Sketches are widely used in Abaqus during the preprocess of the geometry of our FE models. For instance, we use sketches to create parts (extrusion, revolution, sweeping…), to make partitions and cuts, etc. Therefore, to take advantage of the automation of Abaqus through scripts, we need to know how to generate these sketches using Python commands.
1. Debugging Python commands in sketches
This happens because Abaqus employs temporary sketches before we complete them in CAE (“Done“):
- __edit__: this sketch is created when we open an existing sketch.
- __profile__: this one is generated when we create a new sketch.
In the next video, we will explain how these “__edit__” and “__profile__” sketches are created by Abaqus/CAE and how to use them to avoid all sort of errors and weird behaviour of sketches while testing and debugging Python commands.
Download the script to generate the sketch of the double spiral shown at the beginning of the video (watch the video of part 2 for all the details). And of course, if you have any question/suggestion/opinion leave it in the comments section below.
You can also get started in Abaqus/Scripting with Python in this post. This is the starting point to learn how to create your own scripts from scratch.
I hope that you find these tips useful!