The COMSOL Desktop
This section is an overview of the major components in the COMSOL Multiphysics environment. These components are integrated into the COMSOL Desktop, which you can personalize to your own modeling needs and preferences. Primarily consisting of the Model Builder nodes, Settings windows, and Graphics windows, other dockable windows can be opened, closed, and organized according to the modeling settings you need to access and the GUI configuration you want to work in. You can save these configurations, and the last opened configuration is always displayed when you open COMSOL again.
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Creating a New Model
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Building a COMSOL Multiphysics Model
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Customizing the COMSOL Desktop
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The Model Builder
The COMSOL Desktop in the cross-platform version, primarily for the Linux and Mac operating systems, looks slightly different than for the Windows operating system (shown in Figure 2-1). The primary difference is that the Main Menu and Main Toolbar are used instead of ribbons. Otherwise, the default windows (Model Builder, Graphics, Settings, Log, Progress, and Messages) are in the same location on the default desktop layout. See The COMSOL Desktop Menus and Toolbars for more details.
You can also launch the cross-platform version on Windows using comsolxpl.exe.
Figure 2-1: The default COMSOL Desktop with its major windows in a widescreen layout. The ribbon tabs and groups are available for Windows users. For Mac and Linux users the layout is similar but you access some options from the main menu or contextual toolbars.
A ribbon tab, ribbon group, or modal ribbon tab, are available in the Windows version. In general, these are referred to as toolbars. See Figure 2-1 for an example of the Windows Home toolbar. Also see Figure 2-2 for an example of how the ribbon changes when a window is resized.
The Model Toolbar and Contextual Toolbar are available in the cross-platform version, primarily for Mac and Linux users. See Figure 2-10 for an example of these toolbars.
About Changes to the Ribbon Display (Windows Users)
When the complete COMSOL Desktop is resized, the toolbar collapses and the buttons are grouped into menus. In Figure 2-2, all the groups on the Home toolbar are collapsed into menus. As the window is widened, the ribbon groups expand again to include the options as buttons or other submenus.
Figure 2-2: When the COMSOL Desktop is resized, the ribbon toolbar buttons are grouped together with the ribbon tab group name. In this example for the Home toolbar, all the buttons are available from a menu, such as Definitions, Geometry, Material, Physics, and so forth (top). As the window is widened, the menus expand accordingly (bottom).
Opening the Application Builder from the COMSOL Desktop
When you are on the COMSOL Desktop you can toggle between the Application Builder and COMSOL Multiphysics. On the Home toolbar click Application Builder to open the Application Editor and modify the user interface of the application and to create and edit code for the application. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+A.
Conversely, when you are in the Application Builder, you can click Model Builder on the Home toolbar to return to COMSOL Multiphysics. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+M.
Overview
The rest of this section introduces you to the features of the COMSOL Desktop, explains some basic navigation, and provides you with an overview of the windows, toolbars, and menus available. In this chapter you will also learn about the model file formats, the options to save files, and the units systems available for modeling.
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Basic Navigation
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Adjusting Window Location and Size on the Desktop
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The COMSOL Desktop Windows
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The COMSOL Desktop Menus and Toolbars
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Windows Toolbars and Menus
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Cross Platform (Mac and Linux) Toolbars and Menus
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Features Available on Toolbars and From Menus
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The Messages Window
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About the COMSOL Model File Formats
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Saving COMSOL Files
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Saving and Opening Recovery Files
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The Root Settings and Properties Windows
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Unit Systems
After this introductory overview, The Application Libraries Window section explains how to work with the application libraries included with COMSOL. The Physics Interfaces section lists the interfaces available with a basic COMSOL Multiphysics license. This prepares you to start creating a new model.
The next section, Creating a New Model, shows you how to use the Model Wizard to begin building a new model by choosing a physics interface and study combination.
The last section, Toolbars and Keyboard Shortcuts, is a quick reference to all the features found on the toolbars. It includes links to the information contained throughout this reference manual.