From 8 to 9

What's new from version 8.0.x to 9.0.x 

PREPROCESSING
Visualize layer labels

Rhino import updated to version 4
DXF import: support of 3DSOLID entity (ACIS based)
Improvements in Parasolid import
CGNS mesh format import

Draw surface curvature : mean, gaussian, main directions. Get them with GiD_Info 

NURBS simplification operators: knot removal and degree reduction for curves and surfaces

Volume split (similar to surface split, to divide a volume from a group of dividing surfaces)
Surface render using triangle strips
Join surfaces function.
Sphere element new mesh quality filters: NumNeighbors and SpaceFilling
Transparent layers
Combobox in the toolbar to select the current layer to use
Mesh/nomesh criteria can be applied also to points
Draw meshing data related to boundary layer and Points forced to the mesh
Advance bar when reading GiD projects
JoinSurfaces JoinCoplanary, new function to join coplanar neighbor surfaces
GiD mesh ASCII reading: separate material in new layers

MESHING
Meshing volumes with sphere elements and 2D surfaces with circle elements.

Align nodes of structured and semi-structured meshes (variable AlignSemiStructuredNodes)

Apply background mesh sizes also when meshing lines
NetCDF format import (only mesh)
New mapping algorithm when meshing using Rsurf mesher
Creation of voxels from an VTK file (structured points dataset), GiD_VTK2OrthoHexa Tcl command
Creation of hexahedra from an VTK file (structured points dataset), GiD_VTK2Hexa Tcl command
Creation of iso-surface of triangles from an VTK file (structured points dataset), GiD_VTKSP2MarchingCubes Tcl command
Option to avoid elements with all its nodes in the boundary
Advance bar improvements: show number of generated entities

Global option to force a maximum relative chordal error of the mesh in Preferences->Meshing
New Rjump window to make easier the entities selection
Different interpolation scenario (2d or 3d) in surface structured meshing depending on the surface mesher selected (RFast or RSurf).
New quadrilateral mesher

Boundary regular transition meshing preference

Smoothing of triangles and quadrilaterals: new option LaplaceSmooth to only apply a Laplacian smooth, with angle tolerance and try to save the enclosed volume
Delaunay volume mesher (GiD_Set VolumeMesher 1)

Split tetrahedra option
Cartesian mesher

RenumberMethod = 2 to renumber nodes following the XYZ axes
Boundary layer meshing in 2D
Swap normals in groups of line elements to orientate them coherently.

POSTPROCESSING
Smooth iso-surfaces with results visualization and animation:

Free iso-surface with smooth render

Vorticity iso-surfaces with contour fill of velocity
Isolines created for surface meshes when the iso-surface option is selected.
Options added: Iso-surfaces can be seen although all the meshes are switched off, and isolines can be switched off.
Stream lines implemented for hexahedra, prisms, pyramids and quadrilaterals
Options added for stream lines: length, initial step, maximum number of points
Stream ribbons as stream lines with detail level=2, with rotational, and the detail level 'points' shows the calculated points from the stream:

Stream line options

Stream ribbons of the velocity field with contour fill of pressure
Supported hexahedra of 20 nodes in postprocess
Macro to create a vector result from an scalar result
Support for spheres (defined by a center node and a radius) and circles (defined by a center node, a radius and a normal) in Postprocess. Spheres can be cut and create in circles. If the normal for the circles are not given GiD assumes the normal ( 0.0, 0.0, 1.0):

Contour Fill colors with shininess
New Display Style mode for meshes: 'Points Bound' showing the nodes as spheres and the boundary lines of the mesh.
Separate Styles can be selected for different meshes:
The width of edges of the elements can be set for each mesh.
Inverted Black and White color scale.
The name of the main stresses components (S-i, S-ii and S-iii) of the matrix results can be specified
Option added to switch isolines off: (right buttons menu) Results --> IsoSurfaces --> DisplayStyle --> Showisolines
Postprocess variable PostCutToMesh, to automatically convert 'cuts' to 'sets'
Option added to the animation window: the range of steps to do the animation can be defines, skipping the firsts and/or lasts steps
Line graphs can be done with any projectable surface and in any position.
Option added: The displayed amount of vectors can be limited when there are lots of vectors to be drawn, for instance, when very dense meshes are used. The option allows to drawn only one vector of every N vectors. This 'N' can be customized by the user in the right buttons menu, under Results --> Options --> VectorFilterFactor.

GENERAL FEATURES
Memory savings to manage big meshes in pre and postprocess
Basic support of pyramid elements in pre and full support in postprocess
Draw the support grid with labels and in postprocess too
Use a two colors degradation as background
Preview image saved with the model, to be show in the Open project window

Views with the same name as the postprocess file, with the extension .vv, are automatically read
Render environment projection to reflect predefined or user defined patterns in pre and postprocess
Options for reflection: individual faces selection, layer color or two color degradation for switched off faces

Can read TIFF files for background images and textures
Locate real size background images from a .tfw georeferentiation file if exists
A preview image and the view is saved together with the mesh and results
The Preview image of the current visualization is shown in the 'Page Setup' window.
Menu to load recent postprocess files
Menu to select useful or last read and saved views.
Spaceball device enabled for Windows-x64
User preference to set the number of 'recent files' to show in menus
Updated to Tcl/Tk 8.5
Support for Asian encodings in OpenGL
Handling of True Type fonts in OpenGL, with smooth edges.
Command line parameter -c2 <yourfile.ini>, to specify in a problemtype to use "yourfile.ini" instead "gid.ini", to avoid sharing the configuration
New command line -t option to evaluate tcl code
File browser window dialog can have additional parameters depending on the context (e.g. VTK or IGES import preferences)
Support for BMP files with 32bpp.
The animation also saves the composed views in the 'Multiple windows' configuration, except the independent one.

CUSTOMIZATION
Math functions like max, min, log, log10 can be used in template bas files, *nintervals command
Mathematical operator % (remainder of integer division) for template files
bas template command *ElemsNormal, to get the normal for triangles, quadrilaterals and circles.
GidUtils::DisableToolbar <tool> and GidUtils::EnableToolbar <tool>, to prevent show some tools, like the "Right buttons"
drawopengl font GiD-Tcl command, to set fonts and ask its properties
write_calc_data GiD-Tcl command, to write the calculation file from Tcl
GiD_Info Tcl floating values with precision based on tcl_precision variable
GiD_Info parametric curve t_fromrelativelength: Tcl procedure to calculate the parameter that provide the required arc length.
New Tcl command: GiD_Thumbnail get [ width height] to get a downscaled image of the current view.
GiD_UnAssignData : wherefield <fieldname> <fieldvalue> To unassign this condition only for the entities where the field named 'fieldname' has the value 'fieldvalue'
Several Tcl events:
TclCalcModelBoundaries: Tcl event to calculate and set its own bounding box (for zoom frame)
AfterSaveImage: Tcl event, interesting for example to save a georeference file (see dev_kit.tcl)
BeforeTransformProblemType: Tcl event, to be raised just before this transformation
BeforeInitGIDPostProcess: Tcl even, raised just before change to postprocess mode