Pointwise Release Notes

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

  • A table has been added to show final spacing when a growth profile is used in Grid, Distribute, Spacing.
  • Accelerator keys have been added for Create, Assemble Special for blocks and domains.
  • Edge and Face selections are now retained when switching between tabs in the Solver menu.
  • Angle Limit can now be saved as a user preference.
  • Pointwise now has the ability to accept arguments at launch when using the command line to start the program.
  • The normal side of a surface/domain now has a slightly reflective appearance. The opposite side has a flatter finish.
  • FV-UNS 3.0 has been added as an export option.
  • A byte order option has been added for UGRID file export.
  • During interactive selection using Glyph, the keypad Enter key or Control+Enter can now be used to close the Select Entities panel.
  • NX 11 files can now be imported.
  • CATIA V5R26 CAD files can now be imported.
  • Files exported to the EDGE CAE solver can use either the binary or unformatted file format.
  • A separate copy action has been introduced that will copy the journal output in the messages window without the “Journal” prefix.
  • An accelerator can be added to the toolbar that removes all control points from a connector or connectors.
  • The escape key can now be used to close menus.
  • Clicking the dimension icon on the toolbar now opens the Grid, Dimension menu.
  • A glyph function has been added that can estimate the surface normal at a specified location on a database surface.
  • A warning has been added to inform a user if the current file was saved with a previous version of Pointwise.
  • A new field has been added to the Growth distribution profile. This field, called Middle, addresses the spacing between two prescribed growth profiles.
  • Two options have been added to the Defaults tab that address connectors that are joined. The first allows for the deletion or retention of break points. The second allows for the retention of the current distribution, or will redistribute points based upon the new dimension and spacings of the joined connector.
  • The direction of the scroll wheel for zoom in and zoom out can now be changed.
  • Surfaces can now be set to a transparent fill type in the View, Attributes menu. The degree of transparency can be adjusted.
  • Cart3D has been added as a CAE Export option.

Resolved Issues

SPR Description
PW-17934 An unstructured block failed to initialize with the error “One or more entities could not be initialized”.
PW-18229 An unstructured block failed to initialize and showed long cells stretching from the surface mesh to the farfield after failure.
PW-19607 Extruding the same structured block produced different results in Pointwise V17.2 and V17.3.
PW-19677 Initialization of an isotropic tetrahedral block produces very coarse interior volume cells.
PW-19850 Normal Hyperbolic extrusion was stopping early due to instabilities. The smoothing has been improved to allow for greater stability.
PW-20084 T-Rex layer growth did not extend as far in some areas of the mesh in V18.0R1 as in V17.3R4.
PW-20235 When a structured periodic domain was split, all grid points were clustered to one node on one of the split connectors.
PW-20246 Importing a Gridgen file caused part of an existing baffle face to be removed.
PW-20247 Rotation point could not be set by accelerator with a Gridgen, Right-pick mouse style.
PW-20259 Pointwise exited prematurely while opening a file.
PW-20267 Pointwise failed to export a 1 billion cell mesh to Exodus with an error.
PW-20270 Exodus export was aborted due to Exodus Library Error warnings.
PW-20279 Pointwise V18 was producing fewer T-Rex layers for a 2D domain than Pointwise V17.3 R5.
PW-20285 Splitting a database curve by arclength after it was scaled resulted in an incorrect split location.
PW-20309 Pointwise was unexpectedly exiting during model assembly.
PW-20312 Isotropic domain initialization resulted in poorly grouped cells at the boundary.
PW-20315 NASA/FUN3D files had an incorrect file extension when exported from MacOSX.
PW-20317 Vertices adjacent to pyramid tip points were being adjusted leading to unpredictable results, namely negative volume cells.
PW-20324 Copy and Rotate of a block was causing negative Jacobians.
PW-20328 The capitalization for ogaserver is now consistent across operating systems.
PW-20332 The Solve command was available for a structured block that was unbalanced.
PW-20333 Gridgen Generic 2D export was failing if the grid contained poles.
PW-20335 Importing a CAD file using a shared network path no longer results in errors.
PW-20340 For multiple structured entities, hitting Apply in the Solve command caused all entities to have their check box turn on.
PW-20360 The speed of algebraic extrusions has been improved.
PW-20369 Joining two unstructured domains prevented the associated block from being exported successfully.
PW-20375 Joining a previously split STL surface was causing an unexpected exit.
PW-20381 A large file was unable to be exported to Exodus II using a Mac.
PW-20384 CAE Boundary Conditions was incorrectly selecting more than one interior domain/connection.
PW-20390 A Plot3D file with an unorthodox structured block was not being imported.
PW-20391 The value input definition for XINCLUDE, YINCLUDE, and ZINCLUDE were incorrect for Pegasus.
PW-20399 The SDK has been updated to now support OSX 10.11.
PW-20405 A shape created with a journal file will no longer be translated when executing the journal file used to create it.
PW-20421 Cancelling a normal extrusion is now completed quicker.
PW-20439 An issue has been corrected that caused a domain to be corrupted when scaled.
PW-20446 Domain associativity is no longer lost during diagonalization when the Initialize method is used.

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