ISE TCAD Release 10.

Tecplot-ISE

Integrated Systems Engineering

Zurich, Switzerland

 19952004 ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG, Switzerland. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. The information in this document is the confidential and proprietary property of ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG. The use and disclosure of this material is subject to (a) license agreement(s) between ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG and/or Integrated Systems Engineering, Inc. and Licensee. The material may not be duplicated, displayed, disclosed or used in whole or in part without the prior written consent of ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG. ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG Affolternstrasse 52 CH-8050 Zurich Switzerland Phone: +41 44 389 9700 Fax: +41 44 389 9797 www.ise.ch | www.ise.com THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. ISE INTEGRATED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AG ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THIS PUBLICATION OR OTHER DOCUMENTS WHICH ARE REFERENCED BY OR LINKED TO THIS PUBLICATION. REFERENCES TO CORPORATIONS AND OTHER ENTITIES, THEIR SERVICES AND PRODUCTS, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL ISE INTEGRATED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AG BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE OR HARM, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS INFORMATION. THIS PUBLICATION MAY INCLUDE TECHNICAL OR OTHER INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. ISE INTEGRATED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AG MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED IN THIS PUBLICATION AT ANY TIME WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. The IBM version of ISE TCAD contains IBM XL Fortran for AIX run-time modules. 19902004 IBM Corporation. All rights reserved. Advanced Calibration, AtomISE, DESSIS, DEVISE, DIOS, EMLAB, FabLink, FLOOPS-ISE, GENESISe, INSPECT, ISE Process Explorer, ISE TCAD, ISExtract, LIGAMENT, MDRAW, MESH, NOFFSET3D, OptimISE, PARDISO, SPARTA, and TCAD Fab Package are trademarks of ISE Integrated Systems Engineering AG. Tecplot is a registered trademark of Tecplot, Inc., Bellevue, WA, U.S.A. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. PGP is a registered trademark of the PGP Corporation in the United States and other countries. WinZip is a registered trademark of WinZip Computing, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CONTENTS

Tecplot-ISE

Preface ......................................................................................................................................... v
About this manual ................................................................................................................................. v Typographic conventions...................................................................................................................... v Comments about this manual .............................................................................................................. vi ISE Technical Support ......................................................................................................................... vi

Chapter 1 Getting started........................................................................................................ 5.1

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 About Tecplot-ISE......................................................................................................................5.1 Main Tecplot window .................................................................................................................5.1 Starting Tecplot-ISE from the command prompt .......................................................................5.2 Starting Tecplot from GENESISe ..............................................................................................5.2 1.4.1 General recommendations for using Tecplot-ISE effectively .......................................5.2

Chapter 2 Loading files ........................................................................................................... 5.3

2.1 File loader ..................................................................................................................................5.3 2.1.1 Mapping coordinates ....................................................................................................5.3 2.2 Loading mixed-element files ......................................................................................................5.3 2.3 Loading flat recursive tensor files ..............................................................................................5.4 2.4 Loading XY-plot files..................................................................................................................5.4

Chapter 3 ISE sidebar.............................................................................................................. 5.5

3.1 ISE menu bar.............................................................................................................................5.5 3.2 ISE sidebar ................................................................................................................................5.5 3.2.1 Common components ..................................................................................................5.5 3.2.2 ISE sidebar in 2D/3D mode ..........................................................................................5.7 3.2.3 ISE sidebar in XY line mode.........................................................................................5.9

Chapter 4 Generating cuts .................................................................................................... 5.11

4.1 Generating cuts .......................................................................................................................5.11 4.1.1 Selecting the destination frame mode ........................................................................5.11 4.1.2 Generating multiple parallel cuts ................................................................................5.12 4.1.3 Generating multiframe cuts ........................................................................................5.12 4.1.4 Exporting 1D cuts to INSPECT ..................................................................................5.13

Chapter 5 FLOOPS-ISE interface.......................................................................................... 5.15

5.1 Launching Tecplot or connecting to Tecplot from FLOOPS-ISE .............................................5.15 5.1.1 Valid host and port specification.................................................................................5.15 5.2 Controlling FLOOPS-ISE from Tecplot ....................................................................................5.16

Chapter 6 Measuring distances............................................................................................ 5.17

6.1 Using the measure distance option .........................................................................................5.17

Chapter 7 Utilities and preferences...................................................................................... 5.19

7.1 Updating data ..........................................................................................................................5.19 7.2 Customizing contour levels ......................................................................................................5.19 7.3 Preferences .............................................................................................................................5.20 7.3.1 General preferences...................................................................................................5.21 7.3.2 Frames preferences ...................................................................................................5.22 7.3.3 INSPECT preferences ................................................................................................5.23 7.3.4 XY Graph preferences................................................................................................5.23
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CONTENTS

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Chapter 8 Automating tasks ................................................................................................. 5.25 Appendix A Command options ............................................................................................ 5.27
A.1 A.2 A.3 A.4 A.5 A.6 General options ...................................................................................................................... 5.27 Launcher options .................................................................................................................... 5.27 Loader options........................................................................................................................ 5.28 Tecplot options ....................................................................................................................... 5.28 Recognized file types ............................................................................................................. 5.28 Environment variables ............................................................................................................ 5.29

Appendix B Installation issues............................................................................................. 5.31

B.1 Tecplot in ISE TCAD .............................................................................................................. 5.31

Glossary ................................................................................................................................. 5.33

iv

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

PREFACE

Preface
About this manual
This manual describes the ISE TCAD add-on to Tecplot1. Tecplot is a dedicated software for scientific visualization that ISE has extended to accommodate the special requirements of the ISE simulation environment. This manual only covers the usage of the add-on. Tecplot has its own set of documentation. If the user cannot find information in this manual, consult Tecplot Users Manual and Tecplot Reference Manual. It is recommended to visit http://www.tecplot.com for further information about Tecplot. The main chapters are: Chapter 1 presents the two methods of starting Tecplot-ISE. Chapter 2 describes how to load grid and data files in DFISE format. Chapter 3 sets out the key features of the ISE menu bar and ISE sidebar. Chapter 4 describes how to generate various cut types. Chapter 5 describes how to use the FLOOPS-ISE interface. Chapter 6 describes the Measure distance option. Chapter 7 presents various utilities and the options available from the Preferences dialog box. Chapter 8 describes how tasks can be automatized using the Tecplot macro language.

Tecplot-ISE

Typographic conventions
Convention Explanation

Blue text Bold text

Courier font

Identifies a cross-reference (only on the screen). Identifies a selectable icon, button, menu, or tab. It also indicates the name of a field, window, dialog box, or panel. Identifies text that is displayed on the screen or that the user must type. It identifies the names of files, directories, paths, parameters, keywords, and variables. Used for emphasis, the titles of books and journals, and non-English words. It also identifies components of an equation or a formula, a placeholder, or an identifier. Indicates keyboard actions, for example, Ctrl+I (press the I key while pressing the Control key). Indicates a menu command, for example, File > New (from the File menu, select New). Identifies important information.

Italicized text Key+Key Menu > Command NOTE

1. Tecplot is a registered trademark of Tecplot, Inc., Bellevue, WA, U.S.A.

PREFACE

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

Comments about this manual

To improve ISE technical documentation and allow users to fully explore ISE TCAD software, ISE requests the opinions of users about the contents of this manual. ISE welcomes comments and notification of any errors to manuals@ise.ch.

ISE Technical Support

ISE Technical Support provides timely and efficient responses to customer requests: Europe (and the rest of the world): North America and South America: Japan: Taiwan: Korea: China:
support.eu@ise.com support.us@ise.com support.jp@ise.com support.tw@ise.com support.kr@ise.com support.cn@ise.com

All data submitted to ISE Technical Support is treated confidentially. Upon request, PGP/GPG encryption of transferred data can be used. To avoid difficulties with email transmissions and shorten the response time, process files before submitting them. It is preferred that gziped archive files are sent (the procedure is described below). Do not attach large files to an email message. Instead, it is recommended that you place them in the incoming directory on the ISE anonymous FTP server (the procedure is described below). Anonymous users can write to this directory, but cannot read it. The following information is required: Company name or customer number. A clear, precise description of the problem. Input files to reproduce the problem if required. ISE TCAD tool name and version number. Use the option -v:
$ <tool> -v

For example, for a problem with the DESSIS, use: $ dessis -v Other information regarding the platform used. This is obtained by using the diagnostic option:
$ <tool> -@diag

This generates a diagnostics list with extensive system information, including the location and availability of shared libraries. For problems that may relate to installation or license issues, provide the output of the command:
$ <tool> -@ldiag

For example, $ dessis -@ldiag. This generates a diagnostics list that includes license information.

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

PREFACE

For problems related to Framework tools, start the tool with the option -verbose, for example:
$ GENESISe -verbose

For problems that are difficult to reproduce or take a long time to run, include log files and output files.

Windows zipped file

Save all relevant files to a directory. Create a zip file of the directory by using a zip tool such as WinZip.

Gziped tared file

Save all relevant files to a directory. Create a gziped archive of the directory. When submitting a GENESISe project, tar the entire directory to ensure that all files (including those with file names starting with a dot) are included, for example:
tar cvf support.tar directory_name gzip support.tar

Procedure for FTP

Files placed on the FTP server must be named companyname_problem.tar.gz or companyname_problem.zip (for example, firetexinc_problem.tar.gz). Refer to this name in the email message sent to ISE Technical Support: Server: Login: Password: Directory:
ftp.ise.ch anonymous

or ftp.ise.com

email address
incoming

If you do not have a GUI-based FTP program, use the built-in FTP program: 1. Open a shell (for Windows, use command prompt). 2. Type: ftp ftp.ise.ch. 3. Login: anonymous 4. Change to the incoming directory by typing: cd incoming. 5. Change the transfer mode to binary by typing: bin. 6. Place the zipped file in the directory by typing: put companyname_problem.tar.gz. 7. Exit the server by typing: quit. For assistance using this software and for further information about sending requests to ISE Technical Support, visit www.ise.ch | www.ise.com.

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED

CHAPTER 1

Getting started
About Tecplot-ISE

Tecplot-ISE

1.1

ISE provides an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) distribution of Tecplot that includes the original Tecplot distribution by Tecplot, Inc., the ISE TCAD add-on, and the ISE tecplot_ise launcher, which starts Tecplot in a special ISE configuration mode. The complete package consisting of these three components is called Tecplot-ISE.

1.2

Main Tecplot window

The main Tecplot window consists of the ISE menu bar, the ISE sidebar, the status line, and the Tecplot workspace which contains a page with frames.
Menu Bar Workspace Page

Frame Sidebar

Status Line Figure 5.1 Tecplot main window (detail)

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CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

1.3

Starting Tecplot-ISE from the command prompt

The command tecplot_ise is used to start Tecplot from the command prompt, for example:
% tecplot_ise n2_dio.grd n2_dio.dat tecplot_ise is a program that launches the actual Tecplot executable. Most of the original Tecplot commandline options pass to Tecplot by tecplot_ise. In addition to those, tecplot_ise has its own command-line options (see Appendix A on page 5.27).

1.4
tecplot_ise

Starting Tecplot from GENESISe

is integrated in GENESISe so that it can be started by clicking the Tecplot icon, it can receive node data, and it can be inserted into tool flows. Tecplot can run in batch mode (-b option), which is especially useful when used within tool flows. In this context, the use of macro files and style files is also of interest. Refer to the Tecplot manuals for more information about the macro language and batch processing.

NOTE

1.4.1

General recommendations for using Tecplot-ISE effectively

The following points should be remembered when using Tecplot-ISE: Pay attention to the status line at the bottom of the Tecplot main window. It often displays helpful instructions. Use the Tecplot online help from the Help menu, and the Help buttons in dialog boxes. As an alternative to vector display, which is often unsatisfactory on finite-element grids, it is recommended that the Tecplot streamtrace feature is used. Streamtraces are superior to vectors for visualizing quantities such as the current density field. For detailed information on streamtraces, refer to the Tecplot Users Manual. The middle and the right mouse buttons, combined with keys, provide easy access to zoom, pan, and rotate operations. Use Help > Keyboard Shortcuts for more information on useful accelerator keys. Use the keyboard shortcuts, which are available for some frequently used menu commands.

5.2

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 2 LOADING FILES

CHAPTER 2

Loading files
File loader

Tecplot-ISE

2.1

To load DFISE files: File > Load or click the Load button on the ISE sidebar, or specify the files in the tecplot_ise command line (see Appendix A on page 5.27). The loader tries to identify the file types and ignores any files that are not in one of the recognized formats. The loader recognizes the following DFISE file formats: Mixed-element grid files (.grd extension) Mixed-element data files (.dat extension) Boundary files (.bnd extension) Flat recursive tensor grid and data files (.grd, .ten, .dat extensions) XY-plot files (.plt extension) The loader detects automatically matching grid and data files even if they are not specified in the correct order. Data files are ignored if they do not match any of the loaded grid files.

2.1.1

Mapping coordinates

Some DFISE file types contain a transformation matrix and a translation vector that define a mapping from the local coordinates specified in the file to a global coordinate system. By default, the loader does not apply this transformation, so that, for example, a 2D grid is displayed in 2D frame mode with its local x-coordinates and y-coordinates. The tecplot_ise launcher provides a pair of options, -ise:lc and -ise:gc, which allows the user to switch between local and global coordinate modes. These options can be specified any number of times to switch between the two modes.

2.2

Loading mixed-element files

While loading a DFISE dataset file, the loader creates a Tecplot variable for each DFISE dataset. For vector datasets, the loader creates an additional variable called Abs(var-name) and initializes it with the magnitude of the vector field. The variables corresponding to the vector field components are still available in Tecplot, but they are not displayed in the list of variables on the ISE sidebar.

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2.3

Loading flat recursive tensor files

While loading a DFISE flat recursive tensor file, the loader generates an ordered zone for each DFISE region of box type. Regions of other types (cells, faces, edges) are mapped to finite-element (FE) zones. The connectivity of the resulting FE zones is such that each cell, face, or edge is interpreted as an isolated entity without connection to its neighbors. NOTE The loader does not support recursively refined grids. The cell tree in the grid file is ignored.

The implicit ordering scheme of the data for flat recursive tensor files varies between tools. Older versions of EMLAB (up to version 6.1) write data in reverse-ordering mode. Later versions of EMLAB write data in forward-ordering mode. By default, the loader assumes forward-ordered data. The ordering mode can be switched to reverse by setting the environment variable DFISE_REVERSE_MODE to an arbitrary value (see Section A.6 on page 5.29).

2.4

Loading XY-plot files

While loading a DFISE XY-plot file, the loader generates an ordered zone with variables according to the datasets specified in the DFISE file. XY mappings can be automatically generated when a DFISE XY-plot file is loaded. Use the preference settings to control automatic generation of XY mappings.

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 3 ISE SIDEBAR

CHAPTER 3

ISE sidebar
ISE menu bar

Tecplot-ISE

3.1

A customized ISE menu bar replaces the standard Tecplot menu bar. The ISE menu bar contains all necessary items for TCAD users. However, it does not provide all original Tecplot menu items. If you need access to Tecplot functions, which are not available in the ISE menu bar, start tecplot_ise with the command-line option -ise:native. This starts up Tecplot with the standard menu bar.

Figure 5.2

ISE menu bar

3.2

ISE sidebar

A customized ISE sidebar replaces the standard Tecplot sidebar. The ISE sidebar contains buttons, shortcuts, and convenient functionality for TCAD users. However, it does not provide access to all Tecplot sidebar options. Use the standard Tecplot sidebar to access advanced options. To display the standard Tecplot sidebar: View > Tecplot Sidebar or use the tecplot_ise command-line option -ise:native.

3.2.1

Common components

Figure 5.3

ISE sidebar showing common components

The common components of the ISE sidebar include the following buttons
Table 5.1
Icon

Common elements of ISE sidebar

Name Explanation

Load Update Data

Loads DFISE files. Updates the variables in the active frame from the data file.

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CHAPTER 3 ISE SIDEBAR

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

Table 5.1
Icon

Common elements of ISE sidebar

Name Explanation

Reset

Resets display properties. If frames are selected, the reset is performed for the selected frames. Otherwise, the reset applies to all frames or the active frame, depending on the status of the All Frames option. Redraws the active frame.

Redraw

Last View

Returns to a previous view. The previous sixteen views of each plot type for each frame are maintained in a view stack. By clicking Last View, users can recover one of their previous sixteen views. Ctrl+L is the keyboard shortcut for Last View. Links properties of the selected frames according to preference settings (see Section 7.3.2 on page 5.22). If no frames are selected, all frames are linked Disables all link properties of all frames. Zooms into or away from the plot. To zoom, drag the magnifying glass pointer and draw a box around the region that is to fit in the frame. The selected region will be resized to fit into the frame. Fits contents to the full size of the frame. If frames are selected, the fit applies to the selected frames. Otherwise, the fit applies to all frames or the active frame, depending on the status of the All Frames option. Integrates the selected variable over the selected zones. Selects points for distance measuring. Sets or resets the All Frames option. Distributes frames on the page. The options are Auto Arrange, Horizontal, Vertical, and Overlay.

Link Unlink Zoom

Fit

Integrate Measure All Frames Arrange

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CHAPTER 3 ISE SIDEBAR

3.2.2
1

ISE sidebar in 2D/3D mode

4
5
8

7 6

9
10 11 12 13 14 17 18 19

15 16

Figure 5.4

ISE sidebar (2D/3D mode)

The 2D/3D part of the ISE sidebar contains the following items (see Figure 5.4): 1. File indicator This area displays the names of the files associated with the current frame. 2. Variables list The selected variable is used for contouring. Select (None) to obtain a shade plot with zones colored according to their material property. 3. Contour range Displays and sets the minimum and maximum values for the contour range, which determines the valid interval for the calculation of contour levels. 4. Interpolation mode Selects the Lin (linear), Log (logarithmic), or Ash (Asinh) interpolation mode. The default is according to the definitions in the DATEX file. NOTE The interpolation mode is only used for computing the contour level distribution. It does not affect the interpolation of data between nodes of the grid (which is always linear).

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5. Range Selects between various options regarding the calculation of the contour range (see Figure 5.5).

Figure 5.5

Reset contour range

6. Legend On/Legend Off Enables or disables the display of the contour legend. 7. Regions/Materials list Selects between displaying the regions or materials in the list box. 8. Regions and Materials list Selects a set of regions that becomes the active set for subsequent operations. The list can display either regions or properties. The list allows multiple selections using the Shift and Ctrl keys. 9. Mesh On/Mesh Off Enables or disables the grid lines of the selected regions. 10. Boundary On/Boundary Off Enables or disables the boundary of the selected regions. 11. Vector On/Vector Off Enables or disables the vectors for the selected regions. 12. Contour mode Sets the mode both contour flood and lines or contour flood only. 13. Contour mode Sets the mode contour lines only or no contours. 14. Translucency On/Translucency Off Enables or disables translucency for the selected regions. 15. Display Exclusive/On/Off These buttons from left to right: Switches the display of the selected regions to exclusive/on/off. 16. X Y Z Cut The X button generates a orthogonal x-cut. The Y button generates a orthogonal y-cut. The Z button generates a orthogonal z-cut. To finish the cut, click at the required cut position. 17. 3D Dynamic Slicer Enables 3D dynamic slicing.

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 3 ISE SIDEBAR

18. Rotate Enables one of the six available 3D rotation modes (spherical, roller-ball, twist, x, y, and z). Use the keys indicated in the status line to switch between the rotation modes. 19. Probe Enables probing to examine variable values, or zone and cell information, for any point in the dataset.

3.2.3

ISE sidebar in XY line mode

4 5

Figure 5.6

ISE sidebar (XY mode)

The ISE sidebar in XY line mode contains the following items (see Figure 5.6): 1. Datasets list Displays the names of the zones associated with the current frame. If the frame contains data loaded from several files, each name (zone) corresponds to one file. 2. Variables or group variables Depending on the layout of data in the file, this list shows either the contacts (gate, drain, source) or the individual variables. 3. Variables Displays the individual variables if group variables are present.
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CHAPTER 3 ISE SIDEBAR

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

4. Axis By clicking an axis, the selected variable is assigned to this axis. Multiple selected variables can be assigned in one step. 5. Interpolation mode Sets the axis scale to logarithmic. 6. Curves list Displays the names of the curves in the active frame. 7. Edit Curve Displays the standard Tecplot GUI to edit mapping styles. 8. Delete Curve Deletes the selected curves. 9. Legend On/Legend Off Enables or disables the display of the curve legend.

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 4 GENERATING CUTS

CHAPTER 4

Generating cuts
Generating cuts

Tecplot-ISE

4.1

The ISE TCAD add-on to Tecplot provides an enhanced slicer, which is available from the ISE sidebar or ISE menu bar. Unlike the standard Tecplot slicer (Data > Extract > Slice from Plane), the ISE slicer preserves the zone structure of the grid instead of collapsing all original zones into one. In addition, the ISE slicer generates both 2D and 1D cuts. To facilitate user interaction, only axis-orthogonal cuts are supported with the ISE slicer. Orthogonal cuts can be generated from the ISE sidebar or ISE menu bar. To generate orthogonal cuts from the ISE sidebar: 1. Click one of the cut buttons. 2. Click at the required position in the frame (hold the Ctrl key to snap to the nearest vertex). To generate orthogonal cuts from the ISE menu bar: 1. Select one of the cut options from the Slicer menu. A dialog box is displayed. 2. Either specify a numeric coordinate value and click OK, or click Cancel and select the required cut position in the frame, using the left mouse button (hold the Ctrl key to snap to the nearest vertex).

4.1.1

Selecting the destination frame mode

When a new cut is generated, it can go into either an existing frame or a new frame. To group several related slices into one frame: 1. Slicer > Slice Destination Frame. 2. Select the mode required (see Figure 5.7).

Figure 5.7

Slice destination frame mode

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CHAPTER 4 GENERATING CUTS

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

The available modes are: Cuts in separate frames Puts each slice into its own separate frame. Group cuts with same direction and parent Puts cuts that are along the same direction and that have the same parent grid together into one frame. Group all cuts with same direction Puts all cuts that have the same orientation into one frame, regardless of the parent grid. Group all cuts with same parent Puts all cuts that have the same parent into one frame, regardless of the orientation of the cuts. Group all cuts Puts all cuts into the same frame.

Conversion tolerance field This value is used when converting 1D cuts to ordered datasets. If this conversion fails, a corresponding error message is displayed. In such a case, increase the conversion tolerance. Reasonable values are 1e-31e-15. NOTE The destination frame mode must be selected before making the first slice of a group. Since the grouping mechanism uses the frame name, any manual change to the frame name (of the destination frame) can break the described grouping behavior.

4.1.2

Generating multiple parallel cuts

The ISE slicer enables automatic generation of multiple parallel cuts in one step. To generate N parallel slices between A and B, type:
A B N

as the numeric coordinate value.

4.1.3

Generating multiframe cuts

The ISE slicer enables automatic generation of cuts in multiple frames in one step. To enable multiframe slicing, click the All Frames button on the ISE sidebar.

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CHAPTER 4 GENERATING CUTS

4.1.4

Exporting 1D cuts to INSPECT

One-dimensional cutlines can be exported to INSPECT, either directly by starting INSPECT with the exported data or by saving the data in DFISE format for loading into INSPECT. To export in DFISE XY format: File > Export > Inspect graph. Since a frame containing 1D cut data can contain data from several different cuts and each 1D cut can consist of several zones, the export command usually generates more than one file. The file names are generated automatically. The name that is specified in the export dialog box is used as a prefix for the automatically generated names. In Figure 5.8, the lower five graphics are screen captures of INSPECT. These show how the export options affect the grouping of variables in INSPECT.
File > Export > Inspect graph

Figure 5.8

Exporting 1D cuts to INSPECT

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PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 5 FLOOPS-ISE INTERFACE

CHAPTER 5

FLOOPS-ISE interface

Tecplot-ISE

The ISE TCAD add-on to Tecplot can communicate directly with FLOOPS-ISE processes. The communication is based on sockets and, therefore, works also for processes that run on different machines and architectures. In its simplest form, the FLOOPS-ISE interface transforms Tecplot into a visualization back-end for FLOOPS-ISE. In its more advanced use, Tecplot also acts as a user interface for FLOOPS-ISE. A FLOOPS-ISE process is always related to one Tecplot frame. Several FLOOPS-ISE processes can attach to a single Tecplot process, displaying their data in separate frames.

5.1

Launching Tecplot or connecting to Tecplot from FLOOPS-ISE

On the FLOOPS-ISE side, several commands are related to the Tecplot interface such as those for starting Tecplot, and updating grid and dataset information. Refer to the FLOOPS-ISE documentation for a complete list of commands. When Tecplot is started by FLOOPS-ISE, the following occurs: 1. If the environment variable TECPLOT_DISPLAY is set and contains a valid host and port specification (see Section 5.1.1), FLOOPS-ISE tries to connect to a running Tecplot process on the specified host and port. 2. If the file .tecplot_display exists in the home directory of the user and if it contains a valid host and port specification (see Section 5.1.1), FLOOPS-ISE tries to connect to a running Tecplot process on the specified host and port. The file .tecplot_display is created automatically by Tecplot when it is started with the command-line option -ise:ipc, so that when a Tecplot process is running, all subsequently started FLOOPS-ISE processes connect to this Tecplot process. 3. If the environment variable TECPLOT_DISPLAY is set and contains a valid host and port specification, FLOOPS-ISE tries to launch a Tecplot process on the specified host and port. 4. FLOOPS-ISE tries to connect to a running Tecplot process on the default host and port. The default host is the local host and the default port is 2203. The default host and port can be changed in the FLOOPS-ISE command file. 5. FLOOPS-ISE tries to launch a running Tecplot process on the default host and port.

5.1.1

Valid host and port specification

The socket connection requires a host name and a port to be specified. Valid port numbers are integers greater than 1023. The upper limit for the port number is system dependent, but port numbers up to 5000 are safe.

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CHAPTER 5 FLOOPS-ISE INTERFACE

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

When FLOOPS-ISE checks the environment variable TECPLOT_DISPLAY or the file .tecplot_display, it expects the host name and port specification in one of the following forms:
host:port host

(the default port 2203 is used) (the default localhost is used)

:port

5.2

Controlling FLOOPS-ISE from Tecplot

When a connection between Tecplot and FLOOPS-ISE has been established successfully, the FLOOPS-ISE dialog box, which is displayed by using View > Floops (see Figure 5.9), allows users to: Stop and continue a FLOOPS-ISE simulation. Single-step through a FLOOPS-ISE simulation. Send commands to be executed by FLOOPS-ISE (only while FLOOPS-ISE is stopped). Detach from and re-attach to a FLOOPS-ISE process.

Figure 5.9

FLOOPS-ISE dialog box

5.16

PART 5 TECPLOT-ISE

CHAPTER 6 MEASURING DISTANCES

CHAPTER 6

Measuring distances

Tecplot-ISE

The ISE TCAD add-on to Tecplot provides a measuring tool that is available from the ISE sidebar (see Figure 5.3 on page 5.5). The tool allows distance to be measured along a polygonal path, which is entered by using a mouse operation. As an option, the dataset values and the cumulative distance along the path can be written to a DFISE plot file in XY format, for loading into INSPECT.

Measure

Figure 5.10

Measure button (left) and output dialog box showing total measured distance (right)

6.1

Using the measure distance option

To use the measure distance option to measure a distance and, optionally, to write extracted data along the entered path: 1. From the ISE sidebar, click the Measure button. 2. Click a start point in the grid. To enable snap-to-vertex mode, hold the Ctrl key and click. 3. Select another location in the grid as per Step 2. Optional: Repeat Step 3 to enter a polygonal path. 4. Use either the Esc key or the middle mouse button to close the entered path. The dialog box in Figure 5.10 (right) is displayed, which indicates the total measured distance along the entered path. 5. Click OK to finish or Cancel to write the dataset values along the entered path to a DFISE file. This file can be loaded into INSPECT. By default, the measuring tool is disabled after a measurement has been made, that is, the standard Selector tool is reactivated. This behavior can be changed by a global preference setting, so that the measuring tool remains active after a measurement (see Section 7.3 on page 5.20).

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CHAPTER 7 UTILITIES AND PREFERENCES

CHAPTER 7

Utilities and preferences

Updating data

Tecplot-ISE

7.1

The ISE TCAD add-on to Tecplot allows for manual or automatic updating of data on grids that are already loaded into a frame. This functionality is available from the ISE menu bar (see Figure 5.11).

File > Auto Update

Figure 5.11

Updating of data dialog box

Under the File menu, the available options are: Quick Data Update Update Data Auto Update Re-reads the most recently loaded data file. Displays a file selection dialog box to update from a user-specified data file. Displays a dialog box that allows users to select a time interval (in seconds) at which the most recently loaded data file is re-read automatically.

7.2

Customizing contour levels

Contour levels are used to generate contour plots. Usually, the contour levels are calculated automatically so that they are evenly distributed within the value range of the active variable. The custom contour level feature adds the possibility to specify user-defined contour levels for particular variables. The dialog box shown in Figure 5.12 is used to create and edit custom contour levels.

2 3

5 6

Figure 5.12

Custom contour levels dialog box

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The following items are key parts of the Custom contour levels dialog box: 1. Variables list Displays the names of the variables having custom contour levels. 2. Input field for variables. 3. Buttons related to variables: Add: The name in the input field is added as a new custom contouring variable. Change: The name of the selected variable is changed to the name specified in the input field. Dup: Duplicates the selected variable with its custom contour levels. The name of the copied variable is changed to name.x, where x is a number starting at 1. Remove: Deletes the selected variable. 4. Values list Displays the custom contour levels of the selected variables. If more than one variable is selected, only the values that are common to all selected variables are displayed. 5. Input field for contour levels. 6. Buttons related to contour levels: Add: A new contour level is added for the selected variable. Change: The selected contour level is given the value of the input field. Remove: Deletes the selected contour levels.

7.3

Preferences

Several options can be changed in the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences) (see Figure 5.13). These options are saved to the file tecise.pref in the home directory of the user. They are restored from this file when Tecplot is started.

Edit > Preferences

Figure 5.13

General preferences tab

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7.3.1

General preferences

The available options are: Reset mouse mode after slicing By default, the mouse mode is reset to the Selector tool after a slicing operation. Disabling this causes the slicing tool to remain active after a slicing operation. Reset mouse mode after measuring By default, the mouse mode is reset to the Selector tool after a measuring operation. Disabling this causes the measuring tool to remain active after a measuring operation. Reset mouse mode after zoom By default, the mouse mode is reset to the Selector tool after a zoom operation. Disabling this causes the zoom tool to remain active after a zooming operation. Display grid by default Select this option to show the grid lines by default. Display contact outline by default By default, the contacts are not displayed after a grid is loaded. Enabling this option displays the contact outlines after a grid is loaded. Load in local coordinate mode by default By default, the DFISE loader does not apply the coordinate transform contained in the grid file. Disabling this option causes the loader always to apply the transform. The command-line options -ise:lc and -ise:gc override this setting (see Section A.3 on page 5.28). Do not load extra grid files without data Grid files that have been specified twice or more on the command line are loaded only once. List coordinate variables Select this option to view the coordinate variables in 2D or 3D mode. List vector component variables By default, vector variables are represented by an Abs(...) entry in the list of variables on the ISE sidebar 2D/3D mode. Enabling this option displays the vector components. List regions by properties Causes the material properties to be displayed in the Regions list. Include min and max contours By default, the minimum and maximum of the currently displayed variable are included as contour levels and, therefore, also appear in the contour legend. Disabling this option causes the minimum and maximum of the variable not to be included as contour levels. Simple slicer (merge regions in slice) By default, 1D cuts collapse into one zone, even if the cutline crosses several regions. Disabling this option causes 1D cuts to split into several zones according to the regions that are crossed by the cutline. Use custom contour levels Enables or disables the custom contour level feature (see Section 7.2 on page 5.19).
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7.3.2

Frames preferences

Figure 5.14

Frames preferences tab

The available options are:

Create new Frames

Transparent With Borders With Headers New frames are transparent. This affects the Show Background property of a frame. New frames have borders. New frames have headers.

Auto-Link After Loading Data

View Contour Levels Position and Size The view properties are linked after loading. The contour levels are linked after loading. The position and size of frames are linked after loading (overlay plot).

Applies To
Frames with Same Grid File Auto-link settings apply to groups of frames that share a common grid file. All Frames Auto-link settings apply to all loaded frames.

Quick-Link Button Links

View Contour Levels Position and Size The view properties are linked to the quick-link button. The contour levels are linked to the quick-link button. The position and size of frames are linked to the quick-link button.

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7.3.3

INSPECT preferences

Figure 5.15

INSPECT preferences tab

The available options are:

Export XY Data for INSPECT

Confirm overwrite of files By default, a warning is displayed before a file is overwritten. Disabling this option causes files to be overwritten without warning. Start INSPECT Grouping options INSPECT starts with the exported data (see Section 4.1.4 on page 5.13). Selects how variables are grouped when exported to INSPECT (see Section 4.1.4).

7.3.4

XY Graph preferences

Figure 5.16

XY Graph preferences tab

The available options are: Symbols Major Grid Lines Minor Grid Lines By default, symbols are not displayed on XY graphs. Enabling this option displays symbols on XY graphs. Major grid lines are displayed on XY graphs. Minor grid lines are displayed on XY graphs.

Fit View After Creating XY Maps The view is fit to the frame after XY maps are created.

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Display after slicing or loading new XY data

Empty Frame Curve for 1st Variable No curves are generated. A curve is generated for the first variable of the dataset.

Curves for all Variables Curves are generated for all variables of the dataset.

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CHAPTER 8 AUTOMATING TASKS

CHAPTER 8

Automating tasks

Tecplot-ISE

Tecplot provides a powerful macro language, which is described in the Tecplot Reference Manual. The following example demonstrates how multiple data files are loaded consecutively to generate a sequence of pictures for a movie:
#!MC 900 $!INTERFACE AUTOREDRAWISACTIVE = NO $!VARSET |FIRSTFRAME| = 1 $!LOOP 20 $!VARSET |NUM| = (|Loop|-1) $!VARSET |FNAME| = "data_|NUM%04d|.dat" $!FRAMECONTROL DELETETOP $!DRAWGRAPHICS FALSE $!READDATASET '"./mesh.grd" "./|FNAME|"' DATASETREADER = 'DF-ISE Loader' $!READSTYLESHEET "./movie.sty" INCLUDEPLOTSTYLE = YES INCLUDETEXT = NO INCLUDEGEOM = NO INCLUDESTREAMPOSITIONS = NO INCLUDECONTOURLEVELS = YES MERGE = NO INCLUDEFRAMESIZEANDPOSITION = YES $!DRAWGRAPHICS TRUE $!REDRAWALL $!IF |FIRSTFRAME| == 1 $!EXPORTSETUP EXPORTFORMAT = AVI EXPORTFNAME = './movie.avi' IMAGEWIDTH = 800 $!EXPORTSTART $!VARSET |FIRSTFRAME| = 0 $!ENDIF $!IF |FIRSTFRAME| == 0 $!EXPORTNEXTFRAME $!ENDIF $!ENDLOOP $!EXPORTFINISH

In this example, the files data_0001.dat...data_0019.dat are loaded consecutively with the grid file mesh.grd. Each time a new file is loaded, the graphic styles are read from the style file movie.sty to enforce the same display settings for all pictures. Style files can be generated by using File > Export > Frame Style. A macro such as the one shown here is best generated by using File > Macro > Record. After the main steps have been recorded, the generated macro file can be edited and complemented with programming constructs. After a macro file has been created, the macro file can be either executed from within the Tecplot GUI or specified in the command line:
% tecplot_ise -p test.mcr

NOTE

Certain macro commands (such as exporting raster graphics) are not available when Tecplot is run in batch mode.

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APPENDIX A COMMAND OPTIONS

APPENDIX A

Command options

Tecplot-ISE

tecplot_ise [-v] [-h] [-ise:...] [tecplot-options] list-of-files

A.1
-h -v

General options
Prints help information. Prints program version information.

A.2
-batch

Launcher options
Runs in batch mode (same as Tecplot option -b). Specifies the Tecplot home directory, overriding the value of $TECHOME. This is a replacement for the Tecplot command-line option -h. Enables interprocess communication (IPC), which is required if Tecplot accepts connection requests from FLOOPS-ISE. Starts Tecplot with the standard menu bar and sidebar. Does not load the ISE TCAD add-ons by default. Usually, the add-ons are loaded automatically using -loadaddon options in the Tecplot command line. Does not use the ISE-specific app-defaults file by default. Usually, the tecplot_ise launcher modifies the environment in such a way that the ISE-specific version of the Tecplot app-defaults file is loaded instead of the standard app-defaults file from the Tecplot installation directory. Does not load the ISE-specific configuration file by default. Usually, the tecplot_ise launcher adds a -c option to the Tecplot command line, such that the ISE-specific version of the tecplot.cfg file is loaded instead of the standard config file from the Tecplot installation directory. Does not use the DFISE loader by default. Usually, the tecplot_ise launcher adds a -datasetreader option to the Tecplot command line, such that all specified files are loaded using the DFISE loader. Allows for the loading of standard Tecplot add-ons as defined in the tecplot.add file in the Tecplot home directory $TECHOME. Uses U.S. versions of config and app-defaults files. This sets a different default paper size (U.S. letter). Enables display of transient dialog boxes in Tecplot. Such dialog boxes are used to indicate progress during some operations. The ISE-specific configuration disables transient dialog boxes because, on some platforms and with some window managers, they can cause windows to remain locked on the screen.

-ise:home <dirname>

-ise:ipc

-ise:native -ise:no_ise_addons

-ise:no_ise_appdef

-ise:no_ise_config

-ise:no_ise_reader

-ise:stdaddons

-ise:us_config

-ise:wait_dialogs

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A.3
-ise:append

Loader options
Appends file to the previous frame or dataset (.plt files only). Disables expensive grid filematching or data filematching tests. Reads geometry and grid files in global coordinate mode. This option can be specified any number of times in the command line so as to enable switching from local coordinate mode to global coordinate mode. Displays the ISE TCAD Tools panel after the files have been loaded. This option depends on the selection of -ise:native. Allows data files to be paired with grid files even if the number of regions does not correspond in both files.

-ise:fast_scan -ise:gc

-ise:gui

-ise:ignore_regions_mismatch

-ise:lc

Reads geometry and grid files in local coordinate mode. This is the default. This option can be specified any number of times in the command line so as to enable switching from global coordinate mode to local coordinate mode. Accepts Tecplot package files. Does not suppress extra grid files; loads them without data. Creates a new frame or dataset for each file.

-ise:lpk -ise:multi_load -ise:new

A.4

Tecplot options

Any option that is not identified as a tecplot_ise option is passed over to Tecplot. Refer to the Tecplot Users Manual for an explanation of all Tecplot options.

A.5

Recognized file types

The files specified in the command line are examined by the loader. Any file that is not identified as a known file type is discarded. Data files that do not match any of the specified grid files are discarded also. Known file types (see Chapter 2 on page 5.3) are: DFISE grid files (.grd extension, mixed-element type of grid). DFISE data files (.dat extension). Data files are automatically associated with a matching grid file by the loader. If no matching grid file is found, the data file is discarded. DFISE boundary files (.bnd extension). Restriction: Polygonal faces are triangulated. DFISE flat recursive tensor grid and data files (.grd, .ten, .dat extensions). Restriction: Only the base grid is loaded; the refinement tree is ignored. DFISE XY-plot files (.plt extension).

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APPENDIX A COMMAND OPTIONS

A.6

Environment variables
If set, this causes local coordinates to be transformed to global coordinates while the file is loading. The corresponding transformation matrix is contained in the DFISE file.

ISE_LOAD_GLOBAL_COORDINATES

TEC_GRID_DEBUGGING

If set, this causes an additional variable named VertexIndex to be created and initialized with the DFISE vertex number. This is useful for debugging purposes. To look up a vertex index, use the probe tool or switch on the Tecplot data-labeling feature: 1. Style > Data Labels. 2. Select the Show Node Labels option. 3. Select the Show Variable Value option, choosing the variable VertexIndex as the variable for labeling. If set, this causes flat recursive tensor data files to be loaded in reverse mode (see Section 2.3 on page 5.4).

DFISE_REVERSE_MODE

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APPENDIX B INSTALLATION ISSUES

APPENDIX B

Installation issues
Tecplot in ISE TCAD

Tecplot-ISE

B.1

The ISE TCAD installation contains a standard Tecplot distribution in $ISEROOT/tcad/$ISERELEASE/<arch>/<os>/

tecplot for each installed architecture and operating system version. The original tecplot program is not called

directly by the user, but by using the tecplot_ise launcher, which is a program located in $ISEROOT/bin. The tecplot_ise launcher (actually, the generic script in $ISEROOT/bin) sets the TEC100HOME environment variable to the appropriate value. If the Tecplot installation to be used is different from the installation provided with ISE TCAD, the value of the environment variable TEC100HOME must be changed accordingly in the file $ISEROOT/bin/GENERIC. However, ISE does not recommend using Tecplot installations that are different from the one provided with ISE TCAD.

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GLOSSARY

Glossary
Some important terms are used in other ISE TCAD documents, which have different meanings in the context of Tecplot, as Tecplot is a non-ISE tool. These are explained here. dataset versus variable Dataset in DFISE format corresponds to a variable in Tecplot. In Tecplot language, the dataset is the top-level data structure that contains the complete information on the grid with its associated data. Tecplot variables are global in that they are always defined in all zones, whereas DFISE allows variables to be defined in subsets of the regions of a grid. Whenever a variable is not defined in a certain region of the DFISE file, the corresponding zone is initialized with zero values for this variable. Tecplot uses the file extension .dat for its own data files in ASCII format and .plt for binary format files. These files are loaded and written by using File > Load Data File and File > Write Data File. In DFISE terminology, the file extension .dat is used for dataset files and .plt is used for XY graph files. Region in ISE language corresponds in most cases to a zone in Tecplot language. Tecplot can display each zone with its individual graphic styles. The DFISE loader maps regions to zones.

Tecplot-ISE

file name extensions .plt and .dat

region versus zone

5.33