Fidelity Pointwise Release Notes

Version: V18.6 Release 5
Release Date: March 2023

Overview
New Features
Resolved Issues
Platform Support
Previous Versions

Overview

Pointwise is our leading mesh generation software product for CFD, encompassing nearly three decades of technology development. The product features a modern software framework and workflow and provides tools like 64-bit support, multi-threading, and Windows/Linux/Mac portability.

These release notes are provided as a reference for the new features included in the latest version of Pointwise as well as any known issues that were resolved.

New Features

Upgraded the supported version of several CAD formats:

Format	Supported Version
Catia V5	R10 > R32
ProE/Creo (.prt, .asm)	13 > Creo 9
ProE (.neu)	13 > Creo 9
SolidWorks	1999 > 2023
Parasolid (x_t, xmt_txt, x_b)	All > 34
UG/NX (.prt)	11.1 > NX CR 2206

Added the ability to specify the AVMesh version to be used for Kestrel export.
Updated the JRE installers to use Java version 11.0.18+10.
Added a command to visualize surface curvature in Automatic Surface Mesh.

Resolved Issues

SPR	Description
PW-20570	Fixed an issue with Parasolid database import which resulted in failed import groups.
PW-21847	Fixed an issue with NX database import which produced an unusable surface.
PW-24060	Fixed an issue where NASA/FUN3D filenames exported on MacOS contained a redundant .ugrid.
PW-24206	Added support for importing NX CR 1996 files.
PW-24256	Added the ability to specify the AVMesh version to be used during Kestrel export.
PW-24283	Fixed an issue with NX database import where surfaces were not imported correctly.
PW-24354	Fixed an issue where a block was corrupted after T-Rex initialization, resulting in failures during CAE export.
PW-24406	Upgraded JRE installers to use a Java version of 11.0.15.1 or greater.
PW-24566	Fixed an issue where RLM license roaming feature failed to procure a license on MacOS. (Fidelity Pointwise V18.6 R5 only)
PW-24576	Fixed an issue that caused hyperbolic extrusion to be slower and produce worse quality cells, as compared to a previous version.
PW-24618	Updated the compatibility information on the Plugin SDK web page to be less confusing.
PW-24629	Fixed an issue that was causing a domain to become corrupted after the connectors were joined into a closed loop.
PW-24670	Fixed an issue with the elliptic solver where running a journaled file produced different results than were obtained interactively.
PW-24673	Fixed an issue that was causing a crash when opening a project file.
PW-24705	Fixed an issue with path extrusion that was causing a crash.

Previous Versions

Pointwise V18.6 R4

Platform Support

	Hardware	64-bit
Microsoft Windows	Intel AMD
Linux	Intel AMD
macOS	Intel

Requirements for All Platforms

Minimum Requirements:

16 GB RAM (64 GB recommended)
2 GB disk space (512 GB recommended)
Ethernet card
OpenGL compatible monitor with at least 1280x1024 screen resolution (up to 4K)
Dedicated professional graphics card supporting 3D hardware-accelerated OpenGL and 24-bit RGB double-buffering
OpenGL 2.0 or higher
Up-to-date graphics card drivers

Important Notes:

Pointwise does not support 32-bit platforms.
Pointwise does not support remote execution. However, a FAQ with remote execution workarounds is available.

Microsoft Windows

Operating System	64-bit
Windows 8.1
Windows 10

Linux

Operating System	Version	64-bit
CentOS	7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	7.4
SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop	12.3
Ubuntu Desktop	16.04

Linux Library Dependencies

Listed below are the specific versions of library packages that we have on our test machines where we know Fidelity Pointwise works. Other dependencies (e.g. libGL) are not explicitly listed below as they should be part of any standard install that includes the packages listed below.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4

fontconfig-2.10.95-11.el7
freetype-2.8-14.el7
glibc-2.17-196.el7
libX11-1.6.5-1.el7
libXScrnSaver-1.2.2-6.1.el7
libXau-1.0.8-2.1.el7
libpng-1.5.13-7.el7_2
libxcb-1.12-1.el7
libxkbcommon-0.7.1-1.el7
libxkbcommon-x11-0.7.1-1.el7
xcb-util-0.4.0-2.el7
xcb-util-image-0.3.9-4.el7
xcb-util-keysyms-0.3.9-5.el7
xcb-util-renderutil-0.3.9-3.el7
xcb-util-wm-0.3.9-5.el7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2

fontconfig-2.13.1-3.el8
freetype-2.9.1-4.el8
glibc-2.28-72.el8
libX11-1.6.7-1.el78
libX11-xcb-1.6.7-1.el8
libXScrnSaver-1.2.3-1.el8
libXau-1.0.8-13.el8
libpng-1.6.34-5.el8
libxcb-1.13-5.el8
libxkbcommon-0.8.2-1.el8
libxkbcommon-x11-0.8.2-1.el8
xcb-util-0.4.0-10.el8
xcb-util-image-0.4.0-9.el8
xcb-util-keysyms-0.4.0-7.el8
xcb-util-renderutil-0.3.9-10.el8
xcb-util-wm-0.4.1-12.el8

SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 12.3

fontconfig-2.11.1-7.1
glibc-2.22-2.22-62.19.1
libX11-6-1.6.2-11.1
libX11-xcb1-1.6.2-11.1
libXau6-1.0.8-4.58
libXext6-1.3.2-3.61
libXss1-1.2.2-8.54
libfreetype6-2.6.3-7.10.1
libpng16-16-1.6.8-14.1
libpng16-16-1.6.8-14.1
libxcb-icccm4-0.4.0-1.16
libxcb-image0-0.3.9-8.60
libxcb-keysyms1-0.3.9-8.54
libxcb-randr0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-render-util0-0.3.8-8.52
libxcb-render0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-shape0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-shm0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-sync1-1.10-3.1
libxcb-util1-0.3.9-10.54
libxcb-xfixes0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-xinerama0-1.10-3.1
libxcb-xkb1-1.10-3.1
libxcb1-1.10-3.1
libxkbcommon-x11-0-0.6.1-7.4
libxkbcommon0-0.6.1-7.4

Ubuntu 16.04

libfontconfig1:amd64-2.11.94-0ubuntu1
libfreetype6:amd64-2.6.1-0.1ubuntu2
libpng12-0:amd64-1.2.54-1ubuntu1
libx11-6:amd64-2:1.6.3-1ubuntu2
libx11-xcb1:amd64-2:1.6.3-1ubuntu2
libxau6:amd64-1-1.0.8-1
libxcb-icccm4:amd64-0.4.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-image0:amd64-0.4.0-1build1
libxcb-keysyms1:amd64-0.4.0-1
libxcb-randr0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-render-util0:amd64-0.3.9-1
libxcb-render0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-shape0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-shm0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-sync1:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-util1:amd64-0.4.0-0ubuntu3
libxcb-xfixes0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-xinerama0:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-xkb1:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb1:amd64-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxdmcp6:amd64-1-1.1.2-1.1
libxext6:amd64-2-1.3.3-1
libxkbcommon-x11-0:amd64-0.5.0-1ubuntu2
libxkbcommon0:amd64-0.5.0-1ubuntu2
libxss1:amd64-1-1.2.2-1

Ubuntu 18.04

libfontconfig1:amd64-2.12.6-0ubuntu2
libfreetype6:amd64-2.8.1-2ubuntu2.1
libpng16-16:amd64-1.6.34-1ubuntu0.18.04.2
libx11-6:amd64-2:1.6.4-3ubuntu0.4
libx11-xcb1:amd64-2:1.6.4-3ubuntu0.4
libxau6:amd64-1:1.0.8-1ubuntu1
libxcb-icccm4:amd64-0.4.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-image0:amd64-0.4.0-1build1
libxcb-keysyms1:amd64-0.4.0-1
libxcb-randr0:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-render-util0:amd64-0.3.9-1
libxcb-render0:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-shape0:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-shm0:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-sync1:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-util1:amd64-0.4.0-0ubuntu3
libxcb-xfixes0:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb-xinerama0:amd64-1.13-1
libxcb-xkb1:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxcb1:amd64-1.13-2 ubuntu18.04
libxdmcp6:amd64-1:1.1.2-3
libxext6:amd64-2:1.3.3-1
libxkbcommon-x11-0:amd64-0.8.2-1 ubuntu18.04.1
libxkbcommon0:amd64-0.8.2-1 ubuntu18.04.1
libxss1:amd64-1-1.2.2-1

Ubuntu 20.04

Ubuntu 21.04

libfontconfig1:amd64-2.13.1-4.2ubuntu3
libfreetype6:amd64-2.10.4+dfsg-1build1
libpng16-16:amd64-1.5.37-3build3
libx11-6:amd64-2:1.7.0-2build2
libx11-xcb1:amd64-2:1.7.0-2build2
libxau6:amd64-1:1.0.9-1build3
libxcb-icccm4:amd64-0.4.1-1.1
libxcb-image0:amd64-0.4.0-1build1
libxcb-keysyms1:amd64-0.4.0-1build1
libxcb-randr0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-render-util0:amd64-0.3.9-1build1
libxcb-render0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-shape0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-shm0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-sync1:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-util1:amd64-0.4.0-1
libxcb-xfixes0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-xinerama0:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb-xkb1:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxcb1:amd64-1.14-3ubuntu1
libxdmcp6:amd64-1:1.1.3-0ubuntu3
libxext6:amd64-2:1.3.4-0ubuntu3
libxkbcommon-x11-0:amd64-1.0.3-2
libxkbcommon0:amd64-1.0.3-2
libxss1:amd64-1-1.2.3-1