Pointwise Release Notes

  • Version: Pointwise V18.4 Release 4
  • Release Date: May 2021

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

Resolved Issues

SPR Description
PW-23347 Initializing a block, that previously initialized successfully, failed in 18.4 R3.
PW-23464 Applying a scaling factor to a sphere caused Automatic Surface Mesh to fail.
PW-23472 Structured solver was not properly applying edge spacing parameters.
PW-23485 Higher order Gmsh files were not being read correctly into nek5000
PW-23496 Curved line sources were not correctly honoring parametric spacing differences.
PW-23516 An unstructured block with multiple periodic boundaries as well as a match domain caused the block to error and not initialize.
PW-23518 Importing a point data cloud resulted in an unexpected exit.
PW-23520 Creating domains on database gradually used all memory until it was exhausted, then caused Pointwise to close.
PW-23530 Exiting the Add/Remove Edge feature early caused the tool to malfunction if it was reused.

Platform Support

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

Requirements for All Platforms

Minimum Requirements:

  • At least 16 GB RAM (64 GB recommended)
  • At least 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
  • Up-to-date graphics card drivers

Important Notes:

Microsoft Windows

Operating System 64-bit  
Windows 8.1 Windows 8 Compatible
Windows 10 Windows 10 Compatible

*There is a known incompatibility on Microsoft Windows between Dell Backup & Recovery software and Pointwise V18. If you experience problems opening or saving a file from Pointwise, Dell Backup & Recovery software should be disabled or uninstalled.

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 Pointwise works. Other dependences (e.g. libGL) are not explicitly listed below as they should be part of any standard install that includes the packages listed below.

CentOS 7

bzip2-libs-1.0.6-13.el7
expat-2.1.0-8.el7
fontconfig-2.10.95-7.el7
freetype-2.8-14.el7
glibc-2.17-307.el7.1
libdrm-2.4.60-3.el7
libgcc-4.8.5-4.el7
libpng-2:1.5.13-7.el7_2
libselinux-2.2.2-6.el7
libstdc++-4.8.5-4.el7
libX11-1.6.3-2.el7
libXau-1.0.8-2.1.el7
libxcb-1.13-1.el7
libXdamage-1.1.4-4.1.el7
libXext-1.3.3-3.el7
libXfixes-5.0.1-2.1.el7
libxkbcommon-0.7.1-3.el7
libxkbcommon-x11-0.7.1-3.el7
libxshmfence-1.2-1.el7
libXxf86vm-1.1.3-2.1.el7
mesa-libGL-10.6.5-3.20150824.el7
mesa-libglapi-10.6.5-3.20150824.el7
mesa-libGLU-9.0.0-4.el7
pcre-8.32-15.el7
xcb-util-0.4.0-2.el7
xcb-util-image-0.4.0-2.el7
xcb-util-keysyms-0.4.0-1.el7
xcb-util-renderutil-0.3.9-3.el7
xcb-util-wm-0.4.1-5.el7
xz-libs-5.1.2-12alpha.el7
zlib-1.2.7-18.el7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4

bzip2-libs-1.0.6-13.el7
expat-2.1.0-10.el7_3
fontconfig-2.10.95-11.el7
freetype-2.8-14.el7
glibc-2.17-196.el7
libdrm-2.4.74-1.el7
libgcc-4.8.5-16.el7
libpng-2:1.5.13-7.el7_2.x86_64
libselinux-2.5-11.el7
libstdc++-4.8.5-16.el7
libX11-1.6.5-1.el7
libXau-1.0.8-2.1.el7
libxcb-1.12-1.el7
libXdamage-1.1.4-4.1.el7
libXext-1.3.3-3.el7
libXfixes-5.0.3-1.el7
libxkbcommon-0.7.1-1.el7
libxkbcommon-x11-0.7.1-1.el7
libxshmfence-1.2-1.el7
libXxf86vm-1.1.4-1.el7
mesa-libGL-17.0.1-6.20170307.el7
mesa-libglapi-17.0.1-6.20170307.el7
pcre-8.32-17.el7
xcb-util-0.4.0-2.el7
xcb-util-image-0.4.0-2.el7
xcb-util-keysyms-0.4.0-1.el7
xcb-util-renderutil-0.3.9-3.el7
xcb-util-wm-0.4.1-5.el7
zlib-1.2.7-17.el7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2

bzip2-libs-1.0.6-26.el8
expat-2.2.5-3.el8
fontconfig-2.13.1-3.el8
freetype-2.9.1-4.el8
glibc-2.28-101.el8
libgcc-8.3.1-5.el8
libglvnd-1.2.0-6.el8
libglvnd-glx-1.2.0-6.el8
libpng-1.6.34-5.el8
libstdc++-8.3.1-5.el8
libuuid-2.32.1-22.el8
libX11-1.6.8-3.el8
libX11-xcb-1.6.8-3.el8
libXau-1.0.8-13.el8
libxcb-1.13.1-1.el8
libXext-1.3.3-9.el8
libxkbcommon-0.9.1-1.el8
libxkbcommon-x11-0.9.1-1.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
zlib-1.2.11-13.el8

SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 12.3

fontconfig
glibc
libbz2-1
libdrm2
libexpat1
libfreetype6
libgcc_s1
libpng16-16
libstdc++6
libX11-6
libX11-xcb1
libXau6
libxcb-dri2-0
libxcb-dri3-0
libxcb-glx0
libxcb-icccm4
libxcb-image0
libxcb-keysyms1
libxcb-present0
libxcb-randr0
libxcb-render-util0
libxcb-render0
libxcb-shape0
libxcb-shm0
libxcb-sync1
libxcb-util1
libxcb-xfixes0
libxcb-xinerama0
libxcb-xkb1
libxcb1
libXdamage1
libXext6
libXfixes3
libxkbcommon-x11-0
libxkbcommon0
libxshmfence1
libXxf86vm1
libz1
Mesa-libGL1
Mesa-libglapi0

Ubuntu 16.04

libc6-2.23-0ubuntu3
libdrm2-2.4.67-1
libexpat1-2.1.0-7
libfontconfig1-2.11.94-0ubuntu1
libfreetype6-2.6.1-0.1ubuntu2
libgcc1-1:6.0.1-0ubuntu1
libgl1-mesa-glx-11.2.0-1ubuntu2
libglapi-mesa-11.2.0-1ubuntu2
libglu1-mesa-9.0.0-2.1
libpng12-0-1.2.54-1ubuntu1
libstdc++6-5.3.1-14ubuntu2
libx11-6-2:1.6.3-1ubuntu2
libx11-xcb1-2:1.6.3-1ubuntu2
libxau6-1:1.0.8-1
libxcb-dri2-0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-dri3-0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-glx0-1.11.1-1ubuntu
libxcb-icccm4-0.4.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-image0-0.4.0-1build1
libxcb-keysyms1-0.4.0-1
libxcb-present0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-randr0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-render-util0-0.3.9-1
libxcb-render0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-shape0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-shm0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-sync1-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-util1-0.4.0-0ubuntu3
libxcb-xfixes0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-xinerama0-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb-xkb1-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxcb1-1.11.1-1ubuntu1
libxdamage1-1:1.1.4-2
libxdmcp6-1:1.1.2-1.1
libxext6-2:1.3.3-1
libxfixes3-1:5.0.1-2
libxkbcommon-x11-0-0.5.0-1ubuntu2
libxkbcommon0-0.5.0-1ubuntu2
libxshmfence1-1.2-1
libxxf86vm1-1:1.1.4-1
zlib1g-1:1.2.8.dfsg-2ubuntu4

macOS

Operating System Version 64-bit
High Sierra 10.13

Other Versions

Pointwise V18.6 R5
Pointwise V18.6 R4
Pointwise V18.6 R3
Pointwise V18.6 R2
Pointwise V18.6 R1
Pointwise V18.5 R2
Pointwise V18.5 R1
Pointwise V18.4 R4
Pointwise V18.4 R3
Pointwise V18.4 R2
Pointwise V18.3 R2
Pointwise V18.3 R1
Pointwise V18.2 R2
Pointwise V18.2 R1
Pointwise V18.1 R2
Pointwise V18.1 R1
Pointwise V18.0 R4
Pointwise V18.0 R3
Pointwise V18.0 R2
Pointwise V18.0 R1