nTopology 3.26 - What's New?

Version 3.26

nTopology 3.26 is here! This release features four new features. The first is the new lattice technology coming out of beta with three new blocks. Searching is now easier than ever with the search in place feature. The go-to functionality now supports chip instances of a variable, variable property, and non-variable property. The fourth feature is the new lighting enhancements with ambient occlusion improving the visualization of complex geometry. All this, along with bug fixes and usage improvements, makes life a lot easier. As with every release, nTopology’s dedicated support team is ready to answer your questions. Please visit support.ntopology.com to access helpful tutorials and support articles.
Table of Contents

New Volume Latticing Blocks

  • As part of our new latticing technology, we released three new and easy-to-use volume latticing blocks: Rectangular Volume Lattice, Cylindrical Volume Lattice, and Spherical Volume Lattice.

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  • Block Name: Rectangular Volume Lattice
  • Location: Lattices > Lattice
  • Default Overload:
  • Description: Generates a Lattice that completely fills a Volume by tessellating a Unit Cell along rectangular coordinates. This block accepts a 1 Parameter Unit Cell, with additional overloads for 0 or 2 Parameter Unit Cells. By default, the Lattice is then trimmed to the surface of the Volume input. Provide an optional Frame input to customize the origin and orientation of the rectangular coordinates.
  • Input 1: Volume - Implicit Body in which the Lattice will be generated.
  • Input 2: Unit cell - Two-parameter Unit Cell to tessellate within the Volume input.
  • Input 3: Unit cell size - Size of the Unit Cells in the Frame's X, Y, and Z directions.
  • Input 4: Frame - Optional Frame that defines the rectangular coordinates used to generate the Lattice. By default, the Frame's origin is the "min point" property of the Volume input's bounding box, and the Frame's X and Y are the "axis 1" and "axis 2" properties of the Volume input's bounding box.
  • Input 5: Trim - Option to trim the Lattice at the Volume input's surface.
  • Input 6: Unit cell parameter 1 - Value of the Unit Cell's first parameter. The input name will update based on the selected Unit Cell. Each Unit Cell's parameters can be found in the Unit Cell's documentation.
  • Notes:
    • All Unit Cell types are accepted as the 2nd input.
    • This block internally uses the **Periodic Lattice**, **Rectangular Cell Map**, and either **Trim Cell Map** or **Trim Lattice** depending on what trimming selection you make.
    • You can use this block as a replacement for the following deprecated latticing blocks:
      • Volume Lattice (deprecated)
      • TPMS (deprecated)
      • Walled TPMS (deprecated)
  • Block Name: Cylindrical Volume Lattice
  • Location: Lattices > Lattice
  • Default Overload:
  • Description: Generates a Lattice that completely fills a Volume by tessellating a Unit Cell along cylindrical coordinates. This block accepts a 1 Parameter Unit Cell, with additional overloads for 0 or 2 Parameter Unit Cells. By default, the Lattice's beams are then trimmed to the surface of the Volume input. Provide an optional Frame input to customize the origin and orientation of the cylindrical coordinates.
  • Input 1: Volume - Implicit Body in which the Lattice will be generated.
  • Input 2: Unit cell - One-parameter Unit Cell to tessellate within the Volume input.
  • Input 3: Cell radius - Unit Cell length in the Frame's radial direction.
  • Input 4: Cell height - Unit Cell length in the Frame's height direction.
  • Input 5: Arc count - Number of Unit Cells in the Frame's circumferential direction.
  • Input 6: Frame - Optional Frame that defines the cylindrical coordinates used to generate the Lattice. By default, the Frame is derived from the Volume's principal axes about its center of mass.
  • Input 7: Trim - Option to trim the Lattice at the Volume input's surface.
  • Input 8: Unit cell parameter 1 - Value of the Unit Cell's first parameter. The input name will update based on the selected Unit Cell. Each Unit Cell's parameters can be found in the Unit Cell's documentation.
  • Notes:
    • All Unit Cell types are accepted as the 2nd input.
    • This block internally uses the Periodic Lattice, Cylindrical Cell Map, and either Trim Cell Map or Trim Lattice depending on what trimming selection you make.
    • You can use this block as a replacement for the following deprecated latticing blocks:
      • TPMS Cylindrical (deprecated)
      • Walled TPMS Cylindrical (deprecated)
  • Block Name: Spherical Volume Lattice
  • Location: Lattices > Lattice
  • Default Overload: Description: Generates a Lattice that completely fills a Volume by tessellating a Unit Cell along spherical coordinates. This block accepts a 1 Parameter Unit Cell, with additional overloads for 0 or 2 Parameter Unit Cells. By default, the Lattice's beams are then trimmed to the surface of the Volume input. Provide an optional Frame input to customize the origin and orientation of the spherical coordinates.
  • Input 1: Volume - Implicit Body in which the Lattice will be generated.
  • Input 2: Unit cell - One-parameter Unit Cell to tessellate within the Volume input.
  • Input 3: Cell radius - Unit Cell length in the Frame's radial direction.
  • Input 4: Latitude count - Number of Unit Cells in the Frame's latitudinal direction.
  • Input 5: Longitude count - Number of Unit Cells in the Frame's longitudinal direction.
  • Input 6: Frame - Optional frame that defines the spherical coordinates used to generate the Lattice. By default, the Frame's origin is the centroid of the volume input's bounding box.
  • Input 7: Trim - Option to trim the Lattice at the Volume input's surface.
  • Input 8: Unit cell parameter 1 - Value of the Unit Cell's first parameter. The input name will update based on the selected Unit Cell. Each Unit Cell's parameters can be found in the Unit Cell's documentation.
  • Notes:
    • All Unit Cell types are accepted as the 2nd input.
    • This block internally uses the Periodic Lattice, Spherical Cell Map, and either Trim Cell Map or Trim Lattice depending on what trimming selection you make.
    • You can use this block as a replacement for the following deprecated latticing blocks:
      • TPMS Spherical (deprecated)
      • Walled TPMS Spherical (deprecated)

Search in Place

We made enhancements to our search capabilities to make them more user-friendly. This new feature is called Search in Place:

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  • What it does:
    • Currently, when you are focused on a part of the notebook and want to add a block, you have to add a block from the top search bar. We’ve been told by our users that this is distracting and causes a loss of focus. We’ve improved this experience by enabling you to search for and add blocks, comments, and sections at your current location in the notebook.
  • Common uses: 
    • Search in Place is activated by right-clicking the dividing line under a block, under a blank section, or between blocks.
    • Once Search in Place is activated via right-clicking, a context menu will give you the option to:
      • Add Block - When selected, will open up the search dialog to the right of the notebook at the line.
      • Add Section - When selected, will add a section below the line
      • Add Comment - When selected, will activate the comment for that block when a block already exists below the line. If a comment already exists, it will activate the existing comment and allow you to edit it.
      • Paste and Paste with References, as they exist today.
  • Tips 
    • Double-clicking the dividing line will skip the initial Search in Place context menu and brings you directly to the Add Block search dialog.
    • We updated Context Search’s icon to match Search in Place’s “+” icon. When you select the “+” icon on a block, it will search for and add blocks that are compatible as outer nested blocks with your current selection. When you add a block via Search in Place, you can search for and add any block below the dividing line.
    • Clicking on the dividing line and selecting the “S” key on your keyboard (the same keyboard shortcut as Context Search) will skip the initial Search in Place context menu and bring you directly to the Add Block search dialog.

Improved Go To Functionality

We made enhancements to our “Go To” Functionality allowing you to be able to more easily trace chip instances in your notebook.

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  • What it does: 
    • Allows you to go to the source location of its instanced chip in the notebook by right-clicking directly on the chip and selecting “Go To Block”.
  • Common uses: 
    • Can be activated from a chip instance of a variable, variable property, and non-variable property.
  • Tips: 
    • If the source reference is within a collapsed section, it will uncollapse the section. Can be activated either on the chip, the input panel, or the input section of the block that contains the chip.

Lighting Enhancements

  • What has changed:
    • The visualization experience in nTopology has now been significantly improved to help get a better understanding of complex geometry. This has been achieved through changing the lighting which helps in geometry discernibility, and by introducing Ambient Occlusion (which is set to ON by default) to help visualize depth in porous objects and lattices easily.
  • Sample before and after images: 
Before With New Lighting and AO
4_1.png 4_2.png
5_1.png 5_2.png
6_1.png 6_2.png
  • Ambient Occlusion Settings 
    • A new checkbox has been added in Settings that allows toggling of the new Ambient Occlusion. By default, this is set to ON.

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View Control Improvements - CAD Tools Key Mapping

  • What has changed:
    • nTopology now allows the selection of different model navigation options (zoom, pan, rotate controls) from a dropdown menu in Settings. The options provided for different CAD environments map the basic zoom, pan, and rotate functionalities to corresponding keys on the selected CAD tool, which makes it more intuitive to use nTopology as you transition between your CAD platform of choice and nTopology as a part of your everyday work.
    • The CAD platforms currently supported are:
      • Solidworks NX
      • CATIA
      • Creo
      • nTopology (default)
    • Core navigation behavior across all key mapping options has also been updated.
      • Mouse scroll now allows zooming towards the mouse location.
      • Rotation (orbit) behavior has been updated to be more intuitive, allowing easier navigation around the model using a dynamic rotation point which is set when initiating an orbit operation with the mouse over the object.
      • The rotation point can now be seen on the model and provides an easy visual reference when the point is dynamically updated during routine model navigation.
  • Implementation Details: 
    • The orbit operation now provides a visual indication of the rotation point to support dynamic rotation point adjustment.
    • If the user initiates an orbit with the mouse above any part of an object, the point on the object under the mouse will be locked as the rotation point.
    • If the user initiates an orbit with the mouse away from an object (in space), then the last used rotation point would be used.

8.gif

Also, the zoom via scroll now zooms towards the mouse location.

9.gif

Accessing Settings for Key Maps:

10.gif

Usage Improvements

  • We updated the error messages of list blocks to specify which list index (starting at 0) is causing the error. When multiple indices are causing errors, the error message will specify the lowest list index until all errors are fixed.
  • Right-clicking on a variable and selecting “Make Model Input” will insert the variable at the bottom of the Inputs list instead of at the top of the Inputs list.
  • We updated the behavior of CAD translation blocks such as Rotate Object, Translate Object, and Scale Object blocks to generate the output even if the input CAD geometry contains some faults.

Block Updates

Block name before 3.26

Block name in 3.26

Branched Lattice Body

Branched Lattice

Cell Map on CAD Face

Cell Map from CAD Face

Cell Map on Quad Mesh

Cell Map from Quad Mesh

Collapse Lattice Body Vertices

Collapse Lattice Vertices

Delaunay Lattice Body

Delaunay Lattice

Extend Open Lattice Body Beams

Extend Open Beams

Rib Lattice Body from Beams

Extrude Lattice

Import Element Pro Rule

Import Unit Cell Rule

Lattice Body from Beams

Lattice from Beams

Lattice Body from Lattice

Lattice from Graph

Lattice Body from Surface Mesh

Lattice from Surface Mesh

Lattice Body from Volume Mesh

Lattice from Volume Mesh

Merge Lattice Bodies

Merge Lattices

Modify Lattice Body Thickness

Modify Lattice Thickness

Orthofoam Lattice Body

Orthofoam Lattice

Periodic Lattice Body

Periodic Lattice

Trim Lattice Body

Trim Lattice

Lattice Body from Surface Voronoi

Voronoi Surface Lattice

Lattice Body from Volume Voronoi

Voronoi Volume Lattice

  • The following blocks are moved from Beta > Lattices to the main Lattices ribbon tab, with no rename:
      • Cell Map between CAD Faces
      • Custom Implicit Unit Cell
      • Cylindrical Cell Map
      • FE Lattice Component
      • FE Lattice Mesh
      • Filter Beams
      • Filter Beams by Angle
      • Filter Beams by Connectivity
      • Filter Beams by Containment
      • Filter Beams by Length
      • Filter Beams by Thickness
      • Graph Unit Cell
      • Orient Unit Cell
      • Rectangular Cell Map
      • Spherical Cell Map
      • TPMS Unit Cell with Offset
      • Trim Cell Map
      • Walled TPMS Unit Cell
      • Walled TPMS Unit Cell with Offset
  • The following block is re-named, but is staying in beta:
Block name before 3.26 Block name in 3.26
Pore Diameters from Lattice Body Lattice Pore Size
  • The following blocks are deprecated. Visit the Latticing Technology Transition Guide to learn how to transition your notebook from the old to new latticing technology.
    • Branched Lattice (deprecated)
    • Collapse Lattice Vertices (deprecated)
    • Conformal Lattice between CAD Faces (deprecated)
    • Conformal Lattice from CAD Face (deprecated)
    • Delaunay Lattice (deprecated)
    • Extend Open Beams (deprecated)
    • FE Lattice Component (deprecated)
    • FE Lattice Mesh (deprecated)
    • Lattice from Volume Mesh (deprecated)
    • Merge Lattices (deprecated)
    • Orthofoam Lattice (deprecated)
    • Remove Beams (deprecated)
    • Rib Lattice from Beams (deprecated)
    • Surface Lattice (deprecated)
    • Thicken Lattice (deprecated)
    • TPMS (deprecated)
    • TPMS Cylindrical (deprecated)
    • TPMS Spherical (deprecated)
    • Trim Lattice (deprecated)
    • Volume Lattice (deprecated)
    • Voronoi Boundary Lattice (deprecated)
    • Voronoi Volume Lattice (deprecated)
    • Walled TPMS (deprecated)
    • Walled TPMS Cylindrical (deprecated)
    • Walled TPMS Spherical (deprecated)
  • The lattice data type names are changed. Read understanding the lattice data types for more information. 

Type name before 3.26

Type name in 3.26

Voronoi Volume Lattice Body

Voronoi Volume Lattice

Voronoi Surface Lattice Body

Voronoi Surface Lattice

Lattice Body

Lattice

Thick Lattice

Thick Graph

Lattice

Graph

 

Bug Fixes

  • We fixed an issue causing the ribbon to be hidden the first time you opened nTopology.
  • We fixed an issue when the “Show Beta blocks” setting was turned off causing Context Search to not return results on a Beta block.
  • We fixed a memory access error in the Topology Optimization block which could lead to the block failing to assemble the solution matrices and thus producing an error.
  • We've resolved an issue with exporting multi-component models to Abaqus where the model contains both FE Volume and FE Surface meshes. Prior to release 3.26, the shell and solid sections were not exported properly.
  • We changed how stress, strain, and heat flux are computed at mid-side nodes in Point Maps. Prior to release 3.26, these mid-side values were averaged from the adjacent element values. To be consistent with other finite element software, they are now averaged from the corner nodes. This is also consistent with how the corresponding fields are computed in the analysis blocks. Moreover, when generating displacement, temperature, and reaction force fields, the solved value at the mid-side nodes is used instead of averaging the results at the element corners.
  • We fixed an issue exporting Ansys *.cdb files containing beams with variable cross sections. Prior to release 3.26, the SECDATA command was missing cross section variables. In addition, we changed the SECTYPE from arbitrary (ASEC) to solid circular (CSOLID) to be consistent with the lattice graph cross section in nTop.
  • We fixed an issue when selecting nodes using the FE Boundary by Flood Fill block with meshes containing triangular and quad faces. If the Entity input was set to Nodes, a node that was shared between a quad and triangle face would not be included in the FE Boundary output unless the selected region had both elements. For existing models with Boundary Conditions applied to nodes on meshes containing mixed triangular and quad faces, we recommend rerunning the FE Boundary by Flood Fill block and validating the output.
  • We fixed an issue with the Heads Up Display where the minimum and maximum values in the color wheel did not match the minimum and maximum values in the slider.
  • We fixed an issue where the Add block returned an incorrect error when it attempted to add vector fields with mismatched units.
  • We fixed an issue causing the type icon for Mesh List Variable to have graphical inconsistencies when Light Mode was enabled.
  • We fixed an issue with nonlinear thermal analysis that produced a temperature field from the 3.25 release that exceeded the defined temperature range of the material properties. The material properties are clamped at the corresponding extreme values, and correct results are computed.
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