nTopology 3.5 is here! This release is stacked with new functionality, such as the Remove Mesh Faces by Body block that gives you the ability to remove faces from a mesh using an implicit body as the selection tool. We also introduced a new constraint for topology optimization which enforces geometric patterns in either rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical dimensions, the ability to trim Cell Maps, and notebook section enhancements such as the ability to freely rearrange them. In addition, there are several key usage improvements, such as more GPU accelerated blocks and more simulation results as properties. 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.

• Remove Mesh Faces by Body

• Notebook Section Enhancements

• Trim Cell Map (Beta)

• Pattern Constraint for Topology Optimization

• Usage Improvements

• Bug Fixes

Remove Mesh Faces by Body

• In nTopology 3.5, we’re releasing Remove Mesh Faces by Body. This block allows you to selectively remove or keep certain faces of a mesh using an Implicit Body selection tool. Faces with at least one vertex within the implicit will remain. If Reverse is checked, faces with at least one vertex outside of the implicit will remain. This is particularly useful when you need to construct a surface lattice on just one particular segment or surface of a mesh.
• Location: Modeling - Utilities
• Name: Remove Mesh Faces by Body
• Description: Removes faces of a mesh using an Implicit Body. Faces with at least one vertex within the implicit will remain. If Reverse is checked, faces with at least one vertex outside of the implicit will remain.
• Input 01: Mesh
  • Type: Mesh
  • Description: The surface mesh from which to remove faces.
• Input 02: Body
  • Type: Implicit Body
  • Description: The implicit body selection tool.
• Input 03: Reverse
  • Type: Bool
  • Description: Option to select faces outside the implicit body instead of inside.
• Output: Mesh
• An implicit body is used as a tool to select a portion of faces from the outer surface of the arm. These faces will then be used to construct a brace.
  
• The resulting mesh and the Implicit Body selection tool are passed into the Lattice Body from Surface Voronoi (Beta) block, generating the brace.
  

Notebook Section Enhancements

• You can now freely rearrange sections in your notebook. To freely move a section, hover over the target section. An icon will appear displaying 3 vertical dots. Left mouse click on this icon to activate the move / rearrange functionality. While dragging the section either up or down, a blue horizontal line will appear between other sections indicating where the target section will be placed. See the gif below to observe the behavior:
• While dragging a block from one section to another, the target notebook section will expand, giving you more control over where the block will be placed within the section.
• In addition, we’ve added a new feature to the bottom of the notebook called +New Section. Pressing this button will create a new section directly beneath the last section in your notebook.
• Lastly, we’ve updated the behavior of the notebook section delete function to delete all blocks within the section as well. In the event you didn’t mean to delete a section, you can always undo via Edit > Undo or pres the hotkeys Ctrl+z.

Trim Cell Map (Beta)

• A new block Trim Cell Map (Beta) has been added to our new latticing capabilities. Trim Cell Map (Beta) allows you to trim a cell map using an Implicit Body, creating your desired shape before constructing a lattice. You have the option to keep cells that are entirely inside the implicit, cells whose centroid is inside, or cells that are touching. The option to reverse and keep cells that are outside the implicit is provided as well.
• Location: Beta > Lattices - Cell Map
• Name: Trim Cell Map
• Description: Trim a cell map with an implicit body.
• Input 01: Cell map
  • Type: Cell Map
  • Description: Cell map to trim.
• Input 02: Body
  • Type: Implicit Body
  • Description: Implicit body trimming tool.
• Input 03: Fill type
  • Type: Volume Lattice Fill Enum
  • Description: Rule for trimming the cell map.
• Input 04: Cells to remain
  • Type: Inside or Outside Enum
  • Description: Option to keep the cells that are inside or outside of the trimming tool.
• Output: Cell Map

Pattern Constraint for Topology Optimization

• A new constraint is available for topology optimization which enforces geometric patterns in either rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical dimensions. The constraint is invoked with the Pattern Repetition Constraint block, which takes a Cell Map as an input variable. A Cylindrical Cell Map will create a cyclic symmetric pattern, a Spherical Cell Map will create a radially symmetric pattern, and a Rectangular Cell Map will create a rectangular pattern.
  
  
• Name: Pattern Repetition Constraint
• Location: Beta > Topology Optimization
• Description: Constrain the topology optimization process to maintain a repeated pattern defined by a Cell Map.
• Input 01: Cell map:
  • Type: Cell Map
  • Description: A cell map that defines the repeated pattern.
• Output: Optimization Constraint
• Illustrative example: Enforcing a 45° cyclic symmetry pattern:

Usage Improvements

• The Transfer Function block has been updated to leverage GPU Acceleration and is interactive. To enable GPU Acceleration, go to File > Settings > General and check Enable GPU Acceleration (beta).
• We’ve updated the Vector block so that it automatically assigns units to all inputs once you have provided units to one of the three inputs. Prior to this release, you would have to add units to each input in order for the block to run.
• The progress bar now displays the name of your variable instead of the name of the block.
• We’ve updated the variable remove contents behavior so that this doesn’t happen automatically when dragging a variable from the input section of a notebook to the body of the notebook. However, you can still perform this action by right clicking on the block and selecting “Remove Contents” from the available menu options.
• More simulation results are now available as properties in the Static Analysis block and can be used directly as fields to modify designs. The fields are generated from the FE nodal data using Barycentric interpolation, and the values on the surface nodes are used for extrapolation. The resultant field is more accurate than the traditional point map approach and computationally more efficient.
  

Bug Fixes

• We resolved the issue where you were getting automatically brought back up to the top of the notebook when double clicking on the object name of any block.
• We resolved an issue where the Autobuild button was only appearing on a block you modified, rather than appearing on all blocks that were impacted by your change.
• We resolved an issue that was causing the view of your geometry to regenerate when you clicked inside an interactive input.
• We resolved an issue where the porosity data of a Voronoi Volume Lattice Body that was constructed using a mesh was incorrect if you trimmed the Voronoi Volume Lattice Body.