Quick start
Access SunCAE either by
- using someone else's servers and configurations.
- hosting your own server (it can be your laptop).
SunCAE is a web front end for mechanical computacional back ends running in the cloud
SunCAE is aimed at the cloud. The cloud likes Unix (and Unix likes the cloud). There might be ways to run SunCAE on Windows, but we need time to figure out what they are. Moreover, most CAE solvers do not perform in Windows. There is a simple explanation: (good) solvers are written by hackers. And hackers—as Paul Graham already explained more than twenty years ago—do not like Windows (and Windows do not like hackers either).
Single source of truth
- The meshing settings are stored in the mesher input.
- The solver settings are stored in the solver input.
- All the files are tracked with Git, so nothing is lost.
- SunCAE allows users to edit the actual inputs, so any feature supported by the back end will be supported by the front end.
You can pick your toppings
- Authenticators
- UXs
- CAD importers
- Meshers
- Solvers
- Runners
- Post-processors
How to use SunCAE
Tutorials
Start by watching short videos that illustrate SunCAE's features. If you prefer reading rather than watching, the transcriptions are available.
FAQs
Chances are your questsion have been already asked and answered. We have the most common questions below and the full FAQs on Github.
Forum
If you still have questions do not hesitate using our discussion forum. You can also contact us directly if you do not want to go public.
Key features
Free and open source
Both as in free beer and in free speech.
Mobile friendly
Can be used from tablets and phones.
Cloud-first
Designed and implemented for the cloud.
Most frequently asked questions answered
Yes, it is. You can get SunCAE's source code from Github. It is licensed under the terms of the AGPL. Read the lincensing paragraph for more information. All the needed dependencies (free and open source as well) can be installed either from your operating system's package manager or downloaded automatically with a provided script. See the quick-start instructions.
This initial version supports Gmsh and FeenoX.
More meshers and solvers will be supported in the future.
If you have an open source solver, create a pull request to add an interface for it.
If you have a closed solver, contact us.
Check out our roadmap.
Create an issue in our Github repository. If the issue is complex, open a new topic in our discussion forum. Fork our Github repository and create a pull request. Contact us if you have further questions about code copyright & copyleft.
Open source licensing
SunCAE is released under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or at your option, any later version. This means that you get the four essential freedoms, so you can
- Run SunCAE as you seem fit (i.e. for any purpose).
- Investigate the source code to see how SunCAE works and to change it (or to hire someone to change it four you) as you seem fit (i.e. to suit your needs)
- Redistribute copies of the source code as you seem fit (i.e. to help your neighbor)
- Publish your changes (or the ones that the people you hired made) to the public (i.e. to benefit the community).
If you use a modified version of SunCAE in your web server, section 13 of the AGPL license requires you to give a link where your users can get these four freedoms as well. That is to say, if you use a verbatim copy of SunCAE in your server, there is nothing for you to do (because the link is already provided). But if you exercise freedoms 1 & 3 above and modify SunCAE to suit your needs—let's say you don't like the button "Add Boundary Condition" and you change it to "Add restrains and loads"—you do need to provide a link for people to download the modified source code.
If this licensing scheme does not suit you, contact us to see how we can make it work. For example,
- If you have a solver released under a license which is compatible with the AGPL and you would like to add it to SunCAE, feel free to fork the repository (and create a pull request when you are done).
- If you have a solver released under a license which is not compatible with the AGPL and you would like to add it to SunCAE, contact us.