MSC Apex as a pre processor for MSC Marc

MSC Apex is first and foremost a pre/post processor for Nastran but that doesn’t stop users of other solver technologies from taking advantage of the model preparation and meshing capability.
The Nastran bulk data format is the closest thing we have to a universal FEA definition file and so can be read by almost every other FEA application out there.
This short video shows a quick example of using Apex to prep a model for Marc/Mentat where we want a hexahedral mesh for modelling a rubber component using the reduced integration Hermann element formulation, but creating that mesh in Mentat would take many hours.
If you are using Marc/Mentat under the MSC One token licensing scheme you already have the 9 tokens needed to run MSC Apex.
If you are not using MSC One tokens, or are using a non-MSC solver - get in touch with DTE to talk about just how little it would cost to add Apex to your arsenal of tools, and enquire about a free trial license to see what benefits it would bring.
more on the blog info.dte.co.uk...
DTE www.dte.co.uk or Blog info.dte.co.uk

[@fireflylast2545]

time 5:07, can you show us your export2marc script?

[@andywoodward7273]

No problem. See below
import sys
import re
import datetime
import os
import math
import subprocess
def all(exportedFilePath):
if "a2m" in exportedFilePath:
mentat="C:\MSC.Software\Marc\2020.1.0\mentat2020.1\bin\mentat.bat"
procfile = open("importnas.proc",'w')
#procfile.write(exportedFilePath)
procfile.write("*prog_option compatibility:prog_version:ment2020.1
")
procfile.write("*prog_analysis_class structural
")
procfile.write("*prog_use_current_job on
")
procfile.write("*set_default_length_unit millimeter
")
procfile.write("*set_model_length_unit millimeter
")
procfile.write("*import nastran \"")
procfile.write(exportedFilePath)
procfile.write("\"
")
procfile.write("*fill_view")
#all("C:/data/projects/msc_support/dte/apex_for_marc/Model_4.bdf")
mentat_command=str("start C:\\MSC.Software\\Marc\\2020.1.0\\mentat2020.1\\bin\\mentat.bat -pr importnas.proc")
os.system(mentat_command)