Example 4: GUI in FreeCAD - calculix/beso GitHub Wiki

Gui for FreeCAD aims to simplify basic settings of the optimization.

Installation and launching

FreeCAD 0.18 or newer (with python 3) is required. Copy python files to your FreeCAD macro directory. Open FreeCAD file with your analysis and run beso_fc_gui.py as a macro.

Example 1

You can follow the task from the Example 1 or you can create your own one in FreeCAD in ordinary way with 2D or 3D elements. Run CalculiX with linear static analysis to check the analysis before optimization.

fc_screen_example1.png

Open beso_fc_gui.py as a macro and follow the steps:

  1. Select analysis file (i.e. *.inp file generated by FreeCAD). Make sure the patch does not contain spaces.

  2. Select thickness object if the domain contains shell elements.

  3. Define filter range (e.g. 2 if your mesh has element size 1 mm).

  4. Define Mass goal ratio (e.g. 0.4 so that 40 % of the mass will remain unless stress limit is reached).

  5. Click to Generate configuration file and run optimization.

fc_gui.png

  1. Drug&drop resulting *.inp files to FreeCAD to display resulting meshes, or better open *.vtk files in Paraview, where you can use Threshold filter to hide removed elements.

threshold_filter.png

To be able to use other functionality, tooltips in the GUI should be helpful. Other settings (more or less experimental) need editing of the beso_conf.py file.