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Get Started
New to Inspire Cast? Learn the basics here.
Get Started with Inspire Cast
Learn the basics of the Inspire Cast user interface.
Preferences
Modify the workspace display, default keyboard shortcuts, and other settings.
Preferences: Inspire Cast
Define preferences for casting analysis.

Welcome
What's New
Discover new features and enhancements.
Get Started
New to Inspire Cast? Learn the basics here.
- What is Altair Inspire Cast?
  Inspire Cast is an analysis tool for virtual testing, validation, correction and optimization of casting designs.
- Inspire Cast: The Five Steps
  Walk through the five steps needed to define and run a casting analysis.
- Get Started with Inspire Cast
  Learn the basics of the Inspire Cast user interface.
  - Licensing Features
    Some ribbon tabs are associated with license features. Depending upon the tab you have invoked, additional units may be drawn. These features will be checked out for the duration of the session.
  - Workspace
    The Inspire Cast workspace includes the ribbon, modeling window, legend, and status bar.
  - Find and Search for Tools
    Quickly find and open the tools that are available on the ribbons.
  - File Import and Export
    Learn how to import geometry and export results.
  - Select and Edit
    Review techniques for selecting and editing objects.
  - Adjust the View
    Change the view in the modeling window using the mouse or view controls.
  - Move and Snap
    Translate, rotate, and align parts and other objects using the Move tool and snaps.
  - Systems
    The Systems tool is useful for aligning loads to a local coordinate system rather than the global coordinate system. Keep in mind that results are only shown in the global coordinate system.
  - Screen Capture
    Record a video or take a snapshot of the screen.
  - Units and Measurement
    Change the default unit system, create custom units, and measure geometry features.
  - The Model Browser
    Use the Model Browser to organize your model, organize analysis and optomization objects, and access objects that aren't currently shown in the modeling window.
  - Help and User Assistance
    Learn about the forms of help and user assistance available from the product.
  - Preferences
    Modify the workspace display, default keyboard shortcuts, and other settings.
    - Open the Preferences
      Open the Preferences window, where you can search for and customize application settings.
    - Search the Preferences
      Search for a setting to show the closest match in the Preferences window. Or use the API to display selectable search results in a dropdown list.
    - Preferences: Workspace
      Define preferences for the user interface, including the display and language.
    - Preferences: Keyboard Shortcuts
      Define preferences for keyboard shortcuts.
    - Preferences: Sketching
      Define preferences for sketching.
    - Preferences: Screen Capture
      Define preferences for video and screen captures.
    - Preferences: Snapping
      Define preferences for snaps.
    - Preferences: Report
      Define preferences for the Report tool.
    - Preferences: Inspire
      Define preferences for mouse controls and options related to how information is calculated and displayed.
    - Preferences: Inspire Cast
      Define preferences for casting analysis.
  - Inspire System Requirements
    A list of supported operating systems and minimum requirements for hardware and memory.
  - Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls
    Learn keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls for common operations.
- Systems
  Use the Systems tool to create and apply user-defined coordinate systems to loads, supports, and displacements.
- Variables
  Create and assign variables to parametrize a model. This allows you to quickly iterate and compare design concepts by tweaking the values of the variables.
- Glossary
  View a list of glossary terms and definitions.
- Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls
  Learn keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls for common operations.
Tutorials
Learn to use Inspire Cast with our interactive tutorials.
Parametric Modeling
Create 2D sketches, surfaces, and solids with construction history and variables.
Model Setup
Designate and analyze casting parts, set gravity direction and mold opening direction, define runner system, and configure casting components.
Cast Analysis
Run a casting analysis to minimize defects and prevent manufacturing problems.
Casting Benchmark Manual
Download the Casting Benchmark Manual to learn more about benchmark and verification tests.
Design Explorer
Evaluate designs by using geometric variables and applying a design-of-experiments (DOE) or optimization method. We recommend fully constraining your sketch when sketch variables are used in the design exploration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We have answers!

Preferences: Inspire Cast

Define preferences for casting analysis.

Analysis


Preference	Description
Run Options	Run in model directory: Enable this option if you want to store run history in the directory where the model is located rather than the run history path. Run history path: Specify the default location where the run history is stored. Number of CPU cores: Select the number of CPU cores to use when running simulations. For larger models, significant time savings can be achieved by using at least two cores to perform the calculation. If running simulations on your primary computer, you will want to leave some cores available for other processes. Use previous mesh: Select to use a previous mesh if the geometry has not changed to save time. Average number of steps: Define the average number of steps to be printed. The default setting will write around 100 steps, but can be modified to increase or decrease the number of steps. The value is bounded by the number of calculated steps. It is recommended to use no fewer than 50 steps for optimal visualization. New friction strategy: The new friction strategy simulates the fluidity of the casting material more realistically, but takes longer to run. Write .h3d for Physics AI: Export pressure, velocity, and temperature results for all parts to .h3d files. Find the files in a folder named “asciiandfem_results” in the simulation’s run folder. Preserve interface redistance: Enhances the tracking of the melt–air interface movement. Oscillation timestep limit: Enable to avoid unrealistic oscillations when the material velocity is very low. Timestep limit: Change the timestep limit. Greater numbers will yield increased simulation times.
Meshing	Strategy for liquids: Select between Congruent, Combine all liquids, Liquid wrap, and Liquid fuse. Strategy for solids: Select between Congruent, Non-congruent, and Voxel. Liquid Wrap mesh factor: Enter a number between 0 and 1. A smaller number yields a smaller wrap mesh element size. Liquid Fuse tolerance: Enter a distance. Gaps smaller than the specified distance will be filled. Voxel meshing quality: Choose between Coarse, Medium, Fine and Custom to define the size of the voxels in a voxel mesh. This option is useful only when Voxel is selected in the Meshing Strategy menu. Custom voxel meshing size: Define the custom size of the voxel mesh. This option is useful only when Custom is selected in the Voxel Meshing Quality menu.
Porosity	Consider surface shrinkage: When selected, the porosity calculations are more accurate. When disabled, the size calculations are more accurate.
Remote Run Options	Remote Type: Choose a remote parallel processing method. The SMP method shares memory between all cores; for MPI each core has its own memory. SMP is only available for shared memory machines (a single computer), while MPI works on both shared and distributed memory machines (such as a cluster). For example, for a machine with 4 CPUs with 2 cores each, there are 8 total processors available. They can be configured in a variety of ways: 1 MPI core and 8 SMP threads (SMP parallelism) 2 MPI cores and 4 SMP threads (hybrid parallelism) 8 MPI cores and 1 SMP threads (MPI parallelism) In general, it is best to use MPI processing (if available) and as many cores as possible. Number of SMP CPU threads: Specify the number of threads to use for SMP or hybrid processing. Number of MPI CPU cores: Specify the number of cores to use for MPI or hybrid processing. Minimum free memory: This setting applies to jobs added to the PBS server queue. It is the minimum memory (RAM) needed to run a job. If a run is launched that requires more than the minimum free memory, it will be held in the job queue until enough free memory is available.
Damage	Enable damage: Select to scale the damage of the material, it can be mapped to the crash mesh in RADIOSS. K: Define the value to add to the scaled temperature and scaled flow length. Scale temperature (C): Define the cooling rate of the temperature at the end of the casting process. Scale flow length: Define the scale of the flow length.
Analysis Legend Colors	Solidification: Select the legend colors for the analysis result type. Filling: Select the legend colors for the analysis result type.

Model Definition


Preference	Description
Materials	Material Norm: Choose from en (Euro Norm), iso (International Standard), astm (American Society for Testing and Materials), or jis (Japanese Industrial Standard).
Process Settings	Ambient temperature (C): Define the ambient temperature.

Report

Table 1.
Preference	Description
Save Settings	Save to default file location: Change the directory path for the folder where casting analysis reports will be saved. Save to model location: When enabled, casting analysis reports will be saved to the folder where the model is saved.
Report Templates	Cast Script: Select a file format for your casting analysis reports. The default is .pptx.