Scan&Solve™ FAQ

Materials and Components

• Will a custom material added in one file be available for use in other files?
• Are orthotropic materials, such as wood or composites, supported in Scan&Solve™?
• Can I use Scan&Solve™ to analyze objects consisting of multiple (or composite) materials and components?

Input and Geometry

• Can Scan&Solve™ simulate structural foams?
• If the Rhino object is hollow, will using Scan&Solve™ on the object force it to become solid, or will it remain a hollow or shell-like object?
• Can Scan&Solve™ perform thin shell analysis, say for very thin plastics?

Loads and Restraints

• Can I restrain the edges and vertices of the solid?
• Can I apply a combination of different loads to a face?
• Are climatic loads such as rain, snow, or wind supported?
• Can loads be applied over time with time history or ramp functions?

Viewing and Reporting Results

• How can I export my results?
• What formats are available for exporting the geometry?

Visualization

• Does using the Deflection Slider in the View Tab show what would really happen to the solid under the conditions specified?
• Is there a way to visualize the "mesh of space" that encloses the solid for analysis?
• What is the relationship between Rhino model accuracy and the size of a single mesh element in Scan&Solve™?

Purchasing and Upgrading Scan&Solve™

• What types of Scan&Solve™ licenses are available for purchase?
• Will I have to pay to upgrade my older version of Scan&Solve™ to a newer version?

General

• I would like to see a demonstration of the entire process of analyzing an imported mesh using Scan&Solve™.
• How can I keep abreast of the latest developments and releases of Scan&Solve™?
• I installed the evaluation version of Scan&Solve™, but can't start it in Rhino.

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Materials

• Will a custom material added in one file be available for use in other files?
  Yes, a custom Scan&Solve™ material added in one Rhino file will be accessible in other Rhino files.


• Are orthotropic materials, such as wood or composites, supported in Scan&Solve™?
  Scan&Solve™ presently works with isotropic materials, such as metals and unreinforced concrete, that do not have properties which vary with respect to orientation or position in space. The ability to model orthopropic materials is a high priority for future development.


• Can I use Scan&Solve™ to analyze objects consisting of multiple (or composite) materials and components?
  Analyzing assemblages of multiple materials and components is a high priority for future versions of Scan&Solve™.

Input and Geometry

• Can Scan&Solve™ simulate structural foams?
  Yes, since structural foams are just a type of geometry.


• If a Rhino object is hollow, will using Scan&Solve™ on the object force it to become solid mass, or will it remain a hollow or shell-like object?
  Scan&Solve™ works on all Rhino solids. If a hollow object is modeled as a solid in Rhino, then Scan&Solve™ will treat it as a hollow object. Note that in Rhino, a solid must consist of a single connected surface, with the interior surface connected in some way to the exterior surface.


• Can Scan&Solve™ perform thin shell analysis, say for very thin plastics?
  The answer depends on the available resolution. Scan&Solve™ uses "solid" elements to model the physical behavior of the models undergoing analysis. Large thin structures such as thin plates and membranes will generally show qualitatively correct behavior; however, limits on available memory and computation time will hinder detailed analysis in Scan&Solve™.

Loads and Restraints

• Can I restrain the edges and vertices of the solid?
  Scan&Solve™ currently only allows faces to be restrained. Future versions of Scan&Solve™ will feature the ability to restrain edges and vertices. However, since restraints of this type are non-physical, the stress results in their neighborhoood will be questionable.


• Can I apply a combination of different loads to a face?
  Any number or combination of loads may be applied to any faces in the solid.


• Are climatic loads such as rain, snow, or wind supported?
  Presently, there is no way to input these specific types of loads. However, it is possible to simulate the effects of such weather events using directional loads or pressures. For example, wind loads may be simulated using pressure, and snow loads may be simulated using a vector force equivalent to a certain depth of snow.


• Can loads be applied over time with time history or ramp functions?
  Scan&Solve™ is designed to perform linear static stress analysis, and therefore loads may not be varied over time. It is, however, simple to vary the loads manually.

Viewing and Reporting Results

• How can I export my results?
  The analysis results can be exported in HTML format only by pressing the "Report" button in the View Tab. See the documentation on Reporting for more information.


• What formats are available for exporting the geometry?
  The geometry can be exported to a Rhino mesh file, a VRML 2.0 file, an STL file, or a PLY file. The geometry can be exported in its original form, or in its deformed state. You can also export a textured geometry which shows the results of the analysis to a VRML 2.0 file, or a Rhino mesh file. See the documentation on Baking for more information.

Visualization

• Does using the Deflection Slider in the View Tab show what would really happen to the solid under the conditions specified?
  The Deflection Slider dramatically magnifies the actual deformation, and is used for visualization purposes only. The numbers and colors reflect the real results.


• Is there a way to visualize the "mesh of space" that encloses the solid for analysis?
  The current version of Scan&Solve™ does not visualize the "mesh of space" that encloses the solid.


• What is the relationship between Rhino model accuracy and the size of a single mesh element in Scan&Solve™?
  The size of mesh elements in the Scan&Solve™ "mesh of space" has nothing to do with the "mesh of boundary" in Rhino, which is used for visualization purposes only. Generally speaking, the resolutions have nothing to do with each other, but geometric resolution is several orders of magnitude higher than the analysis resolution. This is to be expected since geometric computations are needed to perform numerical computations on the analysis mesh.

Purchasing and Upgrading Scan&Solve™

• What types of Scan&Solve™ licenses are available for purchase?
  The Commercial License is intended for a single user, and can be installed on one personal and one work computer. The Academic License provides all of the functionality of the Commercial license, but is offered at a reduced cost to students and educators only. The Academic Lab license is suitable for classroom use with many simultaneous users. The Floating License is ideal for a company with many users who may not all need to access the software at the same time.


• Will I have to pay to upgrade my older version of Scan&Solve™ to a newer version?
  We will not charge for incremental improvements to the software, unless they amount to a major new release or capability. Simply download the new version at any time.

General

• I would like to see a demonstration of the entire process of analyzing an imported mesh using Scan&Solve™.
  This webpage contains a short video showing the complete procedure for analyzing an STL model. Visit the Video page on the Scan&Solve™ website for more instructional videos.


• How can I keep abreast of the latest developments and releases of Scan&Solve™?
  The best way to keep track of new developments is to download and try the evaluation version, available here. This will add your email to our mailing list. You can also keep track of developments at the Scan&Solve™ website.


• I installed the evaluation version of Scan&Solve™, but can't start it in Rhino.
  Scan&Solve™ is currently only supported on 32 bit installations of Windows. A 64 bit version will be released in the very near future. The 64 bit version will not be installed in the same directory, so the 32 bit version should be uninstalled if it is not being used.