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Topology
Create, edit, and cleanup geometry.
Create Topology
Explore the tools used to create topology.
Points and Nodes
Learn about creating, editing, and extracting points and nodes.
Nodes
Nodes are the most basic finite element entity. A node represents a physical position on the structure being modeled.

Welcome
What's New
View new features for Altair HyperWorks 2024.1.
Get Started
Learn the basics and discover the workspace.
Tutorials
Learn more about the Altair HyperWorks suite of products with interactive tutorials.
Startup Procedures and Customizations
Start and configure the applications.
Tool Finder
View a list of deprecated panels and their newer, equivalent workflows.
Manage Files and Data
Create, open, import, and save models.
Sessions and Report Templates
Set up sessions and create report templates.
Interface with External Products
Solver interfaces supported in HyperMesh.
Entities and Solver Interfaces
A solver interface is made up of a template and a FE-input reader.
Browsers
Browsers provide a structured view of model data, which you can use to review, modify, create, and manage the contents of a model. In addition to visualization, browsers offer features like search, filtering, and sorting, which enhance your ability to navigate and interact with the model data.
Sketching
Create and edit 2D parametric sketch geometry.
Topology
Create, edit, and cleanup geometry.
- Geometry Preferences
  Define geometry preferences.
- Setup Topology
  Explore the tools used to setup topology.
- Create Topology
  Explore the tools used to create topology.
  - Points and Nodes
    Learn about creating, editing, and extracting points and nodes.
    - Points
      A point is a zero-dimensional geometric entity.
    - Nodes
      Nodes are the most basic finite element entity. A node represents a physical position on the structure being modeled.
    - Create and Edit Points/Nodes
      Use the Create Points/Nodes tool to create and edit points/free nodes on geometry surfaces and lines or in space.
    - Mark and Clear Free Nodes
      Control which nodes are on the temporary node mark.
    - Interpolate Nodes
      Create evenly spaced or biased nodes by interpolating between existing nodes in space, on a surface, or on a curved or straight line.
    - Extract Points and Nodes
      Use the Extract Points/Nodes tool to interpolate and divide an edge or line, and find the center of an arc, fillet, or multiple curve segments.
  - Shapes
    Create and edit circles and rectangles with the Shapes tool.
  - Lines
    A line represents a curve in space and is not attached to any surface or solid. A line is a one-dimensional geometric entity.
  - Create Ruled Surfaces and Solids
    Use the Ruled tools to create surfaces/solids by interpolating lines and surfaces either linearly or smoothly.
  - Faces
    A face is a single Non-uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) and is the smallest area entity. It has a separate underlying mathematical definition, specified when it was created.
  - Extrude/Revolve
    Use the Extrude/Revolve tool to drag and spin lines, surfaces, and nodes in order to create surfaces or solids.
  - Offset Geometry
    Use the Offset tool to offset surfaces, solids, lines, elements, or faces.
  - Midlines
    Use the Midlines tool to create midlines from existing lines, surface edges, or tube solids.
  - Extract Entities
    Use the Extract tool to convert sketches into geometry lines and surfaces with the realize option. Delete lines and surfaces converted from a sketch entity with the unrealize option.
  - Ribs
    Use the Ribs tool to create and modify simple ribs between two surfaces.
  - Create and Edit Feature Edges
    Use the Feature Edges tool to create and edit mesh controls on an edge.
- Edit Topology
  Explore the tools used to edit topology.
- Use Parasolid
  The Use Parasolid option, found in multiple Topology tools, helps you in creating/editing geometries using a parasolid geometry modeling kernel.
FE Geometry
FE geometry is topology on top of mesh, meaning CAD and mesh exist as a single entity. The purpose of FE geometry is to add vertices, edges, surfaces, and solids on FE models which have no CAD geometry.
Meshing and Elements
Explore the different types of mesh you can create in HyperMesh and create and edit 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D elements.
Model Build and Assembly
Create, organize and manage parts and subsystems.
Composites
HyperMesh composites modeling.
Connectors
Create connections between parts of your model.
Morph
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality.
Skeleton Modeling
Create a reduced ordered model to facilitate optimization at the concept phase.
Design Space
Workflow to support topology optimization model build and setup.
Optimization
Setup an Optimization in HyperMesh.
Design Explorer
Multi-disciplinary design exploration and optimization tools.
Validate
Validate the model built before running solver analysis.
Analyze
Models require loads and boundary conditions in order to represent the various physics and/or physical equivalents to bench and in-use testing.
Axisymmetry
Reduce a full 3D model with axisymmetric surfaces while accounting for imperfections.
Concept Modeling
Tools and workflows that are dedicated to rapidly creating new parts for specific use cases, or amending existing parts. The current capabilities are focused on stiffening parts.
Crash and Safety
Tools used for crash and safety analysis.
Airbag
Use airbag folder utilities and export a resulting airbag in a Radioss deck.
Aerospace
Essential utility tools developed using HyperMesh-Tcl.
Aeroelasticity
Import an aeroelastic finite element model with Nastran Bulk Data format.
Certification
Framework to plug certification methods to assess margin of safety from the model and result information.
PhysicsAI
Use PhysicsAI to build fast predictive models from CAE data. PhysicsAI can be trained on data with any physics or remeshing and without design variables.
Results Data
Results data can be post-processed using both HyperMesh and HyperView.
Developer
The Developer ribbon contains tools for automation and customization.
Plot Data
HyperGraph is a data analysis and plotting tool with interfaces to many file formats.
Multibody Modeling
MotionView is a general pre-processor for Multibody Dynamics.
Media Files
MediaView plays video files, displays static images, tracks objects, and measures distances.
Tabulate Results
Use TableView to create an Excel-like spreadsheet.
Text Files
TextView math scripts reference vector data from HyperGraph windows to automate data processing and data summary.
Publishing and Reporting
Create, define, and export reports.

View All Altair HyperWorks Help

Nodes

Nodes are the most basic finite element entity. A node represents a physical position on the structure being modeled.

A node is used by an element entity to define the location and shape of that element. It is also used as temporary input to create geometry entities.

A node may contain a pointer to other geometric entities and can be associated directly to them.

Nodes are considered to be used if they are referenced in the definition of an element, system, vector, group, load, equation, or are referenced by any card image on any entity. A "free" node is one that is not used by any element or used to define a vector or coordinate system as an example. Unused nodes and any loads that are attached to unused nodes are automatically deleted. Hence, the Temporary or Free node mark is provided as a holding area to save the nodes you are not currently using. Those nodes are saved as long as they are in the temporary/free node mark.

Nodes cannot be organized into components. Nodes can be organized into include files, which defines the solver include file they will be exported to.

A node is displayed a small circle or sphere, depending on the mesh graphics mode. Its color is always yellow.

Note: Preserve nodes are a special case where these free nodes are guaranteed to be saved in the model as well as be hidden from the graphics. These can only be viewed in the Nodes Browser.

Figure 1.

These preserved nodes can be selected from the idle node selector using the Ctrl > A keyboard shortcut.

Figure 2.

You can delete these nodes once selected, as shown in Figure 3. You will be warned of the existence of preserve nodes and, based on your selection, they will be excluded or included from the delete operation.

Figure 3.