Surface Mesh Generators¶
Post-1.0.0rc1 development adds Tools > Surface Meshing (Experimental). It exposes all seven concrete generators in the locked PyNite Mesh module, without another solver or meshing dependency. Recipes can be stored in spatial projects as uncoupled geometry, alongside frames. The published rc1 wheel does not contain this workspace or the main-model surface integration.
| Generator | Shape-specific options | Element families |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | Width, height, XY/XZ/YZ plane, local x/y control lines, named rectangular openings | Quad, Rect |
| Annulus | Inner/outer radii, X/Y/Z axis, target size; automatic radial/circumferential refinement | Quad |
| Annular ring | Inner/outer radii, axis, circumferential divisions; one radial course | Quad |
| Annular transition ring | Inner/outer radii, axis, inner divisions; transitions to three times as many outer divisions | Quad |
| Cylinder | Radius, height, axis, target size; automatic or explicit circumferential divisions | Quad, Rect |
| Cylinder ring | Radius, height, axis, explicit divisions; one axial course | Quad, Rect |
| Conical frustum | Large/small radii, height, axis, target size | Quad |
All recipes expose mesh/material names, thickness, E/nu/weight density,
local stiffness modifiers kx_mod/ky_mod, XYZ origin and starting node/element
numbers. Modifiers retain the selected upstream element formulation's semantics;
do not assume they modify only bending or only membrane stiffness identically
for Quad and Rect. Target size is disabled for direct ring generators, which
use explicit counts. Quad is DKMQ; Rect is the rectangular polynomial element.
Use the Geometry and Mesh/Material tabs to edit the definition, then Apply / Generate Mesh. Rectangle's Control Lines tab uses typed axis/coordinate rows; Openings uses name/left/bottom/width/height rows in local rectangle units. Openings may meet an exterior edge but cannot cut completely across the rectangle, overlap or touch another opening. Opening boundaries become control lines automatically. The displayed face edges are the actual four-node element connectivity. Orbit, orientation gizmo, Faces/Nodes toggles and Fit use the offline Three.js viewport. Existing application software/hardware rendering settings also apply here.
Save/Open uses a strict, versioned .pynitemesh recipe. Undo/redo covers applied
definitions and generator changes. Changing generator starts its shape parameters
and target size from defaults and clears rectangle-only options; undo restores
the previous recipe. Units affect inputs without changing physical dimensions.
Export generated mesh writes neutral JSON containing canonical inch-kip node
coordinates, named four-node connectivity, element family/properties and the
recipe. It is not a frame project or an analyzed result file.
The single-mesh workspace has a 1,024-element budget, checked before allocation (before removing rectangle openings). Generated meshes are checked for finite coordinates, nondegenerate/coplanar faces, positive Gauss-point Jacobians and edge-length ratios up to 20; these are basic safeguards, not a mesh-quality certificate. Very coarse annular meshes that would divide by zero in the locked engine are rejected. Inner/small radii must remain positive: no full disk or cone apex is implied. PyNite's frustum places the large-radius rim at the origin and the small rim in the negative axis direction. This is preserved, not flipped.
The adapter generates at zero and translates all nodes afterward to avoid the locked cylinder generator dropping transverse offsets or treating axial origin as its terminal height. It also preserves requested per-element stiffness modifiers and uniformly numbers generated nodes/elements from the selected starts. These behaviours are regression-tested for every generator, both available families and all axes. The source engine and user definitions are not modified.
Analyze rectangular plate transfers Rectangle recipes into the separate plate workspace below. Curved/annular meshes currently offer geometry, recipes and export only: boundary conditions, surface-normal pressure, membrane/shell analysis and curved result recovery need separate benchmarks. The planar pilot's in-plane restraints must not be applied to curved shells. Shear-wall and mat foundation workflows are specialized model builders, not additional mesh choices in this catalog, and remain pending. Rectangular Quad meshes can now participate in the experimental coupled main-model workflow below; atomic MCP surface edits are supported through the main project server.
Source: GUIDE.md. This manual follows the current repository; the published rc1 wheel has a smaller feature set.