ANSYS Workbench’s Project Schematic does a great job serving as a canvas for engineers to compose their simulation workflows. Depending on your simulation process, you may want to capture your workflows and abstract them one step further. Starting with ANSYS 16.0 you can abstract the simulation process by leveraging new ANSYS ACT functionality. With ANSYS ACT Wizards you can capture your company’s or industry’s simulation techniques and deploy them in a simple, easy-to-use app for engineers, designers, and analysts.
I’ve worked on several customer projects where industry or company-specific “best practices” must drive simulations. Users seek making general-purpose, off-the-shelf ANSYS products more application-specific by adapting to these methods. This is where ANSYS ACT fills the gap — enabling users to Integrate, extend, automate, and streamline within the ANSYS portfolio.
Let’s focus on ANSYS ACT Wizards — a new way to guide your simulation.
Easy To Build
Built on simple file formats such as XML and Python, you can define distinct simulation steps to set up, solve, and review your complex simulations. Each step provides navigation, status, input, and custom controls to help assist your engineers, designers, and analysts.
Consider a simple first step in your simulation process – selecting a CAD file. You can easily define this property within a wizard step in your .wiz Wizard File:
<step name="Step1" caption="Load geometry file" version="1" context="Project" customContentFile="step1.html">
<description>Import a geometry file.</description>
<callbacks>
<update>action1</update>
</callbacks>
<property name="filename" caption="Geometry file name" control="fileopen"/>
</step>
If you’ve created ACT Apps in the past then you’ll recognize that Wizards used similar syntax — you’ll be able to quickly create your own wizards. For those new to ACT App development, I recommend accessing our free templates we’ve posted on the ANSYS Customer portal.
Easy to Use
Wizard creators have complete control over the properties and details displayed at each step. With the engineering details minimized, designers and analysts can focus on what matters most — obtaining superior results with minimal assistance.
Beyond the minimal interface, you can define per-step html sidebar help. Use this to clarify properties and point out tips or provide guidance:
Leverage Workbench Scripting
ANSYS ACT Wizards capitalize on Workbench’s powerful scripting language – allowing apps to “drive” all script-supporting products available within the Project Schematic. This even extends to custom product integrations delivered through the ANSYS Software Development Kit (SDK) or External Connection technology.
You can also extend your Wizard apps to other ANSYS products, including ANSYS Mechanical, ANSYS Meshing, and ANSYS DesignModeler. Create mixed wizards that begin in ANSYS Workbench and transition to these other products for any subsequent step.
The ANSYS ACT App Store
Current customers can discover more at the ANSYS ACT microsite on the ANSYS Customer Portal. While there, remember to check out the ANSYS ACT App Store. From simple toolbar additions to fully integrated solvers, you can search, download, and install exciting free and paid apps that extend existing ANSYS products. Make sure you bookmark the site too – new apps are added frequently.
Connect With Us
As always, we love to hear from you. Leave a reply below or join in on the ANSYS ACT discussion with our LinkedIn Group, Customization ACTors for Engineering Simulation.
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