# CGX on Windows can not generate tetrahedral **URL:** \ **Category:** CalculiX GraphiX\ **Created:** [August 8, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757 "2023-08-08T00:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/1 "2023-08-08T00:02:34Z")
hi, i receive some error messages when using Tetgen mesher in CGX, try add path to environmental variable still did not work. any hints and suggestion? ```auto Tet-mesh body:B052 +surf:S038 +surf:S040 +surf:S046 -surf:S048 -surf:S034 +surf:S044 The system cannot find the batch label specified - tetgen Try to read TG file reading Tetgen format MODEL NAME: mesh.1ERROR: The input file "mesh.1.node" could not be opened. ``` ---
**Author:** ![rsmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/rsmith/32/1684_2.png) [@rsmith](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/rsmith)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/2 "2023-08-09T22:21:48Z")
> [@xyont](#): > > `The input file "mesh.1.node" could not be opened.` Has this file actually been created in the directory you’re calling `cgx` from? ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 7:58am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/3 "2023-08-10T07:58:45Z")
thank you for looking into my problems, no file is created. input of \*fbd file, ```auto valu ldiv 10 pnt P01 0.00 100.00 0.00 pnt P02 0.00 0.00 0.00 pnt P03 100.00 100.00 0.00 pnt P04 100.00 0.00 0.00 pnt P05 0.00 100.00 100.00 pnt P06 0.00 0.00 100.00 pnt P07 100.00 0.00 100.00 pnt P08 100.00 100.00 100.00 line L01 P01 P02 ldiv line L02 P03 P01 ldiv line L03 P04 P03 ldiv line L04 P02 P04 ldiv line L05 P05 P06 ldiv line L06 P06 P07 ldiv line L07 P07 P08 ldiv line L08 P08 P05 ldiv line L09 P02 P06 ldiv line L010 P01 P05 ldiv line L011 P03 P08 ldiv line L012 P04 P07 ldiv seta A013 l L01 L02 L03 L04 surf S014 A013 seta A015 l L05 L06 L07 L08 surf S016 A015 seta A017 l L01 L09 L05 L010 surf S018 A017 seta A019 l L02 L010 L08 L011 surf S020 A019 seta A021 l L03 L011 L07 L012 surf S022 A021 seta A023 l L04 L012 L06 L09 surf S024 A023 seta V025 s S014 S016 S018 S020 S022 S024 body B026 V025 plot ba all elty all te10 mesh all ``` CGX output logs reported, ```auto >"C:\PROGRA~2\BCONVE~1\CalculiX\bin\cgx.bat" -b "04exp.fbd" on a Windows 7 machine, nodename USER-PC, release 6, version 6.1 Service Pack 1 7601, machine 601 The win HOME was detected:C:\Users\user parameters:3 arguments:2 GL_MAX_EVAL_ORDER:32, mesh threads:1 04exp.fbd opened reading file create surf: S014 + BLEND + L01 + L02 + L03 + L04 create surf: S016 + BLEND + L05 + L06 + L07 + L08 create surf: S018 + BLEND + L01 + L05 + L09 + L010 create surf: S020 + BLEND + L02 + L08 + L010 + L011 create surf: S022 + BLEND + L03 + L07 + L011 + L012 create surf: S024 + BLEND + L04 + L06 + L09 + L012 please wait for 'ready' shape:H001 H001 0 shape:H002 H002 2 shape:H003 H003 4 shape:H004 H004 6 shape:H005 H005 8 shape:H006 H006 10 surf:S014 NURBS:N001 patch0 surf:S016 NURBS:N002 patch0 surf:S018 NURBS:N003 patch0 surf:S020 NURBS:N004 patch0 surf:S022 NURBS:N005 patch0 surf:S024 NURBS:N006 patch0 Tet-mesh body:B026 +surf:S014 +surf:S016 +surf:S022 -surf:S024 +surf:S018 +surf:S020 Try to read TG file reading Tetgen format MODEL NAME: mesh.1ERROR: The input file "mesh.1.node" could not be opened. -surf:S014 -surf:S016 -surf:S022 +surf:S024 -surf:S018 -surf:S020 Try to read TG file reading Tetgen format MODEL NAME: mesh.1ERROR: The input file "mesh.1.node" could not be opened. ERROR: No mesh-file found ERROR: No tet-mesh could be created for body:B026 The temporary surface mesh is not deleted and can be used for debugging. The files nodnr_ng_cgx.out elemnr_ng_cgx.out provide the link between ng and cgx entity numbers. makeSurfaces getElemNormalen realloc_colNr add the faces updateDispLists delSet ready done gtol calculated:1.000000e-03 ``` ---
**Author:** ![rsmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/rsmith/32/1684_2.png) [@rsmith](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/rsmith)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/4 "2023-08-11T12:12:51Z")
**Tl;dr:** 1. Locate the `tetgen` binary. (I suspect it is in `C:\PROGRA~2\BCONVE~1\CalculiX\bin`) 2. Edit the environment variable `Path`, and add the location of the `tetgen` binary. * * * On my machine (FreeBSD 13.2, CalculiX 2.21) I could run your `fbd` file just fine. So I looked into what `cgx` was doing using the `truss(1)` program that tells me what system calls are being used. What I saw was that `cgx` reads the input, writes some files and searches for and then calls the `tetgen` program. Now `tetgen` produces a bunch of output. Later `cgx` writes its own output. When I run your example, I see the output from `tetgen` that is missing from your output; > Opening mesh.smesh. > Delaunizing vertices… > Delaunay seconds: 0 > Creating surface mesh … > Surface mesh seconds: 0 > Recovering boundaries… > Boundary recovery seconds: 0 > Removing exterior tetrahedra … > Exterior tets removal seconds: 0 > Recovering Delaunayness… > Delaunay recovery seconds: 0 > Refining mesh… > Refinement seconds: 0 > Optimizing mesh… > Optimization seconds: 0 > > Writing mesh.1.node. > Writing mesh.1.ele. > Writing mesh.1.face. > Writing mesh.1.edge. > > Output seconds: 0 > Total running seconds: 0 > > Statistics: > > Input points: 128 > Input facets: 252 > Input segments: 378 > Input holes: 0 > Input regions: 0 > > Mesh points: 129 > Mesh tetrahedra: 303 > Mesh faces: 732 > Mesh faces on exterior boundary: 252 > Mesh faces on input facets: 252 > Mesh edges on input segments: 378 > Steiner points inside domain: 1 Since your `cgx` run cannot find the _output file_ that `tetgen` should have produced, and since the output from `tetgen` isn’t shown, I suspect that (a) `cgx` either did not find `tetgen` or (b) that the `tetgen` run failed in some way. Since there is no `tetgen` output at all, (a) seems more likely. Looking at the source code of `cgx`, the way it calls `tetgen` _requires_ that the directory where the `tetgen` binary can be found in the `Path` environment variable. So; 1. Locate the `tetgen` binary. (I suspect it is in `C:\PROGRA~2\BCONVE~1\CalculiX\bin`) 2. Edit the environment variable `Path`, and add the location of the `tetgen` binary. ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/5 "2023-08-11T12:58:48Z")
thanks for test and reporting, it seems another possible reason in `tetgen` not working properly since both steps you suggested still not work. prpbably in \*.bat file of cmdStartup files setting by bConverged need to modify, but i did not know how. ```auto @echo off rem Modify this file to change your startup settings for the CalculiX command window. set CYGWIN=nodosfilewarning set PRINTF_EXPONENT_DIGITS=2 set VERSION=2.21 set HOME=C:\Users\user\DOWNLO~1 set CALCULIX_ROOT=C:\PROGRA~2\BCONVE~1 set PATH=%CALCULIX_ROOT%\CalculiX\bin;%CALCULIX_ROOT%\translation\bin;%CALCULIX_ROOT%\common\Python;%CALCULIX_ROOT%\gnuplot\bin;%PATH% set CCX_NPROC_STIFFNESS=2 set CCXDOCS=ms-its:%CALCULIX_ROOT%\common\help\bConverged.chm::/ccx.pdf set CGXDOCS=ms-its:%CALCULIX_ROOT%\common\help\bConverged.chm::/cgx.pdf set CGXTERMVIEWER=start "" set BROWSER=start "" hh.exe set "arg=%~1" if not defined arg goto startup if /i %1==ccx goto ccx if /i %1==cgx goto cgx goto end :ccx :cgx "%CALCULIX_ROOT%\CalculiX\%~1\%~1.exe" %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 goto end :startup cd /d %HOME% .. cls advise usage goto end :end ``` ---
**Author:** ![rsmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/rsmith/32/1684_2.png) [@rsmith](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/rsmith)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/6 "2023-08-11T20:48:53Z")
> [@xyont](#): > > it seems another possible reason in `tetgen` not working properly since both steps you suggested still not work. Some questions; 1. Did you locate `tetgen.exe`? 2. And you put the location where it is in your `Path`? Then open a `cmd` window, and type `tetgen -h`. You should see the online help for `tetgen`. For me that starts like this: > TetGen > A Quality Tetrahedral Mesh Generator and 3D Delaunay Triangulator > Version 1.5 > August 18, 2018 If you get a message like this: > ‘tetgen’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Then you did not put the correct location in the `Path`. Make sure that there are e.g. no extra spaces in the string that you added to the path! If you get another error message, please report back what it is. ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/7 "2023-08-11T21:40:58Z")
it seems the path was properly defined, but i still not known why TetGen failed to run in CGX ![2023-08-12 04_36_04-C__Windows_system32_cmd.exe](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/7/75f4cab6bd3a1058a96ebfbada95061b00a36a59.png) ---
**Author:** ![rsmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/rsmith/32/1684_2.png) [@rsmith](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/rsmith)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/8 "2023-08-11T23:25:14Z")
You will probably have to close the `cmd` window from which you were running `cgx` and open a new one for it to pick up any change in `Path`. If that doesn’t solve the problem, you will probably have to run `cgx` under some kind of debugger/system call tracer so you can see what happens when it tries to run `tetgen`. Since I’m not a windows user I cannot really advise you what to use here. ---
**Author:** ![klaus.wittig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4da419/32.png) [@klaus.wittig](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/klaus.wittig)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 9:02am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/9 "2023-08-12T09:02:03Z")
xyont, I just copied your code and run it. It worked on my (Linux) side. So it is indeed just an access problem. As a quick fix you could copy the tetgen program into your working folder (And maybe also cgx). And you could contact Rafal Brzegowy. His mail should be either written on [www.dhondt.de](http://www.dhondt.de) or in the README in his calculix\_for\_win package. ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/10 "2023-08-12T14:49:01Z")
ok, I’ll try to contact It’s clearly shown related to specific Windows and predefined setting since not a problem on Linux. ---
**Author:** ![klaus.wittig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4da419/32.png) [@klaus.wittig](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/klaus.wittig)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/11 "2023-08-12T19:36:32Z")
The call to tetgen happens in generateTet.cpp. It is a system call to ‘tetgen’ with some arguments: sprintf(buffer, “tetgen -qYO%da%e mesh.smesh”,5, (teth/scale-\>w)_(teth/scale-\>w)_(teth/scale-\>w)/5.); system(buffer); ---
**Author:** ![xyont](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/xyont/32/3553_2.png) [@xyont](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/xyont)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/cgx-on-windows-can-not-generate-tetrahedral/1757/12 "2023-08-16T07:57:29Z")
> [@klaus.wittig](#): > > As a quick fix you could copy the tetgen program into your working folder Many thanks, it seems to be working. Some permission did not pass, but not a problem. ![2023-08-16 14_55_56-CalculiX GraphiX](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/d/d830cec92225bd0566ae6120809dddcab64e9e74.png) ```auto prnt se 1 all stat:o n:682 e:299 f:252 p:0 l:0 c:0 s:0 b:0 L:0 S:0 se:0 sh:0 v:0 3 Nall stat:c n:682 e:0 f:0 p:0 l:0 c:0 s:0 b:0 L:0 S:0 se:0 sh:0 v:0 4 Eall stat:c n:0 e:299 f:0 p:0 l:0 c:0 s:0 b:0 L:0 S:0 se:0 sh:0 v:0 5 +C3D10 stat:c n:0 e:299 f:0 p:0 l:0 c:0 s:0 b:0 L:0 S:0 se:0 sh:0 v:0 ```