nTop Platform 2.19 - What's New

Cayleigh McCreight

December 05, 2023 18:04

2.19 Release Notes

Summary

nTopology nTop Platform 2.19 is here! The release comes stacked with brand new features, such as an Import Block Manager, new Lattice Pipeline blocks, such as Custom Implicit Unit Cell and Warp Cell Map, and a new nTopCL feature for generating templates. The Import Block Manager enables you to easily manage and locate imported blocks, while also giving you the ability to unimport. The Custom Implicit Unit Cell block is a very powerful function enabling you to transform any implicit body into a unit cell to be propagated in a cell map, while the Warp Cell Map block gives you the ability to contract and expand regions of a predefined cell map. Lastly, we’ve introduced a new command in nTopCL that gives you the ability to create input and output JSON templates. As with every release, nTopology’s dedicated support team is ready to answer your questions. Please visit support.ntopology.com to gain access to helpful tutorials and support articles.

Import Block Manager

You can now manage the blocks that you import into your file
To launch the imported blocks window:

Select File> Imported Blocks
Right-click on any imported block and select the Imported Blocks option
Select the icon on the top right corner of the Notebook header

To add blocks to the file:

Select File > Import and choose a block from the browser
From the imported blocks window, select the “Import Block” button and choose a block from the browser

When blocks are imported to the file, the number in the icon updates to reflect the total number of imported blocks

Delete unused blocks from your file by right-clicking on the name in the imported block manager and selecting delete

A block can only be deleted if it is not used in the notebook.
If a user tries to delete a block that is in the Notebook, an error message will appear stating that all instances of that block in the notebook need to be deleted first

Improved Feedback for Imported Blocks

When a new custom block has been imported to a file, the block will appear directly in the Notebook to let the user know that the import is successful.

New Filter Overload

Location: Utilities > General
Description: Filter a list of entities by a conditional statement that compares a list of corresponding values to a target reference value.
Input 01: List

Type: List Interface
Description: List to filter

Input 02: Values

Type: Scalar List
Description: The values for comparison

Input 03: Comparison

Type: Comparison Enum
Description: The comparison operator to use

Input 04: Reference

Type: Scalar
Description: The reference value to compare to the list of comparison values

Output: Any
In the example image below, we’re filtering a list of points based on the distance to a target point

Lattice Body Beam Property (Beta)

We’ve introduced a new Beam property for Lattice Bodies
This beam type includes the following information:

Start Point: Start point of each beam
Start Radius: Start radius of each beam
Start Valency: The number of points located at every beam’s start point. This integer value is used to determine if a beam is closed, floating, or open.
End Point: Endpoint of each beam
End Radius: End radius of each beam
End Valency: The number of points located at every beam’s endpoint. This integer value is used to determine if a beam is closed, floating, or open.
Line Segment: The line segment of the beam
Length: The length of the beam
Direction: The direction of the beam as a vector
Size: The number of beams in total
Reversed: The list of beams in reverse order

Lattice Body from Beams Block (Beta)

We’ve introduced a block that enables you to construct a lattice body from a list of beams. If you need to filter the beams of a lattice body based on some criteria, beam length or beam angle as examples, the Lattice Body from Beams block gives you the ability to turn those lists of filtered beams back into a lattice body for further downstream operations.
Location: Beta > Lattices - Utilities
Description: Convert a list of beams into a lattice body
Input 01: Beams

Type: Beam List
Description: Convert a list of beams into a lattice body

Output: Lattice Body

Rib Lattice Body from Beams Block (Beta)

Location: Beta > Lattices - Utilities
Description: Create directional ribs from the beams elements of a lattice
Input 01: Lattice

Type: Lattice
Description: Lattice to generate ribs from

Input 02: Direction:

Type: Scalar Field
Field to derive the normal direction from.

Input 03: Height

Type: Scalar Field
Description: Field to assign height at the rib locations

Note: This block also includes an overload enabling you to specify a vector field for the direction input, enabling you to create your own custom offset direction.

Custom Implicit Unit Cell Block (Beta)

You can now create your own custom implicit unit cells in our new lattice pipeline by simply providing a single implicit body and a bounding box.
Custom Implicit Unit Cell
- Type: Implicit Body
- Description: Implicit body to convert to an implicit unit cell.
- Type: Bounding Box
- Description: Bounding box to define the domain of the custom unit cell.

Location: Beta > Lattices - Unit Cells
Description: Constructs a custom implicit unit cell from an implicit body.
Input 01: Body
Input 02: Unit cell domain
Output: Unit Cell

Check out this article to learn more about Custom Unit Cells.

Warp Cell Map Block (Beta)

Location: Beta > Lattices - Cell Map
Description: Warp the unit cell size distribution of a cell map using 3 sizing fields.
Input 01: Cell map

Type: Cell Map
Description: Cell map to be warped

Input 02: Discretization

Type: Vector
Description: Dimensions of the grid in which the transfer function will be computed on. Increase to capture more detail from the input sizing fields.

Input 03: U Scale

Type: Scalar Field
Description: Field to control stretch in U-direction. Negative will shrink, positive will expand.

Input 04: V Scale

Type: Scalar Field
Description: Field to control stretch in V-direction. Negative will shrink, positive will expand.

Input 05: W Scale

Type: Scalar Field
Description: Field to control stretch in W-direction. Negative will shrink, positive will expand.

Input 06: Lock U Bounds

Type: Bool
Description: Option to freeze in-plane displacement on U boundaries

Input 07: Lock V Bounds

Type: Bool
Description: Option to freeze in-plane displacement on V boundaries

Input 08: Lock W Bounds

Type: Bool
Description: Option to freeze in-plane displacement on W boundaries

Output: Cell Map

New Cell Map Properties (Beta)

We’ve introduced the following new Cell Map properties:

Jacobian Determinant Scalar Field: provides a local measure of the factor by which the map expands or shrinks a unit of volume. A negative value indicates an inversion.
U Scalar Field: the map to the unit cell’s X-axis
V Scalar Field: the map to the unit cell’s Y-axis
W Scalar Field: the map to the unit cell’s Z-axis

nTop Command Line (nTopCL) - Installation Option for System PATH

You can add the installation folder to System PATH to enable executing nTopCL from any folder.

nTop Command Line (nTopCL) - Template Generation

We have given you a feature to create Input and Output JSON templates by running nTopCL command with ‘-t’ argument. (ex. ntopcl.exe -t myNotebook.ntop)
Input and Output JSON templates are generated based on the default values in the nTop Notebook.
Output JSON template will not be generated unless all default values are given in the Notebook.

Vector Point Map Display

Vector Point Maps arrows now display in screen dimensions.
Using the Heads Up Display (HUD), users can now adjust the scale of the arrows, can scale arrows based on a corresponding weight derived from the simulation results, and can also determine the bounds of the visible arrows by modifying the Lower and Upper bounds of the results. See this new feature in action below:

Usage Improvements

The following blocks have been promoted from Beta to Production and currently reside in the Manufacturing > Slicing Menu

Slice Stack Boolean Intersect
Slice Stack Boolean Union
Slice Stack Boolean Subtract
Trim Slice Stack
Simplify Slice Stack

The Split Mesh block has been optimized to produce faster results.

Bug Fixes

A Cylindrical Lattice Body (Beta) can now be sliced properly
We've resolved an issue where nTop files were failing to save on network drives, even though the interface indicated they saved
The Periodic Lattice Body (Beta) no longer produces graphic glitches when rotating or zooming
Units are no longer stri[[ed from a list of items output from a custom block