01-24-2009, 08:21 PM
This is more of a tip than a full tutorial but anyone running Abaqus 6.7-EF or newer who is interested in automation using python scripts might find it useful.
If you launch CAE from a command prompt and include '-pde' as a flag...
e.g.
you will see a new window open over CAE.
This is a project which Simulia have recently been working on called PDE (Python Development Environment). This is a handy program which allows you to record everything you do in CAE using the Python language, in a similar way to how a replay file works. However the recording is in real-time; as in each click or command is recorded and can be seen in the PDE window as it is performed.
The advantage of this is that a recording in PDE can be modified and played back without modifying previous work. For example if I have created a part and want ten parts which are similar but have slightly varied parameters it simply requires a copy and paste operation in the PDE recording.
PDE becomes particularly useful if a large number of tedious operations are required; for example I recently had to create a few hundred material definitions for a certain part (don't ask). This took a matter of seconds by recording the creation of one material and using a loop to create the rest in PDE.
Of course this could all be achieved by implementing user-written python scripts as outlined in the Abaqus scripting guide. However PDE requires very little knowledge of python and is handy for someone who simply wants tedious work in CAE to be done quickly.
If you launch CAE from a command prompt and include '-pde' as a flag...
e.g.
Code:
C:\Simulia\6.8-1\exec\abq681 cae -pdeThis is a project which Simulia have recently been working on called PDE (Python Development Environment). This is a handy program which allows you to record everything you do in CAE using the Python language, in a similar way to how a replay file works. However the recording is in real-time; as in each click or command is recorded and can be seen in the PDE window as it is performed.
The advantage of this is that a recording in PDE can be modified and played back without modifying previous work. For example if I have created a part and want ten parts which are similar but have slightly varied parameters it simply requires a copy and paste operation in the PDE recording.
PDE becomes particularly useful if a large number of tedious operations are required; for example I recently had to create a few hundred material definitions for a certain part (don't ask). This took a matter of seconds by recording the creation of one material and using a loop to create the rest in PDE.
Of course this could all be achieved by implementing user-written python scripts as outlined in the Abaqus scripting guide. However PDE requires very little knowledge of python and is handy for someone who simply wants tedious work in CAE to be done quickly.
. Will report back with my experience. Again, Thanks!