****************************
About SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in
****************************

SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in adds DISTENE MG-Hexa (former Hexotic)
meshing algorithm to the SALOME Mesh module.

MG-Hexa plug-in is destined for:
- Meshing of 3D geometric entities with hexahedra;
- Generating 3D meshes from 2D meshes, working without geometrical objects.

For more information please visit the SALOME platform web site:

  <https://www.salome-platform.org/>

=======
License
=======

SALOME platform is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
See COPYING file for more details.

============
Installation
============

--------------
Pre-requisites
--------------

SALOME platform relies on a set of third-party softwares; some of them are needed
at build time only, while other ones are needed in runtime also.

For more information about the pre-requisites please visit SALOME platform web
site:

* Check Release Notes and Software Requirements of the latest SALOME release at

  <https://github.com/SalomePlatform/.github/wiki/SAT/>

Note: SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in needs SALOME KERNEL, SALOME GUI, SALOME Geometry,
SALOME Mesh and, optionally, SALOME MG-CADSurf plug-in as pre-requisites.

------------------
Basic Installation
------------------

The build procedure of the SALOME platform is implemented with CMake.
In order to build the plug-in you have to do the following actions: 

1. Set up environment for pre-requisites (see "Pre-requisites" section above).

2. Create a build directory:

   % mkdir HexoticPLUGIN_BUILD

3. Configure the build procedure:

   % cd HexoticPLUGIN_BUILD
   % cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=<mode> -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<installation_directory> <path_to_src_dir>

   where
   - <mode> is either Release or Debug (default: Release);
   - <installation_directory> is a destination folder to install SALOME MG-Hexa
     plug-in (default: /usr); 
   - <path_to_src_dir> is a path to the SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in sources
     directory.

   Note: by default (if CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX option is not given), SALOME MG-Hexa
   plug-in will be configured for installation to the /usr directory that
   requires root permissions to complete the installation.

4. Build and install:

   % make
   % make install

   This will install SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in to the <installation_directory>
   specified to cmake command on the previous step.

-------------------
Custom installation
-------------------

SALOME MG-Hexa plug-in supports a set of advanced configuration options;
for more details learn CMakeLists.txt file in the root source directory.

You can also use other options of cmake command to customize your installation.
Learn more about available options by typing

   % cmake --help

=====
Usage
=====

* Start SALOME.

* Create new study.

* Activate Geometry module and create simple geometry object.

* Activate Mesh module.

* Invoke menu "Mesh/Create Mesh".

* Select previously created geometry object by clicking it with the
  mouse in the Object Browser.

* In the "Create mesh" dialog box:
  - Activate "3D" page;
  - In the "Algorithm" combo box select "MG-Hexa";
  - Click on the button at the right of the "Hypothesis" combo box and
    select "MG-Hexa Parameters" item in the drop-down menu.

* In the "Hypothesis Construction" dialog box set parameters of MG-Hexa
  meshing algorithm and click "OK" button.

* In the "Create mesh" dialog box Click "Apply & Close" button to
  define mesh and close the dialog box.

* In the Object Browser select "Mesh_1" object, invoke context popup
  menu for it by clicking right mouse button and select "Compute" item.

The resulting mesh created with MG-Hexa plugin will be shown in the 3D
viewer.

=============
Documentation
=============

The directory doc contains additional documentation file of SALOME MG-Hexa
plug-in.

===============
Troubleshooting
===============

Please, send a mail to webmaster.salome@opencascade.com.