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Get Started
Learn the basics and discover the workspace.
User Interface
Explore the user interface.
HWC Console
The HWC Console, with the command line, supports auto-completion and interactive help and allows easy modification and re-execution of commands.

Welcome
What's New
View new features for Altair HyperWorks 2024.1.
Get Started
Learn the basics and discover the workspace.
- User Interface
  Explore the user interface.
  - Title Bar
    The title bar displays the name of the file that is currently opened, along with the active product and user profile.
  - Pages and Windows
    The main display area of the user interface is called a page. Each page can contain up to 16 windows.
  - Ribbons
    The ribbon allows you to quickly access tools and standard functions, and is located along the top of the user interface. Click on an icon to open the related tool. Hovering over a group of icons may reveal additional tools.
  - Modeling Window
    The modeling window is where your model is displayed.
  - Status Bar
    The status bar displays information pertaining to the currently loaded model, active tools, current collectors, and snap filter options.
  - Toolbelt
    Use the toolbelt to quickly access frequently used tools.
  - Context Menus
    Context menus are floating menus that are accessed by right-clicking on elements in the user interface. They provides immediate access to a short list of commands that are contextually relevant to the selection.
  - Guide Bars
    Guide bars guide you through a series of commands, required inputs, and options necessary to complete a workflow that is specific to a tool.
  - Tcl Console
    The Tcl Console enables you to enter and execute Tcl/Tk commands instead of using the user interface.
  - HWC Console
    The HWC Console, with the command line, supports auto-completion and interactive help and allows easy modification and re-execution of commands.
  - Message Log
    The Message Log lists the actions performed in the current session. The dialog also provides you with information about your file (warnings, errors, and so on).
  - Command Files
    Command files can be used to create new command scripts that perform automation, or to recover previously performed steps.
  - Dock and Undock Parts of the User Interface
    Certain parts of the user interface, such as browsers, toolbars, and panels, can be undocked and repositioned as needed.
  - Altair^® Copilot (Beta)
    AI assistant for Altair HyperWorks.
- Adjust the View
  View controls enable you to control the view and display of your model in the modeling window.
- Find and Search for Tools
  Quickly find and open the tools and browsers that are available from the ribbons, as well as create entities and solver cards.
- Selection
  Select and deselect entities to modify with other tools. Selected entities are outlined to indicate their selection state.
- Move, Snap, and Orient
  Translate, rotate, and align the model.
- Measures
  Use the Measure tool to measure length, angles, radii, areas, volumes, centers of gravity, and bounding boxes.
- Working with Entities
  Learn how to manipulate entities.
- Undo-Redo
  Undo and redo actions.
- Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls
  Default keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls.
- SpaceBall/SpaceMouse Devices
  Supported SpaceBall or SpaceMouse devices.
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
Results data can be post-processed using both HyperMesh and HyperView.
Developer
The Developer ribbon contains tools for automation and customization.
Plot Data
HyperGraph is a data analysis and plotting tool with interfaces to many file formats.
Multibody Modeling
MotionView is a general pre-processor for Multibody Dynamics.
Media Files
MediaView plays video files, displays static images, tracks objects, and measures distances.
Tabulate Results
Use TableView to create an Excel-like spreadsheet.
Text Files
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

HWC Console

The HWC Console, with the command line, supports auto-completion and interactive help and allows easy modification and re-execution of commands.

The HWC Console can be turned on or off from the View menu. It is docked at the bottom of the application, like the Tcl Console, with the message log on the right side.

Supported commands are logged in the command history and the hw_command.log log file.

Working with the Intellisense (the interactive help) of the HWC Console:

Press Tab or Spacebar to display all supported commands.
Select entities in the pop-up window using the arrow keys and the left-mouse button.
Selected commands/options can be confirmed using the Tab key.
- Enter executes the command.
- The interactive selection mode using the select option in commands like show command select can be terminated by pressing the Esc key.

Figure 1.

The HWC Console's context menu contains the following options:

Copy: Copies highlighted commands from the history.
Clear: Clears the command history.
Log to file: Turns on/off the HWC log.

Figure 2.