can be imported directly. If outline is imported, the
same will be used in blank outline creation (Method is “Assign”); then the
Quoting solution guides to nesting step where optimum layout can be generated.
 The default values can be modified in Quoting Preferences of General
Preferences dialog.
 The directory from where part is loaded is taken as working directory. The
working directory can be modified to desired location. If part is loaded from a
directory with no write permission, temporary directory is selected as working
directory.
 For material selection, select material form Material Editor GUI and click close.
The selected material will be assigned to the selected part.
 In Material Editor GUI, Public databases are not editable. User, Company and
Model databases are editable.
 Cost can be applied only to User, Company and Model databases.
 User defined currency for cost is supported.
 ‘Compute’ option in Blank Outline step, meshes and solves the imported part.
 Meshing options can be changed in the Quoting preferences of General
Preferences. Delta Mesh or Visual Mesh can be selected. By default, Delta Mesh
is selected.
Visual-Quoting
Other Updates
 Meshing Size options i.e. Auto size or Preset (user defined) size can be selected
in the Quoting preferences of General Preferences. By default, Auto mesh size is
selected.
 Zone meshing (using delta mesh) option can be selected in Quoting preferences
of General Preferences. By default, Zone meshing is unselected.
 Options dialog in Blank Outline enables you to change solver options like binder
force, filling holes in the mesh, create symmetric plane and to change flattening
directions else defaults will be taken by One-Step Solver.
 Formability of the solved part can be checked by analyzing Thinning,
Thickness, Major Strain, Minor Strain and Forming Limit Diagram.
 Any number of blank outlines can be created using different solver
configurations.
 VDM tipping can be used as flattening direction, if it is available.
 Blank outline can be modified by smoothening to reduce sharp corners.
 Addendum region can be specified by applying constant offset around the part.
 Blank Outline can be exported in IGES format
 An outline must be selected to generate different configurations of nesting
layout.
 One-Up, Mirror, Two-Up, Mirror, Two- Pair, Transfer die (more shapes
supported) and multiple curve layouts can be used to generate nesting results.
By default, One-Up is selected which can be changed in the Quoting preferences
of general preferences.
 Distance between parts, distance between part and coil edge, coil width and
maximum distance between CG of nested parts (applicable to Two Up, Mirror,
Two-Pair and Multiple Curve nesting) constraints can be specified to generate
nesting layouts.
 Negative distance between parts can be applied to One Up layout.
 Angular constraint can be applied to One Up layout.
 User Defined Currency is supported.
 Nesting layout for one up can be optimized for smaller angles (Angles are
predefined).
 Report can be customized by selecting the images that should be inserted.
 Image of the corresponding part can be captured in the desired orientation.
 The Report (pdf / pptx) will be exported to folder as specified by you.
 Created nested layout can be exported in IGES format
 If more than one outline is used for nesting, all the images are written in the
report.
 Nested layout and flattened outlines can be accessed outside Quoting also.
Visual-Quoting
Other Updates
KNOWN ISSUES
 Automatic update of properties within quoting advisor is not supported.
 FLD may not work properly in multiple models scenario.
 Solver may fail sometime, if "Strong/ Normal" BH (Blank Holder) force is
opted.
 Annotations in nesting layout may go out of 3D view and sometimes there may
be overlaps.
 Materials may not be available in the files saved in previous versions.
 If you specify symbols for "User Defined Currency", it may not work as
expected.
 On closing the application with active FLD contour, the application crashes.
 Copy and Paste of Materials from User_4 to User tab may not maintain the
parent folder structure.
LIMITATIONS
 Quoting solution is only supported on Windows platform.
 For transfer die case, Increment Angle will be one degree. Multiple curve
nesting is not possible in the following cases:
o Number of outlines is more (Example: More than 5).
o Number of points defining outlines is more (Example: In thousands).
o Step angle is very less (Example: 0.05).
Visual-Quoting
Known Issues
VISUAL-SAFE
Sim-Folder
Solver Arguments for Embedded Solver
Path: File > General Preferences > VSafe Preferences
 Solver arguments are now enabled for Embedded Solver.

 Now you can set number of threads (-nt) value and precision (-fp) value to be
used by Embedded Solver in Sim-Folder.
Visual-Safe
Non-Activated Folds Handling in Preview and Animation (Only for

Macros)
 Non-activated folds are now handled in preview and animation.

 Non-activated folds are not listed anymore and only the activated folds are listed
for preview and animation.
Visual-Safe
VISUAL-SYSTEMS
Introduction
Visual-Systems provide tools required to build, simulate and validate multi-domain
modeling systems. These tools include a lot of different libraries, model building,
simulation and post processing. It is beta version and can be accessed by invoking
Select “Systems-Control” option from Applications > Solutions manager.
Visual-Systems
Application layout
Visual-Systems
Library Management
Library Configuration
“Visual-Systems” is released with pre-configured open Modelica standard libraries.
User libraries can be configured from File->General preferences Visual-systems tab or
from File -> Open
Visual-Systems
Library Tool
By default, search is performed on model name and advanced search can be formulated
on type, partial, parameters, and final search terms, also. To search for partial models of
type model, run search as “partial:TRUE AND type:model”.
Visual-Systems
Model Visualization
By double clicking, model/package model will be loaded into application. Application
provides model view, script view, icon view, parameter views and documentation view.
Visual-Systems
Simulation
Simulation can be accessed using Simulation->Simulate option from the menu or tool
bar, which allows simulating the model with modified simulation settings and model
parameters.
Visual-Systems
Post Processing
Upon completion of simulation, results are automatically loaded and corresponding
available signals are shown for post processing. Choose the signal plots selected signal.
Any other results files can be loaded by selecting File->Open result files option.
Results menu provides various curve mathematical and display operations such as Cure
addition, multiplication etc.
Switching between pre and post processing can be done by choosing appropriate state.
Visual-Systems
Model Editing
New models can be created by selecting “New Modelica Class” option on library or
from File menu.
On the newly created model, components which are selected in the library tree can be
dragged and dropped. Components can be connected using connector option. Automatic
and manual connecting capabilities are provided. Automatic connector tries to route the
connector path by avoiding any components on the path. Manual path can be used to
choose the path as needed by you.
Visual-Systems
Switching to script view or saving the model generates the Modelica code, which can
then be further edited. Limited intelisense options are provided to guide you on possible
options during script editing.
An icon can be created to represent models by using the icon editor option.
Visual-Systems
KNOWN ISSUES
 Drag and Drop of connectors and connecting them to components not supported.
 Comments added in the script editor will be lost on save of the model.
 Integration method is not supported in script editing, however, during
simulation, chosen integration method is used for simulation.
 Renaming and deletion of packages sometimes fails.
Visual-Systems
Known Issues
VISUAL-VIEWER
Support for CFD
Support for CFD, which includes native reading of OpenFOAM case, contour, section,
isosurfaces and pathline for CFD data.
Visual-Viewer
Gray Transparency
Parts without any results are now displayed in gray transparency.
Visual-Viewer
Support of EFieldTD and PAMCEM-HF (Beta) for E-field

Visual-Viewer is enhanced to load EFieldTD and PAMCEM-HF (beta) files. Switching
of domain from FD to TD and vice versa is supported.
Visual-Viewer
Advanced Display for sph and fpm

Performance of sphere draw for sph and fpm is drastically improved.
Op2 to ERF Conversion (Beta)

When an Op2 file is loaded in Visual-Viewer, it will be converted to ERF format and
the converted ERF file will be loaded. This conversion will be enabled by setting the
"Op2 to ERF Conversion" to 1 in the Visual-Viewer Preferences. By default, it is set to
1.
Reading of Op2 to ERF time history files is supported with this conversion tool.
OTHER UPDATES
 Importing of Universal File Format (Dataset 58).
 Export of Displacement result in CATIA RSO Format.
 Support of Composite post processing which includes post processing of g.unf
files.
 Creation of Combine results in Contour dialog is now production.
Visual-Viewer
Other Updates
KNOWN ISSUES
General Viewer
 Global to Local result transformation does not provide accurate results.
Composites
 Contour Ply results do not get updated automatically.
 When Ply result is applied on the model, switching from Upper to Lower does
not update the results on the model. You have to click again on Lower/Upper
radio button to get contour draw on model.
Nastran
 Midside node values for Nastran OP2 files may not be processed correctly.
VPS
 Changing display type for SPH element in Advanced display will change the
display type for SPHELO elements as well.
CEM
 Custom Spectrum setting is associated with far/near field results. The same
setting gets applied for the computed components like Polarization, Scale,
Sliding Average. Manual reset is required for the correct visualization of Field
display with custom setting.
 Session and Template restore may not work correctly for the selected
excitation/frequency.
CFD
 Emitters are not uniformly distributed when section or part is selected as source
for particle trace.
LIMITATIONS
 Combine Result feature is arrested for Electro-magnetic and Composite files.
 Changing animation method with model being present in other windows and
Contour being active may be unstable.
 On some AMD cards/drivers, initial mesh and simultaneous mesh display may
be distorted.
Visual-Viewer
Known Issues
VISUAL-VTM
Improvements in Acoustic Coupling Visualization
PATH: Vibro-Acoustic >VTM Coupling Visualization.
GROUPs created
 Create Groups: This option in Acoustic Coupling Visualization GUI allows you
to group the segments according to the below rules:
o Identify PEM segments defined in VACPL that are:
 Undefined by solver, and
 Identified by solver.
o Identify segments defined in PEM DOMAIN which are not part of
VACPL definition.
Visual-VTM
Improvements in MLOAD: Automatic Creation

Automatic creation of MLOADs with minimum input, which is the nodal point data on
which the CONLO has to be applied, is improved further.
PATH: Vibro-Acoustic > MLOAD: Automatic Creation
 The xml file that specifies the point list to create loads is enhanced to input
CLOAD or LCURV as well.
 The points for which node IDs are found are not allowed to edit X, Y and Z
values.
 Right click menu option “Add MLOAD” is removed and a new button is
provided to add new points.
 For the created MLOAD, right click menu option “Properties” is provided which
lists the details of the created MLOAD, Output and OTMCO if any.
Note: Applicable only in Visual-NVH and Interior Acoustic and Visual-VTM contexts
only.
Improvements in Conversion Utilities

Convert NASTRAN Entities to VPS Implicit (More…)
PATH: Tools > Modeling Conversion Utilities > Convert NASTRAN Entities to VPS
Implicit.
 TEMPERATURE (LOAD), in general, is converted to TEMBC. But, if
TEMPERATURE (LOAD) was defined inside subcase, it was not converted.
This is fixed.
 The vector 2 calculation of ORI file that is generated during conversion was
wrong. This is fixed. The ori file that is generated during conversion will be
written in the folder from where data file is loaded if it has write permission else
will be written in user defined folder.
Visual-VTM
 When THLOC definition is moved across stages, the nodes on which it was
defined was not moved. This is fixed.
 PCOMPG + MAT1/MAT2/MAT8 is converted to SHELL PART + MAT 131
+ PLY + LAYER.
 RBAR1 is converted to MTOCO
 CSHEAR is converted to SHELL element + Material 151
 MAT1 + MATS1 combination is converted to Material 1 if referred by solid part
and converted to Material 103 if referred by shell part.
 DLOAD Conversions:
referring FORCE, FORCE1, FORCE2, MOMENT, MOMENT1 and
MOMENT2 is converted to CONLO.
referring PLOAD1 is converted to PREBM.
referring PLOAD2 and PLOAD4 is converted to PREFA
 If MEFFMASS is defined inside SUBCASE , CHECK YES EFFECTIVE_
MASS will be set in EIGEN control card
 TABLED4 referred by RLOAD1 and RLOAD2 is converted to FUNCT
(FUNTYP= EPYFUN) + PYFUNC.
 If a Nastran data file is defined with SOL ID 200, 106 or no id but it has
SUBCASE definition and in the SUBCASEs definition, if one SUBCASE is
defined with MODES and other SUBCASE(s) defined with STATIC, two stages
will be created. First stage will be Eigen Stage which will consist of the
MLOAD and other entities if any from the MODES SUBCASE. Second stage
will be Static Stage which will consist of the loads and other entities if any from
STATIC defined stages.
 Usually SOL 103 has METHOD defined globally or inside each stage. But in
preload case it can have stage without METHOD but consists of LOAD and
STATSUB referencing the linear preload. In such case converter creates two
stages. Stage 1 is “Preload Stage” which will consist of the loads from the
SUBCASE containing LOAD and STATSUB. Stage 2 is “Eigen Stage” which
will contain the loads defined in the SUBCASE consisting METHOD
 BLSEG is converted to GROUP
 PARAM Conversions:
o If PARAM INREL -1 or -2 is found, INERTIA_RELIEF
ANALYTICAL 111111 is set in ICTRL control card. For -1 value
SUPORT is converted to BOUNC
o PARAM, COUPMASS <=0 or nothing, MASS_MATRIX LUMPED is
set in EIGEN control card
o PARAM, COUPMASS > 0, MASS_MATRIX CONSISTANT is set in
EIGEN control card
Visual-VTM
BUG FIXES
 In Import Domain, VACPLs are created after import of Trim/BEM domains.
When this VACPL is edited from explorer, it results in a core dump. This is
fixed.
 Sometimes, reading a BEM mesh in Import domain dialog results in a core
dump. This is fixed.
 In TL coupling visualization, the coupled segments generated by solver for
ASM, APM was not correct in Linux version. On solving the problem, the
solver would throw an error if these incorrect segments were applied to
VACPLs. This is fixed.
Visual-VTM
Bug Fixes
VISUAL-WELD
Foreword
Dear Customer,
We are pleased to present the latest release of Visual-Weld. Our major motivation is to
implement your requirements for an easy-to-use and robust software package, which
includes all of the Multi-Physics that is involved in Welding Simulation. Today, you
have at your disposal a fully industrialized solution, incorporating the following major
elements:
Visual-Mesh: A complete meshing tool which supports CAD import, 2D and 3D
meshing and editing for linear and quadratic meshes.
Visual-Weld & HT: The new generation fast and easy to use welding & HT
simulation tool which covers all the activities of a welding and heat treatment
engineer.
Welding Advisor: An easy-to-use Graphical User Interface used to
facilitate the efficient set up of Single-Pass and Multi-Pass Welding
simulations.
Heat Treatment Advisor: An easy-to-use Graphical User Interface to
facilitate the efficient set up of Heat Treatment simulations.
Heat Source Advisor: An easy-to-use Graphical User interface to
facilitate the efficient set up of basic welding simulations to determine an
appropriate heat source.
Computation Manager: An easy-to-use computation manager to facilitate
the control to run the full thermal-metallurgical and mechanical welding
simulations.
Collector Manager: An easy-to-use tool to create, update, delete and
modify the different collectors needed for welding simulation.
Visual-Viewer (Weld): A new generation, post-processing tool with state-of-the-
art plotting utilities. Visual-Viewer is built on a multi-page / multi-plot
environment, which enables you to group the data into pages and plots.
Complete sessions can be re-run without the loss of any data. It is completely
command driven which enables you to execute commands with ease.
The following pages will help you navigate through Visual-Weld 10.5.
At this point, we would like to thank you for your continued support. Our main goal for
the future will be the continuous improvement of the code as driven by your
requirements.
Visual-Weld
Introduction
Welding involves complex interactions between thermal, metallurgical and mechanical
phenomena. These lead to residual stress and distortion, which play a major role during
subsequent service of structures. Computer aided assessment of material characteristics,
residual stress and distortion can significantly enhance the performance, the quality and
the service life of a structure. Moreover, the numerical design of the welding fabrication
significantly reduces manufacturing costs.
ESI’s Virtual Welding and Assembly Solution is specifically developed for this
purpose. It offers the full set of welding engineering methodologies needed by
designers, process planners and manufacturing practitioners.
With this solution, the full set of welding engineering methodologies becomes
available:
 To control material characteristics and residual stress,
 To keep distortion within specified tolerances,
 To enhance the performance, the quality of the product and the structure’s service life.
Visual-Weld
MATERIAL
As a user, you are looking for very accurate results. This depends on the physical
models implemented in the solver that have to be predictive and allow advanced
modeling for accurate physics modeling. But you should also have access to the right
thermo physical, metallurgical and mechanical material properties.
In Visual-Weld 10.5, Material Editor Tool has been supported to manage all the
welding and heat treatment, thermal-physical, metallurgical and mechanical properties.
Material editor facilitates the import, export and editing of existing material data files
(.mat) and stores them in a database. The material data is presented in four tabs, viz.:
“Public”, “User”, “Company” and “Model”. “Public” database is the read-only data
from the pre-existing .mat files of Visual-Weld. “Model” database tab shows the
material data associated to the currently loaded model.
“User” and “Company” databases can be used by a particular user or a group of people.
These DBs are used for the conversion of material data in .mat files into the ESI’s
MTXML format and stored in SQLITE database.
Material files (.mat) can be imported to User or Company database or to a temporary
tab “User_3” and the data can be copied between User and Company Databases.
The editor shows the hierarchy of materials available in the database with the parent
folders. The selected material properties are shown in categorized tabs.
The material information is categorized and shown in different tabs. The Generic Info
tab shows the phase information along with the composition. Before creating the other
properties like metallurgy, mechanical, you have to fill the phase information. The
editor expects the phase names to be unique, as these are referred in other category
tabs for the definition of properties.
Visual-Weld
Material
The Thermo-Physical and Mechanical tabs include the definitions of thermal, physical
and mechanical properties. And also facilitates the storing of Comments and
FORTRAN code related to these properties.
The metallurgy tab encompasses the Reactions data. The parent and product phases are
filled from the phase names of the generic info tab.
The TTT/CCT tab is used for the generation and visualization of transformation
diagrams from the existing metallurgy information of the material. You have to fill the
composition and metallurgy information before generating the diagrams.
There are two additional tabs Diffusion and Tempering for the definition of diffusion
and tempering properties of materials.
The material data can be visualized using the Plot Editor combined with the Lookup
Table Editor. The Lookup Table Editor is a visualization and editing tool for the phase
data of different parameters like Young’s Modulus, Thermal Strains, Hardening slope,
etc. The phase data is presented in a tree structure form for easy navigation.
Visual-Weld
Material
The Public, User and Company databases can be searched for materials based on
properties, material models and curve labels and description. The editor also stores the
recently browsed materials, recently executed searches by you for ease. There is folder
filter for filtering the materials associated with a selected folder. The search and folder
filter works hand in hand to display the combined results of materials.
The units of properties can be changed globally or at each parameter level. The units
are stored in the database along with the property details. The units are retained with the
property and the values are exported to .mat file as is without any conversion.
The materials in the database can be assigned to the model entities like parts, volumes
from Welding advisor or HT advisor.
Visual-Weld
Material
HEAT SOURCE ADVISOR & PREDEFINED MESH

The Heat Input Fitting tool allows you to define geometrical and physical properties of
typical welding cases. Predefined parameterised joints (T-joint with and without
addition of material, overlapped joint with addition of material, butt-joint and laser lapp
joint) are supplied with the possibility to use custom geometry. Moreover, using the SIL
language, you can create your own type of parameterised joint geometry and use it as
predefined one. Three predefined parameterised heat sources of different shape (2D
Gaussian, double ellipsoid and 3D conical Gaussian) can be chosen from the default
heat source database; additionally, you can use your own heat sources from custom
databases. Material properties are taken from material database, either from the default
one distributed with Visual-Weld or from custom material database created separately
and loaded in the Material Editor.
Predefined Mesh
The goal of the meshing tool is to develop a mesh for the Heat Source Fitting advisor
integrated in Visual-Weld. The aim is to get a 2D mesh for the given parameter and
then to obtain a 3D mesh built from a 2D geometry that will be extruded. This option is
given under the “Welding” menu. This option is available even if no model is loaded.
Visual-Weld
Heat Source Advisor & Predefined Mesh
As a user, you can select the command file corresponding to the cross section that needs
to be created, such as T-joint, Butt-joint, Overlap-joint, Lap-joint, etc. You must specify
the parameters and then generate the 2D mesh. According to the obtained mesh, you can
modify the parameters or load an older existing par file in order to obtain a better mesh.
In this case, the parameters are automatically filled in the parameter list. When all of the
required parameters are set, you can push the “Create 2D Mesh” button to create the
mesh, once again, in new model window. If the User-defined option is chosen, the 2D
mesh is provided by you.
Visual-Weld
3D Extrusion is the last step of the mesh setup. This Graphic User Interface cannot be
opened through a menu. There are two extrusion types (translational and rotational) and
each one depends on the chosen process. According to these two possibilities, the
parameters list is modified. Unlike the 2D mesh, all the parameters are mandatory and if
a value is missing, an error message is displayed before creating the 3D mesh. “Create
3D Mesh” will generate the final mesh in a new window as new model.
Visual-Weld
Heat Source Advisor (Beta)

Heat Source Advisor is an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you to
calibrate your own heat source based on welding process parameters. This workflow
provides a quick way to determine appropriate heat source parameters for the welding
simulation. The complete workflow is represented as different steps and you are
efficiently guided to complete the setup with minimum input. The key steps of the Heat
Source Advisor are listed below:
 Project Description: You can define project name and working directory with
other basic information for project identification in this step. Project name will
be used for all files created and working directory will be used to store all of
these files.
 Component Properties: You can assign materials to the components and filler.
Visual-Weld
 Welding process: You can define the welding process used with the various
parameters for the weld.
 Cooling Condition: You can specify the type of cooling in this step as Free Air
cooling, Forced cooling or an Exchange with Variable External Temperature.
Visual-Weld
 Solve: You can set the various solver parameters such as transient or steady state
calculation, initial temperature and user-defined Thermo Metallurgical
Parameters.
 You can go to “Explorer” or “Part Table” any time from “Heat Source Advisor”.
 Right click edit or double click on the “Explorer” sub-folders will automatically
take you to corresponding process block in the “Heat Source Advisor”.
 Complete GUI is multi-model / multi-window compatible.
 All your actions are saved in “vsession.py” file which can be replayed.
 Model can be saved in .vdb format which saves complete information of the
model.
Visual-Weld
WELDING ADVISOR
General Description
Welding advisor is an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you to set up
Single-Pass and Multi-Pass Welding, Post Weld Heat Treatment simulations. The
complete workflow is represented as different steps and you are efficiently guided to
complete the set up with minimum input.
The use of the welding advisor enables optimization of the welding process by
modifying the welding process parameters, the clamping system, and the welding
sequence in order to improve the quality of the product and the design without having to
perform expensive experimental tests.
Visual-Weld
Welding Advisor
Heat Source XML File

Visual-Weld 10.5 provides the facility to load an XML file which will fill all of the
welding parameters required. The .xml file is generated on solving the specimen in the
Heat Source advisor. The resultant welding parameters are written in an .xml file which
can be loaded in the welding advisor. The parameters, such as efficiency, energy,
length, width, diameter, length ratio, penetration, power ratio, velocity and width, are
present in the XML file.
The .xml file can be loaded using the folder selection box below the Process Type
option.
Visual-Weld
Welding Advisor
VISUAL-HEAT TREATMENT
The Heat Treatment Advisor is an easy-to-use workflow based interface that allows you
to set up heat treatment simulations. The complete workflow is represented as different
steps, and you are efficiently guided to complete the setup with minimum input.
Stop Clamp
In Visual-Heat Treatment 10.5, we have provided the facility to apply “Stops” similar to
the feature present in the Welding advisor. You can specify a “Stop” under the
Clamping Condition step in order to block a structure in only one given direction. You
can select an existing node group to create a STOP, and this group must be defined at
the edge of the structure. You can also select the direction on which the structure should
be blocked. You can also give a gap value, which is the distance by which the structure
can deform, and beyond which the created STOP occurs.
Contact Management
In Visual-Heat Treatment 10.5, a new step has been added to the HT advisor. This step
allows you to define a mechanical contact between any two collectors. Special elements
are automatically created between the collectors. "Node to Node" contact creates special
constraint elements 1602 and "Node to Surface" contact creates special constraint
elements 2904 or 2905. If the two collectors are surfaces the contact will also be made
under the “Node to Surface” option with special constraint elements 2904 or 2905.
Visual-Weld
Visual-Heat Treatment
You can define the gap value between the collectors and coulomb friction values for
"Node to Surface" contact. The project files are updated with corresponding materials
and par files.
OTHER UPDATES
 In General Preferences the option is available to switch to old material
functionalities in case the material is not being updated similar to as done in
previous versions. Please note that the application must be restarted for this
preference to be applied. The new material database functionalities will still
exist from the menu but not from the advisor.
 User-defined parameter files option is now enhanced to support stop clamp
parameter file and unclamping parameter file.
 Contact can now be created between two shell element collectors.
 The function database is remembered on switching from one step to another in
the workflow.
 Updates the colors in the Computation Manager as it is solving in DMP mode
even for problems with large solution time.
 Generate erf works without a project name. The generated post file has the
following name V_POSTxxxx.fdb.
 The options under Welding menu have been renamed to more apt and
convenient names.
Visual-Weld
Other Updates
KNOWN ISSUES
 Creation of a user-defined “New Material” is in Beta. Kindly use caution and
check the generated mat file such that the parameters have been updated
appropriately.
 Overlapping of the Quenching Condition step in the Heat Treatment Advisor.
 In the explorer, right-click Delete option does not allow you to delete any entity
immediately after closing the Welding Advisor.
 As a workaround, right-click again and then select/click on ‘Delete’ option.
 Application fails to read the function file from the loaded directory if you import
a WPP twice on ASC file.
 Closing the advisor by selecting the defined weld line in the fourth step will not
delete the Heat Source display.
 Connect Edges may not give expected result if connecting two Parts with
variable gap in between. Usage of collectors is advisable in such cases.
 Contact fails to create for the 2D cases that are in the same plane.
 The same .vdb file shouldn’t be used to setup a problem through Welding and
HT advisor with Contacts and Loads as the prj’s will not be written properly.
LIMITATIONS
 Unable to give custom names to the function curves created in the Loads and
Deformations step.
 It is not possible to edit imported functions in the Loads and Deformations step
using Visual Plot Editor.
 Defined curves that are not used in the loading definition will be deleted on
switching to another dialog or closing a dialog.
 Degree of Refinement is always “1” in automatic mesh refinement.
 If you refine the same collector twice with automatic mesh refinement, the
special elements will be deleted.
 PWHT cannot be computed if the clamping or loading conditions divide the
PWHT prj.
 PWHT will be deactivated for Shell and Shell Solid cases.
 Dang Van will not be applicable for Shell Solid case.
 “Node to Node” contact creation checks only for the same node count in both
Contactor and Target collector, but not the correctness of nodes in each of the
collectors.
 Minimum Disc Space is deactivated in Heat Treatment.
 In Create Weld Bead feature:
o When there are many beads nearby connecting the same two parts, the
mesh of one bead may be detached during creation of nearby bead with
Remesh option.
Visual-Weld
Known Issues
 Negative penetration value for beam heat source is not allowed. In case of old
vdb/project with negative penetration, make sure to change it to positive value
before generating new input data.
 ‘Connect Edges’ feature will not work even if one node is common in both
selected source and target.
Visual-Weld
Limitations
VISUAL-MESH (WELD)
CREATE WELD BEAD
Meshing can be a difficult task, especially when the geometry of the structure is
complex. As a user, you spend a lot of time to create dedicated mesh for weld,
compared to the model set-up via Visual-Weld and the computation time using the
powerful parallel DMP version.
Indeed, it is crucial to facilitate the meshing and to reduce the time needed for it. Weld
Bead creation for 10.5 has been enhanced to generate solid mesh for T and Overlap
joints in Weld. The solid bead is an unconnected and non-penetrated mesh. This
utility automates creation of welds, from the weld-path and dimension inputs. Many
user controls are provided to handle complex meshing situations.
Visual-Mesh (Weld)
Create Weld Bead
The following enhancements have also been implemented in collector addition:

 Collectors J01_WIRE and J01_LOAD has been added. These collectors can be
used in the 4th step of the welding advisor.
 J01_WIRE collector contains only the bead, either shell or solid, depending
upon the bead type.
 J01_LOAD collector contains the bead as well as few layers of surrounding
elements from connected parts.
Visual-Mesh (Weld)
Create Weld Bead
CORE DUMP TRACKER

You can register any crash that occurs while you are working with Visual-Environment
through the Core Dump Tracker utility. This utility is available on Windows systems
only.
Whenever the application crashes, you will see the following dialog box:
 Click on ‘Send Error Report’ to send the report and close both the dialog box
and the application.
 Click on ‘Don’t Send’ to close the dialog box and the application without
sending a report.
 Click on ‘View Report Details…’ to check details of the report that will be
sent. You will see the following dialog listing out the files that will be sent.
Core Dump Tracker

 By default, the check box to send additional files is OFF and only the files
marked with a ‘*’ against their name will be sent.
 To send the additional files, check the box ON.
Please note that the session file is not sent by default.
You can also set the following variables in the VisualEnvrc.bat file residing in your
‘Site’ folder to customize the settings:
 If you wish to send your session file, add the following line:
set VHOST_COREDUMPTRACKERFILES_ENABLE=1
 If you do not want to use the Core Dump Tracker, add the following line:
set VHOST_COREDUMPTRACKER_ENABLE=0
We enlist your help to improve your experience with Visual-Environment by sending us
a report through this utility. We assure you that the information you send us will be
used only to solve the reported problem and confidentiality of the information will be
fully maintained.
Core Dump Tracker

INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS
ON UNIX/LINUX
Hardware
 1 gigabyte of RAM recommended.
 2 GB main memory and fastest CPU is recommended for large CAD/FE model
operations.
 OpenGL hardware graphic accelerator (highly recommended). Systems without
an OpenGL graphic board will perform significantly slower.
 4.4 GB disk (free) space for complete installation.
window).
Linux
 Visual 64-Bit version: GlibC 2.5 (RedHat EL 5/6, SUSE 11).
Software
 Unix/Linux OS (Refer to the file README_Visual-Environment_10.5 under
info directory for system requirement details).
 You need to have any product able to display pdf files (like Adobe Reader – see
www.adobe.com).
 You need to have any product able to display Html files (like Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.).
Shell Compliance
 csh and its variant tcsh are supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 ksh is supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 bash is supported on all systems provided on the DVD.
 sh is supported in the following cases:
o HP HP-UX: /usr/bin/sh (Posix compliant).
o SUN SOLARIS: /usr/xpg4/bin/sh (Xpg4 compliant).
Old sh implementations are not supported. Future Posix sh implementations will
be supported.
On UNIX/Linux
ON WINDOWS
o Windows 7 SP1
o Windows Vista SP2
o Windows Server 2012 R2 with Update
o Windows 7 SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
o Windows Vista SP2
Note: On Windows Vista, it is recommended to work with “Classic” theme.
 Administrative privileges recommended during installation.
 x86 or x64 compatible processors (Intel, AMD …).
 2 gigabytes of RAM recommended.
 OpenGL hardware graphic accelerator (highly recommended). A minimum of
OpenGL 1.2 compatible drivers. Systems without an OpenGL graphic board
will perform significantly slower.
 4.5 GB disk (free) space required in the Program Files folder for each
version (7 GB for complete installation).
window).
On Windows
LICENSING SYSTEM
TYPES OF LICENSES
Three different types of licenses exist:
 FEATURE: Licenses based on features.
 CONTEXT: Licenses based on contexts count.
simultaneously.
 TOKEN: Licenses based on tokens count.
o Each context is converted in VISUAL_TOKEN tokens.
o Usage of contexts increases the number of tokens requested.
In all cases, a VISUAL_BASE seat is required to launch Visual-Environment.
FEATURE SYSTEM
 It is the previous licensing system.
 To add flexibility, two strategies to check out the features are proposed.
o On Init: The features are requested during the initialization phase.
o On Fly: The features are requested during the usage, when entering the
contexts.
 Not available contexts (no licenses) are now grayed in Context bar and
Context Manager.
CONTEXT SYSTEM
 This system is based on the number of contexts to be used.
 There are three options:
simultaneously.
 Selected contexts can be managed and modified during the session using the
Context Manager in the Context bar.
 Third-party options are not converted in contexts and require standard features.
Licensing System
Types of Licenses
List of Compatible Contexts

All contexts except:
 Visual-Seal
 Visual-Process Builder
 Visual CAD Clean
 All contexts from Visual-Seat Solution.
TOKEN SYSTEM
 This system is based on the usage of VISUAL_TOKEN tokens.
 Each context is converted in tokens.
 Depending of the usage, tokens are requested.
o The number of tokens really used is computed in a way to limit the
maximum number of tokens used in a single session (maximum of 12
tokens per session).
 Third-party options are not converted in tokens and require standard features.
Number of Tokens by Context

All contexts check out 6 tokens except:
 Visual-Mesh: 4 tokens
 VisualDSS: 2 tokens
 Visual-Seal: not available in Tokens mode
 Visual-SDK: not available in Tokens mode
Licensing System
Token System
Used Tokens in a Session
Used tokens in a session
14
18 30
12
12 12
10
Tokens cost
8
6 Tokens taken
6
6
4
2
0
0
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Sum of tokens
 From 0 to 6 tokens (first context): Full “tokens price”.

 From 6 to 18 tokens (second and third contexts): Half “tokens price”.
 More than 18 tokens (Three and more contexts): No more tokens taken.
 One VISUAL_BASE seat by session.
This doesn’t apply to the contexts of Visual-Seat and Visual-DIEMAKER where the
full tokens price is taken.
Licensing System
Token System
SYNTHESIS
Compatibility of applications versus strategy:
Application name FEATURE CONTEXT TOKENS
Visual-Process Executive VISUAL_PROCESS_EXECUTIVE 6
Visual-Mesh VISUAL_MESH 4
Visual-Viewer VISUAL_VIEWER 6
Visual-OPT VISUAL_OPT 6
VisualDSS VISUAL_COMPOSER 2
Visual-Seal VISUAL_SEAL
Visual-Crash PAM VISUAL_CRASH_PAM 6
Visual-Crash DYNA VISUAL_CRASH_DYNA 6
Visual-Crash RAD VISUAL_CRASH_RAD 6
Visual-Safe VISUAL_SAFE 6
Visual-Safe MAD VISUAL_SAFE_MAD 6
Visual-Shock VISUAL_HVI 6
Visual-Seat Single Core Model VISUAL_SEAT_BASE 6*
Visual-Seat Trim Manufacturing VISUAL_SEAT_TRIMMANUF 3*
Visual-Seat Static Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_STATICCOMF 3*
Visual-Seat Whiplash VISUAL_SEAT_WHIPLASH 3*
Visual-Seat Dynamic Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_DYNAMICCOMF 3*
Visual-Seat Thermal Comfort VISUAL_SEAT_THERMALCOMF 3*
Visual-MEDYSA VISUAL_MEDYSA 6
Visual-Life NASTRAN VISUAL_LIFE_NASTRAN 6
Visual-SYSTUS VISUAL_SYSTUS 6
Visual CFD VISUAL_CFD 6
Visual-CEM VISUAL_CEM 6
Visual-VTM VISUAL_RAYON 6
Visual-Cast VISUAL_CAST 6
Visual-CAD Clean VISUAL_CADCLEAN
Visual-Quoting VISUAL_QUOTING 4
Visual-DIEMAKER VISUAL_DIEMAKER 12*
Licensing System
Synthesis
Visual-Local Model Advisor VISUAL_LMA 6

Visual-Weld VISUAL_WELD 6
Visual-Heat Treatment VISUAL_HT 6
Visual-Materials (Composites) VISUAL_COMPOSITES 6
Visual-FORM VISUAL_FORM 6
Visual-Distortion VISUAL_DISTORTION 6
Visual-RTM VISUAL_RTM 6
Visual-SDK VISUAL_PROCESS_BUILDER
Note: For all applications with a ‘*’ in the tokens column, full tokens are consumed.
LIST OF THIRD PARTY COMPONENTS NOT

INCLUDED IN EITHER CONTEXT OR TOKEN
 The Visual-Environment seat:
o VISUAL_BASE
 The CAD converters:
o VISUAL_CATIA (import CATIA V4 files)
o VISUAL_CATIAV5 (import CATIA V5 files)
o VISUAL_UNIGRAPHICS (import UG files)
o VISUAL_PARASOLID (import Parasolid files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP_STEP (import Step files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP_PROE (import Pro Engineer files)
o VISUAL_INTEROP (Import Pro/E, STEP, ACIS, Inventor, Solid Edge
and SolidWorks files. Inventor, Solid Edge and SolidWorks are
supported on Windows only)
 Thermal properties calculation in Visual-CAST
 COMPUTHERM_AL
 COMPUTHERM_NI
 COMPUTHERM_FE
 COMPUTHERM_TI
 COMPUTHERM_MG
 COMPUTHERM_CU
 Other tools:
o VISUAL_VKI (to read NASTRAN op2 files)
o VISUAL_RADPAM
o VISUAL_FULLSTS/VISUAL_ALLSTS (for Morphing)
o VISUAL_WISETEX (for Wisetex)
o CRIPTE_BASE (for CRIPTE Tools)
Licensing System
List of Third Party Components Not Included in Either Context or Token
LICENSE STRATEGY CONFIGURATION

License checkout strategy that will be used by the application is determined in the
following order:
 The first level of checks is made at the license file level (Enterprise level).
o If ‘USER_INFO’ is specified in the license file, this information will be
used to detect the license strategy.
o This field is managed by the client and not by ESI’s licensing team. It is
one of the very rare modifications that the client is allowed to make in
the license file.
 The second level checks are made at the ‘Site’ installation directory level
(Enterprise level).
o If the ‘checkout_strategy.cfg’ file exists in the Site installation directory,
this shared configuration is used instead of the configuration stored in
User Local Data.
o This can be very useful in a ‘network’ installation configuration.
 The last level of check is at the End User level.
o At this level, if a 'checkout_strategy.cfg' is available under 'User Local
Data', it will be used.
Licensing System
License Strategy Configuration
o Else, the application decides which license strategy to use based on the
information available in the license file. In this case, no
'checkout_strategy.cfg' file is written.
LICENSE STRATEGY MANAGER

License strategy manager is a tool that allows you to check the available options for
license strategy. You can also redefine the license strategy to be used by the application,
overriding the decision made by the application.
If needed, you can invoke this tool through the desktop shortcut 'Licensing Strategy' on
Windows or by keying in '<alias for VE> -strategy' on Linux systems. The following
dialog will be posted.
Important Note: By default, 'Tokens' is switched on in this dialog. After posting this
dialog, if you select OK, a 'checkout_strategy.cfg' file will be saved with this
strategy and the application will attempt to use this strategy henceforth.
 License Type: Choice between the 3 strategies:

o FEATURE Features based strategy.
o CONTEXT Contexts based strategy using VISUAL_CONTEXT.
o TOKEN Tokens strategy using VISUAL_TOKEN.
 Checkout strategy: In FEATURE strategy, choice of the checkout option:
o ON_INIT To check out the features On Initialization.
o ON_FLY To check out the features On Fly when using the context.
 Contexts: In CONTEXT strategy, choice of the option:
o CONTEXT1 To use 1 Context.
o CONTEXT2 To use 2 Contexts simultaneously.
o CONTEXT3 To use 3 Contexts and more simultaneously.
Licensing System
 Options: Activate a log file to analyze the licenses usage during a session:
o LOGFILE Create log file. The file is stored with the session file.
o Log is also activated when setting FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTICS variable.
 Check the license strategies and license file or server:
o Features OK A VISUAL_BASE seat is available (license system OK).
o Contexts OK VISUAL_CONTEXT are available.
o Tokens OK Some VISUAL_TOKEN are available.
 Usage gives a detailed list of users.
 Defaults: Reset to default (FEATURE ON_FLY).
Licensing System
myESI CUSTOMER PORTAL

INTRODUCTION
ESI Group launched its customer portal, myESI, last year. The primary goal is to
provide you with valuable content.
myESI’s dedicated Visual-Environment and Virtual Integration Platform content is
accessible once you login to myesi.esi-group.com.
With your account, you can benefit from Tips & Tricks and explore worldwide trainings
which are available in the online training schedule. You can also access the download
section with technical documentation, including product manuals, release notes, specific
tutorial guides and add-ons.
Particular for Visual-Environment, you will find the Release Notes.

Under Downloads, you can access ESI’s new license-free and browser-based tool called
ESI-Player, to visualize ESI Result files.
The content provided on the portal is continuously updated.
If you do not already have a myESI account, join by clicking on Create new account to
get started!
myESI Customer Portal

Introduction

VisualEnvironment 10.7 ReleaseNotes

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Core Dump Tracker 20

myESI Customer Portal 32

o Inverse Modeling (curve fitting): The old ProCAST Inverse module is

Grid Definition Support

 The following options are available:

Piston Process Condition

 A new GUI is developed to define piston process condition.

Implicit Mold Process Condition

 A new GUI is developed to define Implicit mold process condition.

Cooling Process Condition

Contact Resistance Process Condition

 The Contact resistance process condition is supported inside interface folder.

o Hydraulic Conditions: Initial Fluid (Only Initial), Inlet, Pressure (Only

CCT and TTT Diagram Display

 CCT / TTT diagrams are now supported in material editor.

 Selecting a “CCT/TTT Data” in the Microstructure tab will bring up the

PROCAST SOLVER 2015.0 UPDATES

Improved User Functions Capabilities

Change / Convert Length Units

Check Surface Mesh

3D Mesh Quality Checks

CAFE Pole Figure

CORE DUMP TRACKER

Core Dump Tracker

Core Dump Tracker

List of Compatible Contexts

Number of Tokens by Context

Used Tokens in a Session

Used tokens in a session

 From 0 to 6 tokens (first context): Full “tokens price”.

Visual-Local Model Advisor VISUAL_LMA 6

LIST OF THIRD PARTY COMPONENTS NOT

LICENSE STRATEGY CONFIGURATION

o Otherwise, the application decides which license strategy to use based on

LICENSE STRATEGY MANAGER

 License Type: Choice between the 3 strategies:

 Usage gives a detailed list of users.

 Defaults: Reset to default (FEATURE ON_FLY).

myESI CUSTOMER PORTAL

Specific to Visual-Environment, you will find the Release Notes.

myESI Customer Portal

© 2015 ESI Group. All rights reserved.

Default fvol Cutoff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 27

Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 101

Visual-Mesh (Weld) 137

Core Dump Tracker 139

Software --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 141

Licensing System 143

myESI Customer Portal 151

window/multi model environment providing high productivity with powerful

efficiently. With visual verification, complete model-building activity can be performed

Interactive Handles Manipulation

Last Used Option Highlight in Menus

Windows Background Menu

Delete Dialog Modification

GUIDES AND LOCATORS

POSITIONING AND HOLDING TOOLS

Pouring Cup Control

Existing capabilities of QuikCAST support in Visual-Cast are as follows:

 In "Start Simulation" on Windows platform, avoid specifying both -hostlist in

PROCAST SOLVERS 2014.5 UPDATES

Improved User Functions Capabilities