MENUTecplot 360 2023 R1 Release
Release Date: August 10, 2023
Tecplot 360 2023 R1 has all the features of Tecplot 360 2022 R2, plus support for high order elements! Highlights of high order element support are:
- Ability to read P2, P3, and P4 elements from CGNS, SZPLT, and VTU files.
- TecIO includes new APIs to write SZPLT files containing high order elements utilizing the new FEMixed Zone Type. CGNS node ordering is expected. See the CGNS documentation.
- High order elements are both selectively and recursively sub-divided, using the basis functions, to provide highly accurate results.
- Number of sub-divisions can be defined on a per-frame basis using new options in the Plot Sidebar. Higher levels of sub-division provide more accurate results, but also require more RAM and processing time.
Benefits of Using Tecplot 360 for High Order Elements
- Smaller output files. Many high order element codes export grids that are pre-subdivided. This drastically increases the size of the data on disk, even in areas of the simulation which may not be post-processed. By allowing Tecplot 360 to dynamically sub-divide the grid, only in areas of interest (region of an iso-surface or slice), your code can write less data. Each level of sub-division results in roughly 8 times the number of cells.
- 20.8x faster than ParaView with the same CGNS data. Plotting an iso-surface of Density takes 125.8 seconds with ParaView 5.10 and only 6.0 seconds with Tecplot 360. Furthermore, ParaView only sub-divides the surface data, meaning the iso-surfaces get no refinement. At 4-levels of sub-division Tecplot 360 takes only 65.5 seconds, which provides a more accurate result and is still nearly 2x faster!
- Higher levels of sub-division provide more accurate answers and are especially effective for line extractions (like velocity profiles seen here), streamtraces, and rendering of boundary surfaces.
- Lower levels of sub-division are generally adequate for qualitative plots of iso-surfaces and slices. Higher levels of sub-division may be done, but it can be difficult to see the difference, so you may not want to pay for the extra accuracy.
Additional Updates & Features
- PyTecplot 1.6.0: Mixed finite-element zone supported. High order finite-element support added. See the PyPI changelog for a full list of updates.
- CGNS data files output from CONVERGE CFD are now supported in Tecplot 360. Loading CONVERGE CGNS files may also be automated via a new PyTecplot API: load_converge_cgns()
- Gouraud (smooth) shading now takes into account sharp angles between cells (creases) for improved rendering. The crease angle may be adjusted using the Edge Details dialog. To restore the 2022 R2 behavior, set the crease angle to zero.
Bug Fixes and Enhancements
- Fixed a licensing issue associated with network license servers combined with a load balancer. Client machines experienced a message stating, “The connection to your license server has been lost…” and then after 5-10 minutes, connection to the license server would be restored.
- Fixed an issue assigning solution time values to .vtu files. Time information in vtu data files identified by TimeValue is now read and used to properly assign solution time values when loaded into Tecplot 360.
- Fixed an issue where ASCII files wrote-out invalid variable sharing lists. If a user created a shared variable, then wrote out this variable along with additional variables, an error was given when attempting to load that file.
- Fixed a crash when extracting vortex cores for some Plot3D files.
Known Issues with HOE Data in 360 2023 R1
- Derivative and gradient calculations (e.g. Q-Criterion, Velocity Gradient) are not implemented and will cause a crash.
- P3 elements may have discontinuities between cells, causing holes in slices and causing streamtraces to terminate early.
- Extracting Contour Lines from FEMixed (aka HOE) zones will cause a crash.
- Extract Blanked Zone from FEMixed (aka HOE) zones will cause a crash.
- Precise Value Blanking in 2D plots with FEMixed zones does not precisely trim mesh lines along the constraint boundary.
- Extract Connected Regions scripting command does not work with FEMixed zones.
- Combine Zones add-on does not support FEMixed zones.
- Surface restricted streamtraces may disappear as you change the number of HOE sub-division levels. This is because the XYZ seed-point location may no longer coincide with the surface as additional curvature is introduced. You may have to delete and re-seed your streamtraces.
Python Version Support
Tecplot’s Python support policy is to support the newest version of Python and the two previous versions. As of August 2023, we officially support Python 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11.
Platform Support
The 2023 R1 release is supported on the following platforms:
- Linux:
- Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 15
- RedHat 7.8+, 8, and 9
- CentOS 7.8+
- Rocky Linux 8 and 9
- Windows: 10 and 11
- macOS: 11, 12, and 13
Platform End of Life Updates
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Standard Support ended April 2023. Current and future Tecplot product releases will not support Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
Tecplot has discontinued support for macOS 10.15. Current and future Tecplot product releases will not support macOS 10.15.
- See all updates in our Release Notes (PDF)
- See the Tecplot 360 Features Over Time