Achieving Optimal HyperWorks Performance on Linux – Part 1 | Local Execution

Michael Herve_21439
Michael Herve_21439
Altair Employee
edited May 28 in Altair HyperWorks

In this article, I will discuss best practices for achieving optimal performance in HyperWorks and offer troubleshooting recommendations if you face any issues while loading or running HyperWorks directly from your computer.

 

For best practices and troubleshooting recommendations for remote execution see Achieving Optimal HyperWorks Performance on Linux – Part 2 | Remote Execution. 

 

Choosing a Supported Platform and Desktop

Each version of HyperWorks is tested and validated on target platforms. When you download a package from the Marketplace, the supported platforms are listed. The two Linux distributions we mostly support are RedHat (including CentOS too) and Suse.

It is recommended that you run HyperWorks using one of the supported platforms.

Also, we currently support only Gnome and KDE desktops.

 

Checking the Installation Package’s Integrity

Once you have downloaded a package from the Marketplace, you should check the package’s integrity before running it by reviewing its hash code. The code should be the same between the file published in AltairOne and the file stored on your computer.

image

 

Retrieving Hash Code on from Altair Connect

Any package/manual exposed in the MarketPlace is provided with its hash code:

 

Retrieving Hash Code from a Shell

To get the hash code on the downloaded file, open a shell, go to the file directory, and enter the command md5sum filename.

Compare this code to the code of the file you downloaded. If both codes are different, then the installation package is corrupted, and you will need to download it again.

 

Supported Graphics Boards

HyperWorks applications use high-level graphic functions which require using graphic boards dedicated to CAE applications.

First, make sure your computer has a supported graphic board (you can find a list of supported hardware in the Installation guide). If you are using a laptop, make sure the computer has an Nvidia or AMD graphic board in addition to the default graphic chipset (not supported).

Also, make sure to install the proprietary driver. HyperWorks doesn’t support MESA generic drivers.

 

Post Installation House Keeping

Once you have finished installing HyperWorks on your Linux computer, run the script <altair_dir>/altair/hwdesktop/utility/HWCompatibilityTool/diag_tool.sh.

Please ignore total number of errors/warnings t the end of the file (generally 0), and check the script output for:

  • missing or outdated libraries, see examples below:

libXi has an older version 1.1.4-1.el8 than the requested one 1.7.9-1
mesa-libGL has an older version 9.0.0-15.el8 than the requested one 18.3.4-5

  • messages related to graphic settings, especially in case of remote visualization:

image

 

Executing HyperWorks from Valid Directory

Important: To properly start HyperWorks on a Linux workstation, you need to execute HyperWorks from a valid directory.

On Linux, HyperWorks is launched by running the hw script from <altair_dir>/altair/scripts.

Do not run:

cd <altair_dir>/altair/scripts
./hw

If run this way, you will receive errors as HyperWorks will try to write some files to the installation directory, where you most likely will not have write permissions.

Use the command below:

cd /home/user  (or any directory where you have writing permissions)
<altair_dir>/altair/scripts/hw

 

Deactivating high-level features

The features listed below are known to cause HyperWorks performance issues if your hardware settings don’t fulfill the minimal requirements. If any of the recommendations above work, please deactivate the options below from HyperWorks preferences:

Tip: You can use the search bar, located in the top, left of the Preferences dialog, to quickly find and access a preference.

  1. Dynamic Center of Rotation
  2. Hover Highlighting
  3. Tranparent highlight
  4. Anti-aliasing
  5. Hide handles during rotations
  6. Disable writing to the command file

image

From version 2022, all these preferences have been moved under a unique section. Please switch to Performance if you face performance issues.

image

 

Working with Models Containing Large Rigid Bodies

You may experience performance issues when rotating and translating a model that contains rigid bodies with more than 10,000 slave nodes.

To avoid performance issues, you can quickly hide such rigid bodies by opening the Tcl Console from the View menu and pasting the following commands:

*createmark elems 1 "greater than value" independentnodesmax 10000
*maskmark elems 1

image 

 

Contact Support

If you have checked all the recommendations mentioned above and are still running into performance issues, please contact Altair Support either through your local support representative or by creating a support request in the Altair Community (recommended).

In your ticket, please attach the following information:

  • Screenshots of Updates Information and System Information tabs in the Updates and System Information dialog can be invoked by selecting File > Help > About HyperWorks > Updates and System Information from the menu bar.

image  image

  • List of the environment variables you are using. To locate such environment variables, open a shell and enter the command env > env.txt. A text file named env.txt will be written in the directory from which you ran the command.
  • Results of the HyperWorks compatibility script
<altair_dir>/altair/hwdesktop/utility/HWCompatibilityTool/diag_tool.sh

 

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