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Interface Overview

Elementa's main window is divided into five functional areas.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Ribbon Toolbar                       │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────────┬──────────────┤
│              │                          │              │
│   Model      │    Graphics Canvas       │   Property   │
│   Builder    │                          │   Panel      │
│   (Tree)     │                          │              │
│              │                          │              │
├──────────────┴──────────────────────────┴──────────────┤
│                    Log Console                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Ribbon Toolbar

The ribbon provides tab-based access to all major workflows:

Tab Contents
File New, Open, Save, Save As
Geometry Add primitives, boolean operations
Mesh Generate, mesh settings
Physics Physics panel, boundary conditions
Study Study type, compute
Results Add plots, probes
Help Documentation, about

Model Builder (Tree)

The left panel is a hierarchical tree of the model:

Component1
├── Definitions
│   └── Parameters
├── Geometry
│   ├── Rectangle 1
│   └── Disk 1
├── Materials
│   └── Material 1
├── Physics
│   └── Electrostatics
│       ├── Electric Potential 1
│       └── Ground 1
├── Mesh
└── Study
    └── Stationary

Click any node to load its settings in the Property Panel.


Graphics Canvas

The central canvas displays:

  • Geometry view — wireframe or solid rendering of CAD primitives
  • Mesh view — coloured triangular / tetrahedral mesh with labelled boundaries
  • Results view — colour-mapped scalar and vector fields

Navigation: - Left drag — pan - Scroll wheel — zoom - Click boundary — select for boundary condition assignment


Property Panel

The right panel shows context-sensitive settings for the selected tree node: parameter values, geometry dimensions, material properties, boundary condition values, and study settings.


Log Console

The bottom panel streams solver progress, warnings, and error messages. Errors are highlighted in red.