Teamcenter - HyperMesh Integration

All BOM-related information, including part/assembly hierarchy, part attributes, and representation information is organized and displayed in the Part Browser.

Representation (HyperMesh session) attributes are now displayed independent of the PDM attributes. Attribute columns can be turned on/off in the Column Visibility dialog, which can be accessed by right-clicking in the Part Browser and selecting Column Visibility from the context menu.

Representation Options

Option Description
Create Creates HyperMesh representation(s) via BatchMesher.
Save Saves representations for selected part(s) based on the chosen alias and file type.
Add Adds representations for selected part(s) based on the chosen alias and file type or from the Part Library.
When adding representations for multiple parts or part assemblies from external sources, the Add Representations dialog enables you to map and associate representation files to multiple parts simultaneously.
Figure 1.


If appropriate metadata is available in the BOM, then the alias values will be preselected. After choosing a Representation Folder, representation files will be mapped according to the Teamcenter naming convention. You can then manually select or update any of the alias and representation file values.

Indicators are displayed for each part to indicate the status of that row.
Skip.
Any Part which does not have a mapped or selected representation.
OK.
Alias and representation are chosen for the part.
Overwrite.
Part already has a representation which will be overwritten by the selected mapping.
Duplicated.
The same representation file is chosen for more than one part, or the chosen representation file is already used by another part in the same BOM.

You cannot click OK to add the representations when representations are duplicated.
Load Load part representations from your current Teamcenter-HyperMesh session or from the Part Library.

If any of the selected parts currently have a representation loaded in the session, you will be prompted whether or not to unload them before loading new representations.

If representations are not unloaded first, incoming representations will be imported on top of the existing representations, and Load Settings will be used.

Unload Unloads representations for selected part(s).
Delete Deletes representations for selected part(s) from your current Teamcenter-HyperMesh session or from the Part Library.
Reload Restores part representations to their original state.
Settings Displays the current load settings, which are used when representations are imported.

Setup the Teamcenter - HyperMesh Environment

The Teamcenter integration environment requires an additional layer, on top of the out-of-the-box Part Browser behavior.

When launching HyperMesh via Teamcenter, the environment will be set automatically. However, all of the integration features may be accessed by manually setting the environment.

To manually set the Teamcenter-HyperMesh environment:

  1. Locate the Teamcenter-HyperMesh custom layer in your installation.
    By default, the custom layer is located in <ALTAIR_HOME>\hwdesktop\hm\scripts\br\views\modules\custom\TC, where <ALTAIR_HOME> refers to the base installation folder where HyperMesh is installed, for example C:\Program Files\Altair\HW\2024.1\hwdesktop\hm.
  2. Set the environment variable HW_CONFIG_PATH=<ALTAIR_HOME>\hwdesktop\hm\scripts\br\views\modules\custom\TC\properties.
  3. Set the environment variable HM_CAT_CUSTOM=<ALTAIR_HOME>\hwdesktop\hm\scripts\br\views\modules\custom\initTC.tcl.
    Note: For customer-specific customization that are above and beyond the standard Teamcenter-HyperMesh integration, set HM_CAT_CUSTOM to the init<XYZ>.tcl file, where XYZ refers to customer “XYZ’s” individual custom layer.

Update Teamcenter

Update Teamcenter via Teamcenter-HyperMesh Integration

If HyperMesh was launched via the Teamcenter - HyperMesh Integration, you will be prompted to import updated data back to Teamcenter.

Figure 2.


Update Teamcenter via Manual PLMXML Import in Teamcenter

If the BOM was loaded manually, for example HyperMesh was not launched via the Teamcenter-HyperMesh Integration, then the updated PLMXML package can be manually imported into Teamcenter.

  1. Copy the exported BOM PLMXML, along with the folder(s) containing the monolithic file, if saved, and any saved/updated representations to a convenient folder accessible by Teamcenter.
  2. Select Import PLMXML to import the updates.
    Figure 3.


Import BOMs

Import BOMs in HyperMesh via Teamcenter - HyperMesh Integration

Directly launch HyperMesh and import the selected BOM.
The selected BOM and associated files will be exported from Teamcenter and automatically loaded in the HyperMesh Part Browser, which replaces the Assembly Browser used in previous versions.
Figure 4.


Import BOMs in HyperMesh via the HyperMesh Import - BOM Dialog

  1. In Teamcenter, select the Pre-Processor Integration option to export the PLMXML package to the last run folder, which Teamcenter continues to interact with until the HyperMesh session is closed.
    Once closed, Teamcenter prompts you to accept or reject updates. The last run folder is then automatically cleaned up.
  2. Export the PLMXML package so that you can work on it over time by selecting the Export PLMXML for Pre-Processor option.
    Figure 5.


  3. The resulting PLMXML BOM file, along with its associated data files, will be exported to the last data folder and can be imported directly into HyperMesh via File > Import > BOM.

The BOM is displayed in the Part Browser.

Export BOMs

  1. In the Part Browser, right-click on the Model part assembly and select Export PLMXML from the context menu.
    You will automatically be directed to the Export - BOM dialog, where the correct name and path will be set, using the lst_output.xml file name expected by the Teamcenter-HyperMesh integration.
  2. For File Type, choose to export BOM files as either PLMXML or UDMXML.
    For the Teamcenter-HyperMesh process, PLMXML will be used.
  3. In the File field, enter the path to exported BOM file.
    For the Teamcenter-HyperMesh process, the file should be named lst_output.xml, and the file should be saved to the same location as the original BOM file, lst_input.xml.
  4. To warn you before saving a BOM file over an existing file, select Prompt before overwrite.
  5. To save the assembly monolithic file, according to the PLMXML Master Format attribute value, while exporting the BOM, select Save Monolithic HM binary file.
  6. To update PDM attributes based on part attributes prior to writing the exported BOM file, select Upload to PDM Repository.
    Using this option assures that attribute updates made in the session will be sent back to Teamcenter.
    Note: This option is only available if you select PLMXML as the exported file type and at least one PDM repository is registered.

Load CAD Representations

Load part representations from your current Teamcenter-HyperMesh or from the Part Library.

When CAD representations are loaded, components are created for the loaded CAD representations. Materials and properties, if available in the CAD file would also be created, and their values would be displayed in the Part Browser columns. Component naming conventions are not yet imposed, nor are the materials and properties created automatically at this time, therefore you can review information within the CAD files themselves prior to mesh representation creation. According to the Teamcenter-HyperMesh naming conventions, component naming and material and property handling will occur during the meshing process.

Load Representations from Current HyperMesh Session

  1. In the Part Browser, right-click on part assemblies or parts and select Representations > Load > from Session from the context menu.
  2. In the Change Representation dialog, Load tab, select a type of representation to load.
    Representations that exist in the repository are shown in the Representations column, and their availability is indicated in the Available column.
    Figure 6.


  3. To send unavailable representations to the BatchMesher directly from the Change Representation dialog, select Batch Mesh Unavailable.
    Note: Available representations will also be loaded when you click OK if Batch Mesh Unavailable is selected.
  4. To save the representations to the Part Library, select the Save to Library checkbox.
  5. Click OK.
  6. In the Confirm Load Representation dialog, specify how representations are loaded.
    • Click Load All to load all available representations into the current session for selected parts.
    • Click Skip Loaded to ignore representations that are already loaded for selected parts.
As representations are created and saved to the repository they are displayed in the Available Representations pane.

Load Representations from the Part Library

After importing a BOM that has representations saved in the Part library, you can load the saved representations.

  1. In the Part Browser, right-click on a part/part assembly and select Representations > Load > from Library from the context menu.
  2. In the Change Representation dialog, Library tab, select representations and click OK.
The selected representations are loaded to the Representation folder on the file system. Similarly, every time a BOM is imported, files are loaded to the Representations folder, if you retrieve them from the Part Library.
Figure 7.


Create Mesh Representations

  1. In the Part Browser, right-click and select Representation > Create from the context menu.
  2. In the Change Representation dialog, Create tab, select the NVH_Standard_8 representation.
    Each representation is uniquely identified by its alias and file type. For example, “NVH_Standard_8/HyperMesh” and “NVH_Standard_8/Nastran” representations.

    The appropriate representation will automatically be selected, based on the available PLMXML metadata: discipline, mesh representation, and mesh density. If the appropriate metadata is unavailable, then you can select the desired representation type to create. In the Change Representation dialog, Create tab, only HyperMesh representations can be created.

    Per the current Teamcenter-HyperMesh integration rules, only one representation per file type is allowed per part. This means that you can only have a single HyperMesh file type representation, Nastran file type representation, CAD representation, and so on for each part. For example, if you create a NVH_Standard_8/HyperMesh representation and then subsequently create a NVH_Coarse_15/HyperMesh representation, the NVH_Coarse_15/HyperMesh representation will become the only HyperMesh representation for the given part.
    Figure 8.


  3. To save the newly created representations to the Part Library select the Save to Library checkbox.
  4. Click OK.

BatchMesher is invoked, and meshes are created using the appropriate batch meshing parameter and criteria files.

The parameter and criteria file mappings are configurable based on the batchmesher_config.cfg file available in the installation.

As part of the post-batchmeshing process, each part’s components are created, using the Teamcenter-HyperMesh naming convention. In addition, the loaded representation (NVH_Standard_8 in this case) is displayed, and the component ID (CID), property ID (PID), Material, and Thickness are created, per the values available in the PLMXML BOM.
Figure 9.


Update Metadata from PDM

  1. In the Part Browser, right-click on the part(s) to update and select Representations > Update from the context menu.
  2. Update metadata accordingly.
    • Rename the selected parts or part's component, or create if it does not already exist.
    • Create a material based on PDM Material and PDM MID.

      If a material of the given ID already exists, then it will not be overwritten or recreated in order to avoid overwriting any existing material properties.

      Only linear attributes are updated. Default steel attributes are used with the following unit system: millimeter, second, tonne, and Newton.

    • Create a property based on PDM PID and PDM Thickness*.

      If a property of the given PID already exists, its thickness will be updated based on PDM Thickness; however, the existing property will not be recreated. Only relevant metadata will be updated in order to avoid overwriting any existing property card values.

    Note: If a control is assigned to a representation, that is, if a representation’s name matches the name of an existing representation control, when you click Rep > Update, a property is created and assigned to the part, based on the control’s type.

    For example, if a hexa thin solid representation control named ThinSolidMesh has been defined, and a representation is then saved with the same name, upon selecting Rep > Update, a solid card image is assigned to the property.

    If a representation control has not been assigned, but the PDM MeshFlag attribute on the part is defined and matches the mesh flag of a single control, a property is created and assigned to the part, based on the matching control’s type.

    In any other case, a shell property is created and assigned to the part.

Sync Metadata to PDM

Sync PDM metadata (PDM PID, PDM Thickness, PDM Material, and PDM MID) based on a selected part or part's metadata (PID, Thickness, Material, MID).

In the Part Browser, right-click on the part(s) to sync and select Representations > Sync Metadata from the context menu.

*When a part has multiple properties, only the first property will display in the PID PDM field when you select Sync Metadata.

Save and Open HyperMesh Models

You can save the HyperMesh file at any time. The HyperMesh session stores all of the BOM-related information, including hierarchy, metadata, and representations. The original PLMXML BOM file is no longer required to load, view, or modify any of this information.

Save the Current HyperMesh Models

  1. From the menu bar, click File > Save As > HyperMesh Model.
  2. In the Save Model As dialog, save the model to your working directory.

Open HyperMesh Models

  1. From the menu bar, click File > Open > HyperMesh Model.
  2. In the Open Model dialog, open the recently saved HyperMesh model.
All of the BOM-related information is retained with the most recently loaded representations loaded in the session.
Figure 10.