Pointwise Release Notes

Version: Pointwise V18.3 R1
Release Date: September 2019
News Release: www.pointwise.com/news/2019/Pointwise-Adds-Hex-Core-Meshing-Improved-CFD-Flow-Solver-Efficiency.html

Overview
New Features
Resolved Issues
Platform Support
Previous Versions

Overview

Pointwise is our leading mesh generation software product for CFD, encompassing nearly three decades of technology development. The product features a modern software framework and workflow and provides tools like 64-bit support, multi-threading, and Windows/Linux/Mac portability.

These release notes are provided as a reference for the new features included in the latest version of Pointwise as well as any known issues that were resolved.

New Features

Hex-Core meshing is now available. This can be used on existing blocks or to create a farfield.
Pointwise Viewer is now available and comes bundled with the standard installation. It can be used without a license to examine meshes in any format that can import into Pointwise.
Keyboard accelerators can now be customized.
A new T-Rex boundary condition based upon turning angle has been added.
A new default boundary condition for T-Rex called Auto is now available. Specifically created for the Apply T-Rex feature, this applies an Angle boundary condition if one is specified. If no angle is specified, then it will apply a Wall boundary condition unless the connector is shared by a structured domain, in which case an Adjacent Grid condition is applied.
The current Pointwise session can be automatically journaled as a session transcript.
A View Magnifier has been added to allow localized magnification within the display
Quilt boundaries can now be assembled in the Create, Assemble, Quilts feature.
Explicit boundaries can now be selected in Create, Patch.
MeshLink files can now be exported alongside CAE files.
A T-Rex preference checkbox has been added to Grid, Sync Spacings.
Curvature clustering now works for Advancing Front Ortho domains with and without mixed cells.
New Min./Max. Edge Length settings are available for domains.
Point cloud sources can now be imported using Grid, Import.
A new distribution type for Connectors, Automatic, has been added. The dimension and distribution of the grid points is based upon the size field.
The Examine window has been simplified to allow quicker access to the most commonly used features.
A turntable style rotation (rather than trackball) is now available.
Jacobian is now available as an Examine function for domains.
Quad dominant domains now have lower area ratios.

Resolved Issues

SPR	Description
PW-19118	An unstructured block that was previously not able to be initialized can now be populated with cells.
PW-19183	An unstructured block can now be initialized without error.
PW-19320	Initializing an unstructured block resulted in an unexpected exit from the application.
PW-19498	Initializing an unstructured block failed and reported the error ‘Could not import the tets!”
PW-20008	A relatively simple unstructured block failed initialization after many hours.
PW-20544	An .stp file was not importing correctly.
PW-20908	A solidworks file was not importing correctly.
PW-21238	The glyph manual was missing syntax for the getTRexFront and splitByFronts commands.
PW-21491	A manifold connector was being incorrectly reported as free.
PW-21550	CAD files imported in millimeters lead to an unexpected exit during a trim operation.
PW-21569	Surface triangulation was not being recovered causing an unstructured block to fail initialization.
PW-21589	An unstructured block failed initialization.
PW-21592	Star-CCM exporter now uses 64-bit indexing so that larger files can be exported.
PW-21619	An imported Gridgen (.gg) file could not be exported after changing the CAE solver.
PW-21644	In 2D, the resulting connector after a domain split operation was not recognized as a connection in the CAE Boundary Condition menu.
PW-21646	Adjusted the topological surface mesher to reduce warnings about initialization in quilt mode.
PW-21687	The cell counts in the Grid, Solve table were not updating correctly after initialization.
PW-21702	Command line execution of a script failed for files with dots in their name prior to the file extension.
PW-21705	IGES files were not importing complete geometries.
PW-21706	Undoing the import of an IGES file resulted in an unexpected exit.
PW-21708	T-Rex cell combination omitted a cell under certain circumstances.
PW-21716	Removed a limitation that prevented many CFD++ files from being imported.
PW-21724	Assembling models was causing an unexpected exit.
PW-21729	Splitting an unstructured block at a distance less than 0.001 was not being allowed.
PW-21748	Adjusting Equiangle Skew criteria in the unstructured block solver was causing an unexpected exit.
PW-21762	Using Glyph, blocks were not refined by a source when initialized outside of the mode.
PW-21764	Scaling of a grid caused Pointwise to enter an infinite loop.
PW-21793	The import of an unsupported format for .Gmsh now reports an error.
PW-21795	Named Spacings were being removed after using the domain solver.
PW-21796	Importing an input.xml file for Overset was parsing data incorrectly.
PW-21831	Renaming an existing boundary condition was causing it to not highlight the associated domains.
PW-21845	A selection bug caused a domain to be selected outside of a selection box.
PW-21869	The reticle for point selection was inaccurate during Edit, Split.
PW-21872	Entities were being highlighted pre-emptively based upon how the cursor approached.
PW-21908	The user manual has been updated to clarify the “Include Parents” option in the Layers panel.
PW-21922	2D T-Rex was asymmetric on a symmetrical shape.
PW-21926	Lamina boundaries were incorrectly updating in Model Assembly.
PW-21927	Re-extrusion caused an unexpected exit.
PW-21941	The Gridgen mouse style was preventing panning and rotation.
PW-21987	Very large CAE boundary condition count was being displayed.
PW-21984	Reducing spacing below tolerance values led to an unexpected exit when opening the T-Rex menu.
PW-22004	Importing a CGNS file resulted in an invalid attribute error.
PW-22021	Quad Warp limits were not being adhered to during domain initialization.
PW-22022	Initializing a block changed the surface cell type of some domains.
PW-22049	Not all Default settings were being preserved in a saved file.
PW-22057	Some Named Spacing constraints became unassigned.

Platform Support

Minimum Requirements for All Platforms:

2 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
2 GB disk space
Ethernet card
OpenGL capable color display monitor
1280x1024 screen resolution (4K monitor support now included)
Graphics adapter supporting 3D hardware-accelerated OpenGL and 24-bit RGB double-buffering
Up-to-date graphics accelerator drivers

Note: Pointwise V18.0 R1 and later will not be supported on 32-bit platforms.

	Hardware	64-bit
Microsoft Windows	Intel AMD
Linux	Intel AMD
macOS	Intel

Requirements for All Platforms

Minimum Requirements:

2 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
2 GB disk space
Ethernet card
OpenGL capable color display monitor
1280x1024 screen resolution (4K monitor support now included)
Graphics adapter supporting 3D hardware-accelerated OpenGL and 24-bit RGB double-buffering
Up-to-date graphics accelerator drivers

Important Notes:

Pointwise does not support 32-bit platforms.
Pointwise does not support remote execution. However, a FAQ with remote execution workarounds is avaiable.

Microsoft Windows

Operating System	64-bit
Windows 7
Windows 8.1
Windows 10

*There is a known incompatibility on Microsoft Windows between Dell Backup & Recovery software and Pointwise V18. If you experience problems opening or saving a file from Pointwise, Dell Backup & Recovery software should be disabled or uninstalled.

Linux

Operating System	Version	64-bit
CentOS	6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	6
SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop	12 SP1
Ubuntu Desktop	14.04

Linux Library Dependencies

Listed below are the specific versions of library packages that we have on our test machines where we know Pointwise works. Other dependences (e.g. libGL) are not explicitly listed below as they should be part of any standard install that includes the packages listed below.

CentOS 6.4

expat-2.0.1-11.el6_2
fontconfig-2.8.0-3.el6
freetype-2.3.11-14.el6_3.1
libgcc-4.4.7-4.el6
libstdc++-4.4.7-3.el6
libX11-1.5.0-4.el6
libXau-1.0.6-4.el6
libxcb-1.8.1-1.el6
libXext-1.3.1-2.el6
libXft-2.3.1-2.el6
libXrender-0.9.7-2.el6
zlib-1.2.3-29.el6

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

expat-2.0.1-11.el6_2
fontconfig-2.8.0-5.el6
freetype-2.3.11-15.el6_6.1
libgcc-4.4.7-16.el6
libstdc++-4.4.7-16.el6
libX11-1.6.0-6.el6
libXau-1.0.6-4.el6
libxcb-1.9.1-3.el6
libXext-1.3.2-2.1.el6
libXft-2.3.1-2.el6
libXrender-0.9.8-2.1.el6
zlib-1.2.3-29.el6

SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 12 SP1

fontconfig
libbz2-1
libexpat1
libffi4
libfreetype6
libgcc_s1
libglib-2_0-0
libGLU1
libgobject-2_0-0
libgthread-2_0-0
libpcre1
libstdc++6
libX11-6
libXau6
libxcb1
libXext6
libXft2
libXrender1
libz1

2.11.0-4.19
1.0.6-29.2
2.1.0-17.1
5.3.1+r233831-9.1
2.5.5-7.5.1
5.3.1+r233831-9.1
2.38.2-5.12
9.0.0-15.1
2.38.2-5.12
2.38.2-5.12
8.33-3.314
1.6.8-11.1
5.3.1+r233831-9.1
1.6.2-4.12
1.0.8-4.58
1.10-3.1
1.3.2-3.61
2.3.1-9.32
0.9.8-3.56
1.2.8-5.1

Ubuntu 14.04

libexpat1
libffi6
libfontconfig1
libfreetype6
libgcc1
libpcre3
libstdc++6
libx11-6
libxau6
libxcb1
libxdmcp6
libxext6
libxft2
libxrender1
zlib1g

2.1.0-4ubuntu1.1
3.1~rc1+r3.0.13-12
2.11.0-0ubuntu4.1
2.5.2-1ubuntu2.5
1:4.9.1-0ubuntu1
1:8.31-2ubuntu2
1.2.50-1ubuntu2.14.04.1
4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1
2:1.6.2-1ubuntu2
1:1.0.8-1
1.10-2ubuntu1
1:1.1.1-1
2:1.3.2-1
2.3.1-2
1:0.9.8-1
1:1.2.8.dfsg-1ubuntu1