File format for importing fields

Although you can create the text file for a field from scratch, we recommend that you obtain the formatting for a text file by creating a dummy table field, formula field, table of fields, or linked field with the same attributes as the field you want to import. Then, use the Export command to create a text file that you can use as a template for your field.

If you prefer to create your file from scratch, use the format described in this topic.

For example, the following text file for a table field that defines pressure as a function of Cartesian coordinates was obtained using the Export command.

Note:

In the text file, blank lines have been added to delineate the different sections. However, as a best practice, do not include blank lines in your text file.

The text file can be divided into the following sections:

• Header (1)Specifies the name and type of field.

• Interpolation (2)Specifies the interpolation and extrapolation options.

• Map (3)Specifies either the coordinate basis for a spatial map or the coordinate transformation for a linked field.

• Independent variables (4)Specifies the variables that comprise the independent domain, their units, the range over which they are defined, and so on.

• External variables (not shown)Specifies the source field and dependent variable for a linked field.

• Dependent variables (5)Specifies the variables that comprise the dependent domain, their units, and so on.

• Description (6)Specifies a text string description of the field.

• Data (7)Specifies the tabular data, formula, or source fields for the field.

Only the Header and Data sections are required for all field text files. The following table indicates the sections that are required, those that are optional, and those that are not applicable for each type of importable field.

Section	Table field	Formula field	Table of fields	Linked field
Header	Required	Required	Required	Required
Interpolation	Required	N/A	Optional	N/A
Map	Optional	Optional	Optional	Required
Independent variables	Required	Required	Required	N/A
External variables	N/A	N/A	N/A	Required
Dependent variables	Required	Required	Required	N/A
Description	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
Data	Required	Required	Required	Required

As a best practice, when you create the text file, order the sections as they are listed in the table. That is, include the header section first, then the interpolation section, and so on. For a table of fields, a linked field, or a formula field that uses the fd() function to reference a source field, include the sections for the source fields above those for the table of fields, linked field, or formula field.

Key to formats

In the following tables, each instruction is followed by a list of attributes. Each attribute must be specified unless there is a default behavior for the attribute or the attribute is optional. To indicate that an attribute is optional, the attribute is italicized.

Header

Instruction	Format	Description
FIELD	FIELD: [field name] : [type option]	Type options:TABLE for a table field FORMULA for a formula field LINKS TABLE for a table of fields LINK for a linked field

Interpolation

For additional information on interpolation and extrapolation options, see Table field interpolation and extrapolation options.

Instruction	Format	Description
DUPLICATE_VALUE_OPTION	DUPLICATE_VALUE_OPTION: [option]	Duplicate value options:0 (for none) 1 for average 2 for minimum 3 for maximum 4 for first 5 for last 6 for skip
PARAMETERIZE INDEPENDENT DOMAIN	PARAMETERIZE INDEPENDENT DOMAIN: [option]	YES or NO (default)
CREATE INTERPOLATOR	CREATE INTERPOLATOR: [option]	YES or NO (default)
FALLBACK DEFAULT INTERPOLATOR	FALLBACK DEFAULT INTERPOLATOR: [option]	YES (default) or NO
INTERPOL	INTERPOL: [option]	Interpolation options for single variable independent domains:0 for linear 1 for nearest neighbor 2 for inverse distance weighting 21 for Akima 22 for Akima 72 23 for cubicInterpolation options for two variable independent domains:3 for Delaunay - fast 4 for Delaunay - medium 5 for Delaunay - accurate 6 for nearest neighbor 7 for Renka's modified Shepard 8 for inverse distance weighting 18 for approximate nearest neighborInterpolation options for three variable independent domains:9 for Delaunay - fast 10 for Delaunay - medium 11 for Delaunay - accurate 12 for nearest neighbor 13 for Renka's modified Shepard 14 for inverse distance weighting 19 for approximate nearest neighborInterpolation options for independent domains with more than three variables:16 for nearest neighbor 17 for Renka's modified Shepard 18 for inverse distance weighting 21 for approximate nearest neighbor
PERSIST INTERPOL	PERSIST INTERPOL: [option]	YES or NO (default)
VALUES OUTSIDE	VALUES OUTSIDE: [option]	Extrapolation options for single variable independent domains:0 (for undefined) 1 for extrapolate 2 for constant 3 for linear 4 for parabolic 5 for cubic 6 for user definedExtrapolation options for multivariable independent domains:0 for undefined 2 for constant 6 for user defined
The following instructions are valid for single-variable, independent domains when VALUES OUTSIDE is set to user-defined. Do not specify otherwise.
VALUES OUTSIDE MIN VALUE	VALUES OUTSIDE MIN VALUE: [value]	Sets the value for the field when the lookup is below the range of data.
VALUES OUTSIDE MAX VALUE	VALUES OUTSIDE MAX VALUE: [value]	Sets the value for the field when the lookup is above the range of data.
The following instructions are valid for multivariable, independent domains when VALUES OUTSIDE is set to user-defined. Do not specify otherwise.
VALUES OUTSIDE USER VALUE	VALUES OUTSIDE USER VALUE: [value]	Sets the value for the field when the lookup is outside the range of data.
The following instructions are valid for table fields with structured data only. Do not specify otherwise.
IS STRICT STRUCTDATA	IS STRICT STRUCTDATA: [option]	0 for not strictly-structured 1 for strictly-structured
TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM ROWS	TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM ROWS: [value]	For two-variable independent domains only:Sets the number of rows in structured data
TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM COLUMNS	TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM COLUMNS: [value]	For two-variable independent domains only:Sets the number of columns in structured data
TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM PLANES	TABLE STRUCTDATA NUM PLANES: [value]	For three-variable independent domains only:Sets the number of planes in structured data
The following instructions are valid for linearly interpolated fields only. Do not specify otherwise.
LN OPTION	LN OPTION: [option]	Extrapolation option:0 for undefined 1 for extrapolate
INDEP VALUE SHIFT	INDEP VALUE SHIFT: [option]	YES or NO (default)
INDEP VALUE SHIFT VAL	INDEP VALUE SHIFT VAL: [value]	Valid when independent value shift is set to YES.Sets the shift of the independent variable
INDEP VALUE DIV	INDEP VALUE DIV: [option]	YES or NO (default)
INDEP VALUE DIV VAL	INDEP VALUE DIV VAL: [value]	Valid when independent value divisor is set to YES.Sets the divisor of the (shifted or unshifted) independent variable
The following instructions are valid for inverse distance weighting interpolated fields only. Do not specify otherwise.
IDW NEAREST OPTION	IDW NEAREST OPTION: [option]	0 (for all points) 1 for radius 2 for nearest points 3 for number of nearest points 4 for maximum radius and points
IDW POWER DISTANCE	IDW POWER DISTANCE: [option]	1 for weighting inversely proportional to the distance 2 for weighting inversely proportional to the square of the distance 3 for weighting inversely proportional to the cube of the distance
IDW NEAREST FRACTION	IDW NEAREST FRACTION: [value]	Valid when inverse weighted distance is set to radius or nearest points.Sets the number of nearest points as a fraction of all points
IDW MAX RADIUS	IDW MAX RADIUS: [value]	Valid when inverse weighted distance is set to maximum radius and points.Sets the radius within which all points are used up to a maximum number of points
IDW NUM POINTS	IDW NUM POINTS: [value]	Valid when inverse weighted distance is set to maximum radius and points.Sets the maximum number of points
The following instructions are valid for inverse distance weighting (except all points and number of nearest points options) and all approximate nearest neighbor interpolated fields only. Do not specify otherwise.
ANN TOLERANCE	ANN TOLERANCE: [value]	Sets the approximate nearest neighbor tolerance

Map

Instruction	Format	Description
MAP	MAP: {coordinate system type] : [x,y,z,a11,a12,a13,a21.....a33]	For inverse weighted distance maximum radius and points option.Coordinate system type options:1 for global 2 for Cartesian 3 for cylindrical 4 for sphericalx,y,z are the coordinates of the origin of the local coordinate system in the global coordinate system.a11, a12, and so on are the direction cosines between the axes of the local coordinate system and the axes of the global coordinate system.

Independent variables

Instruction	Format	Description
IND VAR	INDEP VAR: [name] : [measure] : [unit] : [entry type]	Entry type options:0 for real COMPLEX for complex INTEGER for integer STRING for text string BOOLEAN for Boolean
BOUNDS	BOUNDS: [min] : [inclusive] : [max] : [inclusive] : [number of points] : [default]	All attributes are optional.Include a BOUNDS instruction after each IND VAR instruction, even if none of the attributes are specified.

External variables

Instruction	Format	Comments
EXTERN VAR	EXTERN VAR: [field name] : [variable name]	Include an EXTERN VAR instruction for each dependent variable in the source field.Specifies a dependent variable in the source field.

Dependent variables

Instruction	Format	Description
DEP VAR	DEP VAR: [name] : [measure] : [unit] : [phase unit type] : [entry type]	Entry type options:0 for real COMPLEX for complex INTEGER for integer STRING for text string BOOLEAN for BooleanOnly specify the phase unit type attribute for complex dependent variables displayed in magnitude/phase format.Phase unit type options:RAD for radians DEG for degrees
DBSCALING	DBSCALING: [scaling factor] : [reference pressure or power]	Required for dB scaling. Do not specify otherwise.Sets the scaling factor and reference pressure or power.

Description

Instruction	Format	Description
DESCRIPTION	DESCRIPTION: [field description]	Text string description of the field that can include multiple lines. The description includes all lines of text until the next new line begins with a valid instruction such as START DATA.

Data

Instruction	Format	Description
START DATA	START DATA	Indicates the beginning of the Data section.
END DATA	END DATA	Indicates the end of the Data section.

Include the tabular data or formulas between the START DATA and END DATA instructions.

Table fields

For a table field, enter the tabular data as comma separated values. Although the software reads the values as a stream, as a best practice, create a row for each data point.

Formula fields

For a formula field, enter the formula that relates the independent and dependent variables. If a formula includes a variable, use the UG variable syntax for the variable in the formula.

For example, if you want to include temperature in a formula, include it as follows:

ug_var("temperature")

If you use the fd() function in a formula, the field listed in the fd() function must be defined prior to this field.

Table of fields

For a table of fields, enter the data as comma separated values.

For example, suppose that the table of fields defines pressure as a function of time (the primary variable) and Cartesian coordinates (the secondary variables). The Data section might look as follows:

START DATA1.0, [Pressure1], [NO]2.0, [Pressure2], [NO]3.0, [Pressure3], [YES]END DATA

Each row defines the spatial variation of the pressure at an instant in time. The value for the primary variable (time) is listed first, followed by the name of the field that defines the pressure as a function of the secondary variables (Cartesian coordinates). The YES/NO attribute designates whether the field is owned by the table of fields. A field that is owned by a table of fields has the following characteristics:

• It is not displayed in the Simulation Navigator or Part Navigator.

• It can only be edited from the Table of Fields dialog box.

• It can only be deleted from the Table of Fields dialog box or by deleting the table of fields to which it belongs.

In the example, the field named Pressure3 is owned by the table of fields.

Linked field

Include the name of the source field only.

For example, if the source field for the linked field is named Field1, the Data section is as follows:

START DATA[Field1]END DATA

How do I

Edit a field

Clone a field

Delete a field

Clear a field

Use predefined fields

Control how fields are listed in the Simulation Navigator

Export a field

Import a field

Learn more

Exporting and importing fields

Look up more details

Options for importing fields when naming conflicts exist

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

Bulk Entry Descriptions

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File format for importing fields, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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