Import Geometry

Import geometry into your current HyperMesh session, and set advanced import options.

  1. From the menu bar, click File > Import > Geometry.
    The Import browser opens, and the Import Type is automatically set to Geometry.
  2. For File type, select the file type you wish to import.
    Tip: Select an input translator automatically by choosing Auto Detect.
  3. Click to choose the file to import.
    Selected files are listed.
  4. Set advanced import options by clicking Import Options to expand the panel.
    Option Description
    Set the scale factor
    1. For Target units, select a unit type.
    2. In the Scale factor field, enter a scale factor.
    This is useful when converting a model created in English units to Metric, for example.
    Define cleanup tolerance Cleanup tolerance determine if two surface edges are the same and if two surface vertices are the same. For example, cleanup tolerance determines if two surface edges are close enough to be automatically combined to shared edges (green edges) and if a surface is degenerate and should be removed.
    1. For Cleanup tol, select a method for defining the cleanup tolerance.
      • Choose Automatic to take the complexity of the surfaces and edge geometries into account and to automatically define a tolerance to maximize shared edges (green edges). By default, the automatic cleanup tolerance value defaults to 100 times what is used internally by the translator.
      • Choose Manual to enter a tolerance.

        The value you enter must be greater than the default value. The translator modifies data only if the data stays within the original data tolerance. Increasing the tolerance can cause serious problems. When this value is set, any features equal to or less than the tolerance are eliminated. The translator does not include any edge less than tolerance long; if there are edges present that are important to the surface, that surface will be distorted, or will fail to trim properly. Surfaces smaller than the tolerance may not be imported. If the file you have read has many very short edges, it may be worthwhile to reread the file using a larger tolerance. The same holds true if surfaces appear to be "inside out" when surface lines are displayed. The tolerance value should not be set to a value greater than the node tolerance set in the options panel to be used for your element mesh.

        If you are reading a Catia file, you may need to override the tolerance in the file.

    Define how blanked/no show entities are imported Import blanked entities in the IGES translator, as well as entities containing “NO SHOW” from the Catia translator by selecting the Import hidden (blanked/no show) entities checkbox.
  5. Click Import.

Import Error Messages

When an external input translator is used to import data, a file for messages is created in the directory in which the program was started.

This file is named translator.msg, where translator is the name of the translation program being used. This file contains errors, warnings and useful information about the import process.

The translators also create a second file that contains extra data from the file being imported. This file is named importfile.hmx, where importfile is the name of the file being imported. This extra data could contain FEA data and keywords not supported and/or generic comments about the data.

If the Display Import Errors checkbox is selected on the Import tab, any error messages will display in the Import Process Messages dialog. From this dialog you can choose to display the .hmx file, save the message file or delete the message file. Clicking Close will close the dialog, but will not remove the message file from your directory.