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Developer
The Developer ribbon contains tools for automation and customization.
Debugger
Create, edit, and debug Python scripts in Compose.

Welcome
What's New
View new features for Altair HyperWorks 2026.
Get Started
Learn the basics and discover the workspace.
Tutorials
Learn more about the Altair HyperWorks suite of products with interactive tutorials.
Startup Procedures and Customizations
Start and configure the applications.
Tool Finder
View a list of deprecated panels and their newer, equivalent workflows.
Manage Files and Data
Create, open, import, and save models.
Sessions and Report Templates
Set up sessions and create report templates.
Interface with External Products
Solver interfaces supported in HyperMesh.
Entities and Solver Interfaces
A solver interface is made up of a template and a FE-input reader.
Browsers
Browsers provide a structured view of model data, which you can use to review, modify, create, and manage the contents of a model. In addition to visualization, browsers offer features like search, filtering, and sorting, which enhance your ability to navigate and interact with the model data.
Sketching
Create and edit 2D parametric sketch geometry.
Topology
Create, edit, and cleanup geometry.
FE Geometry
FE geometry is topology on top of mesh, meaning CAD and mesh exist as a single entity. The purpose of FE geometry is to add vertices, edges, surfaces, and solids on FE models which have no CAD geometry.
Meshing and Elements
Explore the different types of mesh you can create in HyperMesh and create and edit 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D elements.
Model Build and Assembly
Create, organize, and manage parts and subsystems.
Composites
HyperMesh composites modeling.
Connectors
Create connections between parts of your model.
Morph
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality.
Skeleton Modeling
Create a reduced ordered model to facilitate optimization at the concept phase.
Design Space
Workflow to support topology optimization model build and setup.
Optimization
Setup an Optimization in HyperMesh.
Design Explorer
Multi-disciplinary design exploration and optimization tools.
Validate
Validate the model built before running solver analysis.
Analyze
Models require loads and boundary conditions in order to represent the various physics and/or physical equivalents to bench and in-use testing.
Axisymmetry
Reduce a full 3D model with axisymmetric surfaces while accounting for imperfections.
Concept Modeling
Tools and workflows that are dedicated to rapidly creating new parts for specific use cases, or amending existing parts. The current capabilities are focused on stiffening parts.
Crash and Safety
Tools used for crash and safety analysis.
Airbag
Use airbag folder utilities and export a resulting airbag in a Radioss deck.
Aerospace
Essential utility tools developed using HyperMesh-Tcl.
Aeroelasticity
Import an aeroelastic finite element model with Nastran Bulk Data format.
Certification
Framework to plug certification methods to assess margin of safety from the model and result information.
PhysicsAI
Use PhysicsAI to build fast predictive models from CAE data. PhysicsAI can be trained on data with any physics or remeshing and without design variables.
Results Data in HyperMesh and HyperView
Results data can be post-processed using both HyperMesh and HyperView.
Developer
The Developer ribbon contains tools for automation and customization.
- Tasks
  The Task Manager allows you to organize Python scripts into individual tasks and package them into a single process that you can easily implement. The tasks, their GUI, and the process structure are all defined via an XML file.
- Process Editor
  Create and edit process and task XML files.
- Recording
  Quickly transform your interactive actions performed in HyperMesh into a Python code.
- Debugger
  Create, edit, and debug Python scripts in Compose.
Plot Data in HyperMesh and HyperGraph
Plot data can be post-processed using both HyperMesh and HyperGraph.
Multibody Modeling in MotionView
MotionView is a general pre-processor for Multibody Dynamics.
Media Files in MediaView
MediaView plays video files, displays static images, tracks objects, and measures distances.
Tabulate Results in TableView
Use TableView to create an Excel-like spreadsheet.
Text Files in TextView
TextView math scripts reference vector data from HyperGraph windows to automate data processing and data summary.
Publishing and Reporting
Create, define, and export reports.

View All Altair HyperWorks Help

Debugger

Create, edit, and debug Python scripts in Compose.

From the Developer ribbon, select the Debugger tool.

Figure 1.

This launches the Compose debugger from within HyperMesh, opening an instance of Compose with no file loaded.

From the main tool, click the file browser icon to select a Python file to debug, which is automatically loaded into the Compose instance when launched.

Figure 2.

Important: You must have Compose installed to use this tool. The Compose license draws five Altair Units, and levels out with HyperWorks units.

Compose runs as a standalone process and is automatically linked to the HyperMesh application.

By default, the Compose version that is used is the version that is installed in the same location as HyperMesh.

To use a version of Compose that is installed in a different location:

Set the COMPOSE_ROOT environment variable to the directory that contains the compose.bat file for the required version/installation.

If this environment variable is set, it supersedes the root folder location. In other words, the Compose installation specified by COMPOSE_ROOT, if set, will be used even if Compose is also installed in the same location as the version of HyperMesh that is being used.

Currently, this feature is available on Windows only.