It may have gone somewhat unnoticed but for the first time ever, Ansys released software into the open source late last year. The software is PyAnsys, a family of Python packages providing a new, unified programmable interface to the company’s proprietary simulation stack. The PyAnsys collection of Python packages enables the usage of Ansys products through Python. These packages currently focus on MAPDL and post processing of MAPDL related files but will grow to encompass more products and features as the project develops and matures.

The initial offering includes packages to interface with Mechanical APDL, a multiphysics simulation and equation solver, DPF, a scalable data processing framework, and Ansys Electronics Desktop (AEDT). More libraries are already under development. The packages are available on GitHub, the code hosting platform that enables developers to work together on software. It is part code repository, part version control system and part open-source collaboration community. The site is home to more than 100 million repositories and used by more than 50 million developers from more than 3 million organizations and now Ansys is officially one of those organizations.

PyAnsys emerged organically within the open-source community. It was started by an Ansys user who sought the expressive syntax of the Python language to easily pilot the Mechanical APDL solver. That user, Alex Kaszynski, first shared his code on GitHub in 2016 and, since then, it has gathered a growing audience. Today, Kaszynski is part of a team at Ansys who are taking the concept to the next level. This first release reflects their work and dedication.

Ansys has launched four GitHub repositories for this next generation of PyAnsys: PyMAPDL, PyDPF-Core, PyDPF-Post, and PyAEDT. PyMAPDL is the interface to our multiphysics simulation and equation solver that will make it easily accessible in Python. PyDPF-Core presents a data-processing framework that enables users to read and transform simulation data across domains with the help of scalable operators. PyDPF-Post can be used to extract actionable insights from finite element simulations via a streamlined post-processing interface. PyAEDT consolidates and extends all existing functionalities around scripting for AEDT into a Python library that interacts directly with the AEDT API to make scripting simpler for the end user.

The PyAnsys packages will be in the open source under an MIT license and help our customers integrate Ansys proprietary products, such as MAPDL and DPF, into new applications. PyAnsys is also publishing installable packages onto the Python Package Index (PyPI). Documentation and demos have also been crafted to give our users a head start. With PyAnsys, the power of Ansys technology is now easy to harness in Python. More details can be found here.