When you first start Flow Design, the Welcome screen appears with options for importing models from your local drive, opening demonstration models, and accessing recently opened models.
To import a model from your local drive, click Local on the Welcome screen. Note that you can also import a new model with the File command on the toolbar. Flow Design supports the following file types:
- STL (*.stl): Stereolithography Format (ASCII or Binary)
- OBJ (*.obj): WaveFront Object Format
- 3DS (*.3ds): Autodesk 3ds Max Legacy DOS File Format
- LWO (*.lwo): LightWave Object format (Ascii LWO2)
- OFF (*.off): Open file Format
- PLY (*.ply): Polygon File Format or the Stanford Triangle Format
- TPF (*.tfp): Autodesk Transitional Packet Format
- ZIP (*.zip): Compressed archive containing any of the supported file formats
- DWG (*.dwg): AutoCAD drawing file
- DWF (*.dwf): Autodesk web design format
- FBX (*.fbx): Filmbox file format
- IPT (*.ipt): Inventor part file
- CATPART (*.catpart): CATIA v5 part file
- CATPRODUCT (*.catproduct): CATIA v5 product file
- PRT (*.prt): ProE/Creo part file
- PRT.* (*.prt.*) Versioned ProE/Creo part file
- IGS (*.igs): Initial Graphics Exchange Specification geometry file
- IGES (*.iges): Initial Graphics Exchange Specification geometry file
- X_T (*.x_t): Parasolid geometry file
- X_B (*.x_b): Binary Parasolid geometry file
- SAT (*.sat): ACIS geometry file
- SLDPRT (*.sldprt): SolidWorks part file
- STEP (*.step): Standard for the Exchange of Product geometry format file
- STP (*.stp): Standard for the Exchange of Product geometry format file
- IAM (*.iam): Autodesk Inventor assembly file
- ASM (*.asm): ProE/Creo assembly file
- SLDASM (*.sldasm): SolidWorks assembly file
- WIRE (*.wire): Alias Wire file used with Alias Studio Tools
- SMT (*.smt): Memo file
- SMB (*.smb): Symbol image file format
- 3DM (*3dm): Rhinoceros 3D file format
- PNG (*.png): Portable Network Graphics, 2D analysis only
- JPG (*.jpg): 2D analyses only
- GIF (*.gif): Graphics Interchange Format, 2D analyses only
- FDZ (*.fdz): FlashDevelop Zip File
Image Formats
You can create simulation models with certain image formats including ".png", ".jpg", and ".gif." To use these formats effectively, there are some considerations you should keep in mind:
- Image files are only useful for creating 2D simulations.
- The solution resolution is computed based on the pixels in the image. This means that a very high resolution image with a large pixel count will result in a high resolution simulation model. This is good for accuracy, but may take longer to run than a lower resolution image.
- The wind tunnel surrounding the model is defined by the white space around the image. This area must be white. If the image is on a non-white background, you should either change the background color to white or copy just the model image and paste it into a blank image with a white background. In Microsoft Paint, you can do this with the Free-form Selection tool.