Altair Software and Hardware 2019 Release Notes

New Applications

Altair Activate
Activate enables product creators and system simulation and control engineers to model, simulate, and optimize multi-disciplinary systems to ensure that all design requirements are successfully met while also identifying system level problems early in the design process.
Altair Compose
Compose is a multi-language environment designed to efficiently perform numerical computations, develop algorithms, and analyze and visualize various types of data. Compose includes OML (Open Matrix Language) which is a high level, matrix-based, numerical computing language. Compose is also tightly coupled with Altair HyperWorks products to offer powerful scripting and computing capabilities.
Altair CFD Solvers
Altair HyperWorks provides a full suite of CFD tools to help meet product design and engineering end goal, fast and accurate simulations of fluid flow and heat transfer systems.
Products include:
Altair AcuSolve
A general purpose CFD solver providing users with a full range of physical models. Simulations involving flow, heat transfer, turbulence, and non-Newtonian materials are handled with ease by the robust and scalable solver technology.
Altair nanoFluidX
A particle-based fluid dynamics simulation tool that predicts the flow in complex geometries with complex motion, particularly well-suited for geartrain and powertrain applications such as oil distribution analysis. nanoFluidX also performs tank sloshing simulations with great ease.
Altair ultraFluidX
A simulation tool for ultra-fast predictions of the aerodynamic properties of passenger and heavy-duty vehicles. ultraFluidX is also used to evaluate buildings and environmental aerodynamics.
Altair HyperLife
HyperLife is an easy-to-learn fatigue analysis software developed on a solver-neutral framework. It provides a comprehensive tool set for durability analysis, directly interfacing with all the major finite element analysis (FEA) result files. With an embedded material library, HyperLife offers solutions for fatigue life predictions under static and transient loading across a wide range of industrial applications.
HyperLife is included with the HyperWorks Desktop package.
Altair Virtual Wind Tunnel for ultraFluidX
Virtual Wind Tunnel for ultraFluidX is a digital wind tunnel application that is customized for simulating the aerodynamics of passenger and heavy-duty vehicles using Altair ultraFluidX. Simulations are set up with ease using automated workflows that are tailored towards the requirements of the Lattice Boltzmann method employed by uFX. Virtual Wind Tunnel for ultraFluidX allows users to import geometry, assign mesh controls, identify parts, define run parameters, and launch the uFX solver.
Altair Inspire Cast
Inspire Cast is a fast, easy, accurate and affordable casting simulation environment focused on creating high-quality components. In version 2019, it now supports units-based licensing for both Altair solidThinking and Altair HyperWorks customers.

Hardware and Platform Changes

Operating system additions
Support for the following platforms has been added:
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 64-bit
Discontinued hardware platform support systems
Support for the following platforms has been dropped:
  • Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 64-bit
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 64-bit

Installation

HyperWorks 2019 suite contains independent product packages
Independent product packages give you the flexibility to download desired packages as needed. Any HyperWorks 2019 standalone SA update package can be installed either on top of an existing 2019 installation, or can be installed independently without the prerequisite of a 2019 base.
Installer capabilities and features
HyperWorks 2019 brings with it the robust capabilities and features of HyperWorks 2018 installers, as well as additional support for HotFix installers. These HotFix installers are quick patch type installers that are used to install on top of a prerequisite base installation, unlike the other full installers. These are marked with the word “hotfix” in the installer name and bring with them the quick fixes and features to better suit your needs.

Installation and Packaging Features

  • Added Altair Activate product on Windows
  • Added Altair Compose product on Windows and Linux
  • Added Altair Inspire Cast product on Windows.
  • Added Altair Virtual Wind Tunnel for ultraFluidX product on Windows and Linux.
  • Added CFD Solver products on Windows and Linux.
  • Improved support for HotFix installation when using the Master Installer.
  • Added support for server mode installations of Altair Feko + WinProp.
  • ALTAIR_LICENSE_PATH can now be set during a silent installation.
  • The uninstaller will now provide a list of files if it cannot remove them.
  • Improved the Application Install Check used for overwriting installations.
  • Improved required disk space calculations to make them more accurate.

Invoking

  • Added support for Altair HyperStudy file associations.
  • Added Linux Menu support for Altair Compose and Altair Flux.
  • Updated Linux Compatibility Tool.

Resolved Issues

  • “Remove All” was not selected by default for non-English locales in the uninstaller.
  • Japanese was not appearing in the locale selector of several installers.
  • Issues related to silent installation.
  • Help was not installed properly if Tutorials were deselected.
  • A space at the end of a shortcut folder name caused an issue in the Start Menu.

Known Issues

  • If you deselect a product using the Master Installer in Linux console mode, it does not get deselected properly.
  • Using the Back/Previous option with an installer may not reset the installer variables correctly if changes are made and the install session is continued.
  • On Linux, installing a directory with spaces is not supported.
  • In some cases, the Linux installers will report an incorrect amount of available disk space.
  • Special characters in the path to the temp location can cause the Java in the installer to not function correctly.
  • On Linux, during a console mode install, when using the response file output command -r in the Help Configuration response file may not write out correctly.
  • If there is not enough TMP/TEMP space on the main drive (for example, C: under Windows), then the installer will prompt user to input a new location. Some Java TMP/TEMP space will still try to go to the main drive even when selecting this new location.
  • Clicking the Cancel button to stop an installation via the Master Installer does not clean up the already installed files, but does clean up the files in the TMP/TEMP folder. You will need to uninstall/delete the installed files from the chosen install folder manually if Cancel was clicked.
  • Clicking Cancel to stop an installation causes the Add/Remove uninstaller icon to possibly not function correctly, and then manual removal of the installed files would be necessary.
  • The HyperWorks installers do not support the use of the default InstallAnywhere installer.properties files. We request that a unique name is used when using a response file; for example, installer_hw2019.properties, and to use it with the -f <path_to_file>/<filename> command line option.
  • For NETSETUP client installs from a server installation of HyperWorks, a UNC path must be used to get to the server installation path through Windows Explorer or Windows Network.
    Note: Using mapped drive letters or variables is not currently supported in the client installer.
  • On Linux, there is an issue with using the Master Installer with the IATEMPDIR variable to specify a custom temporary directory location. All sub-installers will try to use /tmp from the machine running the installers for temporary installer files.
  • With some versions of Gnome, there is a bug where the Linux icons are not placed in a hierarchy. Instead, they are placed in “Other” with a flat layout, meaning that all the icons appear at the same folder level in “Other.”
  • The installer does not run the Linux Menu installation by default, the user must run the installation script.
  • When the Master Installer is used, desktop shortcuts, if any, will not be removed during uninstallation.