3
,GETTING STARTED AND WORKING WITH HOBBIES PROJECTS
3.0 SUMMARY
The HOBBIES (Higher Order Basis Based Integral Equation Solver) electromagnetic (EM) software package is based on the basic physics discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. In this chapter, the system requirements of HOBBIES are described first, followed by the instruction on how to install HOBBIES. The menus and toolbars are also briefly described, followed by the introduction on working with a HOBBIES project, which involves how to create, open, close, and save a project, along with how to import and export files in a project. The flowchart of a typical HOBBIES solution is provided in this chapter as an overview of the simulation procedure. It is suggested that users follow the steps in the flowchart to implement a standard HOBBIES simulation. Users may also skip some steps in the flowchart depending on their specific needs.
The purpose of this chapter is to help readers become familiar with the basics of HOBBIES. Quick-start tutorial examples can be found in the Help menu of HOBBIES (HOBBIES
HelpTutorials). Detailed descriptions of the different steps in the flowchart of a HOBBIES simulation will be continued in the subsequent chapters.
3.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
HOBBIES software is developed and optimized for the best performance possible in personal computers (PC) and high-performance clusters running one of the following Windows (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) or Linux-based operating systems:
- Windows 32/64 bits (This is on the CD that comes with the book)
- Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/Vista or Windows 7.
- Linux 64 bits (For this version of the code, please contact the authors)
- Kernel version 2.6.
- Suse, Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, etc.
Note: The Windows XP 32-bit version of HOBBIES is described in this book for demonstration purposes.
3.2 INSTALLING HOBBIES
3.2.1 Installing HOBBIES in Windows
- Download the file HOBBIES-Academic-10-x32-Install.exe from the web site: www.em-hobbies.com under the Download tab. Alternatively, the user can install HOBBIES directly from the CD included with this book. Note that users, who wish to use the 64-bit version for the Windows system, should install the 64-bit version of HOBBIES.
- Execute HOBBIES-Academic-10-x32-Install.exe to start the installation. The welcome window appears, as shown in Figure 3.1. Click Next to continue.
Figure 3.1. Welcome page of HOBBIES.
- The License Agreement window appears, as shown in Figure 3.2. Select I accept the agreement, and then click Next to continue.
Figure 3.2. License agreement of HOBBIES.
- The window to select the installation path appears, as shown in Figure 3.3. Select the path by clicking Browse… or type the path in the edit field to install HOBBIES. The default path is C:Program FilesHOBBIES-10-Academic-Version-x32. For users who do not have full permission to write on the system disk, they should select a path for which they have permission to read and write to install HOBBIES. Click Next to continue.
Figure 3.3. Select the installation path for HOBBIES.
- The window to select the components to be installed appears, as shown in Figure 3.4. The default option is Full Installation, which includes the Message Passing Interface (MPI) environment for parallel simulation. Click Next to continue.
Figure 3.4. Select the components to be installed.
- Select the folder to create the shortcuts of HOBBIES in the Start Menu, as shown in Figure 3.5. Click Next to continue.
Figure 3.5. Select the folder to place HOBBIES shortcuts.
- Check CreateDesktopIcon to create a shortcut on the user's desktop for HOBBIES, and check Add contextual menu to Windows Explorer to add a shortcut on the right-click menu when selecting a HOBBIES project, as shown in Figure 3.6. Click Next to continue.
Figure 3.6. Create a desktop icon and contextual menu for HOBBIES.
- The Ready to Install window appears, as shown in Figure 3.7. Click Install to begin installing HOBBIES. The installation procedure is shown in Figure 3.8. The installation procedure will take several minutes, varying with the hardware configuration.
Figure 3.7. Ready to Install window.
Figure 3.8. Installation process.
- Once the installation procedure is finished, the window, as shown in Figure 3.9, appears. Click Finish to complete the installation of HOBBIES. The installation program will create a desktop shortcut for HOBBIES, which is shown in Figure 3.10, and create a program group containing a link to HOBBIES in the Start Menu folder.
The installation of HOBBIES on the Windows operating system is now complete.
Figure 3.9. The window shown after setup is complete.
Figure 3.10. HOBBIES shortcut icon (HOBBIES 10 Academic Version-x32).
3.2.2 Registering HOBBIES
After the installation of HOBBIES is completed, registration of the software is required. When HOBBIES is first launched, the Enter password window appears, as shown in Figure 3.11. If this window does not appear, then check to see whether the user has adequate permission in the HOBBIES installation folder. An user needs to select one of the devices in the Device selection box for generating the password. There are generally two types of devices: local machine and Universal Serial Bus (USB) portable drive. The password for the local machine is valid only for that computer, while the password for a USB portable drive is valid for computers in which the drive is plugged in. The device type “Local machine” will always be displayed in the window. If the user plugs in a USB flash drive, there will be lines of information for that flash drive displayed on the window. The user needs to select whether to register HOBBIES for the present computer or for the USB portable drive. One cannot change this choice after finishing the registration, as the license number is linked to this device (the local computer or the USB portable drive). Then, click the website link in the Password box to open the HOBBIES registration webpage.
On the registration webpage, the user needs to select the type of license, and it has to be the same with the type of device that the user has selected at the previous step. Once the user has selected the type of license, as shown in Figure 3.12, a form will be displayed. Input the License number (10 characters) provided with the book, the Name and Sysinfo of the selected device that are shown on the Enter password window, as illustrated in Figure 3.11, and then click the Send button and the password will be displayed.
Note: If an user does not have adequate permission in the HOBBIES installation folder, there will be a display of an error when launching HOBBIES. To avoid that, the user's account needs to be at least a “Power User”. For personal computers, it is recommended to have the administrator permission for a seamless execution. In the home edition of Windows 7 system, even the administration account will not be sufficient by default. So the user needs to set manually the permission in the HOBBIES installation folder so that there is adequate permission for the code to read and write to this folder during execution.
Figure 3.11. Enter password window.
Figure 3.12. Webpage of generating the password.
Enter the password in the blank field of the Password box shown in Figure 3.11, and click Register to complete the registration process. The user may also click Cancel to close the window without registering the software. The user can open the Enter password window again through HelpRegister HOBBIES. If the user re-installs the software and they forget the password, they can always retrieve their password by registering again using the original device options that they initially used for the first registration.
3.2.3 Initial Graphics Configuration
Click the icon 
at the bottom right of the HOBBIES window and the Initial graphics configuration window appears, as shown in Figure 3.13. There are two modes available: fast visualization mode and safe visualization mode (default). Users can select one of the modes by following the instructions in Figure 3.13, and then click Ok.
Note: If problems occur when displaying a model, users can try to use another mode. Fast mode is recommended for most computers.
Figure 3.13. Initial graphics configuration.
3.3 STARTING HOBBIES
Upon opening HOBBIES, the preprocess window, shown in Figure 3.14, appears. The window mainly includes three parts: Top menu, Toolbar, and Command line, which will be described in detail in Section 3.4.
To change the configuration of toolbars and menus, use the toolbar option, located in UtilitiesToolsToolbars. For example, open the toolbar window, as shown in Figure 3.15, select the Macros toolbar, check Inside, select the left position button 
, and the Macros toolbar is added inside the HOBBIES window and located in the left side, as shown in Figure 3.16. Click Close to close the toolbar window. The user can change the configuration of other toolbars listed in the toolbar window in a similar way.
Figure 3.14. Preprocess window of HOBBIES.
Figure 3.15. Toolbars position window.
3.4 NAVIGATION THROUGH HOBBIES
3.4.1 Top Menu
The Top Menu of the HOBBIES preprocess window offers various types of commands and is presented in Figure 3.17.
Each drop-down menu in the Top Menu will be described next.
- Files
HOBBIES includes the usual ways of saving and reading saved information (Save, Open) as well as other operations, such as importing external files, saving in other formats, and so on. The Files drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.18.
Figure 3.16. Macros toolbar positioned on the left side of the HOBBIES window.
Figure 3.17. Top menu of HOBBIES.
Figure 3.18. Files drop-down menu with notations marked on.
The View drop-down menu (also available from the Mouse Menu in Section 3.4.2) contains commands that change the way that information or the model is displayed in the graphical window, but they do not change any definition of the geometry or any other data. The View drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.19.
Figure 3.19. View drop-down menu with notations marked on.
Tips: The ViewMultiple windows option facilitates viewing the model from different angles. For example, an airplane model viewed in four different windows is shown in Figure 3.20.
- Geometry
The Geometry menu provides options for the user to create, delete, edit, and view geometries including points, lines, surfaces, and volumes, which will be described in Chapter 4. The Geometry drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.21.
- Utilities
The Utilities menu allows users to define preferences and perform operations on both the geometry and the mesh entities. The Utilities drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.22.
Figure 3.20. An airplane model in four separate windows viewed from different angles.
Figure 3.21. Geometry drop-down menu with notations marked on.
Figure 3.22. Utilities drop-down menu with notations marked on.
The Mesh menu provides options to generate and edit the meshes, as well as to select mesh creation preferences, which will be described in Chapter 5. The Mesh drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.23.
Figure 3.23. Mesh drop-down menu with notations marked on.
- HOBBIES
The HOBBIES menu allows access to the definition of all data related to problem types (radiation or scattering), frequency, excitation, output results, etc., which are necessary for the calculations and will be described in Chapter 6. The HOBBIES drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.24.
Figure 3.24. HOBBIES drop-down menu with the explanations.
This menu allows users to setup the run environment and choose the run mode of HOBBIES (serial or parallel), which will be described in Chapter 6. The Run HOBBIES drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.25.
Figure 3.25. Run HOBBIES drop-down menu with notations marked on.
- Help
This menu allows users to obtain help and information about HOBBIES. The HelpTutorials option includes several demonstration examples of HOBBIES (as listed in Table B.1 in Appendix B), and the HelpRegister HOBBIES option guides users to obtain the password for HOBBIES. The Help drop-down menu is shown in Figure 3.26.
Figure 3.26. Help drop-down menu with notations marked on.
3.4.2 Mouse Menu
The Mouse Menu is the auxiliary menu that appears by clicking on the right mouse button while the cursor is over the HOBBIES screen. This menu is shown in Figure 3.27.
The Mouse Menu permits users to access quickly various image placement and viewing commands, to facilitate easy management of the project. Several submenus of the Mouse Menu are shown in Figure 3.28.
Figure 3.27. Popup menu associated with the right click of the right mouse button.
Figure 3.28. Several menus in the Mouse Menu: (a) Zoom menu, (b) Rotate menu, (c) Pan menu, (d) Render menu, (e) Label menu, (f) Layer menu.
Furthermore, the Mouse Menu contains the Contextual menu, as shown in Figure 3.29, which permits users to access all options available in the previously executed commands. The option Contextual is only available after users have performed a command from the Top Menu or Toolbar (Section 3.4.3).
Caution: The Contextual menu will give different options depending on the function currently being used. For example, when the point operation is performed, the contextual menu is shown in Figure 3.29 (a). When the line operation command is performed, the contextual menu is shown in Figure 3.29 (b). When the surface operation command is performed, the contextual menu is shown in Figure 3.29 (c).
Figure 3.29. Contextual menu in the mouse menu: (a) for point operation, (b) for line operation, (c) for surface operation.
3.4.3 Toolbar
The HOBBIES Toolbar is shown in Figure 3.30. Note that the option UtilitiesToolsToolbars opens a window to configure the position of the toolbars or switch them on and off, as described in Section 3.3.
Figure 3.30. Toolbar of HOBBIES.
- Standard Toolbar:
Create a new project.
Open a previously created HOBBIES project.
Save HOBBIES project.
Go to the previous view.
Go to the next view.
List of common views.
Take a screenshot.
Print the current view.
Switch between the preprocess and postprocess window.
Open the copy window.
Open the layers window.
Select the layer in use.
Open the preferences window.
Open the help window.
Quit HOBBIES. - Geometry and View Operation Toolbar:
Zoom in: zoom in to a selected portion of the current view by drawing a box with the mouse.
Zoom out: zoom out of the current view by drawing a box with the mouse.
Zoom frame: place the objects at the center of the screen.
Refresh: refresh the graph.
Pan dynamic: displace the graph from one point to another, both chosen by the user.
Create point: create a point.
Create line: create a straight line.
Create arc: create an arc.
Create NURBS line: create a line of the Non-uniform Rationale B-Spline (NURBS) type.
Create surface: create a NURBS surface defined by border lines.
Create volume: create a volume.
Create object: create a rectangle, circle, polygon, sphere, cylinder, cone, prism, and torus.
Delete: delete entities. - Numerate Toolbar:
Show the label for all nodes, wires, plates, junctions, generators, concentrated loadings, and distributed loadings.
Show/hide the labels for nodes.
Show/hide the labels for wires.
Show/hide the labels for surfaces.
Show/hide the labels for junctions.
Show/hide the labels for generators.
Show/hide the labels for concentrated loadings.
Show/hide the labels for distributed loadings.
Hide the labels for all nodes, wires, plates, junctions, generators, concentrated loadings, and distributed loadings. - Run HOBBIES Toolbar:
Invoke the Serial In-Core solver (see Section 6.11 in Chapter 6) by default and perform the regular analysis of a project. If a different solver were used (Serial Out-of-Core, Parallel In-Core, or Parallel Out-of-Core) in the last simulation, this button invokes the same solver for the next simulation. - HOBBIES Solution Setting Toolbar:
Define the operation mode.
Define the simulation frequency.
Define the model units.
Define the domains (Define, Assign, and View).
Open the Node list window.
Open the Wire list.
Open the Surface list.
Open the Volume list.
Open the Junction list.
Open the Object list.
Open the Distributed loading list.
Open the Concentrated loading list.
Open the Generator list (Antenna modes).
Open the Wave list (Scatterer modes).
Open the Symbol list.
3.4.4 Command Line
The Command Line option allows users to enter directly all executable HOBBIES commands, without accessing the commands through drop-down menus. The Command Line window is shown in Figure 3.31.
Figure 3.31. Command line.
3.5 WORKING WITH HOBBIES PROJECTS
3.5.1 Introduction to HOBBIES Projects
A HOBBIES project is a folder that contains several files. They include the information about the geometric model, simulation results, log file, and so on.
When the user creates a HOBBIES project, it is a folder with a .gid file extension stored in the directory the user specifies. Any files related to that project are also stored in that folder.
3.5.2 Basic Operations of HOBBIES Projects
- In the Files menu, click New. Or,
- In the Toolbar, click .
A new project is created, which is named UNNAMED by default. The user can specify the name of the project when saving it using the FilesSave or FilesSave as, or by clicking on the Save HOBBIES project icon .
- Opening Existing Projects
Open a previously saved project by doing the following:
- In the Files menu, click Open. Or click on the Toolbar.
- Use the file browser to find the HOBBIES project file .gid.
- Select the desired file.
- Click Open.
The geometric model of the project appears in the window.
- Closing Projects
To close the project without quitting HOBBIES, create a new project from the window of the current one. To close the current HOBBIES project and HOBBIES, select FilesQuit.
- Saving Projects
Use the FilesSave command or click on the Toolbar to save the current project.
Use the FilesSave as command to do the following:
- Save a new project. Or,
- Save the current project with a different name or in a different location.
- Importing Files
Using the FilesImport command, the user can import geometric models or meshes to HOBBIES in the following formats:
Model formats: IGES, DXF, Parasolid, ACIS, VDA, Rhinoceros, Shapefile, XYZ points, KML.
Mesh Formats: NASTRAN mesh, STL mesh, VRML mesh, 3DStudio mesh, CGNS mesh, HOBBIES mesh, Surface mesh, Ply mesh, VTK Voxels, XYZ nodes.
The FilesImportInsert HOBBIES geometry command lets the user insert one previously created HOBBIES model inside another one. Entities from the old and the new model are not collapsed (See collapse in Section 4.3.12).
The user can also import and/or merge the .hob files that include both geometry and solution settings using HOBBIESImport File and/or HOBBIESMerge File. For a HOBBIES project that has no geometry entity, the user can use the Import File option to import the model, but for a HOBBIES project that already has geometry entities, the user needs to use the Merge File to import the model and merge with the existing entities.
Details of the various operations and mathematical principles involved can be found in [1].
Note: The above two import options are similar but different. The HOBBIESImport file option imports the .hob file, which includes both the geometry and solution settings. The geometry included in the .hob file is made of points, lines, and quadrilateral surfaces. However, FilesImportInsert HOBBIES geometry option only imports the geometry that can contain NURBS lines and surfaces.
- Exporting Files
HOBBIES lets users export geometric models or generates a mesh in the following formats:
Model formats: IGES, DXF, ACIS, Rhinoceros.
Mesh Formats: HOBBIES mesh.
Other types: Text data report, ASCII project, ON layers, Calculation file, Using Template .bas (Dump, DXF, DXFSAP2000, NastranMesh, Obj, Ply, PovRay, STL, TetGen, UNV, VRML, XYZ, etc.).
The user can also export the projects to .hob files that include geometric models, materials, and solution settings using HOBBIESExport File.
3.6 FLOWCHART FOR MAKING A HOBBIES SIMULATION
To help users to understand the steps involved in a HOBBIES simulation, Figure 3.32 provides a flowchart of a typical HOBBIES simulation. Starting from the creation of a new project, users need to define units for a HOBBIES project, including the units of frequency, coordinates, voltage, radius, and field. Users may skip this step if they wish to use the default settings for units.
The geometry modeling and medium setting procedure are necessary steps when making a HOBBIES simulation. Note that symbols are supported in HOBBIES. Users can define symbols and then use them to specify the coordinates and dimensions of the geometry structure. Once the geometry model is created, medium properties also need to be defined and assigned to each wire or surface.
The next step in the flow chart is to choose the operation mode which determines whether the simulation is a radiating or a scattering problem. Users also need to define the frequency band for the simulation. Note that the stop frequency of the frequency range will be used as the mesh frequency for a structure. After setting up the geometry and excitation of the simulation, users need to specify the output settings for viewing the results. Options here include network parameters, current computations on the structure, and near-field and far-field setups. Another important step at this stage is to set the options regarding the integral accuracy, the order of the current expansion, the type of matrix inversion, and the numerical precision of the matrix calculation. These options are easy to overlook but may be crucial for finding an acceptable solution. The last step before running the simulation is to mesh the model.
Figure 3.32. Flowchart for making a HOBBIES simulation.
At this point, users can run the simulation. Note that the Pre-HOBBIES option can help users to check whether the project is completely defined for simulation. In addition, this option provides information about how many unknowns the project uses. During the simulation process, users can view the information regarding the process grid, number of unknowns, simulation time, and so on. Once the simulation is finished, the post-processing module will display the results.
The operations in each step, as depicted in Figure 3.32, will be described in the subsequent chapters.
3.7 EXITING HOBBIES
To exit HOBBIES, click FilesQuit in the Top Menu, as shown in Figure 3.33. Alternatively, exit HOBBIES in the same way as users would close any window: press Alt + F4, or click the icon 
located at the top right corner.
Figure 3.33. Exit from HOBBIES window.
3.8 GETTING HELP
Additional instruction on the use of HOBBIES is available in the form of tutorials and examples by going to HelpTutorials or going to the HOBBIES website by clicking HelpVisit HOBBIES website. The website provides more advanced examples and other useful information to the user.
3.9 QUICK START
The basic steps to perform electromagnetic simulations using HOBBIES are presented in Section 3.6. To help the user to get a quick start with HOBBIES, several demos are presented in HelpTutorials, which includes wire and surface structures. The user can go through the subsequent chapters and perform more complicated simulations using HOBBIES.
3.10 CONCLUSION
In this chapter, a discussion of how to navigate through the HOBBIES software is provided. The most important menus and toolbars are briefly described, with the hope to help users become familiar with the operations of tools and files in HOBBIES. A representative flowchart for making a HOBBIES simulation is provided. The details of this flow chart and further discussion on the use of the menus and toolbars will be the subject of the subsequent chapters.
REFERENCES
[1] GiD Reference manual, http://gid.cimne.upc.es/support/manuals.