Simpleware Cambridgeshire Workshops, March 2017
We're running a series of free software workshops in the Cambridgeshire, UK area from March 7th to 9th on using Simpleware software for 3D image data visualisation, analysis and model generation.
software
software of interest to mechanicians
Writing VTK output files in C++
If you're interested in visualizing your data with Visit or Paraview, it's convenient to write out VTK files. If you are a C++ person you will find my post at http://www.parresianz.com/c++/xml/vtk/vtk-output/ of interest.
-- Biswajit
JSON or XML for your input files?
Either, depending on your taste and use-case. I prefer XML for aesthetic reasons, but that format can get verbose. Check out my new post on how to read JSON files in your C++ code at http://www.parresianz.com/c++/json/json-input/.
-- Biswajit
Webinar - Tips & Tricks for Simpleware ScanIP, Mar 1-2 2017
Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Time: 9:00 am PST (West Coast) / 12:00 pm EST (East Coast) / 5:00 pm GMT (UK) / 6:00 pm CET (Europe)
Attend this webinar focused on the ScanIP module of the Simpleware software suite. Learn how to improve the image processing and segmentation aspects of your Simpleware workflows.
Topics covered include:
Reading input files in your C++ research code
Mechanics research codes are typically written by graduate students who aim to get their work done as quickly as possible. These codes are not meant to last beyond the publication of a few related papers. These files have the advantage that they can be read in quickly using an input file stream and the code for doing that can be written in minutes.
Regression testing with the Command design pattern
Computational mechanics practitioners are not typically known for practising well-established software engineering techniques. That makes code developed by various research groups next to impossible to understand and modify. I still see requests on iMechanica on how to implement Drucker-Prager models when every freshman student probably has their own implementation. It is likely that the person who developed a particular code cannot themselves understand the code a few years after the relevant paper has been published.
Modernizing your old c++ code
Continuing yesterday's thread on new C++ productivity tools, here's another one on using clang-tidy to modernize your code automatically to C++11/14. Life becomes markedly easier after the code has been updated. Check out my post at http://www.parresianz.com/c++/clang-tidy/ to see how I've integrated clang-tidy into my toolchain.
-- Biswajit
Formatting your C++ code
Some of you may be involved in computational work where your students develop C++ codes. If the code is formatted well it's easier to read and understand. With the creation of clang-format, the job of formatting (and not just indentation) can now be automated to a great extent. For a few pointers on how-to, check out my post at http://www.parresianz.com/c++/clang-format/.
-- Biswajit
Abaqus2Matlab: A suitable tool for finite element post-processing
A new piece of software has been presented that connects the well-known FE code Abaqus with Matlab. The source code, detailed documentation and a large number of tutorials can be freely downloaded from www.abaqus2matlab.com
Some interesting applications are addressed in the associated journal article: