Preferences

Configure the view and behavior of Engineering Solutions.

Color Settings

Color settings control the display color of the user interface, as well as the display color of geometry and mesh entities.

From the menu bar, click Preferences > Colors.

General

Access color settings that control the user interface in the General tab.
Background 1/Background 2
Select any colors for Background 1 and Background 2, which control the color of the background gradient in the graphics area.


Figure 1.
Gradient Direction
Select one of the gradient boxes to change the direction and style of the gradient in the graphics area. The boxes themselves illustrate the gradient pattern that they apply, but not the current colors.
Show Global Axes
Show the global axes in the graphics area.
Global X axis / Global Y axis / Global Z axis / Axis label
Change the colors of the X, Y, and Z global axis vectors. By default, the X axis is red, the y axis is green, and the Z axis is blue.
Change the color of the axis labels. By default, the axis labels are white.


Figure 2.
Text and Line Color
Change the color of all the text and lines that displays in the graphics area to be black. By default, the text is white.

Geometry

Access color settings that control the geometric entities in the Geometry tab.

Different types of geometric features are broken down first by dimensionality (2D surfaces, 3D solids), each having no influence on the geometry of the other type. A third category, By mappable display mode (solids), applies to qualities of solids rather than parts of them. These colors apply specifically to how many possible directions solids can be mapped in, and are specific to the mappable geometry display mode. They will not show in any other display mode, even if the model contains solid entities.
Surface data
Free edges
Edges of surfaces that do not connect to any other surfaces.
Shared edges
Edges of surfaces that connect to one other surface.
Suppressed edges
Shared edges that have been manually suppressed so that the automesher treats the shared surfaces as if they were one surface, allowing elements to cross the edge as if it were not there at all.
T-junctions
Edges shared by 3 or more surfaces.
3D Solids
Fin faces
Surfaces that split a 3D solid entity, but only partway through. They do not actually extend through the entire entity.
Bounding faces
The outer faces of solid entities.
Full partition faces
The faces of adjoined solids.
2D faces (topo)
When using the by 2D topo visualization mode, this is the color of 2D faces that are not part of a solid.
Ignored (topo)
The color of 2D faces when using the by 2D topo visualization mode.
Edges (comp)
Mesh edges when coloring mesh with the by comp visualization mode.
By mappable display control (solids)
1 dir. map
Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3D meshing) in one direction.
3 dir. map
Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3D meshing) in three directions.
Not mappable
Visualization for solids that have been edited, but still require further partitioning to create mappable solids.
Ignored map
Default visualization for solids that require partitioning to become mappable.

Mesh

Access color settings that control the FE entities in the Mesh tab.
Mesh line
Specify the color of the lines on a mesh that indicate the edges of mesh elements. By default, mesh line is set to auto, which assigns the component color as the mesh line color. To select a custom mesh line color for the entire mesh, click the toggle.
This option only works when the element color mode is set to By Comp. Other element color modes render mesh lines black or use the defaults selected in the Options panel, Color subpanel or in the Colors dialog, Mesh tab, accessed from the Preferences menu.
These settings are not applicable to 2nd order elements and clipped elements of section cuts, or when you are in Automesh panel mode.
Used in conjunction with the Mesh Appearance settings.
Elems, no prop/mat
Specify the color for elements that do not currently have any properties or materials assigned to them, either directly or inherited from the collectors that they belong to.

Mesh/Geometry Appearance Settings

Mesh/Geometry Appearance settings control the display of mesh lines, geometry lines and application level anti-aliasing.

From the menu bar, click Preferences > Mesh/Geom Appearance.

Meshing

Detail: Mesh Line Settings
Moving the Detail slider from 1 to 10 allows the displaying of mesh lines when you are viewing the model at further zoomed out levels regardless of the mesh coarseness.
These settings are not applicable to 2nd order elements and clipped elements of section cuts, or when you are in the Automesh panel.
These settings are used in conjunction with the mesh line option in the Options panel, Colors subpanel.
Transparency: Finite Element Settings
Moving the Transparency slider from 2.0 to 9.5 adjusts the transparency levels of finite element models from more opaque to more transparent.
Transparent with mesh lines
Check this box on to display mesh lines when finite elements are transparent.

Geometry

Detail: Geometry Line Settings
Moving the Detail slider from 1 to 10 allows the displaying of geometry lines when you are viewing the model at further zoomed out levels.
Solid edge width: Geometry Solid Edge Line Width Setting
Moving the Solid edge width slider from 1.0 to 5.0 allows the displaying of geometry solid edge line width thickness.
Auto edge adjustment
Check this box on to change the geometry line widths dynamically when zooming in and out.

Other

Anti-aliasing
Check this box to remove jagged edges and smooth all graphic lines.
Show newly created entities
Check this box to display entities as they are created.
Transparent Highlight
Check this box to display new selection highlights with a transparency effect. Outer edges appear white and thicker.
Node level of detail
Node size will vary on zoom in or out of the model in the graphics area, and no longer shows overlapping of nodes.

Lighting Settings

Lighting settings control the location, direction and intensity (high/low) of the specular lighting.

From the menu bar, click Preferences > Lighting.
One light
Manually control the direction of lighting, and adjust the specular lighting by moving the slider.


Figure 3.
Multi-lights (default)
Use the standard placement of the multiple lights, and adjust the specular lighting by moving the slider.
This setting does not allow for directional control.


Figure 4.

Scale Settings

Scale settings control the scale display in the graphics area.

From the menu bar, click Preferences > Scale.
Scale Position
Select a location to display the scale.
Scale Size
Select a display size for the scale.
Scale Color
Pick a color to display the scale.


Figure 5.

Script Performance Settings

Script Performance settings control the APIs used to improve script performance when the original script may not have cleaned itself up correctly due to poor logic, unhandled errors or unexpected behavior.

From the menu bar, click Preferences > Script Performance.

If you experience issues with entity selection not highlighting, messages not posting to the status bar, command files not populating or graphics not redrawing, reset the settings in this dialog.

Manage Favorite Panels

Save and access a list of your favorite panels. HyperMesh saves the list of favorite panels and restores it accordingly when you start a new session.



Figure 6.

Add Favorites

  1. Open the panel you wish to save to the favorite panels menu.
  2. From the Favorites toolbar, click and select Add Current Panel.

Remove Favorites

  1. Open the panel you wish to remove from the favorite panels menu.
  2. From the Favorites toolbar, click and select Remove Current Panel.

Change Solver Interfaces

Load a different solver interface in Engineering Solutions.

  1. From the Standard toolbar, click .
  2. In the User Profiles dialog, select a solver interface and click OK.