Computational Engineering International (CEI) has announced the release of EnSight 9.2, or more specifically, version 9.2.1a. EnSight 9.2 can be downloaded and installed alongside previous versions of EnSight, and uses the same license key as before. There are several improvements that are incorporated in this new version of EnSight, including:

  • OpenFOAM direct reader
  • HPC Launch Capabilities
  • More Click-n-go functionality
  • Touch-n-go
  • Much faster rendering of annotations when using large models
  • Improved Clip Planes thru Polyhedral Cells

The HPC Launch Capabilities look interesting to me. The idea behind this is that EnSight users should not have to set environment variables, configure SSH port forwarding, and mess around with their own particular flavor of batch queuing systems. Instead, users should be able to launch jobs that will run at their particular site without having to jump through so many hoops. However, their press release says that you will need to contact their support desk in order to schedule time to implement this for your particular setup.

Touch-n-go is a nice feature that is being added to EnSight. Simply move your mouse on top of objects and handles will appear. You can manipulate the handles to resize (for example) the colorbar. This does not require a redraw of the screen. Instead it is just an overlay redraw that is composited back into the image. This works with objects, but does not work with parts (like an isosurface, for example).

The next version of EnSight should be released in another month or so and should have the following improvements:

  • Support for EnSight DR
  • EnSight DR support for Context files
  • Easier Client-Server Launch

Even better will be EnSight 10.0, which is slated for release in the 2nd quarter of 2011. It will feature a new GUI built on top of PythonQt. That gives EnSight users something to look forward to for the new year. Since I am an EnSight user, I certainly am looking forward to trying out these new features.