# GiD to Impact Interface

The preparation of input file of Impact solver can be done within GiD by using a special Impact GiD interface. In general, the work flow of GiD and Impact is shown in Figure below.

Although Impact has its own pre and post processors, GiD however is more flexible in dealing with complex model, both in geometry modeling and in meshing of the model. For this reason, it is recommended to use GiD as the pre and post processors, while Impact solver is employed for the solution.

## Features

GiD to Impact interface provides an interface that enable GiD users to prepare Impact analysis model follows the format of Fembic data format (*.in input file) for Impact.

Most of Impact input parameters as defined in Fembic data structure can be prepared in GiD. In this interface version 0.1 the input data preparation is performed in three main menu:
Conditions, Material and Problem Data.

Conditions
  define structural boundary constraints, rigid body constraints (define master and slave nodes), applied loads, and history trackers of some node variables such as force, moment, displacement and acceleration.
Materials
  prepare the type of materials involve in the analysis. There are various materials are defined in Impact: Elastic, Elasto-plastic, and Thermo-Elasto-Plastic. Rigid wall using triangular element and rigid line using line element are defined under materials. Spring element definition is also modeled under this materials menu.
Problem Data
  controls the general configuration of impact input data, such as user information, time step and time simulation, hour-glass control parameters for quadrilateral elements, and total energy history trackers.

## Installation

The free/open source Impact Finite Element Program can be downloaded from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/impact/.
Download the latest version (.*zip), then unzip in a any folder according to users preference. Please note that Impact requires Java, i.e. Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) or Development Kit (JDK) and Java3D.

- Download site JRE/JDK:
  http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
  If you are using Windows use the binary *.exe.
- Download site Java3D:
  https://java3d.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html
  If you are using Windows use the binary *.exe. For Linux users, it may require manual installation. A general guideline can be found in http://www.icram.de/node/85.

GiD-Impact interface is available as free and open source, and can be found in Impact folder (/interfaces).

- Find the directory where you install GID (In Windows normally under C:/program files) and open the folder.
- Find a folder "problemtypes"
- Create a new folder "Impact" under "problemtypes"
- Go to impact directory and find a folder "interfaces".
- Copy a folder "impact.gid"
- Paste this folder "impact.gid" to the folder "Impact" that you have created before. Done!

In order to activate GiD to Impact interface, go to menu
Data > Problem type > Impact and select Impact,

## License

GiD to IMPACT Interface is GUI problemtype module in GiD
Copyright (C) 2004-2011 Impact Developer Team

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

## Credits

There are many people contributing to the development of Impact:

- Jonas Forssell
- Yuriy Mikhaylovskiy
- Nikolay Skiba
- Galina Golovko
- Bernhard Haumacher
- Claus Wonnemann
- Ruediger Heim
- Waluyo Adi Siswanto
- Kjell Mattisson