HyperWorks Customization
What is this hmcustom.tcl file?
HyperWorks allows you to create a script file named hmcustom.tcl that can be used to execute a series of commands automatically or to define custom settings during startup.
The name of this file is essential "hmcustom.tcl". This is the name that HyperWorks looks for when starting, and will execute the file. The location of the file is regulated as well as searching your entire disk for a file of this name would be time-consuming. There are a few options for how to help HyperWorks locate this file. The option I will highlight is placing your "hmcustom.tcl" file in your start-in directory for HyperWorks. Where is this location? The default start-in directory is located in "My Documents" for windows.
So now, we know what to name the file and where to put it. What are we missing? Ah. Yes. We have not covered how to create this file or what can we put into it.
To create the hmcustom.tcl file all you need is some sort of environment that can handle the creation of tcl files. This is really a dealer's choice scenario, but I would like to point out that this can be done using Altair's Compose. Compose is an environment for doing math calculations, manipulating, and visualizing data, programming, and debugging scripts useful for repeated computations and process automation, and compose has the ability to write and execute oml (matlab equivalent language), tcl, and python.
As for what to put in this file, again this is really up to the user, but where do you start with this. I would begin by identifying things you want to be different when you open HyperWorks. A few ways this can be done are as follows.
1. Change the input in the GUI and see if there is a tcl command written to the command.tcl file, which is also located in the same directory you need to place your hmcustom.tcl file. If so paste that command into your hmcustom.tcl file.
2. Search the help for the command you which execute. These can be found by going to the HyperWorks online help and navigating to these locations as shown below.
(here you can find our list of supported tcl commands) There is a lot here, but I think knowing where to look gives you the upper hand.
I would pay close attention to the *setoption command located within the tcl modify commands section. This command has a mind-bending amount of options ranging from remesh behavior on topology revision to how things look in HyperWorks.
I have attached a quick example as well as a picture of the location below.
