Before you start generating a grid with Fidelity Pointwise (or by any other means), you should first consider several aspects related to the analysis to be performed. This will save you a lot of time while avoiding costly false starts and rework.
Tip: Spending a little time up front to plan your project and make sure the grid meets your goals in the most efficient way will save a lot of time and resources downstream.
After you have planned your grid and familiarized yourself with Fidelity Pointwise's terminology and command structure, you are ready to begin generating your grid. Fidelity Pointwise is designed for you to flow through the grid generation process in a specific order, proceeding from grid curves (the one dimensional grid elements), through surface grids (the two dimensional grid elements), to volume grids (the three dimensional grid elements). This process allows Fidelity Pointwise to automate many of the grid topology and dimension bookkeeping tasks you would have to keep track of yourself otherwise.
The basic steps you will follow are listed below. Some of the steps are optional, as noted.
Note: For 3D grids, select blocks for exporting to a selected CAE. Otherwise, select domains for the export instead.
While the detailed operations performed in each of these steps will vary for each grid you build, you will always follow these basic steps in this general order. We also recommend you create some of your domains (surface grids) as soon as you have enough connectors created. This will allow you to see immediately whether or not the distribution of grid points you applied to your connectors results in a good domain surface grid. By doing this, you will be able to identify and correct potential problems at the earliest possible stage in the grid generation process resulting in a better final grid.