Toolbars

Each toolbar contains a group of icon buttons that provide access to common tools.

Toolbars are dockable, meaning they can be moved and either floated or pinned to a location, allowing you to configure the workspace according to your preferences.

Turn toolbars on and off from the menu bar by clicking View > Toolbars.

Checks

The Checks toolbar provides access to checks and calculations tools that are commonly used in the model building process.

Turn the Checks toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Checks menu.


Figure 1.
Opens the Distance Panel.
Opens the Length Panel.
Opens the Mass Calc Panel.
Opens the Edges Panel.
Opens the Features Panel.
Opens the Faces Panel.
Opens the Normals Panel.
Opens the Summary Panel.
Opens the Count Panel.

Collectors

The Collectors toolbar provides access to tools that allow you to create, edit, delete, card edit, organize, and renumber HyperMesh collectors.

Turn the Collectors toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Collectors menu.


Figure 2.
Opens the Assemblies Panel.
Opens the Delete Panel.
Opens the Organize Panel.
Opens the Renumber Panel.

Display

The Display toolbar controls what entities HyperMesh displays in the graphics area, primarily by masking entities to hide or display.

Turn the Display toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Display menu.


Figure 3.
Opens the Mask Panel.
Left-click: Reverses the mask state of all elements in currently displayed collectors.
Right-click: Reverses the mask state of all entities (elements, loads, and so on) in currently displayed collectors.
Unmasks the row of elements adjacent to the currently displayed ones. If some of the unmasked elements reside in components that are currently not displayed, those components will also be unmasked.
Unmasks all entities (elements, loads, and so on) in the currently displayed collectors.
Left-click: Masks all entities (elements, loads, and so on) located outside of the graphics area but in currently displayed collectors.
Right-click: Unmask all entities (elements, loads, and so on) located outside of the graphics area but in currently displayed collectors.
Opens the Find Panel.
Opens the Numbers Panel.
Displays a scale in the lower, right-hand corner of the graphics area, which you can use to measure different parts of your model. The numbers on the scale are dependent upon the dimension of the model and the zoom factor you are currently using in the graphics area.
Switches the display of element handles on/off.
Switches the display of load handles on/off.
Points the load vector toward the load application point (tip), or away from the load application point (tail) when the tip or the tail of the load vector is attached to the load application point.
Note: The direction of the vector does not change when you select this option.
Switches the display of fixed points on/off.

Favorites

The Favorites toolbar allows you to save and access a menu that lists your favorite panels. HyperMesh saves the list of favorite panels and restores it accordingly when you start a new session.

Turn the Favorites toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Favorites menu.


Figure 4.

Patch Checker

The Patch Checker toolbar contains a group of icon buttons that you can use to review quality results, sliver surfaces, elements attached to selected nodes, and so on.

Entities placed on the user mark are used as input. The user mark is populated by selecting the save option from advanced entity selections, specific panels that have the save button (such as Check Elems), or via Tcl script using *marktousermark.

This tool creates "patches", or local regions, from each input entity. A patch includes only displayed entities. Patches are not created for any input entities that are not displayed. A spherical clipping is then calculated and applied for each patch, with the input entity highlighted and the adjacent entities low lighted. In order to keep the performance high, only the first 500 entities on the user mark are considered.

Turn the Patch Checker toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Patch Checker menu.


Figure 5.
Select the elements entity type.
Select the surfaces entity type.
Select the nodes entity type.
Turn the tool on or off.
Go to the previous patch.
Go to the next patch.
Go back to the first patch.
Decrease the size of the spherical clip.
Increase the size of the spherical clip.
Reset the spherical clip back to its default.

Undo-Redo

The Undo-Redo toolbar provides access undo and redo functionality.

Turn the Undo-Redo toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Undo-Redo menu.


Figure 6.

Visualization

The Visualization toolbar contains a group of icons that you can use to control the display of entities in the graphics area.

Turn the Visualization toolbar on and off from the View > Toolbars > Visualization menu.


Figure 7.
Geometry - Color mode options
Automatically select a color mode based on the active panel.
You can change display colors in the Options panel, Colors subpanel.
All surfaces are colored based on the assemblies they belong to. Each assembly receives a different color (although models with many assemblies may have colors repeated for more than one assembly). Any surfaces that do not belong to an assembly are colored gray.
All surfaces are colored based on the parts they belong to. Any surfaces that do not belong to a part receive the color assigned to the main model.
Changes the color of all surfaces and solid faces to the color assigned to the component in which that geometry resides. All surface edges and solid face edges are colored black.
Surfaces are colored gray (2D faces (topo) with surface edges colored by topology: red (free edges), green (shared edges), yellow (t-junctions), or blue (suppressed edges). Solid faces and face edges are colored transparent green (bounding faces) with internal faces colored yellow (full partition faces).
Surfaces are colored gray (2D faces (topo) with surface edges colored by topology: red (free edges), green (shared edges), yellow (t-junctions), or blue (suppressed edges). Solid faces and face edges are colored blue, ignoring solid topology.
Surfaces and surface edges are colored blue, ignoring surface topology. Solid faces and face edges are colored transparent green (bounding faces) with internal faces colored yellow (full partition faces).
Surfaces are colored by component with surface edges colored by topology. Solid faces are colored by component with solid face edges colored by topology.
Surfaces display in wireframe mode, with surface edges colored blue (ignoring topology). Solid faces are colored by mappability: red (not mappable), yellow (1d mappable), or green (3d mappable). Solid face edges are colored by topology.
Geometry - Shade options
Set geometry mode to shaded with surface edges.
Set geometry mode to shaded.
Geometry - Wireframe options
Set geometry to wireframe with surface lines.
Set geometry to wireframe mode.
Opens the Transparency panel.
Mesh - Color mode options
All elements are colored based on the parts they belong to. Any elements that do not belong to a Part receive the color assigned to the main model.
All elements are colored by the color assigned to the component in which that element resides.
All elements are colored by the property assigned to that element. Properties are assigned to elements directly or indirectly. Properties are assigned directly to the element by using the Property > Assign panel. Indirect element properties are inherited from the component in which the element resides; component properties are assigned in the Component > Assign panel. Directly assigned properties override indirect ones. Solvers in group #1 (Radioss (Bulk Data), OptiStruct, Nastran) can support both direct and indirect element property assignment. Solvers in group #2 (Radioss (Block), LS-DYNA) only support indirect element property assignments. Any element without a property is colored gray.
All elements are colored by the material assigned to that element. Materials are assigned to elements differently for solver group #1 and solver group #2; Solver Group #1 (Radioss (Bulk Data), OptiStruct, Nastran) assign materials to properties, and then properties to elements (either directly or indirectly as discussed in Color by Property). Elements with both direct and indirect property assignments use the material associated with the direct element property assignment. Solver group #2 (Radioss (Block), LS-DYNA) assigns materials to elements indirect by assigning materials to the component in which the element resides using the Component > Assign panel. Any element which does not have a material assigned to it, directly or indirectly, will be colored gray.
All elements are colored based on the assemblies they belong to. Each assembly receives a different color (although models with many assemblies may have colors repeated for more than one assembly). Any elements that do not belong to an assembly are colored gray.
All elements are colored by their topology: green (1D), blue (2D), and red (3D).
All elements are colored by their element configuration (mass, reb2, spring, bar, rod, gap tria3, quad4, tetra4, and so on).
Opens the Thickness View, and colors shell elements according to their thickness values. Both element as well as node thicknesses are supported. A thickness legend is shown in the upper-left corner of the graphics area.
Thickness coloring can be combined with 2D Detailed Element Representation


Figure 8. Element Thickness with 2D Detailed Representation


Figure 9. Nodal Thickness with 2D Detailed Representation
Opens the Element Quality View mode in the graphics area.
This permanent mode serves as a useful tool to investigate each specific element criteria, as well as evaluate the overall quality of a mesh.
All elements are colored based on the domains they belong to. A domain is a morphing entity which enables design changes to an existing FE topology. Each domain receives a different color. Any elements that do not belong to a domain are colored gray.
Elements - Shaded options
Set current element visual mode to shaded with mesh lines. Elements are shaded, and surface mesh lines display.
Set current element visual mode to shaded with feature lines. Elements are shaded but have no mesh lines, while feature lines display.
Set current element visual mode to shaded. Elements are shaded, but no lines display.
Elements - Wireframe options
Set the current element visual mode to wireframe (skin only). Internal mesh lines will not display.
Set the current element visual mode to wireframe. Internal and surface mesh lines display.
Set current element visual mode to transparent with elements and feature lines. Elements are shaded but transparent, no mesh lines display, but feature lines do.
1D - Element options
Display a more detailed, shaped-based representation for 1D beam elements.
Display both the simple and detailed representations for 1D beam elements.
2D - Element options
Display a simple representation for 2D shell elements.
Display a more detailed, shaped-based representation for 2D shell elements.
Display both the simple and detailed representations for 2D shell elements.
Ply/Composite options
Ply layers are not displayed.
Figure 10.
Plies in a composite material are displayed.
Figure 11.
The exact nature of the display depends on the 2D Element Representation button. See Element and Ply Visualization for details.
For continuum shells the display can be overlaid with the transparent representation of the original continuum shell elements, if 2D Traditional Element Representation () is turned on.
Display layers with vectors indicating their appropriate ply orientation. Corrected fiber directions are shown if the drape data is available on every element of the ply.
Figure 12.
The exact nature of the display depends on the 2D/3D element visualization button. See Element and Ply Visualization for details.
For continuum shells the display can be overlaid with the transparent representation of the original continuum shell elements, if 2D Traditional Element Representation () is turned on.
Enables the ply lay-up or stack boundaries to be visualized, which provides an easy way to view ply drop-off. When the stack topology shape is changed, the visualization of the edges is automatically updated. Ply layer geometry edges are always outlined in white, where as FE edges are always outlined in the same color as the ply. FE edges are always outlined with a thicker line compared to geometry edges.
Toggle on/off shrink elements by shrink factor.
Shrink factor can be set from the Options panel, Graphics subpanel.