Exporting an FE Model File

1.	Click File > Export > Solver Deck or click the Export Solver Deck icon on the Standard toolbar. This opens the Export tab.

2.	From the File type drop down list, select the solver-specific file type you want to export. This field is automatically set to the solver-specific file type of the currently loaded user profile.

3.	Use the Template field to browse to locate the appropriate template file. This field should automatically populate when you make your selection in the File type field, but if you have customized your template and want to use one other than the default, you can reset the option here.

4.	In the File field, click the Select file icon to browse for the file to export, or you can manually type in the file path and name. Once the file is selected, click Open.

5.	To set advanced export options, click Export options to expand the panel.

6.	If accepting the default export settings, click Export to export your file.

1.	The Export field defines the type of entities to export. Options include All, Custom or Displayed.

•	All – Exports all entities in the current database.

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Custom - Allows you to select which entities will be exported from the current database. To define which entities to export, click Select Entities. The Entity State browser opens. In the Entity State browser, activate check boxes as desired in the export column to set the export state of any entity. Only those entities which have a checkbox activated (that is export) will be exported to the template. When finished setting the export state for all entities, click the Export tab to return to the Export dialog. The export behavior for each entity is explained in Entities Export Behavior.

To export connectors in the model, place a checkmark in the Include connectors checkbox. This operation will append the master connector file xml data to the end of the solver input file as solver comments and thus does not effect the operation of the solver. This operation can remove the necessity to perform a FE-absorb on a imported model since the connector information is retained in the solver input file.

•	If Displayed is selected, only the entities that are currently displayed are exported.

Entities that have a display state and/or a mask state are displayed on the screen are exported. This includes elements, loads, equations, systems, vectors, groups, components, blocks, contactsurfs, multibodies, ellipsoids, mbplanes, mbjoints, assemblies, control cards (that are enabled), loadcols, systemcols, vectorcols and connectors.

Entities that do not have a display state and/or a mask state are exported if at least one of the entities it contains is displayed. For example, entity sets do not have a display state (on/off). If an entity set contains elements and some of the elements are displayed, the set is exported. However, the contents of the set are limited to the displayed portion only. If this set contains 20 elements, five of which are displayed and remaining turned off, the exported set will contain only five elements. Entities in this category include: entity sets, output blocks, loadsteps, control vols and beamsect cols.

Entities that do not have a display state and/or a mask state are exported if the entity is being used by a displayed entity. For example, materials do not have a display state, but if a displayed component or element uses it, that material is exported. Entities in this category are: nodes, materials, properties, entity sets and curves.

Sometimes entities that are not displayed are exported anyway, if the entity is referred to by another entity that is displayed. For example, when a vector is turned off, but is used in defining the orientation of a beam element, the vector will be exported in order to export the beam element correctly. Entities in this category are: vectors, systems, beamsections, multibodies and components.

-	Any entity that is used or required by an attribute of a displayed entity is also exported. For example, if a material is defined as an attribute on an element, that material is exported. All entities in the database belong to this category.

-	Any entity that points to a displayed entity is exported. Tags and titles belong to this category.

2.	Make a selection in the Include files field. Click here for more information on the support of include files.

preserve includes	Preserves the data in individual include files along with their references in the master model. You can review the contents of individual include files via the include browser. When exporting, entities are written into the corresponding include files along with their references in the master file.
skip includes	The data in the include files is not imported. The include references are maintained and are written out to the master model during export.
merge includes	The contents from the all include files are imported into the model but their references are not maintained. When exporting, all entities are written into the master file.

3.	Activate the checkboxes for Prompt to save invalid elements and Prompt before overwrite if you wish to be prompted on these potential export errors.

4.	Click Export to apply the settings and export the model.