About Results Management

You can choose the results storage mode to facilitate collaboration or to improve performance over a network. You can save simulation results on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform or on the local file system for each analysis case in your simulation.

Important: For simulations run on the cloud from a structural app, the results are always stored on the cloud. You cannot change the results location and save the results from these simulations locally.

This page discusses:

See Also
Generating Experience Content
Setting the Results Storage Mode

For a video overview, see Simulation Results Data Storage.

Results data is in the form of SIM documents, which are either produced by native app simulations or imported from other apps as orphan results. Model and scenario data are always stored on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Results data, however, can be stored on the platform or on the local computer.

In many cases, simulations generate large amounts of results data, and it can be time consuming to transfer the results data over a network.

Note: Experience content is uploaded to the server, no matter which results storage mode you select. Experience content is a customized set of lightweight data generated from your simulation for subsequent viewing in the 3DPlay or Simulation Review apps. When generating experience content, you select only the most important information to share with other users.

Storing Results on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform (Server)

When you store results on the server, other users can access the simulation object for postprocessing, and you can archive the results for future reference. You can take advantage of the collaborative features of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, such as co-review of data and lifecycle management for your simulation and results files.

The results are not uploaded to the server until you perform a save operation. The results are then available to any user with proper permissions to the collaborative space where the data is stored.

By default, postprocessing is done locally even when you store results on the server. In this case, the results data is downloaded to your local machine. Depending on the size of the results, this operation can be costly. Alternatively, you can perform all postprocessing remotely, by setting up remote high performance visualization. Only the visualization is done on your machine. For more information, see High Performance Visualization High Performance Visualization in the Native Apps Preferences guide.

Storing Results on the Local Machine (Local)

When you store results locally, you can access the results faster than accessing them from a server.

The results are not stored locally until you perform a save operation. Ensure you have enough disk space available on your machine. Local results are unavailable to other users on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Important: The local results files are stored in the local results directory. Deleting the files deletes your results.

Postprocessing is done locally when you store results locally.

Choosing the Correct Storage Mode Options

The results storage option you choose has an impact on performance. Your preference might change depending on your current tasks. In some scenarios, it is beneficial to save results on the server, whereas for other situations, it is better to save the data locally.

For native simulations, results are stored in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform by default. However, it is preferable to store results in the same location where you ran the simulation. If you ran the simulation locally, select the Local mode for storage. If you ran the simulation remotely or on the cloud, select the Server mode for storage, and use remote high performance visualization for postprocessing. Only visualization is managed on your local machine.

For imported simulations, results are stored on the local machine by default. Local storage is preferable to avoid introducing copies of the results import file. If you are postprocessing remotely or on the cloud, select the Server mode.

With either storage mode, ODB files or third-party files are first converted to SIM files. The converted SIM files are then managed by the storage mode you select.

Note: Results exist only in one location at any given time. For example, if you switch from Server mode to Local mode, the results are deleted from the platform server.

You can change the simulation options settings at any time and select Share > Save > Save All to save the simulation results. For example, while a finite element analysis is running, you can increase performance and reduce data storage consumption by saving unfinished results in a local directory. The local directory setting is saved for each simulation. To store the results in a local directory for additional simulations, you must specify the simulation option for each simulation.