Tags are Luminary's mechanism for organizing and referencing geometric entities within the platform. Tags are strings that are associated with geometric entities, and a single Tag can apply to any number of entities. Tags are automatically imported from the metadata of the underlying CAD geometry, including names, selection sets, colors, etc.
Once your CAD geometry is imported, you can manage tags directly within the UI, with full flexibility to:
Rename tags
Add or remove tags
Organize tags to fit specific project structures
Tags are particularly useful in workflows that involve geometry modifications, saving/reloading settings, and referencing entities across projects.
Note: The association between tags and settings are preserved between projects, allowing you to save and reload your settings in a new project with the same or a similar geometry.
Benefits of Tags
Robustness in Geometry Modification
Tags persist across geometric transformations, allowing you to modify your geometry without losing your project organization.
Organizational Flexibility
Tags allow you to organize and label geometry efficiently without losing information, providing a foundation for project organization and geometric referencing.
Reusable Settings
Settings linked to tags can be saved in a library and reused in other projects, ideal for iterating on a design by running simulations on similar geometries in separate projects.
Design Iteration Support
Tags allow for workflow standardization across similar geometries, supporting design iteration, e.g., two vehicles with common components.
Tags Workflow
The workflow for managing Tags in Luminary is as follows:
Define metadata, such as names, selection sets, and colors, as needed within your CAD package
Note: This step is critical to ensure the robust reuse of settings on the same geometry or a variation of your geometry in a new project. If you modify the tags downstream, the settings will not be able to associate with the correct tags in a new project.
Import the CAD geometry to Luminary via the UI dialogue box or SDK. Tags are automatically imported from the underlying CAD file metadata
For CAD packages that require unique entity names, you may use colors or other categorizable metadata to organize surfaces or parts, enhancing the tagging system’s flexibility
(Optional) Create or delete existing tags
We recommend creating and organizing tags before importing into Luminary so that you can easily reuse settings in new projects with the same geometry or a similar variations. However, after importing your CAD, you can modify the tags to better organize your model.
Right-click on a tag in the Geometry Tree to expose the following actions:
Rename...: Rename the tag.
Delete: Delete the tag (only if it is not linked to settings).
Add Volume/Surface: Add new entities to the tag.
Right-click on a surface or volume in the Geometry Tree or the 3D visualizer to expose the following actions:
Create Tag: Create a new tag and assign the selected entity to it.
Add to Tag: Add the entity to an existing tag.
Create Tag on Faces: For volumes, you can create a tag that automatically includes all associated surfaces.
(Optional) Perform geometry modifications
The following rules apply to tags when manipulating geometry:
When two faces are merged, the resulting face retains all tags from the original faces
If a face is moved or transformed, associated tags remain unaffected
Note: Tags only propagate forward, meaning they won't be preserved if you revert/undo geometric modifications
Organize the project by modifying the tags
You can associate related surfaces and volumes to easily apply and reuse boundary conditions. For example, all surfaces on a wing could be tagged with 'wing', allowing boundary conditions or mesh settings to be easily applied. Entities of different types can share the same tag.
Apply Settings
When settings are saved, they retain their associations to the tags and will reattach upon reloading in a new project, provided the geometry tags are consistent
Tags Compatibility Matrix
The CAD metadata types that can be imported as Tags are:
Assembly Names are the hierarchical structure of assemblies and sub-assemblies.
Volume Names are the names or identifiers associated with distinct volumes (3D solids).
Surface Names are the names or identifiers for surfaces (faces).
Surface Colors are the surface-specific color data, which is typically used for component differentiation or material identification.
Selection Sets are the pre-defined selection sets, which are groups of entities (such as faces, edges, or volumes) saved in the CAD model for easier manipulation or processing.
The compatibility matrix for importing Tags in Luminary is shown below. Each item specifies the ability to import a specific CAD metadata type (column) from the corresponding CAD format (row) as a Tag. Yes corresponds with a metadata type that is supported for a specific CAD format, while No indicates that a tag metadata type that is not supported.
Note: We recommend using the native file format of your CAD package. We can't guarantee the export of these quantities to third-party or neutral file formats.
Format | Assembly Names | Volume Names | Surface Names | Surface Colors | Selection Sets |
Rhino 3D | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
CATIA V4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
CATIA V5/V6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
AutoCAD | Yes | No | No | No | No |
IGES/ICAM | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Inventor | Yes | No | No | No | No |
SolidEdge | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Creo Elements/Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
NX | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
ACIS | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
SolidWorks | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
STEP | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
STL ASCII | No | No | Yes | No | No |
STL binary | No | No | No | No | No |
Dassault CGM | No | No | No | No | No |
Parasolid | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
OnShape* | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
*through Parasolid
Warning: You may run into unexpected issues due to the large number of potential formats and CAD metadata categories. If so, please reach out to support for assistance.
SDK Compatibility
Through the SDK, users can read and reference tags, enabling programmatic manipulation of tagged entities and the application of settings via automated scripts. This integration is crucial for large-scale projects and batch processing workflows.
Note: Regex and wildcards (e.g., wing* for wing-left, wing-right) are not currently supported natively. This could potentially be addressed in future SDK updates. A workaround is to list the surfaces and write your own regex/wildcard function to search the list.