Model Browser

The Model Browser is a central part of HyperWorks that allows you to get an overview, edit, and control the display of all contents of a model

To open the Model Browser, click View > Model Browser from the menu bar.



Figure 1.

The Model Browser shows all the contents of a model present in the session. Entities such as nodes, elements, connectors, geometry, loads, and subsystems are now displayed, along with other entities such as components, properties, materials, and so on.

A new grouped entity display mode shows HyperWorks entities at the first level and solver-specific sub-types at the second level. Entities are not shown in the Model content view.


Figure 2.

Additional categories for undefined and ungrouped entities are listed under each entity folder when applicable. The ‘Undefined’ folder contains all entities that a solver deck refers to but are not present in the model. The ‘Ungrouped’ folder contains all entities that are without a solver card.

The Include view of the Model Browser displays the contents of the model based on the include file, along with the node and element counts. The Include view also displays the min and max occupied IDs at the include file level, entity level, and sub-entity level. The min and max occupied ID columns can be optionally turned on in the Model content view as well.


Figure 3.
Note: The Include view is integrated into the Model Browser and cannot be undocked as an independent view.

To return to the Model content view from the Include view, click .

Right-click in the browser white space to create any entity – for example, a Property. Right-click on an entity grouping to create a specific type of entity – for example, a Property of type SECTION_SHELL.

Upon creating an entity from the Model content view or the Include view, the Create Entity dialog is posted for defining entity attributes such as name, ID, and so on. The group that contains the new entity is highlighted to indicate which group it is organized into.


Figure 4.

Open Entity Views in the Model Browser

Quickly display all entities of a specific type in the Model Browser.

  1. In the Model Browser, double-click on an entity group to open its respective entity view.
    All entity views, except for the Include view, can be docked to the right or bottom docking areas, or undocked to float.


    Figure 5.

    Double-clicking on a first-level entity grouping invokes an entity view displaying all entities of the selected type. In the entity views, append entity attributes, including those which are referenced, as columns and use column filters for fast and efficient review, editing, sorting, and filtering.

    Double-clicking on a second-level entity grouping invokes a filtered entity view displaying just the entities of the selected sub-type. Here, you can review and edit the entities of interest.


    Figure 6.

    The color of geometry and mesh in the modeling window will be changed if the entity type selected has a corresponding color mode.

  2. To close entity views, click .
  3. To return to the Model content view from the Include view, click .
Tip: Many of the tools on the ribbons used to create entities incorporate a satellite icon named List <entity type>. Click this icon to open the corresponding independent entity view.

Add Attributes to Entity Views

Append attributes to the browser as columns to facilitate fast and efficient review, editing, sorting, and filtering in an entity view.

  1. In the Model Browser, double-click on an entity to open its respective view.

    The common attributes show in all entity views are:

    Name
    Entity name
    ID
    Unique entity ID
    Color
    Entity color
    Include
    ID of Include file the entity is stored within
  2. Append attributes as columns in the following ways:
    • Right-click on a column heading and select More from the context menu to access a list of all entity attributes that can be appended to the browser.
    • From the Entity Editor, right-click on an attribute and select Add Column from the context menu. Referenced entities can only be added from the Entity Editor.


      Figure 7.

Dock and Undock Entity Views

Entity views can be undocked to float or docked to the left, right, or bottom docking areas.



Figure 8.
Entity views can be docked as separate tabs,


Figure 9.
Or can be grouped with other tabs.


Figure 10.

Configuration Options

Configure the display and behavior of the Model Browser.

Local Options

Open the Browser Configuration dialog by right-clicking in the Model Browser and selecting Configure Browser from the context menu.

Delete association
Open the Delete component(s) and unique associations dialog when Delete Advanced is selected from the context menu. When this box is checked off, the Delete component(s) and unique associations dialog does not open when Delete Advanced is selected from the context menu, and the entities uniquely related to the selected component are automatically deleted.
Hide attached
Mask the attached elements in the modeling window when you hide the following entities: loads, load collectors, load steps, groups and contact surfaces. This can be observed if the elements are currently displayed. This will not change the display state to off; thus, that the local display icon will not be dimmed.
Show/hide/isolate Include files with References
Show, hide, isolate the contents of an Include file when you Show/Hide/Isolate the Include file. If you turn this option off, Show/Hide/Isolate will only affect the components and other HM entities that have graphics (vectors, systems, plies, laminates, loads) in the Model Browser, Solver Browser, and ID Manger Include files.
Show/Isolate/Isolate Only attached
View the attached elements in the modeling window when you Show/Isolate/Isolate Only the following entities: loads, load collectors, load steps, groups and contact surfaces. This can be observed if the elements are currently masked or the display state of the component's elements is turned off. This will also turn on the local display icon.
Save view with mask
If off, only the on/off state of the collectors are saved. The mask state of individual entities is ignored.
If on, both the on/off state of the collectors and the mask state of individual entities are saved.

Entities Tab

To select entity types to display in the browser, activate the checkboxes next to each desired entity type. A check mark indicates that the entity type will display in the browser. Use the Show Existing button to list only the entities that are present in the model. Turning off this button shows all the entities even when they are not present in the model. You can also use the select all, select none, and select reverse buttons in this mode.

Model Browser Preference

The previous version of the Model Browser can be accessed by changing the Model browser organization option from File > Preferences > Browsers.

  • Grouped views – Organizes entities by type and sub-type. Double-click to interact with entities in entity views.
  • Flat list (legacy) – Organizes entities by type and shows a flat list of entities.