I installed Pro/E 2001 Student Edition successfully on my Dell running Windows XP Professional.
Then I installed Mechanica. It seemed to install completely -- but ...
When I run Integrated Mech all is well.
When I try to fly out into Independant Mech, it bombs. The error involves "mech.exe"
Upon further investigation it turns out that the mech.exe fle is empty (it is empty at 0 kb, no characters in it binary or otherwise). The mech.exe is located correctly in the \i486_nt\bin.
Any idea why the mech.exe file is turning up empty? Any help is really appreciated!
Care to refresh my memory about what you'd use independent, standalone Mechanica for. I really don't recall, but if it was simply producing meshed models, this was moved into the main body of Mechanica. At the opening screen, where you get to specify Stuctural or Thermal, leave it at the default and check the FEM Mode box. From there, you have all the old meshing functionality, including being able to export in a number of different solver types.
Good question. I am trying to access independant mech because one of my models bombed. It could not mesh in integrated mode. I was reading through the "summary" file for hints and it said to run independant mech to try and mesh it.
I noticed you mentioned the "FEM" mode box. This appears not to work either, on my setup. Is it possible both the FEM mode and Independant Mech mode have been dis-abled in SE 2001?
Don't think so; mine also shows mech.exe as zero bytes, but the FEM check box is usually available. I can't say 'always' because I might have run into something similar to your problem. In any case, you should check into what PTC has to say, such as the following article online: Suggested Technique for Preparing Pro/ENGINEER Geometry for Successful AutoGEM in Pro/MECHANICA
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The point of this is that there are models which are harder to mesh than others: ones that mix solids and shells; ones with small features, like holes or radiuses; ones that have surface imperfections that show up under 'Info>Geometry Check'. In other words, the model itself plays a big role in whether it can be meshed. Also, I suspect that most of the advice sending one to Independent mode (such as meshing models with a mixture of shell/solid geometry) is now accomodated by FEM mode. And if it is not available, I suspect problems with the model itself. Look for Geom Checks, for instance. Suppress radiuses and small features. Accuracy values are always suspect. Were there any error messages that we could look up? Any thing else you haven't mentioned that might be relevant?
It might be worth, as an aside, considering some of the things that go wrong with Mechanica installations, that could account for some functionality not working. Hisotrically, there've been numerous but well defined problems with Mechanica installations. A couple are worth noting: 1) compiler problems related to some Microsoft tools that weren't installed; 2) periodic problems with installing to directories with spaces in names (this may have been irrevocably and irreversibly resolved by 2001) but led to inability to start aspects of the program. Again, error messages would help to identify.
I think I know what happened. When I try to run "FEM Mode" the prompt states that I need to contact my sales rep. We all know what that means in PTC terms -- you didn't spend enough money...
I will try to simplify the original CAD model instead -- there are several un-necessary features I can remove for purposes of FEA.
So, in Wildfire 2, when I check the box at the opening screen for FEM Mode, is that the Independent Mode you're talking about? I thought Independent Mode was something different, in fact, the standalone version, launched outside of Pro/e, but combining functions of both Mechanica and Pro/e, where you could do everything, including modelling. It might have, at one time, been the only place where you could mesh models. And what're they expecting you to purchase that corresponds to the message that Pinch is getting? I hope we're not talking about two completely different things here and getting them mixed up. I know my memory's a bit hazy, hell, I can barely remember 2001, though I used both the student and professional versions.
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