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Tutorial 1: Running FEBio from the command line on Windows
Thanks for your help, but I am still getting fatal error "Element 1 has an invalid material type." I imported a stl file into into preview and set a material to it, so I am not sure why I am getting the error. Am I supposed to do it differently?
Aha, I see. I think the FEBio command line parser has some problems understanding the quotes. I'll see if I can fix that shortly. In the mean time, you may have to run the file from another folder, so that you don't have spaces in the name and thus no need for quotes.
Cheers,
Steve.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah
Scientific Computing and Imaging institute, University of Utah
First of all: great job with the preview, febio and postview programs. I am, however, wondering if there is a possibility to run febio in matlab, in stead of cmd?
Currently there is not. However, we are working on a new version of FEBio that will allow us to interface with other programming languages such as Python and Matlab. The development of this version is still in its early stages so it may be a while before it is available. It's difficult to say how long precisly, but I hope to have a beta-release ready by the end of the year.
Cheers,
Steve.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah
Scientific Computing and Imaging institute, University of Utah
Is "PATH"variable is under "user variables" or "System variables ". My OS is Windows 7 and i find it in the system variables with simple letter like "path"? .. Will this has an influence on calling FEBio form command prompt ?. Thanks a lot !
I believe that if you define the PATH variable under user variables, then it will only by used for the user that is logged in. If you place it in system variables, the variable is set for all users. I recommend setting it under the user variables. If it is not defined yet, you'll have to add it. If it is defined, make sure you append the FEBio path and not replace the current value of the PATH variable. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Steve.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah
Scientific Computing and Imaging institute, University of Utah
Thanks. Have another question. When i run an input file i get an error msg "Failed creating log file". What could be the reason. I used an input file (name is bp04.feb) from the Example folder. Thanks.
i figured it out. I just copied the whole folder "Febio1p4" to 'my documents' folder and did the run.
But it is interesting even if i delete the PATH which i included earlier according to your comment still the file do run ? ... And why is that ? ... So it is not necessary to include the PATH in to the local variables ? ... i am confused now.
The reason why you have to add the FEBio folder to the PATH variable, is because this will allow you to run FEBio from the command prompt and from any folder. FEBio is installed in the Program Files (x86) folder. By default, Win7 does not allow a program to create files in the installation folder (for security reasons). I am guessing you placed your FEBio input file in the installation folder and then tried to run FEBio. And that's why you got the error message that FEBio cannot create the log file. To get around this, I propose the following workflow:
- Install FEBio in the default folder (Program Files (x86)).
- Add the installation folder to the PATH variable.
- Place your input files somewhere in your MyDocuments folder.
- Open a command prompt and cd to your input file folder.
- Use the command febio -i filename.feb to run the input file.
This is what most people do, including myself and I have gotten quite used to it. I understand that in modern times this seems a bit archaic, and if it is any consulation, know that we are working on a GUI-featured version of FEBio. But until that version is ready, I recommend the approach described above. Hope this answers your question.
Cheers,
Steve.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah
Scientific Computing and Imaging institute, University of Utah
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