nTopology 3.29 is here! This release features an impressive performance improvement to the Mesh from Implicit Body block, along with some usability improvements and bug fixes. 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.
Usage Improvements
- After creating a new file, when you import a part using File->Import, the part will automatically show in the viewport.
- The Display tab for the Topology Optimization block has been improved to better monitor convergence behavior. Select the objective function or constraint of interest from the drop-down menu. Units for each curve are in brackets and the type of response. The target value has a green dashed line for constraints. Convergence plots are available for the following responses: Structural Compliance, Volume Fraction, Displacement, and Stress. If the block has not been promoted to a variable, the plot will update in real-time; otherwise, the plot will be presented after the block completes.
Convergence plot for a minimum compliance objective function
Convergence plot for a volume fraction constraint. Note the target volume fraction is illustrated by the green dashed line.
Block Updates
- The Mesh from Implicit Body block is improved to run faster and consume less memory when the Sharpen option is unchecked. The block now consumes approximately 30% less memory. The run-time improvement depends on the implicit model that you're meshing. Our tests show a 12% speed-up for medium-complexity models, such as the Field Driven Lattice example file on the Home page. If your model is more complex, you may see a higher percentage increase when using 3.29.
- Version 1.0.0 of the Merge Lattices block is deprecated due to a change in block behavior. In version 1.1.0, the block no longer collapses lattice nodes, and the Distance threshold input has been removed. The duplicates are removed in the final result of any duplicate vertices, beams, or faces. If your workflow relies on collapsing nodes within a threshold, you can use the Collapse Lattice Vertices block, or continue to use version 1.0.0.
Two Lattices merged together in 3.29. You can make additional modifications if needed using utility blocks for filtering, collapsing, and more.
The same Lattices in the image above merged using deprecated version 1.0.0 of Merge Lattices. To avoid this undesired result, users had to experiment with the threshold value, providing a smaller and smaller value to avoid collapsing nodes.
- Version 1.0.0 of the Loft between Profiles block is deprecated due to a bug fix that produced an incorrect result in cases where one or both of the input Profile(s)' internal frame wasn't positioned correctly at the center of the Profile. Version 1.1.0 is more robust and produces the correct loft regardless of a misplaced Profile frame.
- File sizes for Notebooks containing built Topology Optimization blocks have been significantly reduced. In previous versions of the software, an extra copy of the mesh was being stored in the *.ntop file. The time for opening files with Topology Optimization blocks has also been reduced. These benefits will be reduced with increasing iterations in your topology optimization analysis.
- The speed of evaluating fields from simulation results has been improved with this version of the software by bypassing a number of extraneous calculations.
Bug Fixes
- We fixed an issue preventing nTopology Lattice Graph (LTCX) files from importing.
- We fixed an issue causing the Lower Bound of the Heads Up Display to become unresponsive when using very small (1e-11) values.
- We fixed an issue preventing block comments from displaying in the notebook when they are added from the Information Panel->Comments tab.
- We fixed an issue causing nTopology to unexpectedly exit when trying to open a large file.
- We fixed a bug that placed the Body property of implicits created from the Circle and Polygon from Points blocks in the wrong location if the circle's or polygon's center point wasn't on the xy plane and centered at the origin.
- We fixed a bug that sometimes produced a bad output when orienting using the Orient Object block with two planes with the same normal. The resulting object had NaNs, which prevented users from doing any future modeling operations.
- In previous versions of the software, nonlinear thermal analyses reported an error when a FE Heat Generation was used in conjunction with Quad-dominated surface meshes. This issue has been resolved.
- We fixed another issue when Heat Generation applies to beam elements. In previous releases, the total heat load was not correctly distributed.