FILES |
Browser to read and write files and projects.
GiD includes the usual ways of saving and reading
saved information (Save
, Read
) and other file capabilities, such as
importing external files, saving in other formats and so on.
New |
New
opens a new project with no title assigned.
If this option is chosen from inside a project where some changes have been introduced, GiD asks to save them before entering the new project. Next, a new problem without a title begins.
Open |
With this command, a project previously saved with Save
(see section Save) or with
Save ASCII project
(see section ASCII project) can be open.
Generally, there is no difference between using a project name with the .gid
extension or without it.
Save |
Save
a project is the way of saving all the information relative to the
project: geometry, conditions, materials, mesh, etc. onto the disk.
To save a project, GiD creates a directory with its name and extension .gid
.
Some files are written into this directory containing all the information. Some of
these files are binary and others are ASCII. The user can then
work with this project directory as if it were a file.
User doesn't need to write the .gid
extension because it will be automatically
added to the directory name.
Caution: Be careful if changing some files manually into the
Project.gid
directory. If done in this way, some information may be
corrupted.
Advice: It is advisable to save often to prevent losing information. It is possible to automatically save a model backup by selecting a user frequence (see section Preferences).
Save as |
With this command, GiD allows the user to save the current project with another name.
When it is selected, an auxiliary window appears with all the existing projects and directories to facilitate the introduction of the project's new name and directory.
Import |
IGES |
With this option it is possible to read a file in IGES format, version 5.1.
GiD can read files in IGES version 5.1 format, including most of the entities, which are:
Entity number and type ( Notes) 100 Circular arc 102 Composite curve 104 Conic arc ( ellipse, hyperbola and parabola) 106 Copious data ( forms 1, 2, 12 and 63) 108 Plane (form1 bounded) 110 Line 112 Parametric spline curve 114 Parametric spline surface 116 Point 118 Ruled surface 120 Surface of revolution 122 Tabulated cylinder 124 Transformation matrix ( form 0) 126 Rational B-spline curve 128 Rational B-spline surface 140 Offset surface entity 141 Bounded entity 142 Curve on a parametric surface 143 Bounded surface 144 Trimmed surface 308 Subfigure definition 402 Associativity instance 408 Singular subfigure instance
The variable ImportTolerance
(see section Preferences) controls the creation of
new points when an IGES file is read.
Points are therefore defined as unique if they lie further away than this tolerance
distance from another already defined point. Curves are also considered identical if
they have the same points at their extremes and the "mean proportional distance"
between them is smaller than the tolerance. Surfaces can also be collapsed.
Entities that are read in and transformed are not necessarily identical to the original entity. For example, surfaces may be transformed into plane,into Coons or into NURBS surfaces defining their contours and shape.
DXF |
With this option it is possible to read a file in DXF format, version AutoCAD 2002.
Mostly all the geometry in the DXF is read except the solid modeled entities.
A very important parameter to consider is related to how the points must be joined.
This means that points that are close to each other must be converted to a single
point.
This is done by defining variable ImportTolerance (see section Preferences).
Points closer together than ImportTolerance
will be
considered to be a single point. Straight lines that share both points are also
converted to a single line.
User can perform one Collapse
(see section Collapse) to join more entities.
Parasolid |
With this option it is possible to read a file in Parasolid format, version 11.
GiD can read files in Parasolid version 11 format (ASCII or binary formats).
The most usual Parasolid file extension is .x_t
for ASCII and .x_b
for binary format.
The variable ImportTolerance
(see section Preferences) controls the creation of
new points when a Parasolid file is read.
Points are therefore defined as unique if they lie further away than this tolerance
distance from another already defined point. Curves are also considered identical if
they have the same points at their extremes and the "mean proportional distance"
between them is smaller than the tolerance. Surfaces can also be collapsed.
ACIS |
With this option it is possible to read a file in ACIS format, version 5.0.
GiD reads the ASCII version, the SAT Save File Format. ACIS files (in ASCII) have the .sat
extension.
VDA |
With this option it is possible to read a file in VDA 2.0 format.
A very important parameter to consider is related to how the points must be joined.
This means that points that are close to each other must be converted to a single
point.
This is done by defining variable ImportTolerance
(see section Preferences.
Points closer together than ImportTolerance
will be
considered to be a single point. Straight lines that share both points are also
converted to a single line.
User can perform one Collapse
(see section Collapse) to join more entities.
Shapefile |
With this option it is possible to read a GIS file written in ESRI Shapefile format, version 1000.
Shapefiles have the .shp
extension.
NASTRAN mesh |
With this option it is possible to read a file in the NASTRAN format, version 68.
GiD can read files written in NASTRAN version 68 format, accepting most of its entities, whic are:
Entity name ( Notes) GRID CBAR CBEAM ( translated as 2 node bars) CELAS2 ( translated as 2 node bars) CHEXA ( 8 or 20 nodes) CONM2 CORD1C CORD1R CORD1S CORD2C CORD2R CORD2S CQUAD4 CROD ( translated as 2 node bars) CTRIA3 CTETRA
There are two options that can be used when reading a mesh if GiD already contains a mesh:
Erase
)
AddNotShare
).
The properties and materials of elements are currently ignored, because of the difficulties in associating the NASTRAN file properties with the requirements of the analysis programs. The user must therefore assign the materials "a posteriori" accordingly. However, in order to make this easier, the elements will be partitioned into different layers each with the name PIdn, where n is the property identity number associated with the elements as defined in the NASTRAN file. Note that CELAS2 elements do not have associated property identities so these will be created by default during the reading of the file.
STL mesh |
With this option it is possible to read a mesh in the STL format. The STL binary format is also supported.
The variable ImportTolerance
(see section Preferences) controls the creation of
new points when the file is read.
GiD mesh |
With this option it is possible to read a GiD ASCII mesh (saved with Export GiD Mesh
) in order to visualize it within GiD.
It is also possible to read a new mesh and add it to the existing one. In this case, the user is prompted to keep the former one or join it to the new mesh.
The format of the file (whose name is introduced by means of the command line or directly by getting it from the auxiliary window) describing the mesh must have the following structure:
mesh dimension = 3 elemtype tetrahedra nnode = 4 coordinates 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 6 0 0 4 3 3 0 5 3 1.5 4 6 3 1.5 -4 7 1.5 0 2 end coordinates elements 1 1 2 4 5 1 2 2 3 4 5 1 3 1 4 2 6 1 4 2 4 3 6 1 5 1 2 5 7 1 end elements
Code nnode
means the number of nodes per element and
dimension
can be either:
2
: 2 dimensions. Nodes have just two coordinates.
3
: 3 dimensions. Nodes have three coordinates.
Where elemtype
must be:
Every element may have an optional number after the connectivities
definition. This number usually defines the material type and it is
useful to divide the mesh into layers to visualize it better. GiD offers
the possibility of dividing the problem into different layers according
to the different materials through the option Material
(see section Layers).
Note: The sign =
is optional, but if it is present it is
necessary to leave a space.
If it is necessary to enter different types of elements, every type must
belong to a different mesh. More than one mesh can be entered by writing
one after the other, all of them in the same file. The only difference
is that all meshes except the first one have nothing between
coordinates
and end coordinates
. They share the first
mesh's points. Example: to enter tetrahedra elements and triangle
elements,
mesh dimension = 3 elemtype tetrahedra nnode = 4 coordinates 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 6 0 0 4 3 3 0 5 3 1.5 4 6 3 1.5 -4 7 1.5 0 2 end coordinates elements 1 1 2 4 5 1 2 2 3 4 5 1 3 1 4 2 6 1 4 2 4 3 6 1 5 1 2 5 7 1 end elements mesh dimension = 3 elemtype triangle nnode = 3 coordinates end coordinates elements 1 1 2 4 1 2 2 3 4 1 3 1 4 2 1 4 2 4 3 1 5 1 2 5 1 end elements
Surface mesh |
With this option, a mesh can be read from a file in GiD or STL format (see section GiD mesh). Elements of this mesh must be triangles or quadrilaterals. This mesh is converted by GiD in a set of surfaces, points and lines. The geometric definition of surfaces is the mesh itself, but GiD treat them as truly geometric entities. For example: this surfaces can be used as the boundary of a volume, and a new mesh can be generated over them.
User is asked for the value of an angle. An angle between elements bigger than this value, is considered to be an edge and lines are inserted over them. As a consequence, a set of boundary and interior lines are created and attached to the surfaces to mark their edges.
Batch file |
Sometimes, it may be useful not to use GiD interactively. To do so, commands can be written into a file and GiD will read this file and execute the commands. These commands are the same that are used in GiD when written in the command line or using the commands in the right side commands menu.
Example: Many points have been digitalized and their coordinates saved in a file. These points are to be joined with straight lines to create the outline of the geometry. To do so, the file would look similar to this:
geometry create line 3.7 4.5 8 2 5 9 4,5,6 ... 1 7 0.0 escape
A batch file can also be loaded into GiD by giving its name with option -b
when opening GiD. (see section INVOKING GiD) Another way to read batch files to create dynamic presentations is with the Read batch window
(see section Read batch window). One GiD session can be registered in a batch file. This can be useful to check the batch commands or to repeat one session (see section Preferences).
BATCH FILE COMMANDS
There are some especial commands to be added to a batch than are treated differently than regular GiD commands. Their format is one or several words after the control string ***** (five stars) and everything in one line.
*****OUTPUTFILENAME filename
filename
is substituted with a real file name where all the
session warnings (that which appear in the GiD messages warn line) are
written. This can be useful when running GiD in batch with option -n
(see section INVOKING GiD) and GiD output is desired.*****TCL tcl_commandNote: If this command is used in batch file and GiD is invoked with option
-n
it will not work. To make TCL commands execute when GiD is executed without any window, you should use the -n2
option. (see section INVOKING GiD)
geometry create line 1,2 *****COMMENTS -this is a comment- 2,3 escape
geometry create line 1,2 *****PRINT -This is a message which will appear in the messages line- 2,3 escape
geometry create line 1,2 *****PRINT1 -This is a message which will appear in a new window- 2,3 escape
Insert GiD geometry |
This command permits to insert one previously created GiD model inside another one. Entities from the old and the new model are not collapsed.
User can perform one Collapse
(see section Collapse) to join the old and new model.
Export |
IGES |
GiD can export the geometry in IGES format (version 5.1). Points, curves and surfaces are exported and volumes are ignored.
The IGES entities generated are:
116 Point 110 Line 102 Composite curve 126 Rational B-spline curve 128 Rational B-spline surface 142 Curve on a parametric surface 144 Trimmed surface
DXF |
GiD can export the geometry in DXF format (version AutoCAD 2002). Points and curves are exported. Surfaces are ignored because DXF does not support Trimmed NURBS Surfaces.
GiD mesh |
With this option a file is written with all the project's mesh or meshes inside.
This file can be read with Import GiD Mesh
See section GiD mesh.
Text data report |
With this option a file is written containing all the information within the project. It is created in a way that is easily understood when read with an editor. This is useful for checking the information.
Note: This ASCII format is only used to check information. It cannot
be read again by GiD. To write ASCII files that can be read again use the option
SaveAsciiProj
(see section ASCII project).
ASCII project |
This option saves a project in the same way as the regular save
(see section Save) but files are written in ASCII. It may be useful to copy
projects between non-binary-compatible machines. GiD also allows this
information to be written in a file (see section Text data report).
Projects saved in this way may be read with the same open
command
(see section Open).
ON layers |
With this option, only the geometrical entities with its
layer set to ON
will be saved
in a new project (see section Layers).
Note: Lower entities necessary to define the saved entities will be also saved into the new project (example: The two points extremes of a line are also saved if the line is saved).
Calculation file |
If GiD runs the solver module automatically, this command is not necessary. It is however useful if the solver program is required to be run outside GiD, or to check the data input prior to any calculations.
This command writes the data file needed by the solver module.
The format of this file must be defined in a Template File (see section Template File). GiD uses the template file of the current Problem Type to write the data file; so, to run this command, a problem type must be selected.
When testing a new problem type definition, GiD produces messages about errors within the configuration. When the error is corrected, the command can be used again without quitting the example and without having to reassign any condition or meshing again.
Using template |
This command does the same as Export calculation file
(see section Calculation file), but it uses a .bas
file provided by the user, instead of using the template file of the current Problem Type. So, it's not necessary to select a Problem Type to run this command.
When choosing option Others...
from the submenu, GiD asks for a .bas
file (see section Template File) and, using that file, writes the data file needed by the solver module. There are some .bas
codes available in the submenu which write output files in some formats (DXF, NASTRAN, STL, VRML). These example .bas
files are located in the Templates
directory of the main GiD directory. It's possible to add other .bas
files to that directory so that they appear in the submenu.
Print to file |
This option asks the user for a file name and save an image in the required format.
Accepted formats are:
TIFF:
Tagged Image File Format.
EPS:
Encapsulated postscript. Useful to insert in documents.
Postscript screen:
Postscript. Useful to send to a postscript printer.
It is a snapshot of the screen.
Postscript vectorial:
Postscript. Useful to send to a postscript printer.
It gives higher quality but it is only usable for small modells. Otherwise, very
large files are created and it takes very long time to print them.
VRML:
Writes a VRML model file with the current visualization.
BMP
, GIF
, JPG
, PNG
, TGA
About |
This command gives some information about the program, such as the version number which is being run, the system or libraries.
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