Introduction to PackAssistant Release 4.0.1

Transcription

1 Introduction to PackAssistant Release Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing SCAI, Department of Optimization Dec 21, 2016 Contents 1 Preamble 2 2 Installation System requirements Installation process Quiet Installation Configuration Display Settings License Borrowing Part Directories Report and Export Directories License Settings Database Settings Internal Settings First Run First Login Importing Examples Project, Result and Report view Running your own optimization Migration Import.ctp/.ctt files Import container files Convert and use existing report templates Remote License Server 26 7 Copyright 28

2 1 Preamble This guide will take you through the first steps using the new version of PackAssistant. Beginning with the installation and the configuration of PackAssistant, you will learn how to load the example projects and how you can run your first own project. The subsequent chapters describe how you can migrate data from old PackAssistant versions and how you can use a remote license server respectively. For more details, please refer to the context sensitive help within PackAssistant. 2 Installation 2.1 System requirements Before you start the installation of PackAssistant you should ensure that the following system requirement are fulfilled. In principle, PackAssistant runs on any standard PC with Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or with Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 (32-bit and 64-bit respectively) and a minimum display resolution of 1024 x 768. But for a better user experience we recommend a current quad core processor, in minimum 4GB RAM, in minimum 10GB hard disk space, a current video card driver (not older than from 2011) and a display resolution of more than 1450 pixels breadthwise. 2.2 Installation process PackAssistant is delivered with a typical Windows installer. Running the executable might trigger a Windows SmartScreen security warning (Figure 1), depending on your Windows version. If this is the case, please click on more info to reveal the run anyway button (Figure 2). Fig. 1: Windows SmartScreen warning. Click on More info. 2

3 Fig. 2: Choose Run anyway to ignore the Windows SmartScreen warning. A successful start of the installer will bring up the welcome screen (Figure 3). Next opens a dialog to choose the installation type (Figure 4). You have the possibility to install PackAssistant only for you or for all users of your PC. If you want to install PackAssistant for all users, you need admin rights on your PC. After clicking on Next you can choose the installation folder (Figure 5) Fig. 3: The Installer s welcome screen. Fig. 4: For the all users installation you need admin rights. The installation Only for me can be performed also without admin rights. 3

4 Fig. 5: Here you can change the default installation path. Finally, you start the installation by clicking on Install in the last dialog (Figure 6). Fig. 6: Click Install to start the installation. After copying of all files to your local machine, the first configuration of PackAssistant starts automatically. If you have chosen the installation for all users (Figure 4), you must agree that the configuration tool of PackAssistant make changes to your PC (Figure 7). In a first step, you will be asked for a license (Figure 8), in terms of a.lic file or a connection string to a remote license server. If you click Yes, a file chooser will be opened. If you click No, you will be redirected to the License Settings tab in the configuration tool (Figure 21), where you can enter the connection string to PackAssistant. 4

5 Fig. 7: For allowing the configuration tool to edit the settings for all users, you must give admin rights to it. Fig. 8: A license can be entered either as a.lic file or as a connection string. After choosing a license file, the license server will be started for the first time. In a single user installation this will typically provoke Windows firewall dialogs (Figure 9) asking whether a port should be opened. Opening a port is not recommended, hence these dialogs should be canceled. 5

6 Fig. 9: Canceling the windows firewall dialogs is recommended. 2.3 Quiet Installation Beside the guided installation, an unattended installation is possible for all installation packages (except the single user installation). For this purpose, put the installer (and optional the license files that you want to install) into a folder of your choice. We choose C:\PackAssistantInstaller (cf. figure 10). Fig. 10: For a quiet installation place the installer and license files (optional) into the same folder. The installation must be started with administrator privileges. For example, you can open a command prompt as administrator by typing command prompt in the Start Search box that can be reached by pressing the windows 6

7 key (Figure 11). Right-clicking Command Prompt and selecting Run as administrator brings a windows User Account Control warning (Figure 12) that you must permit. Fig. 11: You can run Command Prompt as administrator from the start menu. Fig. 12: For running a command prompt with administrator privileges you must accept a User Account Control warning. Now an administrator command prompt (Figure 13) should be started. After changing to the directory that contains the installer and optional license files, you can start the installation by running the installer with parameter quiet, e.g. PackAssistant exe /quiet as shown in figure 13. Fig. 13: A quiet installation can be performed in an administrator s command prompt by starting the installer with parameter /quiet. After pressing Enter, you will immediately return to the command prompt while the installation is performed. The installation is finished after both the installer and the process Config.exe terminated. Please note that the quiet installation does not open any firewall ports. This can be done afterwards by running the configuration tool. 7

8 3 Configuration In some cases, you might wish to edit the PackAssistant settings. The following section describes these settings and how to change them in the configuration tool. In a single user installation, you start in the Part directories tab (Figure 18) and you are able to edit all settings. In an all users installation, you start in the Display Settings tab (Figure 16) and most of the other tabs are disabled (Figure 14) at the beginning. If you have admin rights on your computer, you can enable these tabs by clicking on Edit For All Users and allowing Config.exe to make changes to your PC (Figure 7). Afterwards, you can edit all tabs. Fig. 14: If the configuration tool is run without admin rights, most tabs cannot be edited. In the following the configuration of an all user installation is described, but except the fact that in a single user installation opening firewall ports is forbidden the single user configuration is almost the same. 3.1 Display Settings If your computer meets the system requirements, there is usually no need to edit display settings. But in rare cases, you might be faced with an error message telling you that painting of 3D data is not possible (Figure 15). In that case (if updating your graphic card driver did not help), you may check Force software rendering in the Display Settings tab (Figure 16). This will enable a more error proof, but also much slower display mode for the current user. 8

9 Fig. 15: If you are faced with this error message and no display driver update could help, you may try checking force software rendering in the configuration tool. Fig. 16: The Display Settings tab is the entry point if you start the configuration tool in an all users installation without admin rights. 3.2 License Borrowing The other thing you can do without administrator privileges is borrowing a license from a license server (Figure 17) for a certain amount of time. With a borrowed license you can work without a connection to your license server. 9

10 Fig. 17: In the License Borrowing tab you can borrow a license from the license server for up to seven days. 3.3 Part Directories In the Part Directories tab (Figure 18) you are able to add the directories containing your own part files. After adding (and clicking Ok), you will be able to browse your part file paths in PackAssistant directly. Fig. 18: You may specify some directories containing part files, which you will be able to browse in PackAssistant directly. 3.4 Report and Export Directories You might use your own report templates (cf. Migration ) or put all exports directly into a default directory of your choice instead of choosing a destination folder for each export individually. This can be done in the Report and Export Directories tab (Figure 19). 10

11 Fig. 19: Using different report templates is possible as well as storing exports in a folder of your choice instead of offering them as a download. 3.5 License Settings The License Settings tab (Figure 20) provides the possibilities to start a local license server as well as to connect to a remote license server. If you choose Local license server, you must provide at least one license file by adding it to the license file list. If you want to serve licenses to other users, you may check open firewall to allow them to connect to your license server. If you contrary want to connect to a remote license server, you can do this by checking Remote license server and clicking Choose File or typing a connection string into the respective field License file or connection string (Figure 21). If you are migrating from an former PackAssistant version and want to continue using the same license server, you can simply copy and paste the string you entered in that Pack- Assistant version in the License server settings (should be in the portnumber@myserver or portnumber@myserver1,portnumber@myserver2,portnumber@myserver3 ). To set up and connect to a new license server, you find instructions in section Installation of a license server. Fig. 20: The License Settings tab allows adding/removing license files for a local license server. 11

12 Fig. 21: In the License Settings connecting to a remote license server is possible as well. 3.6 Database Settings The Database Settings tab (Figure 22) allows you to put the database on a drive with more space available. This can be done by changing the Data Directory. Please be aware that you must manually move the content of the old directory into the new one. In this tab, in most cases there is no need to edit Port and Host, so please be careful changing these fields. By checking open firewall, the configuration tool allows other computers to connect to the database on your computer. Your database is secured with a password, nevertheless be careful with this setting. Fig. 22: In the Database Settings tab you may e.g. change the data directory or open the firewall to allow other users to connect to your database. 3.7 Internal Settings The last tab Internal Settings (Figure 23) allows you to change some internal ports. These ports may also change automatically if a port conflict arises. Usually there is nothing to do for you in this tab, but the tab may be useful if port conflicts cannot be resolved automatically. 12

13 Fig. 23: The Internal Settings tab allows changing the ports of some PackAssistant components. This should be necessary only in rare cases. 4 First Run 4.1 First Login When launching PackAssistant, you will encounter the Login screen (Figure 24). Initially there is one account with Username admin and empty Password. Here and on all other pages there are info-buttons, i.e. blue squares labeled with an i, which provide context sensitive help. It is recommended to read this information when encountering an info-button for the first time. Fig. 24: The PackAssistant login screen. Only after the first login, you will be redirected to the admin account s settings (Figure 25) immediately. This is to change the password of this account. It is strongly recommended that you choose a strong password for all accounts with administrative privileges, especially the default one. You may also provide additional information 13

14 about the admin user and in particular change the Username, Language and Units for this user. When you are done, please click Save. Fig. 25: User settings for the initial admin user. Whenever you change the password of the current user, you have to login again with the new password. 14

15 4.2 Importing Examples Fig. 26: This is the (empty) overview. After logging in you will arrive at the Overview (Figure 26) page. This is the central location where you will be able to see all results of all optimizations, check which projects are running, delete old data, etc. To get started, we provide an example collection on our website. You may load them by clicking on Import Project. Inside the example folder, locate Examples\Example_Projects--Entire_Collection.sql and import this file (Figure 27), which contains the example projects (Figure 28). Fig. 27: Importing files might take a moment. 15

16 Fig. 28: This is the overview over the example projects. The navigation and filtering of the overview is explained in the context sensitive help, associated with the info button. In particular, you may double-click on one of the finished projects to see the project s details (Figure 29). 4.3 Project, Result and Report view The Project view will be used to set up your own projects. For now, double-click on one of the Results to get to the result view (Figure 30). Here the result of the optimization is shown in the 3D viewer along with some details about the respective project. Notice that you may export the CAD data using the Export button. In PackAssistant s 3D viewer, you can always change between a view focused on a particular orientation (e.g. from the side) and the total view, shown in Figure 30, by double-clicking. For more details on how to operate the 3D viewer see the info box. 16

17 Fig. 29: The details of a finished optimization. Fig. 30: Any result of an optimization can be inspected in detail before exporting it. With a click on Report you can navigate to the report view (Figure 31) to generate a report of this solution to your packing problem. You can print this report directly or export it into Word or Excel format at your discretion. In 17

18 the latter case, Word and Excel templates will be used. If you don t change anything in the configuration tool the default templates will be used. But you can download the templates from our website. You may copy them to a folder of your choice, set this folder in the configuration tool and adapt the templates to your needs. Fig. 31: The report view can be printed as is or exported into Word or Excel using templates. 18

19 4.4 Running your own optimization In the last section, you have learned how to navigate through a finished PackAssistant optimization using the Overview, Project, Result, and Report view. Now it is time to run your own project. To this end, return to the Project page (Figure 29) and click on New Project. In the project s draft view (Figure 32) you can change all parameters of the optimization. A sensible first step is to load a part by clicking on Open Part File. Fig. 32: You need to at least load a part, specify its weight, and select a container in order to prepare a project for the optimization. After choosing a part, PackAssistant will load the CAD data, coarse grain the model, and calculate stable positions. The part is shown in the 3D viewer (Figure 33) where you can inspect stable positions. Select a suitable subset of stable positions to be used for the optimization in the stable positions Box. You may also add stable positions by hand by clicking the Edit Positions button and following the instructions given in the info-boxes. 19

20 Fig. 33: After loading a part, the stable positions become accessible. The next important step is to select one or more containers by clicking on Select container to open the container dialog (Figure 34). More fine grained control over containers is provided in the container settings (Figure 35), which can be accessed by choosing settings in the drop down menu of the gears in the upper right corner. Here you can also import the Excel container lists that were used by the former version of PackAssistant. Fig. 34: In the container dialog, you may choose an existing container or create a new one on the fly. 20

21 Fig. 35: In the container settings you can manage your container lists. A very important parameter is the Type of Packing, which determines the algorithm to be used for packing your parts. For details about the options refer to the info-boxes. After specifying the parts weight, you can start your optimization. Notice that PackAssistant is not blocked, i.e. you can continue working on other projects while the current one is running. You can also get more details about the progress of the current project one by opening the log (Figure 36). After the project is finished, you will be in a state similar to the example project s (Figure 29). Fig. 36: While one optimization is running, you can navigate away from the project page to start the next one. 21

22 5 Migration Migrating from a PackAssistant version 3.x.x to the actual version 4.x.x is quite comfortable. PackAssistant 4.x.x provides functionality to import existing.ctp project files and.ctt template files as well as.xls container files. Additionally, a conversion tool for report templates exists. 5.1 Import.ctp/.ctt files If you want to import.ctp project files or.ctt template files from a former version of PackAssistant, this is possible by clicking Import Project on the Overview (Figure 26) page. If the part file is inaccessible, a warning message is shown (Figure 37) and you are redirected to the project page, showing the import warning (Figure 38). Fig. 37: A CTP import warning is shown if the part file is missing. 22

23 Fig. 38: An import warning including the file path of the missing part file is shown on the project page. Now you can add the correct part by clicking on Open Part File and choosing the right part file to complete the project (Figure 39). Fig. 39: The project page after loading of the correct part file. 5.2 Import container files Importing container files is possible in the container settings dialog (Figure 35) by clicking the Import XLS File button. After the container file is uploaded, you can check the data retrieved from that file, edit fields or delete complete rows (Figure 40). Finally, you can append these uploaded containers to your existent container list in PackAssistant 4.x.x or you can replace the existent list with the uploaded ones. 23

24 Fig. 40: You may check the date retrieved from a.xls container file. 5.3 Convert and use existing report templates For continue using your self-designed report templates, it is necessary to convert them into a new file format. For this purpose, we supply a conversion tool. The conversion tool is part of the report templates package which you can download from our website. After unzipping this package into a folder (we choose in our example D:\PackAssistant\Report-Templates), the folder should contain the files shown in figure 41. Fig. 41: The report template folder should look like this. Now you can start the conversion process by double clicking on convert_report_templates (Figure 42) in the folder Convert. Please be aware that on your machine must be installed Microsoft Word and Excel for the conversion process! 24

25 Fig. 42: You will find the conversion tool in the subfolder Convert. In a first step the conversion tool asks for the path to the reports template of your former version of PackAssistant (Figure 43), which is usually C:\Program Files (x86)\packassistant\reporttemplates. In a second step, the export path must be chosen (Figure 44), here D:\PackAssistant\Report-Templates. Fig. 43: Conversion tool asking for path to report templates of former PackAssistant version. 25

26 Fig. 44: Conversion tool asking for export path. After finishing the conversion process (Figure 45) successfully, the path to the converted report templates can be set in the configuration tool (Figure 46). For information how to start the configuration tool, please have a look in the configuration chapter. From now on the converted report templates are used when exporting a Word or Excel file on the report page (Figure 31) Fig. 45: The report template conversion was successful. Fig. 46: The report template path must be set in the configuration tool. 6 Remote License Server In some cases, it makes sense to install the licenses on a separate computer that serves licenses to all PackAssistant installations. PackAssistant supports this by offering a PackAssistant-License package that installs a license server. After starting PackAssistant-License, you will be faced with a Windows User Account Control Notification (Figure 47) that you must accept to continue. 26

27 Fig. 47: Only administrators are allowed to install the license server. After choosing an installation folder (Figure 48), you may start the installation by clicking Next, followed by Install. Fig. 48: You may change the installation path. At the end of the installation process, you will be able to manage your license files (Figure 49). Here you can also make the license server accessible for PackAssistant programs running on other computers by checking open firewall. This opens the Windows firewall for the two relevant components of the license application. Clicking Ok applies your changes and restarts the license server. This dialog is also available by starting PackAssistant-License 4.x.x Configure. 27

28 Fig. 49: The configuration tool allows choosing a different license file as well as opening firewall ports for the license server. You may prefer to open firewall ports by yourself; in that case please note that the license server components lmgrd.exe and SVD.exe use not only the port from the license file, but also listen on various ports for license clients. To determine the connection string for your clients (in most cases portnumber@myserver ), please notice the license list in the configuration tool (Figure 49). Here you can see, on which port the license server is listening (portnumber) and on which host (myserver) it is running. If the host is this_host, you need to determine the computer s IP address with ipconfig (Figure 50). The entry IPv4 Address (in this example ) is the computer s local IP address. In this example the port number is 42300, consequently the example connection string is 42300@ You may enter your determined connection string into the License file or connection string field in the client s License Settings tab in the configuration tool (Figure 21 in section License Settings ). Fig. 50: You may find your IP address by running ipconfig in a command prompt. 7 Copyright NVIDIA and PhysX are registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation and are used under license (Figure 51). This software includes Open CASCADE Technology version (Figure 52) or later which are governed by GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 with additional exception. 28

29 Fig. 51: PhysX Logo Fig. 52: Open CASCADE Logo 29