Create and Edit Assigned Entities

Create, edit, and assign new entities to an existing entity or group of entities in the Entity Editor.

Create and Assign a New Entity

To create and assign a new entity to an existing entity or a group of entities:

Right-click on an entity assignment field, or click , then select one of the following options from the context menu:
  • Create - Define a new entity using an embedded Entity Editor.
  • Create/Edit - Define a new entity using a standalone Entity Editor.
The Entity Editor creates and assigns the new entity.

Edit an Assigned Entity

To edit an entity that is assigned to an existing entity or a group of entities, do one of the following:

  • Click next to an entity assignment field. In the embedded Entity Editor, modify the entity data. When you are finished making changes, click to collapse the editor.
  • Right-click on an entity assignment field, or click , then select Edit from the context menu. Modify the entity data using the standalone Entity Editor. When you are finished making changes, click Close.

Create and Assign Sets to Main or Secondary Entities

When defining contact entities in the Entity Editor, you can create sets using elements, nodes, or segments and assign them to main and secondary entities.
Restriction: Only available in the Abaqus, ANSYS, and OptiStruct user profile.
  1. Right-click on the Secondary Entity IDs or Main Entity IDs fields, or click , then select Create Set using Elements, Create Set using Nodes or Create Set using Segments from the context menu.
    Note: The options available depend on the solver keyword selected.
  2. Use the corresponding entity selector to pick elements, nodes, or segments.

Select Set Segments

The following additional functionalities are available in the entity selector when editing the contents of a set segment.

  • Use standard selection controls to append or deselect elements, facets, faces, or edges where the segments are defined.
  • Click to reverse or align segment directions using the Adjust Directions dialog. The reverse function flips all or some segment directions simultaneously. The align function is only available for segments defined on shell elements.
    Tip: When aligning segments on shell elements, you can manually specify a reference element to align to by toggling the switch from Auto to Reference mode.
  • When selecting 3D elements, segments are added to their outside faces only, based on the current display state.
    Tip: While selecting set segment contents, you can freely switch between supported selection types (for example: elements, facets, faces) and the current selections are converted accordingly.

The following restrictions and considerations apply when selecting set segment contents:

  • A single set segment can contain either face (2D) segments, or edge (1D) segments, but not a mixture of both.
    • When using box selection, if a mixture of 1D/2D elements is detected, the 2D elements are given priority. Only the 2D elements inside the box are selected and any 1D elements are ignored.
  • Switching the selection type between elements, faces, and facets is supported, but some conversions might result in additional segments.
    • Example 1: A single facet of a single floating 3D hex element is currently selected, and the selector is then switched from facets to elements. The selection is converted correctly from 1 facet → 1 element, and upon accepting the new selection, the resulting number of segments is now 6 since every exposed side of the selected 3D element gets a segment.
    • Example 2: If the same 3D element is not floating but instead part of a displayed mesh, the resulting number of segments is less than 6 because only its currently exposed outside faces get a segment (hidden internal mesh faces do not get segments).
  • When selecting faces or facets, advanced selection operations are available (for example: select adjacent, reverse, by face, by path, and so on) which rely on their underlying elements. As such, any advanced selection operation performed on faces or facets considers their current base elements as fully selected (including all outside faces of 3D elements). The same applies to saving and retrieving selections via the right-click menu.
  • When selecting facets, performing graphical window selections of a large number of facets can have a significant performance cost. For such scenarios, using elements as the selection type is recommended for optimal performance.