Settings: Application Settings

Configurations

Each new release (either larger or simply service releases) are likely to contain some changes to the way that the data is presented (i.e. different order) or what values are presented. In general, though, the interface will be the same:

What is important is not so much the individual entries but how the layout works. The properties can be sorted either by group or alphabetically to better find items. Each entry is in a group of entries that perform similar tasks or are applicable to similar items.
For each setting, when it is selected, a different message shows up in the Information panel at the bottom, providing a description of what the setting does.

Entries

Here we will briefly describe each setting. Note that several of these are described in more detail in help sections where they are introduced or also in the tutorials. The entries described here are applicable to and last updated for V3.0.0, Revision 34.

Appearance Group

BackgroundBottom

Color of the background gradient at the bottom edge

BackgroundTop

Color of the background gradient at the top edge

FacetColor

Default color to apply to single body's facets

InitialView

Default view to switch to once the geometry is loaded

LineColor

Color to apply when edges are made visible

LineSize

Width of the Edges when made visible

OriginStyle

Styling to apply to the Triad located at the origin when visible (Tens or Plain)

PointColor

Color to use for vertices when displayed

PointSize

Size of points/vertices when displayed

ShowBetaFeatures

Turns on visibility for items that are not yet considered stable release tools

Behavior Group

AskToSplitMultiBodiesOnRevEng

Determines whether the application asks to split bodies that appear to consist of multiple parts, specific to the Surfacing tool

MaxBeforeLargeFileMode

Number of facets to consider the threshold to switch into a mode that reduces some of the more time consuming operations.

OfferInterfaceOnStartup

Determines whether the Interface is to be asked for when the application starts up

RememberUserCredentials

If during the login the UserName and Password are to be remembered, then this gets set. Should not be manully reset, use the Settings > License settings instead

ResetViewOnImport

Each time a new file is loaded, the view will generally reset (both scale and orientation) to offer a more consistent (albeit perhaps not perfect) orientation. If this is not of interest, it can be turned off. This would still apply for the first file loaded in a session, but subsequent loading of files would then bypass the reset and instead use the previous view settings.

SplitBodiesDuringImport

Determines whether the application always splits multiple bodies, never splits multiple bodies or asks the user.

SplittingBreakAtNonManifoldE

Legacy setting, determining whether the body split operation should consider non manifold edges. Leave in default condition

UseUndo

Undo operations are stored before a more complex operation is performed, such as conversion of facet data to feature data. For simple files this means storing the current set of data either to memory or a local file (which is set from the Data : SaveUndoToDisk setting). However, for large files this storing of data can take a fairly long time on its own as the amount of data can be considerable (all of the memory items are stored to disk or copied in memory). Frequently, this is not needed or the user decides that creating an Undo option is to be skipped in favor of better performance (or long delays due to running out of memory/disk space). It is recommended to turn Undo off as it is not generally helpful in the process.

WorkingDir

This is the location where some temporary files may be written to for some more specialized operations. In general, this path must have write access and be on the same drive as the application is installed to. The path should be as short as reasonable.

Booleans Group

BooleanCellCount

This is the number of divisions that the bounding box is divided into along its longest edge for the purpose of determining the result of a Boolean operation. The value should be increased gradually if necessary as it can result in very large data sets. A default value of 200 is generally towards the upper end of what is necessary.

Data

AllowLogFileUpload

If the application encounters a crash/error, the application attempts to notify the server in order to guide debugging efforts for development. If this value is true then the Log file is uploaded as part of this process. The contained information is considered confidential but does not contain any personal information. It can be viewed by going to Help>About and clicking on the Log-File link at the bottom of this page.

AllowProblemFileUpload

If this value is true and a error report is generated (see above), then the file that caused the issue is also submited. These files are considered confidential and only used for the purpose of troubleshooting issues.

AssyUseSubfolder

It is possible to export STEP files to assembly step files (where detail parts are provided by reference). Generally, this is not useful as several applications do not properly support this function. However, if such a file is generated and this option is turned on, then the detail parts are written to a subfolder rather than the location where the STEP file is written to.

CheckImportSize

Determines whether the imported file is to be checked for very large/small data and scaling requested from the user.

CorrectPrisms

If turned on and the import contains a FE style mesh with Prisms, then the application explicitly checks for the order of the vertices within the prism and makes corrections where necessary to follow the Ensight format (same as Patran and a number of others).

CorrectScale

If the bounding box scale is below this value it corrects it.

ExtractElementSurfaces

Default method by which to extract surface representation for 3D FE style meshes

Input Units

These are the units to expect polygon data to be in. Use the Import>Resize tool to change scale related items

LoadShellElements

Applicable to the FE module, if shell elements are present, are they to be imported

LoadVolumeElements

Applicable to the FE module, if solid elements are present, are they to be imported

LoggingLevel

Sets the level of information to be recorded. Currently unused

MaxAUtoSurface

NUmber of elements above which automatic surface extraction for FE elements is skipped

SaveUndoToDisk

If set to true and Undo is enabled, the the application creates local files rather than to use memory

Debug Group

ShadersCustomFolder

Allows a custom folder to be used for storing shader files if the default shaders are not functioning properly.

ShaderStartIndex

Defines which of the shader programs is to be first attempted. See property tip for allowed values

Drag Drop Group

KeysClearSelection

Key to clear selection (Edit)

KeysClosestView

Key to snap the current view to the closest of the default views

KeysCreate

Key to create a facet from the selection (Edit)

KeysDelete

Key to delete the current selection (Edit)

KeysHomeView

Keys to reset the view

KeysReset

Clear selection key

KeysSelectAll

Key for select-all

KeysSelectionModifier

Select/Unselect modifier key

MouseOptions

Mouse button to show options

MousePan

Press-hold-move button for Pan

MouseRotate

Press-hold-move button for Rotate

MouseSelect

Mouse button for selecting

MouseSensitivity

Sensitivity factor to apply to mouse motion

MouseSetRotate

Mouse Button for selection of rotate-around point

MouseZoom

Press-hold-move button for Zoom

Repair Group

AlwaysComputeIntersections

Determines whether Intersection testing is to be performed any time that the Issues button/tool is activated or only when requested (through checkbox)

UseParallelForRepairs

Determines if processes (that can) are to enable parallel/multi-threaded operations (using all available CPUs)

Simplify Group

SimplifyMethod

Algorithm to use for Simplify Methods

Subdivide Group

UseDooSabingSubDiv

Scaling factors to apply for subdivision: Change to the parameters (but not algorithm) defined by Doo-Sabin