Femap Installation Guide
Femap Installation Guide
Installation Guide
Welcome to FEMAP! This section will help you to setup your computer so that you can immediately begin to explore the many capabilities of FEMAP. Before you start however, take a few minutes to do the following: 1. Read the FEMAP License Agreement which was included with your CD. It limits how you may use this software on your computer. Typically, you may only use FEMAP on one computer, for use by one individual at atime. 2. Fill out and fax the License Registration sheet which was included with your CD. Returning this document will insure that you will receive telephone support if you need it, and that you will be notified of future enhancements and corrections to FEMAP. 3. If you used a previous version of FEMAP, see Section D of the FEMAP User Guide, "Converting Old Models" for information pertaining to conversion of old databases to this version of the software. This section contains information specific to getting started on a PC, which includes 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. A single DVD contains both the 32-bit version and 64-bit version of FEMAP. If you have a 32-bit system, you must install the 32-bit version. If you have a 64-bit system, you can choose to install either version, but will only get the benefits of using a 64-bit system by installing the 64-bit version. Note: You MUST be logged in with Administrator privileges when installing FEMAP in order for the installation process to work properly.
Hardware/Software Requirements
There are no special hardware/software requirements for FEMAP beyond those imposed by Windows operating systems. There are many types of hardware that will allow you to use FEMAP. Proper choice of hardware, however, can often make the difference between frustration and productivity. Here are a few suggestions: Memory, RAM Memory, (Hard Disk) Graphics Boards Browser
Memory, RAM
You will need at least 128 Mbytes of RAM to run FEMAP and the Parasolid solid modeling engine, which is the default. Obviously, the more amount of RAM the better. Adding RAM can be one of the most cost effective means of increasing performance.
Graphics Boards
Standard graphics adapters work very well with FEMAP. Specialized boards which contain support for OpenGL will provide increased graphical performance when dynamically rotating large, complex models. They also usually provide higher resolution and more colors, which make graphics easier to see and more realistic.
Browser
To run the online help, you should have Internet Explorer, version 6.0 or later. Browsers such as Mozilla Firefox may also be used to access the HTML help system.
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Installation Guide
FEMAP
Printer
In order to run the Stand Alone (Security Device) version of FEMAP a Rainbow SuperPro Parallel Port (pictured on left) or USB Port dongle is required. In order for your PC to be able to see the dongle, a driver must first be installed. Installation of the driver requires Administrator privileges for your PC. During installation, if the current user has Administrator privileges, the installation program will automatically prompt for installation of this driver.
If the installer does not have Administrator privileges, someone with Administrator privileges will have to log in and install the driver manually. The driver installation program can be found in the SentinalDriver directory of the FEMAP CD. On 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms, run CD\SentinalDriver\SPI750.exe. It is highly recommended that you do not have any security devices attached to your computer while you are installing the driver. Once the driver has been installed, you can plug a USB security device directly into an open USB port and it should be recognized. For the Parallel Port security device, it is highly recommended that you shut your computer down and turn it off before installing the security device. After it is installed, turn the computer on begin using FEMAP.
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Notice that the installation will tell you the amount of disk space required for the chosen options to be installed and how much space is available on the drive where FEMAP will be installed. Note: If you plan on licensing FEMAP with a dongle (security key), not a network license, then you will probably want to UNCHECK the FLEXlm License Manager option as it is not used by the dongle. You will now be asked which type of installation to perform. Choose Nodelocked Dongle as the licensing method.
Description This is by far the most popular setup type used when installing FEMAP. It installs FEMAP for use with a Rainbow Parallel Port or USB dongle. If you have the dongle version of FEMAP, choose this setup type. Network Client Installs the Network Client version of FEMAP. This setup is for use where FEMAP is licensed via the FLEXlm license management software. With the Network Client version of FEMAP, one machine on your network will be designated as the license server. The following "Network License Server" setup will have to be run on that mac Installs the 300-Node demonstration version of FEMAP. This version requires no licensing, but is limited to very small models. It is intended for new users to try FEMAP and all its options.
Network Client
After choosing Nodelocked Dongle and pressing Next, the program will be installed and then a driver required for the dongle will automatically be installed. Finally, if you are installing FEMAP with the NX Nastran option you will be prompted to specify a scratch directory for the solver. You will need to have read/write access to this directory to be able to properly use NX Nastran. FEMAP dongles are shipped good for 30 days from the first time they are run. In order to remove the time limit from your new FEMAP dongle, or upgrade an older dongle or network license, you must contact Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. PLM's Global Technical Access Center (GTAC). In order to retrieve your FEMAP upgrade codes or your FLEXlm license file, you will need a GTAC WebKey account.
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Installation Guide
Obtaining a Webkey Account from Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc.
To request a WebKey account, access the web page; then provide the following information: https://plmapps.ugs.com/webkey Your Installation ID WebKey Access Code
Your Installation ID is directly under the "sold to" information on your shipping order. For dongle-based FEMAP customers, your WebKey Access code is the unique portion of your FEMAP serial number, i.e. 3H-NT-1234, which is displayed in your current FEMAP in the Help - About dialog box, for this license as 1000-3H-NT-1234, with the version information at the beginning of the serial number removed. If you have any problems determining your Installation ID, FEMAP Serial Number, or have trouble getting a WebKey account, please contact: Trish McNamara - trish.mcnamara@siemens.com - 610-458-6508, or Mark Sherman - sherman.mark@siemens.com - 610-458-6502
2. Via the Phone - You can call GTAC at 714-952-5444 (US and Canada residents may use 800-955-0000) and enter option 1, 1, for your CSR or option 1,2, for Software Product Delivery (SPD). You should then request a copy of the license upgrade for a specific Installation ID and serial number or Ethernet Address. For dongle versions of FEMAP, the information returned to you to upgrade the dongle will be in the form of two case insensitive alpha numeric codes. They will appear something like:
Use the Help, About command, then click the Security button. Cut and paste (to avoid errors) or type these two codes in to the appropriate fields and press OK. The FEMAP dongle is an EPROM, and these codes are used to update the memory of the dongle. Once these codes have been entered, you will never need to enter them again, with changes made to the memory of the dongle, they will either be useless, or simply write the same thing to memory again.
Network Installation - PC
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Network Installation - PC
The Network Client version of FEMAP utilizes the FLEXlm License Manager software from Globetrotter Software Inc. This licensing approach requires some software to be installed on a server machine and other software to be installed on one or more clients. The clients then request and obtain licenses from the server. In a simple situation, both the client and server could be the same computer, but more likely they are different systems connected by a network.
License Server
This section provides instructions on installing the network license manager and configuring your server.
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your license file (usually called "license.dat") to the same directory where you installed the license server components.
Fill in a Service Name, specify a path to the lmgrd.exe file (a required FLEXlm component) that can be found in the installation directory, and specify the path the license file. Finally, check the "Use Services" option, and then the "Start Server at Power Up". Press the "Save Service" button.
You must start the license server manually the first time, press the "Start/Stop/Reread" tab.
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Select the FEMAP service that you just created, and press the "Start Server" button. At this point FLEXlm will be handing out FEMAP licenses on your network. To verify that everything is working fine from the license server standpoint, press the "Server Status" tab.
Press the "Perform Status Enquiry" button and the text window will be filled with status information about your FLEXlm license server. In the text window you will find information about how many licenses are available, and once user start checking out licenses, how many are in use.
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This error will ONLY occur when the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE has been set. For example, this environment variable may have been set by another application for licensing purposes. Be careful when removing or altering this environment variable as it may cause other applications to no longer function properly.
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Installation Guide
Starting FEMAP
There are several command line options to launch FEMAP. The simplest method to launch FEMAP is to create a shortcut for FEMAP on your desktop and double-click the icon when you want to launch FEMAP. This will use the command line contained under the shortcut to launch FEMAP. You can modify this command line by right-clicking on the FEMAP icon, selecting properties, and changing the command line option on the shortcut. The command line will contain the executable (and its path). After the femap.exe, there are several options which may be used to determine the mode in which FEMAP will operate. A list of these command line options are provided below.
c:\femap931\femap.exe [-R] [-NEU] [-NOSPL] [-D dxf_file] [-N neu_file] [-PRG program_file] [-SE Solid Edge_File] [-L port] [-SAT sat_file] [-XMT x_t file] [-SCA scale_factor] [-IGES iges_file] [model_file or ?]
where all of the arguments in [ ] are optional command line parameters. They are: The remaining parameters can be specified in any order. -R Read Only Mode. With this option set, the Save, Save As and Timed Save commands are disabled. You will not be able to save changes to any model you access. All other commands remain active. Any changes you make will be made in the temporary scratch file, and will be lost when you exit FEMAP. Automatically writes a neutral file with the same name (just .NEU extension) as your .modfem file every time you save a model. In addition, when you open a model, if a neutral file exists with a newer date than the model, it will be read. Starts FEMAP without the splash screen. This option automatically reads the specified DXF file when you start FEMAP. Make sure you leave at least one space between the two arguments. This option automatically reads the specified FEMAP neutral file when you start FEMAP. This option allows you to run a specified FEMAP program file (*.PRO or *.PRG file) when FEMAP is started. Automatically creates a new FEMAP file and calls the File, Import Geometry command to read the Solid Edge part file (*.prt file) or assembly file (*.asm file). When you use FEMAP with this command option, you will see the Solid Model Read Options dialog box, which will contain the title of the solid model file contained in the SAT file.
-NEU
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-L port
Specifies the parallel port where the FEMAP security device has been installed. This is not typically needed unless FEMAP has difficulty accessing the device. If you want to attach the security device to parallel port 1 (LPT1:), use -L 1, for parallel port 2 (LPT2:) use -L 2. If your system is non-standard, or uses some other parallel port convention, you can specify the actual parallel port address. For example, if your parallel port was at address 03BCH (hexadecimal), you would convert the address to a decimal value, in this case 956, and specify -L 956. If you need to specify the -L option, you can change the default command line associated with the FEMAP icon on the Desktop by selecting Properties. First, right-click on the FEMAP icon. Then choose the File, Properties command (or press Alt+Enter). Move down to the command line option, and just add the appropriate -L options. From then on FEMAP will look for the security device on the specified port.
-SAT sat_file
Automatically creates a new FEMAP file and calls the File, Import Geometry command to read the ACIS solid model file *.SAT file [sat_file]. When you use FEMAP with this command option, you will see the Solid Model Read Options dialog box, which will contain the title of the solid model file contained in the SAT file. Automatically creates a new FEMAP file and calls the File, Import, Geometry command to read the Parasolid solid model file *.X_T file [xmt_file]. When you use FEMAP with this command option, you will see the Solid Model Read Options dialog box which will contain the title of the solid model file contained in the X_T file. This option is used in conjunction with the -XMT and -SAT to specify a scale factor for the solid model. If this option is used, FEMAP will automatically import and scale the solid model. The Solid Model Read Options dialog box will not be shown. Automatically creates a new FEMAP file and calls the File, Import, Geometry command to read the file [iges_file]. When you use FEMAP with this command option, you will see the IGES Read Options dialog box, where you can specify options for reading the file. Specify a specific femap.ini file to use. The femap.ini file contains specific options which can be used to customize many aspects of the program, such as a specific set of values for File, Preferences. Normally FEMAP will start with a new, unnamed model. If model_file is the filename of an existing model however, FEMAP will start using that model. If the file does not exist, you will see an error message, and FEMAP will start a new model with that name. If you add a question mark to the command line instead of specifying a model name, FEMAP will automatically display the standard file access dialog box and ask you for the name of the model that you want to use. If you want to begin a new model, just press New Model or the Escape key. When you want to work on an existing model, just choose it from the dialog box, or type its name. You should never specify both the ? and model_file options.
-XMT xmt_file
-SCA scale_value
-IGES iges_file
- INI filename
model_file
Database Performance
These options control how FEMAP uses your computers RAM. Setting these properly can greatly improve performance.
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With this option, you are simply setting the maximum amount of memory available for the database. If you are working with a smaller model, FEMAP will not use memory that it does not need and the blue bar will not extend the entire way to the slider setting. If you look at this control with an empty model, or if you have a small model and a large amount of memory in your system, the blue bar may not be visible because it is too short to be seen along the bar.
Blocks/Page
This value sets the page size. The optimum setting of this number often depends on the speed of your disk and controller. Note: The default value of 4 was determined via testing to produce the best performance over a wide range of values for Database Memory Limit and using the default settings for a number of different types of disk drives. You may want to try other values from 1 to 15 if you have changed any speed/caching settings on your drive or have high-speed drives to determine if performance is improved.
For more information, see Section 3.4.2, "Improving Performance (RAM Management)" in the FEMAP User Guide.
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