Import list of points to create a surface in 3D

Altair Forum User
Altair Forum User
Altair Employee
edited October 2020 in Community Q&A

Hello,

I am new to Hypermesh and I had a few questions.

I have a custom geometry that is currently stored in a text file as a series of points along a surface. The geometry is the surface of a custom-designed balloon that has non-analytical curvature (i.e. it cannot be represented by an analytical function of x,y,z). We have solve for the points along the surface using another calculation program and we have output the coordinates of the surface in cartesian coordinates so that we can import them into another program to actually create the surface to then run simulations on.

Is there a way to import a list of coordinates in ascii format to create a surface from those points? Or otherwise, can I import a section of the list of points to create the lines along surface (from pole to pole) and then interpolate the surface from the lines?

I have the pole-to-pole lines in another program (Comsol) but when I try to save the geometry as Parasolid files, I cannot import them with Hypermesh. I'm not sure if it is a problem writing the file with Comsol or reading the file with Hypermesh.

Thanks,

Carl

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Answers

  • Altair Forum User
    Altair Forum User
    Altair Employee
    edited May 2012

    Carl,

    you can use command-file syntax to 'import' a list of coordinates as nodes.

    E.g. *createnode(0,2,1,0,0,0) will create a node at (0,2,1).

    I am not sure what you mean with pole-to-pole lines, but if your node series has some 'logic' in it, i.e. you know the nodes of each line, you could directly create the surface via a command-file.

    For demonstartion just execute these lines as a command-file:

    *createnode(0,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(1,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(2,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(3,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(4,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(5,0,0,0,0,0)

    *createlist(nodes,1) 1 2 3 4 5 6

    *linecreatefromnodes(1,0,150,5,179)

    *createnode(0,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(1,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(2,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(3,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(4,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createnode(5,1,0,0,0,0)

    *createlist(nodes,1) 7 8 9 10 11 12

    *linecreatefromnodes(1,0,150,5,179)

    *createnode(0,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createnode(1,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createnode(2,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createnode(3,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createnode(4,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createnode(5,2,1,0,0,0)

    *createlist(nodes,1) 13 14 15 16 17 18

    *linecreatefromnodes(1,0,150,5,179)

    *createlist(lines,1) 1 2 3

    *surfaceskin(1,1)

    Check online help for details of the used commands.

    Regards,

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