CST Studio Suite 2024

Getting Started

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Installation
Modeling
Post-Processing

Version 2024.0 - 8/2/2023

 Copyright
© 1998–2023 Dassault Systemes Deutschland GmbH
CST Studio Suite is a Dassault Systèmes product.
All rights reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The

software described in this document is furnished under a license
agreement or non-disclosure agreement. The software may be used
only in accordance with the terms of those agreements.

No part of this documentation may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form or any means electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose
other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission
of Dassault Systèmes.

Trademarks
CST, the CST logo, Cable Studio, CST BOARDCHECK, CST EM
STUDIO, CST EMC STUDIO, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, CST

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

PARTICLE STUDIO, CST Studio Suite, EM Studio, EMC Studio,
Microstripes, Microwave Studio, MPHYSICS, MWS, Particle Studio,
PCB Studio, PERFECT BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA),
Studio Suite, IdEM, Spark3D, Fest3D, 3DEXPERIENCE, the
Compass icon, the 3DS logo, CATIA, BIOVIA, GEOVIA,
SOLIDWORKS, 3DVIA, ENOVIA, NETVIBES, MEDIDATA, CENTRIC
PLM, 3DEXCITE, SIMULIA, DELMIA and IFWE are commercial
trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes, a French
"société européenne" (Versailles Commercial Register # B 322 306
440), or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All
other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Use of any
Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries trademarks is subject to their
express written approval.

DS Offerings and services names may be trademarks or service marks

of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries.

3DS.com/SIMULIA

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 Table of contents
Chapter 1 – Introduction ......................................................................................................... 5
Welcome ............................................................................................................................. 5
How to Get Started Quickly ............................................................................................. 6
About This Manual .............................................................................................................. 6
Document Conventions ................................................................................................... 6
Your Feedback ................................................................................................................ 7
Support ................................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter 2 – Installation ........................................................................................................... 8
Installation Requirements .................................................................................................... 8
Software Requirements ................................................................................................... 8
Hardware Requirements .................................................................................................. 8
Licensing Options ................................................................................................................ 8
Installation Instructions for Microsoft Windows ................................................................... 8
IdEM requires separate installation of MATLAB runtime (MCR).................................... 10

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

License Server .................................................................................................................. 11
License Server Installation ............................................................................................. 11
License Server Configuration ........................................................................................ 11
Automated Installation ....................................................................................................... 12
Starting the CST Studio Suite Software ............................................................................ 12
Node Locked License .................................................................................................... 12
Floating License Using a License Server ...................................................................... 13
Chapter 3 – User Interface .................................................................................................... 14
License Management ........................................................................................................ 15
Automatic Software Updates ............................................................................................. 16
Version Information ........................................................................................................... 17
Opening a Project .............................................................................................................. 17
Creating a New Project ..................................................................................................... 18
Overview of the User Interface .......................................................................................... 19
Other User Interface Elements .......................................................................................... 22
Next Steps ......................................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 4 – Structure Modeling ............................................................................................ 23
Create and View Some Simple Structures ........................................................................ 23
Create a First Brick ........................................................................................................ 23
An Overview of the Basic Shapes Available .................................................................. 25

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 Select Shapes ................................................................................................................ 25
Group Shapes into Components and Assign Material Properties ................................. 26
Change the View ........................................................................................................... 29
Apply Geometric Transformations ................................................................................. 30
Combine Shapes Using Boolean Operations ................................................................ 33
Pick Points, Edges, or Faces from within the Model ...................................................... 34
Chamfer and Blend Edges ............................................................................................. 36
Extrude, Rotate and Loft Faces ..................................................................................... 37
Local Coordinate Systems ............................................................................................. 42
The History List .............................................................................................................. 45
The History Tree ............................................................................................................ 46
Curve Creation ............................................................................................................... 48
Trace Creation ............................................................................................................... 52
Bond Wire Creation ....................................................................................................... 53
Local Modifications ........................................................................................................ 55

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Next Steps ......................................................................................................................... 57
Chapter 5 – Post-Processing ................................................................................................ 58
Parametric Result Storage ................................................................................................ 58
Post-Processing Templates .............................................................................................. 59
Framework to set up Result Templates ......................................................................... 60
Pre-Loaded Post-Processing Templates ....................................................................... 61
Example for Post-Processing Templates ....................................................................... 61
Chapter 6 – Finding Further Information ............................................................................... 67
Online Help System ........................................................................................................... 67
Tutorials and Examples ..................................................................................................... 68
Technical Support ............................................................................................................. 68
Macro Language Documentation ...................................................................................... 68
History of Changes ............................................................................................................ 68
Appendix – List of Shortcut Keys .......................................................................................... 69
General Shortcut Keys ...................................................................................................... 69
Shortcut Keys Available in 3D Modeling View ................................................................... 69
Shortcut Keys Available in Edit Fields ............................................................................... 70
Shortcut Keys Available in Schematic View ...................................................................... 70
Shortcut Keys Available in Assembly View ....................................................................... 71
Shortcut Keys Available in VBA Editor .............................................................................. 72

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 Chapter 1 – Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to the CST Studio Suite® software package, the powerful simulation software
for all kinds of electromagnetic field problems and related applications. The program
provides a user-friendly interface to handle multiple projects and views at the same time.

One of the outstanding features of the environment is the seamless integration of various
simulation methods and strong interoperability management especially when connected
to the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform. The CST Studio Suite software provides the following
simulation options:

3D EM Technology
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO®: Fast and accurate 3D EM simulation
tools for high frequency problems. It offers a variety of different
solvers operating in time and frequency domains.
CST EM STUDIO®: 3D EM simulation of static and low frequency
problems. The module features a large collection of solvers for
various applications.
CST PARTICLE STUDIO®: Specializes solvers for the 3D simulation
of electromagnetic fields interacting with charged particles. The

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

software contains several different solvers addressing these
challenging problems.
Spark3D®: A general software tool for radio frequency (RF)
breakdown analysis. It uses powerful and accurate numeric
algorithms for predicting both corona (arcing) and multipactor
breakdown onsets, which are two of the main high power effects that
can severely damage a device.
Cable | Circuit | Macromodels | Filters | PCB | Chip
CST Cable Studio™: Tools for the analysis of SI, EMC and EMI
effects in cable systems including single wires, twisted pairs as well
as complex cable harnesses.
CST Design Studio™: A design and analysis tool for system level
simulation. Its schematic view allows the connection of different 3D
projects and circuit elements. It is the entry point for the System
Assembly and Modeling (SAM) workflows and our powerful circuit
simulator.
IdEM™/IdEM Builder is a tool for the generation of SPICE-ready
macromodels of electrical interconnect structures. Starting from
their input-output port responses IdEM/IdEM Builder provides
accurate, proven, passive and causal broadband computational
models that can be used in any circuit simulation environment.
Fest3D®: An efficient software tool for the accurate analysis of
passive components based on waveguide technology. Fest3D is
the first commercial software capable to integrate high power effects
in the design process.
CST PCB Studio™: Tools for the investigation of signal and power
integrity and the simulation of EMC and EMI effects on printed
circuit boards (PCB) and for the design of 3D chips.

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 Multi-Physics
CST MPHYSICS® STUDIO: A set of tools for solving thermal as well
as mechanical stress problems. Use these solvers in conjunction
with other simulation domains to address coupled simulation tasks.

How to Get Started Quickly

We recommend that you proceed as follows:
1. Work through this document carefully. It provides you with all the basic
information necessary to understand further documentation.
2. Each of the solver modules mentioned above comes with a dedicated manual.
Once you have determined which modules are best suited to solve your
problems, continue by reading the corresponding manual. The manuals provide
valuable information to help you use the software quickly and efficiently.
3. Browse through the online help system and familiarize yourself with its content.
As an entry point, you may follow the links on the online help system’s start page.
4. Do not hesitate to contact technical support if you encounter any problems or if
any questions remain. Since a variety of different applications exists, the
documentation may not be able to cover all special cases equally. The support
team will be more than happy to assist you in solving your simulation problems
as soon as possible.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

About This Manual
This manual is primarily designed to enable a quick start to CST Studio Suite. It is not
intended to be a complete reference guide to all available features, but it will give you
an overview of the key concepts. Understanding these concepts will allow you to learn
how to use the software efficiently with the help of the online documentation.

Document Conventions
 Buttons that should be pressed within dialog boxes are always written in italics,
e.g. OK.
 Key combinations are connected with a plus (+) sign. Ctrl+S means that you
should hold down the “Ctrl” key while pressing the “S” key.
 The program’s features can be accessed through a Ribbon command bar at the
top of the main window. The commands are organized in a series of tabs within
the Ribbon. In this document, a command is printed as follows: Tab name: Group
name  Button name  Command name. This means that you should activate
the proper tab first and then press the button Command name, which belongs to
the group Group name. If a keyboard shortcut exists, brackets are used to
highlight the command. Example: View: Change View  Reset View (Space)
 The project data is accessible through the navigation tree on the left side of the
application’s main window. An item of the navigation tree is referenced in the
following way: NT: Tree folder  Sub folder  Tree item.
 Example: NT: 1D Results  Port Signals  i1

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 Your Feedback
We are constantly striving to improve the quality of our software documentation. If you
have any comments regarding the documentation, please send them to your support
center: 3ds.com/support.

Support
Dassault Systèmes is happy to receive your feedback. If you have any questions
concerning sales, please contact your local sales office. In case you have problems
using our software, see the information provided in Chapter 6 – Finding Further
Information.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

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 Chapter 2 – Installation
Installing the CST Studio Suite software is simple. This chapter explains everything you
need to know regarding installation. It covers the following sections:

 Installation requirements
 Licensing options
 Installation instructions for Microsoft Windows
 License Server
 Starting the CST Studio Suite software
Please note: This document deals with the installation on a Microsoft Windows
operating system. To install the software on Linux, please refer to the documentation
shipped with the Linux package.

Installation Requirements
Software Requirements
The software runs under Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, 2019 and
2022.

Hardware Requirements

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

 CPU x86-64 processor (Intel or AMD)
 OpenGL compatible graphics hardware
 16 GB RAM
 30 GB free disk space (60 GB recommended)

Please refer to CST Studio Suite at 3ds.com/support/hardware-and-software/simulia-

system-information/ for more details.

Licensing Options
The software can be licensed either as a single PC (node locked) version or as a network
version. The single PC license allows the software to run on a single PC only. In contrast,
the network license allows the software to run on several PCs connected to a license
server.

Most of the steps of the installation procedure are the same for both types of licenses.
We will therefore focus on the common procedures first and then explain the differences
in setting up the license afterwards.

Installation Instructions for Microsoft Windows

You will normally need administrator privileges in order to install the software. If you do
not have these privileges on your local computer, ask your system administrator for
assistance. Once you installed the software successfully and it is running, you should
close it and log back in as a standard user for security reasons.

Please note: Some virus detection programs may interfere with the setup process
and cause the installation to fail. We therefore strongly recommend that you close all
other applications and turn off virus scanning before proceeding with the actual
installation.

Before installing the CST Studio Suite software, please download the current installer
from the download area at 3ds.com/support/download. If you already have a recent

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 installation DVD, you can skip this step. However, the download area also contains
some additional packages free of charge. Please consider the license terms of each
individual package.

If you have downloaded, an installation package or the DVD installation does not start
automatically after you put it into you DVD drive, run the installer by double-clicking
setup.exe in the root folder of the installation package. You will see the following screen:

Depending on the current system configuration, the next step will be to install some
modules required by the CST Studio Suite software. If some or all of these requirements
are already installed, then either some modules or even the entire dialog box may be
skipped.

Please press the Install button here to proceed to the actual software installation, which

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

will then show the following screen:

Next, follow the instructions on the screen, and make sure that you read every screen
as you advance. We recommend using the Typical setup to ensure that you can access
all examples which might be of interest to you.

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 Please note that the Typical setup now also includes the installation of Distributed
Computing components, which can be activated afterwards.

Now press Next and then Install.

Once the installation is completed, the following dialog box appears:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

If you have a single-PC (node locked) license, skip the next section and continue to the
Starting CST Studio Suite section.

IdEM requires separate installation of MATLAB runtime (MCR)

IdEM is automatically installed through the CST Studio Suite installation, but a separate
installation of MATLAB runtime (MCR) is required. Check if the appropriate Matlab
Runtime R2018b (9.5) is already installed on your computer by looking in the Control
Panel under Add/Remove Programs.
You will get an error message when starting IdEM if the correct MCR is not installed.
If the required version of the Matlab Runtime is missing:

 Download the Windows 64-bit version of the Matlab Runtime R2018b (9.5)
from the MathWorks web page by navigating to:
mathworks.com/products/compiler/mcr/index.html
 Install the MCR by running the MCR_R2018b_win64_installer.exe executable
file and follow the instructions in the installation wizard. This installation will
need Administrator rights.

Please note: IdEM is MCR version-specific and it is tied to the MCR version 9.5 only.

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 Multiple versions of the MCR can be installed simultaneously on your system. There is
no need to uninstall previous versions.

License Server
The usage of a floating (or network) license requires a license server running on one
computer in your network that is accessible to all other computers, which will run CST
Studio Suite software. The communication between the license server and the other
modules is done via TCP/IP. If you are using a firewall, make sure that the connections
can be established properly.

The individual installation of a license server is required only if you are going to use the
license server on a computer which does not have the CST Studio Suite Program Files
component installed on it. The Typical installation of the software package will always
include the license server. If you already installed CST Studio Suite simulation software
and the license server, skip the installation step and continue with the configuration of
the license server.

License Server Installation

Installing the license server on a particular computer is easy. Simply run the installation
program as shown on the previous pages and select License Server as installation type.

License Server Configuration

After the license server installation is completed, you need to configure the license.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Access the CST Studio Suite modules from within the CST Studio Suite 2024 folder in
the Windows Start menu. This folder contains an entry named CST License Manager.
Select this entry to start the License Server control panel:

Now press the New License File button. As a later step, you will be prompted to browse
for the license file, which you should have received by email. Once properly selected,
the new license file will be automatically copied to the correct location. Then you need
to press the Start Service button to start the license server. The Licenses available on
local server list will display a summary of currently available licensed features.

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 The following picture shows an example of how the dialog box should look after the
license has been set up successfully:

Please note: This dialog box also allows you to obtain information about who is currently
using a particular license by pressing the Active Licenses button.

Automated Installation

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

For an automated and silent installation with default settings use the following command:

start /wait setup.exe /s /v"/l*v C:\InstallCST.log REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS /qn

More information on this topic is provided in QA00000062498.

Starting the CST Studio Suite Software

When you start the CST Studio Suite software for the first time or whenever the license
has expired, a dialog box will appear:

The following steps are slightly different depending on whether you are going to use a
node locked or floating license.

Node Locked License

To install a node locked license, click the Import a CST license file option in the Specify
License dialog box as shown above. Pressing the … button will then allow you to specify
the location of the license file, which you should have received by e-mail. After pressing

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 OK, the license file will be automatically copied to the correct location, and you can start
using the software.

Floating License Using a License Server

A floating license requires a license server running on one of the computers in your
network. We assume that you have already set up your license server correctly by
following the instructions in the License Server section above. If not, please install the
license server now before continuing with the next steps.

For floating licenses, you can choose between a Flexnet-based and a DSLS-based
license server. If you select Point to an existing Flexnet-based CST Studio Suite license
server system, the dialog box will then appear as follows:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The only setting you need to specify here is the name of your license server in the Server
field. The Port field optionally allows you to specify the license server’s TCP/IP port. By
default, the port will be detected automatically, so you can normally keep the default
setting. Pressing OK will then store this setting and you can use the software. The DSLS-
based license server mode has similar settings.

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 Chapter 3 – User Interface
After successfully installing the software, remember to log in as standard user rather
than keeping administrator privileges for security reasons.

Start the application by selecting the CST Studio Suite entry in the Windows Start
menu’s CST Studio Suite 2024 folder. You will see the main window of the CST Studio
Suite user interface:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

If no project is open, this is the default view of the application. You can activate it at any
time by selecting the File tab.

On the left pane you have direct access to typical file related options like Open, Save,
Print and Help. In addition to those standard controls, the following four pages are
provided:

 Project: The Project page gives a brief overview of the currently active project
and offers project related operations like Archive As or quick access to the project
folder in the windows explorer. Please note: you can access this page only if a
project is loaded.
 New and Recent: The New and Recent page is the central place to a start a new
project or quickly load one of the recent projects.
 Component Library: On the Component Library page you can manage and
share your reusable projects with your colleagues. For more information about
the Component Library please refer to the online help system.
 Manage Libraries: Manage additional packages that can you download from the
same location where you get the main installer.

Please note: The button Connect to 3DEXPERIENCE is available, if the

3DEXPERIENCE platform is already installed on your system. In this case, you can
easily open projects or import CAD geometry from the platform.

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 License Management
Open the License Management dialog box by choosing File: License:

The tree view shows a list of all potentially available features along with the number of
licenses and their respective expiration date. Moving the mouse over one of the features

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

shows a tool tip containing more information concerning the respective feature.

Other text fields in the dialog box show the currently used License server and License
server port as well as the Host ID.

In case of a node locked license, you can also update the license file by pressing the
License button. If you are using a floating license, we recommend using the License
Server control panel as explained in the installation instructions in Chapter 2.

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 Automatic Software Updates
The automatic software update system helps you to keep your installation of CST Studio
Suite up-to-date.

Please note: Some virus scanning tools can interfere with the automatic updating
system. We strongly recommend either to turn off virus scanners while installing an
update or to exclude the CST Studio Suite installation directory and its sub-directories
from virus scanning.

By default, the system is configured in such a way that it frequently checks on the
internet for new updates. You can change this by choosing File: Options  Automatic
Updates:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Here you can specify the Update mode (Update from internet, Update from local
directory, No automatic updates) and optional proxy server information. The latter may
be necessary if you need to provide authentication information when opening an internet
connection.

We strongly recommend using the automatic software updates in order to stay up-to-
date with the latest improvements of the software. Please refer to the online help system
for more information about the software update system.

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 Version Information
Sometimes the technical support team will ask you which software version you have.
You can easily find this information by selecting File: Help:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Opening a Project
Use the File: Open command to open an existing project:

Here you can select a project file with the extension .cst.

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 If you want to open a project, which you have used recently, just activate File: New and
Recent and select the project from the list of recent projects.

Creating a New Project

Create a new project by clicking on the New Template button in the New and Recent
page. This will start the template wizard, which guides you through a series of questions
in order to specify the application area of your new project.

This ensures that the appropriate module starts automatically. In addition, all project
settings are set correctly for the particular type of device you want to analyze. These
settings are also stored as a project template for later use. Just click on this template in
the list of project templates whenever you want to create another project of the same
type.

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Besides the Template Wizard, you can use the buttons in the Modules and Tools group
to create a new project. The Tools buttons offer quick access to additional applications.

Now we want to create a new project. Press the button File: New and Recent  New
Template to start the template wizard.

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 For this introduction, we do not rely on any specific project settings, so just select MW
& RF & OPTICAL and Antennas and press the Next button multiple times without any

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

change. In this document, we just introduce the common steps needed when using this
wizard for project creation. Please refer to the other CST Studio Suite documents for
more details. At the end of the project definition, you can verify your choices on the
summary page. On this page, change the name of the project template, if needed:

Finally press the Finish button to start the appropriate module. In this case, this is the
high frequency module CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

Overview of the User Interface

This section explains the controls and commands of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. Since
the user interface concept of CST EM STUDIO, CST PARTICLE STUDIO, and CST

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 MPHYSICS STUDIO are identical, it should be straightforward to follow the explanations
below in case you are using any one of these modules.

After the module has started, you will see the user interface of CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO. Now let us have a closer look at the various user interface elements:

Ribbon
Navigation Active Project
Tree
Context Menu

Drawing Plane

Schematic
3D

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Parameter List, Messages,
Status Bar Result Navigator Progress

Ribbon

The Ribbon command bar organizes all user interface controls in a series of tabs. It is a
replacement for the classical menus and toolbars:
Contextual Tab
Quick Access Toolbar Tab Help
Search

Group

All commands in a Ribbon tab are organized in groups, which are labeled. Besides
tabs and groups, the Ribbon consists of:
 A Quick Access Toolbar. This is a small customizable toolbar that displays
frequently used commands.
 Core tabs are the tabs, which are always visible. When switching from 3D to
Schematic the core tabs change, because each mode has its own set of
individual controls.
 Contextual tabs are activated only when a particular object is selected or special
view is active.

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  The File tab consists of a set of commands related to file handling. General
application options and additional help can also be found here.
 A Search field to quickly find commands, examples or search in the help.
 A Help button to access the online help and the support account. In addition,
the Quick Start Guide can be started here if a CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
project or a project of a similar type is active.
 The Minimize the Ribbon (Ctrl+F1) button can be used to hide all the Ribbon
groups. Instead, only the tab labels are permanently visible.
Use File: Options  Customize Ribbon to create your own tabs or add additional buttons
or groups to the predefined tabs.

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A Ribbon tab can contain three different types of buttons:

Push Button Menu Button Split Button

 A Push button simply performs an action or switches a certain state.

 The Menu button offers a set of choices, but does not directly trigger an action.
 The Split button is a combination of the two other types. It shows a menu when
clicking on the lower part of the button. If the upper part is used, the default
action of the control is performed.

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 Other User Interface Elements
Active Project: Use the tabs at the top of the central main window to switch between
the currently loaded projects.
Navigation Tree: The navigation tree is an important part of the user interface. Here
you can access structural elements as well as simulation results.
Context Menu: The context menus are a flexible way of accessing frequently used
menu commands for the current context. The content of this menu (which can be opened
by pressing the right mouse button) changes dynamically.
Drawing Plane: Use the drawing plane to sketch the 2D part of 3D geometry. As the
mouse is only a 2D locator, even when defining 3D structures, the coordinates are
projected onto the drawing plane in order to specify a 3D location. Since you may change
the location and orientation of the drawing plane by means of various tools, this feature
makes the modeling very powerful.
3D, Schematic and Assembly: With the tabs at the bottom of the central main window
you can switch between the 3D modeling, the Schematic and the Assembly view.
Besides these main views, you also have access to additional temporary views, e.g.
results. The user interface for the Schematic and the Assembly view is explained in the
CST Studio Suite - Circuit Simulation and SAM documentation.
Parameter List: The parameter list window displays a list of all previously defined
parameters together with their current values.
Result Navigator: The result navigator window displays a list of all previously calculated

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parametric results. It allows you to browse all results available within the current result
view.
Messages and Progress: The messages window displays information text (e.g. solver
output) whenever applicable. In the progress window, a progress bar is displayed for
every running simulation, even if another project is currently active.
Status Bar: The status bar provides some useful information about the current project
settings. You can click on the text for direct access to these values. In addition, you can
alter how you manipulate the view with the mouse. The different mouse modes are
explained later in this document.

Next Steps
Now that you have been introduced to some basic concepts of CST Studio Suite, the
next step in becoming familiar with the software is to carefully study the module specific
manuals depending on the product you are planning to use.

For simulations, which are using CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, CST EM STUDIO, CST
PARTICLE STUDIO, CST Cable Studio, or CST MPHYSICS STUDIO, we also strongly
recommend working through the following chapter: Structure Modeling.

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 Chapter 4 – Structure Modeling
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, CST EM STUDIO, CST PARTICLE STUDIO, and CST
MPHYSICS STUDIO share a common structure-modeling tool. The main purpose of this
chapter is to provide an overview of the structure modeler’s many capabilities. Read this
chapter carefully, as this is a fast and easy way to learn how to use the software
efficiently.

Create and View Some Simple Structures

The following section deals with the procedure of creating a simple structure. Many
complex structures are composed of very simple elements, or so called primitives. In the
following, we will draw one such primitive, a brick.

Create a First Brick

1. Use the Modeling tab and activate the Brick tool by using Modeling: Shapes  Brick
. You are able to select the first point of the brick’s base in the drawing plane (see
the text line in the upper left corner of the main window).
2. You may set a starting point by double-clicking a location on the drawing plane.
3. Now you can select the opposite corner of the brick’s base on the drawing plane by
double-clicking on it.
4. Next, define the height of the brick by dragging the mouse. Double-click to fix the
height of the brick.
5. Finally, a dialog box will open showing the numerical values of all coordinate

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

locations you have entered. Click OK to store the settings and create your first
primitive!

The following picture gives an overview of the three double-clicks used to define the
brick:

Point 1

Point 2

Point 3

Before we continue drawing other simple shapes, let us spend some time on the different
methods of setting a point.

The simplest way to set a point is to double-click its location in the drawing plane as
above. However, in most cases the structure coordinates have to be entered with high
precision. In this case, the snap-to-grid mode should be activated. You will find the
corresponding option dialog box under View: Visibility  Working Plane  Working
Plane Properties. The following dialog box will appear:

23
 Here you may specify whether the mouse coordinates should Snap to a raster (which is
the default) or not. Furthermore, you may specify the raster Snap width in the
corresponding field. The raster Width entry influences only the size of the raster, which
is drawn on the screen. The coordinate mapping is independent of this setting.

Please note that selecting the Help button in a dialog box always opens a help page
containing more information about the dialog box and its settings.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Another way to specify a coordinate is to press the Tab key whenever a location is
expected. In this case, a dialog box will appear in which you may numerically specify the
location. The following example shows a dialog box that appears when the first point of
a shape must be defined:

You may specify the position either in Cartesian or in Polar coordinates. The latter type
is measured from the origin of the coordinate system. The Angle is between the x-axis
and the location of the point, and the Radius is the point’s distance from the origin.

When the first point has been set, the Relative option will be available. If you check this
item, the entered coordinates are no longer absolute (measured from the origin of the
coordinate system) but relative to the last point entered. The coordinate dialog boxes
always show the current mouse location in the entry fields. However, often a point should
be set to the center of the coordinate system (0, 0). If you press Shift+Tab, the coordinate
dialog box will open with zero values in the coordinate fields.

The third way to enter accurate coordinates is by clicking estimated values using the
mouse and then correcting the values in the final dialog box. You may skip the definition
of points using the mouse at any time by pressing the Esc key. In this case, the shape
dialog box will open immediately.

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 Pressing the Esc key twice aborts the shape generation. Pressing the Backspace key
deletes the previously selected point. If no point has been selected, the shape
generation will also be aborted.

Please note that another mode exists for the generation of bricks. When you are asked
to pick the opposite corner of the brick’s base, you may also specify a line rather than a
rectangle. In this case, you will be asked to specify the width of the brick as a third step
before specifying the height. This feature is quite useful for construction tasks such as
building a microstrip line centered on a substrate.

To facilitate this, a feature exists which allows the line definition to be restricted to
orthogonal movements from the first selected point. Simply hold down the shift key and
move the mouse to define the next point.

An Overview of the Basic Shapes Available

The following picture gives a brief overview of all basic shapes that can be generated in
a similar way to the brick (as described above).

Cylinder Torus
Sphere

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Rotation
Cone

Brick
Elliptical Extrude
Cylinder

At this stage, you should play around a bit with the shape generator to familiarize
yourself with the user interface. Use the shape creation tools, which are located in
Modeling: Shapes.

Select Shapes
After a shape is defined, it is automatically cataloged in the navigation tree. You can find
all shapes in the Components folder. If you open this folder, you will find a subfolder
called component1, which contains all defined shapes. The name for each primitive is
assigned in the final shape dialog box when the shape is created. The default names
start with “solid” followed by an increasing number: solid1, solid2, etc.

You may select a shape by clicking on the corresponding item in the navigation tree.
Note that after you select a shape, it will be displayed opaquely while all others will be
drawn transparently (see the picture below). This is how the modeler visualizes shape

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 selection. A shape can also be selected by double-clicking on it in the main window. In
this case, the corresponding item in the navigation tree will also be selected. Holding
down the Ctrl key, while double-clicking a shape in the main view, allows you to select
multiple shapes. You may also select ranges of shapes in the navigation tree by holding
down the Shift key while clicking on the shapes’ name.

Another powerful way to select multiple shapes is the Rectangle Selection feature.
Choose View: Selection  Rectangle Selection and define a rectangular area in the
main view by clicking and dragging with the mouse. All shapes within this rectangle are
selected. Take a few seconds to familiarize yourself with the shape selection
mechanism.

solid1

solid2

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

You may change the name of a shape by selecting it and choosing Modeling: Edit 
Rename/Change  Rename (F2). You can then change the name of the shape by
editing the item text in the navigation tree.

Group Shapes into Components and Assign Material Properties

Now that we have discussed how to select an object, we should spend some time on
the grouping of shapes into components. Each component is a subfolder of the
Components folder in the navigation tree. Each individual component folder can contain
an arbitrary number of shapes. The purpose of the component structure is to group
together objects, which belong to the same geometrical component, e.g. connectors,
antennae, etc. This hierarchical grouping of shapes allows simplified operations on
entire components such as transformations (including copying), deletions, etc.

You can change the component assignment of a shape by selecting the shape and
choosing Modeling: Edit  Rename/Change  Change Component (you find the option
Change Component also in the context menu when a shape is selected). The following
dialog box will open:

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 In this dialog box, you can select an existing component from the list or create a new
one by simply typing its name in the edit field. You may also select [New Component]
from the list. In the latter case, the newly created components will be automatically
named as component1, component2, etc.

The component assignment of a shape has nothing to do with its physical material
properties. In addition to its association with a particular component, each shape is
assigned to a material that also defines the color for the shape’s visualization. In other
words, the material properties (and colors) do not belong to the shapes directly, but to
the corresponding material. This means that all shapes made of a particular material are
represented with the same color.

To change the material properties or the color of an individual shape you can assign it
to another material. This can be done by dragging the solid in the navigation tree to the
target material or vice versa:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Another method is to select the shape and choose Modeling: Materials  New/Edit 
Assign Material and Color (this option is also available in the context menu of the
selected shape). The following dialog box will open:

In this dialog box, you may select an existing material from the list or define a new one
by selecting the item [New Material…] from the list. In the latter case, another dialog box
will open:

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 In this dialog box, you have to specify the Material name and the Material type (e.g.
perfect electric conductor (PEC), normal dielectric (Normal), etc.). Note that the available

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

material types as well as the corresponding options depend on the currently used
module. You can also change the color of the material by clicking the Color button. Use
the Material folder field to arrange the materials in different sub folders. After clicking the
OK button, the new material is stored and appears in the Materials folder in the
navigation tree. Selecting a particular material in the navigation tree also highlights all
shapes that belong to this material. All other shapes will then be drawn transparently.
In order to simplify the definition of frequently used materials, a material database is
available. Before you use a material definition from the available database, you have to
add it to the current project by selecting Modeling: Materials  Material Library  Load
from Library. This operation will open the following dialog box displaying the contents of
the database:

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 You may select an existing material from the list and click the Load button to add the
material definition to the Materials folder in the navigation tree. Once the material is
available in this folder, it can be used in the current project. You can also add a material
that has been defined in the current project to the database by selecting the material in
the navigation tree and then choosing Modeling: Materials  Material Library  Add to
Library.

Change the View

So far, we have created and viewed the shapes by using the default view. You can
change the view at any time (even during shape generation) using some simple
commands as explained below. The view will change whenever you drag the mouse
while holding down the left button, according to the selected mode. You can select the
mode by choosing View: Mouse Control  Zoom / Pan / Rotate / Dynamic Zoom / Rotate
in Plane or by selecting the appropriate item from the status bar:

Zoom Pan Rotate Dynamic Rotate

Zoom in
Plane
The mode setting affects the behavior as follows:

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 Zoom: In this mode, a zoom window can be defined by dragging the mouse. After
you release the left mouse button, the zoom factor and the view location will be
updated so that the rectangle fills up the main window.
 Pan: The structure will be translated in the screen plane following the mouse cursor
movement.
 Rotate: The structure will be rotated around the two screen axes. The center of the
rotation will be the point on the structure where the mouse button was pressed,
indicated by a red mark. If the selected location is outside the structure, the bounding
box center point will be used as rotation center.
 Dynamic Zoom: Moving the mouse upward will decrease the zoom factor while
moving the mouse downward will increase the zoom factor.
 Rotate in Plane: The structure will be rotated in the screen’s plane.

The dynamic view-adjusting mode ends when you release the left mouse button. You
can reset the zoom factor by choosing View: Change View  Reset View (Space) or
from the context menu. Press View: Change View  Reset View to Selection
(Shift+Space) to zoom to the currently selected shape rather than the entire structure.

Since changing the view is a frequently used operation that will sometimes be necessary
even during the process of interactive shape creation, some useful shortcut keys exist.
Press the appropriate keys, and drag the mouse while pressing the left button:

 Ctrl: Same as “rotate” mode

 Shift: Same as “plane rotation” mode
 Shift +Ctrl: Same as “pan” mode

A mouse wheel movement has the same effect as the Dynamic Zoom. By default, the
origin for this operation is located at the current mouse pointer location. Optionally,
pressing the Ctrl key while using the mouse wheel performs a zoom operation around
the center of the screen. This behavior can be altered by changing Zoom to mouse
cursor in File: Options  Preferences  User interface settings.

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 In addition to the options described above, some specific settings are available to
change the visualization of the model.

Axes (View: Visibility  Axes, Ctrl+A): This view option toggles the coordinate system
visibility:

Working plane (View: Visibility  Working Plane , Alt+W): With this view option you
may specify whether the drawing plane is visible or not.

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Wireframe (View: Visibility  Wire Frame , Ctrl+W): This option indicates whether all
shapes are displayed as simple wire models or as solid shaded objects.

To change the colors of the scene or other specific view settings use View: Options 
View Options .

Apply Geometric Transformations

So far, you have seen how to model simple shapes and how to change the view of your
model. This section focuses on applying geometric transformations to your model.

We assume that you have already selected the shape (or multiple shapes) to which a
transformation will be applied (e.g. by double-clicking on a shape in the main view).

You can then open the transformation dialog box by choosing Modeling: Tools 
Transform or by choosing the item Transform from the context menu. In the dialog
box, you are asked to select one of the following transformations:

 Translate: This transformation applies a vector translation to the selected shape.

 Scale: By choosing this transformation, you can scale the shape along the
coordinate axes. By unchecking Scale uniform you may specify different scaling
factors for each coordinate direction.

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  Rotate: This transformation applies a rotation of the shape around a coordinate axis
by a fixed angle. You may additionally specify the rotation center in the Origin field
(click on More if the option is not immediately available). The center may be the
center of the shape (calculated automatically) or any specified point. Specify the
rotation angle and axis settings by entering the corresponding angle in the entry field
for the corresponding axis (e.g. entering 45 in the y field while leaving all other fields
set to zero performs a rotation around the y-axis of 45 degrees).
 Mirror: This transformation allows one to mirror the shape at a specified plane. A
point in the mirror plane is specified in the Mirror plane origin field, and the plane’s
normal vector is given in the Mirror plane normal input field.

For all transformations above you may specify whether the original shape should be kept
(Copy option) or deleted. Furthermore, you can specify in the Repetition factor field how
many times the same transformation will be applied to the shape (each time producing
a new shape when the Copy option is active). Once a particular type of transformation
is selected, corresponding handles will be visualized in the main view. The actual
transformation parameters can either be specified by entering numerical values in the
input fields or by just dragging the handles with the mouse. Please note that you may
need to press the More button in order to see all input fields.

A final example will demonstrate the usage of the transformation feature. Assume that
a brick has been defined and selected as depicted below. Open the transform dialog
box by choosing the appropriate item from the context menu or Modeling: Tools 

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Transform .

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 Now the screen should look as follows:

The next step is to apply a translation to the shape by setting a translation vector (7, 0,
0), and to produce multiple copies as the transformation is applied twice. You can either
enter the values into the dialog box or use the mouse and drag & drop the golden arrows
in the main view:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

After pressing the OK button, you should finally obtain the following shapes:

Solid1
Solid1_1
Solid1_
2

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 Note that for each transformation the name of the transformed shape is either kept (no
Copy option) or extended by extensions _1, _2, etc. to obtain unique names for the
shapes.

Combine Shapes Using Boolean Operations

Probably the most powerful operation to create complex shapes is to combine simple
shapes using Boolean operations. These operations allow you to add shapes together,
to subtract one or more shapes from another, to insert shapes into each other, and to
intersect two or more shapes.

Let us consider two shapes – a sphere and a brick – on which we need to perform
Boolean operations.

This list names all available Boolean operations and shows the resulting body for each
combination:

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Add brick to sphere

Add both shapes together to obtain a

single shape. The resulting shape will
assume the component and material
settings of the first shape.

Subtract sphere from brick

Subtract the second shape from the

first to obtain a single shape. The
resulting shape will assume the
component and material settings of
the first shape.
Intersect brick and sphere

Intersect two shapes to form a single

shape. The resulting shape will
assume the component and material
settings from the first shape of this
operation.

Trim sphere
= Insert brick into sphere

The first shape will be trimmed by the

boundary of the second shape. Both
shapes will be kept. The resulting
shapes will have no intersecting
volume.

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 Insert sphere into brick
= Trim brick

The second shape will be inserted into

the first one. Again both shapes will be
kept. The resulting shapes will have
no intersecting volume.

Note that not all of the Boolean operations above are directly accessible. As you can
see, some of the operations are redundant (e.g., a trimming operation can be replaced
by an insertion operation when the order of the shapes is reversed).

You can access the following Boolean operations by choosing the corresponding items:
Modeling: Tools  Boolean  Add / Subtract / Intersect / Insert. Operations are
accessible only when a shape is selected (in the following referred to as “first” shape).
After the Boolean operation is activated, you will be prompted to select the “second”
shape. Pressing the Return key performs the Boolean combination. The result depends
on the type of Boolean operation:

 Add (+) : Add the second shape to the first one – keeps the component and
material settings of the first shape.
 Subtract (-) : Subtract the second shape from the first one – keeps the
component and material settings of the first shape.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

 Intersect (*) : Intersect the first with the second shape – keeps the component
and material settings of the first shape.
 Insert (/) : Insert the second shape into the first one – keeps both shapes while
changing the first shape only.

The trim operations are only available in a special “Shape intersection” dialog box which
appears when a shape is created that intersects or touches areas with existing shapes.
This dialog box will be explained later.

When multiple shapes are selected, you can access the Boolean add operation to unite
all selected shapes. You can also select more than one shape when you are prompted
to specify the second shape for Boolean subtract, intersect or insert operations.

Pick Points, Edges, or Faces from within the Model

Many construction steps require the selection of points, edges, or faces from the model.
The following section explains how to select these elementary entities interactively. For
each of the “pick operations”, you must first select the appropriate pick tool e.g.
Modeling: Picks  Picks.

Pick points, Pick edge Show point Clear picks

edges or center pick list
faces

After you activate a pick tool, the mouse cursor will change indicating that a pick
operation is in progress. In addition, all pickable elements (points, edges, or faces) will
be highlighted in the model. Now you can double-click on an appropriate item.
Alternatively, you can cancel the pick mode by pressing the Esc key.

34
 Note: You cannot pick edges or faces of a shape when another shape is currently
selected. In this case, you should either select the proper shape or deselect all
shapes.

As soon as you double-click in the main view, the pick mode will be terminated and the
selected item will be highlighted. Note that if the Modeling: Picks  Picks  Keep Pick
Mode option is activated, the pick operation will not terminate after double-clicking. In
this case you have to cancel the pick mode by pressing the Esc key. This mode is useful
when multiple items have to be selected and it would be cumbersome to re-enter the
pick mode several times.

The following list gives an overview of the available pick modes. Whenever the main
structure view is active, keyboard shortcuts (listed in parentheses) can be used to
activate a particular pick mode. The main structure view can be activated by left clicking
once on the main drawing window.

 Pick Points
 Pick End Point (P) : Double-click close to the end point of an edge. The
corresponding point will be selected.
 Pick Edge Center (M) : Double-click on an edge. The mid-point of this edge
will be selected.
 Pick Circle Center (C) : Double-click on a circular edge. The center point of
this edge will be selected. The edge need not necessarily belong to a complete

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

circle.
 Pick Point on Circle (R) : Double-click on a circular edge. Afterward an
arbitrary point on the circle will be selected. This operation is useful when
matching radii in the interactive shape creation modes.
 Pick Face Center (A) : Double-click on a planar face of the model. The center
point of this face will be selected.
 Pick Point on Face (O): Double-click on a point on the model to select it.
 Picks
 Pick Points, Edges, or Faces (S) : Double-click close to an edge, an end
point of an edge, or a face. The corresponding item will be selected.
 Pick Face (F) : Double-click on a face of the model to select it.
 Pick Face Chain (Shift+F): Double-click on a face of the model. This function
will automatically select all faces connected to the selected face. The selection
stops at previously picked edges, if any.
 Pick Similar Faces (Ctrl+Shift+S) : Pick face or faces which are similar to
already picked face or faces. If the number of picked faces is less than ten, this
option will pick faces similar to already picked faces. If the number of picked faces
is more than ten, this option will enable the interactive pick mode. Hovering with
the mouse over a face, will highlight all other similar faces in that shape, double-
click will select all highlighted faces.
 Pick Faces by Rectangle Selection (Ctrl+F): Pick all faces within a selected
area. Start to drag a rectangle containing all faces of solids you want to pick. Only
faces are selected that are completely within the given rectangle. You may
change this behavior by using the Shift-Key during dragging the rectangle. Now
every face that is touched by the rectangle will be selected. This feature is limited
to the visible parts of faces.
 Pick Edge (E) : Double-click on an edge of the model to select it.
 Pick Edge Chain (Shift+E): Double-click on an edge of the model. If the selected
edge is a free edge, a connected chain of free edges will be selected. If the
selected edge is connected to two faces, a dialog box will appear in which you
can specify which one of the two possible edge chains bounding the faces will be

35
 selected. In both cases, the selection chain stops at previously picked points, if
any.
 Pick Blend, Pick Protrusion and Pick Depression: Allows selection of multiple
faces at once which represent an individual feature:

Pick Blend Pick Protrusion Pick Depression

The pick operations for selecting points from the model are also valid in the interactive
shape creation modes. Here, whenever you are requested to double-click in order to
enter the next point, you may alternatively enter the pick mode. After leaving this mode,
the picked point will be taken as the next point for the shape creation.

Previously picked points, edges or faces can be cleared by selecting Modeling: Picks 
Clear Picks (D).

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Chamfer and Blend Edges
One of the most common applications for picked edges is the chamfer and blend edge
operation. We assume you have created a brick and selected some of its edges, as
shown in the following picture:

Now you can perform a chamfer edge operation by choosing Modeling: Tools  Blend
 Chamfer Edges . In the following dialog box, you can specify the width of the
chamfer. The structure should look similar to the one depicted below:

Alternatively, you can perform a blend edges operation by choosing Modeling: Tools 
Blend  Blend Edges . In the following dialog box, you can specify the radius of the
blend. The result should look similar to the following picture:

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 Extrude, Rotate and Loft Faces
The chamfer and blend tools are common operations on picked edges. Extrude, rotate
and loft operations are equally typical construction tools for use on picked faces. In the
following, we assume an existing cylinder with a picked top face:
Top face

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Now we can extrude this face by simply selecting Modeling: Shapes  Extrusions 
Extrude . When a planar or cylindrical face is picked before this tool is activated, the
extrusion refers to the picked face, and the dialog box opens immediately:

If no face is picked in advance, an interactive mode will be entered in which you can
define polygon points for the extrusion profile. However, in this example you should enter
a height and click the OK button. Finally, your structure should look as follows:

37
 The extrusion tool has created a second shape by extruding the picked face. For the
rotation, you should start with the same basic geometry as before:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The rotation tool requires the input of both a rotation axis and a picked face. The rotation
axis can be a linear edge picked from the model or a numerically specified edge. In this
example, you should specify the edge by selecting the Modeling: Picks  Pick Edge
from Coordinates . Afterwards you will be requested to pick two points on the drawing
plane to define the edge. Please select two points similar to those in the following picture:

In the numerical edge dialog box, click the OK button to store the edge. Afterward you
can activate the rotate face tool by selecting Modeling: Shapes  Extrusions  Rotate
.

38
 The previously selected rotation axis is automatically projected into the face’s plane
(blue vector), and the rotation tool dialog box opens immediately. In this dialog box, you
can specify an Angle (e.g. 90 degrees) and click OK. The final shape should look as
follows:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Note that the rotate tool enters an interactive polygon definition mode similar to the one
in the extrude tool if no face is picked before the tool is activated.

39
 One of the more advanced operations is generating lofts between picked faces. To
practice, construct the following model by defining a cylinder (e.g. radius=5, height=3)
and transforming it along its axis by a certain translation (e.g. (0, 0, 8)) using the Copy
option:

Transformed
cylinder

Next select the transformed cylinder and shrink it by applying a scaling transformation
along the x- and y-axes by 0.5 while keeping the z-scale at 1.0:

Face A

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Face B

Now pick the adjacent top and bottom faces of the two cylinders as shown above.
Afterward you can activate the loft tool by selecting Modeling: Shapes  Extrusions 
Loft.

In the following dialog box you can set the smoothness to a reasonable value and click
the Preview button to get an impression of the shape. Drag the Smoothness slider such
that the shape has a relatively smooth transition between the two picked faces before
clicking OK.

Note: You should select the corresponding shape before picking its face. Since all other
shapes become transparent, it is easier to pick the desired face even “through” other
shapes.

40
 After pressing the OK button, your model should look like the following picture (note that
the actual form of the lofted shape depends on the setting of the smoothness parameter).

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Face A

Face B

Finally, add all shapes together by selecting all three (holding down the Ctrl key) and
using the Modeling: Tools  Boolean  Add (+) operation. Now, pick the two planar
top and bottom faces of the shape. Next, select the shape by double-clicking on it and
initiate the Modeling: Tools  Shape Tools  Shell Solid or Thicken Sheet tool.

Note that the shell command will be accessible only if you select a shape.

In the dialog box, you can specify a Thickness (e.g. 0.3) and click the OK button. Now,

41
 your model should look similar to the following picture:

Picking the two faces before entering the shell operation has the effect that the selected
faces will later be openings in the shelled structure. If no faces are selected, the structure
will be shelled to form a hollow solid.

Local Coordinate Systems

The ability to create local coordinate systems adds a great deal of flexibility to the
modeler. In the above sections we described how to create simple shapes that are

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

aligned with the axes of a global fixed coordinate system.

The aim of a local coordinate system is to allow the easy definition of shapes even when
they are not aligned with the global coordinate system. The local coordinate system
consists of three coordinate axes. In contrast to the global x-, y-, and z-axes, these axes
are called as the u-, v-, and w-axes, respectively. The local coordinate system is also
known as the Working Coordinate System (WCS).

Either the local or the global coordinate system is active at any time. Any geometry data
entered is stored in the currently active coordinate system. You may activate or
deactivate the local coordinate system with Modeling: WCS  Local WCS or from
the WCS context menu item. This toggles the local coordinate system on or off.

The most important operations on the local coordinate system are accessible directly in
the Modeling tab:

Toggle WCS Transform Align WCS Fix WCS

on or off WCS

The most common way to define the orientation of a local coordinate system is by
selecting Modeling: WCS  Align WCS (W) .

Hovering over the highlighted points, edges, or faces shows a preview of the new WCS.
This WCS can be activated by double-clicking on the highlighted item:

42
 Another option is to pick points, edges, or faces of the model in advance and align the
WCS with these items by selecting Modeling: WCS  Align WCS (W) :

 When a point is selected, the origin of the local coordinate system is moved to this
point.
 When three points are selected, the u/v plane of the WCS can be aligned with the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

plane defined by these points. Additionally this function will move the origin of the
WCS onto the first selected point.
 When an edge is selected, the u-axis of the WCS may be oriented such that it
becomes parallel to the selected edge.
 Finally, a planar face can be selected with which the u/v plane of the WCS can be
aligned.

Together with the available shortcut keys for the pick mode, this is the most efficient way
to change the location and orientation of the WCS.

Besides aligning the WCS with items selected from the model, there are two more ways
to define the local coordinate system:

 Define local coordinate system parameters directly (Modeling: WCS  Local

WCS  Local Coordinate System Properties): In this dialog box, you may enter
the origin and the orientation of the w-axis (denoted as Normal) and the u-axis
directly.
 Transform local coordinate system (Modeling: WCS  Transform WCS ): In
this dialog box, you can translate the origin of the local coordinate system by a
specified translation vector. You can also rotate the local coordinate system around
one of its axes by a specified rotation angle.

The second option is especially powerful when combined with the pick alignment options
described above.

The following example should give you an idea of what can be done by efficiently using
local coordinate system specifications:

The first step is to create a brick in global coordinates. Then rotate the brick around the
z-axis by 30 degrees using the transform dialog box:

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 1) 2)

Next activate the local coordinate system, and align it first with the top face of the brick
and then with one of the corner points on the top face:

3) 4)

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Now align the coordinate system with one of the edges of the brick’s top face by rotating
the coordinate system 300 degrees around its w-axis, and then rotate the coordinate
system 30 degrees around its v-axis:

5) 6)

Finally create a new cylinder in the local coordinate system. As soon as you have defined
the cylinder, a dialog box will open asking for the Boolean combination of the two
intersecting shapes. In this dialog box, choose Add both shapes and click OK:

44
 7)

The History List

Up to now, you have created some basic structures and performed some geometric
transformations. You can always correct mistakes made during the structure generation
by using Undo from the Quick Access toolbar to undo the most recent construction
step.

However, sometimes it may become necessary to return to a previous step in the

structure generation to change, delete, or insert some operations. This typical task is
supported via the “History List". All relevant structural modifications are recorded in a list
that can be opened by choosing Modeling: Edit  History List .

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

In the following, we assume you have created a structure consisting of a brick and a
cylinder as shown above. In this case, the history list will look like in the following picture:

The list shows all previous operations in chronological order. The markerindicates the
current position of the structure creation in the history list. You may restore the structure
creation to any step in the history list by selecting the corresponding line and clicking the
Run to button. Clicking the Step button will take you to the next step in the history list.
By using the Continue button, the history list is processed to the end. You can now
experiment a bit with this feature.

Clicking the Update button completely regenerates the structure. The Edit button allows
you to perform changes to previous operations. In this case, select the “rotate wcs” line
and click the Edit button. The following dialog box will appear:

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 The text in this box is the macro language command that corresponds to the task
performed in the currently selected history step. Here, the first argument “v” is the
rotation axis while the second argument specifies the rotation angle. Try to change the
rotation angle to 10 degrees and click the OK button. Back in the history list, click the
Update button to regenerate the structure. Your structure should now look similar to the
following picture:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

In general, the history functionality allows you to perform changes to the model quickly
and easily without having to re-enter the modified structure. However, some care has to
be taken when history items are altered since this may result in strong topological
changes appearing in the model. This often happens when some history items are
deleted or new items are inserted. In such cases, pick operations might select incorrect
points, edges, or faces (sometimes because the originally picked items no longer exist).

As an example, assume you have deleted the creation of the first brick from the history
list. In this case, the pick of the brick’s top face in order to align the WCS with this face
will obviously fail.

In such cases, we recommend you work through the history list from the beginning in
order to properly adjust the picks when needed. Even in this extreme case, the work
needed to change the model takes much less effort than completely re-entering the
model. Please refer to the online documentation for more details.

The History Tree

The History Tree is another powerful tool to edit an already existing object. Assume that
you want to change the radius of the cylinder in the previous example. One way to do

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 this would be to open the complete history list and edit the history step where the cylinder
was created. However, you can also select the corresponding shape by double-clicking
it in the navigation tree and then choosing Modeling: Edit  Properties or Properties
from the context menu.

A dialog box (the History Tree) will open, showing the construction history of the selected
shape:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

You can now simply click the “Define cylinder” item. As soon as you have selected an
editable operation from the History Tree, the corresponding structure element will be
highlighted in the main view. Please note that subsequent transformations will not be
considered by this highlighting functionality.

After clicking the Edit button in the History Tree dialog box, the cylinder creation dialog
box will open, showing the parameters of the cylinder:

You can now alter the cylinder radius and click the Preview button. You will get an
impression of how the structural changes will influence your model. If you are happy with
the result, click the OK button to update the structure.

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 Finally, your model should look as follows:

Play around a little with the History Tree to get an idea of what changes can be applied
to the existing structure using this functionality. Note that subsequent transformations
will not be visualized by the Preview option in the shape dialog box but will be applied
when you update the model.

Curve Creation
The previous chapters showed how a model can be generated from 3D primitives and
how they can be modified by using powerful operations such as blending, lofting,

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

shelling, etc.

Another complex shape generation option is based on curves. A curve is typically a 2D

line drawn on the drawing plane. After a curve is defined, it can be used for more
advanced modeling operations.

The following explanations give you only a basic introduction to the way curve modeling
works. A detailed description of all possibilities would exceed the scope of this
document. Please refer to the online documentation for more information.

Before proceeding with the actual curve creation, use File: New and Recent and press
on the Antenna – Waveguide template to start with a new and empty project.

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 Use Modeling: Curves  Curves  Rectangle to create a new curve item and draw
a rectangle on the working plane. Creating curve items is similar to constructing solid
primitives.

Your result should look as follows:

Next, draw a circle on the drawing plane, which overlaps with the rectangle. Activate the

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

circle creation by choosing Modeling: Curves  Curves  Circle . Afterward, your
screen should look similar to the following:

circle1

rectangle1

As a result of the previous steps, you now have two curve items – rectangle1 and circle1
– in a subfolder named curve1. The navigation tree reflects this relationship.

Now trim both curve items so that the resulting curve contains only the outlines of both
curve items. First, select one of the curve items, e.g. rectangle1 (either in the navigation
tree or by double-clicking on it in the main view). Afterward activate the Trim Curves
operation by choosing Modeling: Curves  Curves  Trim Curves .

You will be prompted to select the item to be trimmed with the rectangle. Select the circle
and confirm your selection by pressing the Return key.

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 The next step will prompt you to double-click on any curve segments you wish to delete
from the model. When you move the mouse across the screen, all selectable curve
segments at the mouse location will be highlighted. You should now delete two
segments so that the result will look similar to the following picture. Press Return to
complete the operation.

Now you can activate the local coordinate system and rotate it around its u-axis. Your
model should look as follows:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The next action is to draw an open polygon consisting of three points on the drawing
plane by using Modeling: Curves  Curves  Polygon .

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 Point
1
Point
2

Point
3
Based on these two disjoint curves, you can create a solid using the sweep curves operation, which can be
initiated by choosing Modeling: Shapes  Sweep Curve :

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

As soon as this operation is activated, you will be prompted to select the profile curve.
Double-click on the curve consisting of the rectangle and the circle.

After the profile is selected and confirmed by pressing Return key, you will be requested
to double-click on the path curve given by the polygon’s curve here. After you close the
resulting dialog box by clicking OK, the final shape should look as follows:

This short introduction into curve modeling provides a very basic understanding of these
powerful structure drawing tools. You should experiment a little with the curve modeling
features to become more familiar with this kind of structure modeling. Please refer to the
online documentation for more details.

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 Trace Creation
The next section focuses on a rather tedious part of model creation: the definition of
conducting traces. Some structures (e.g. printed circuit boards) require many traces,
which often entail many time-consuming construction steps. A trace tool simplifies the
creation of solid traces with finite width and thickness based on the definition of curves.

To practice using this powerful tool, draw an open but otherwise continuous curve such
as the following by selecting Modeling: Curves  Curves  Spline :

Based on this curve, you can now easily create a trace by choosing Modeling: Shapes

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

 Trace from Curve . As soon as this operation is activated, you will be prompted to
select the trace’s curve.

After you double-click on the previously defined curve, the following dialog box will open:

In this dialog box, you can specify the metallization Thickness and the Width of the trace.
You can also specify whether the trace should have rounded caps (instead of
rectangular caps) at the start or end of the trace’s path. If Delete Curve is checked, the
original curve will be deleted by the create trace operation.

The resulting trace might look as follows (rounded cap at the end of the trace only):

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 Bond Wire Creation
Since bond wires are frequently used structure elements, a dedicated bond wire tool is
available. The easiest way to define a bond wire between two points is to pick those
points first as shown in the following picture:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Once the points are picked, you can open the bond wire dialog box by choosing
Modeling: Shapes  Bond wire .

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 You can also open the dialog box without having picked any points. In this case, you

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

may specify the coordinates of the bond wire’s start and end points numerically.

The type of the bond wire can be spline, JEDEC4, or JEDEC5. The location of the
spline’s maximum can be specified whereas the other two models accept standardized
parameters.

The following picture shows the three different types of bond wires:

Spline JEDEC4 JEDEC5

Please refer to the online documentation for more information about JEDEC parameters.

You may also assign a finite radius to the wire by specifying a non-zero entry in the
Radius field. The wire will still be modeled as infinitely thin, but the solver module will
apply a special model to the wire in order to consider the finite radius. Please note, that
solvers based on a tetrahedral mesh do not support this feature.

In addition to this option of modeling the bond wire as an infinitely thin wire, the dialog
box also supports the creation of solid bond wires by offering the Solid wire model option.
As for every other solid, a solid bond wire needs to have a material assigned to it.

The Termination of the bond wire can be set to any one of the following types:

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  Natural: The wire will be a solid tube with perpendicular cuts at the end.
 Rounded: The wire will be terminated by a part of a sphere.
 Extended: This is the most powerful option. In this case, the software detects
the plane in which the bond wire ends. Then the wire extends toward this plane
in order to ensure an optimal connection with this plane.

The following picture illustrates the three types of termination:

Natural Rounded Extended

Local Modifications
So far, we have focused on how to change a structure that has been entirely constructed
within the built-in modeler. However, sometimes the model will consist of an imported
geometry for which no information about the modeling process is available.

This section will illustrate that, even in these cases, the structure can be parameterized
using Local Modifications. To practice using these advanced modeling tools, go ahead
and create a model similar to the following image (a brick combined with a cylinder and

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

a chamfer operation applied to the cylinder’s top edge):

In this structure you should first use the pick face tools in order to select the chamfer’s
face (Modeling: Picks  Picks ). Then you can initiate the Remove Feature command
by selecting Modeling: Tools  Modify Locally  Remove Feature (Ctrl+R).
Chamfer’s
face

Remove
Feature

As you can see, the gap produced by simply removing the face will automatically be
closed by the Remove Feature operation. Afterward, pick the cylindrical face and select
the Modeling: Tools  Modify Locally command. A dialog box will open where you
can modify the offset of the cylindrical face.

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 This can be done either by dragging the yellow arrow or by modifying the Offset edit field
in the dialog box. The yellow arrow appears when the mouse is near the affected face.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Press Apply to confirm the change. Now you can select the top face and modify the
height of the cylinder by dragging the yellow arrow again:

After pressing the Apply button, the model finally looks like this:

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 The local modifications are powerful modeling operations. However, the modifications
will fail if there is no unique solution for closing the gaps. You should play around a bit
with these tools to get an impression of what is possible.

Next Steps
Now you are familiar with the general user interface and the 3D modeling capabilities of
the software package. Before starting with the following chapter, which is about post-
processing, we recommend that you read the dedicated manual of the module, which is
appropriate for your area of application.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

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 Chapter 5 – Post-Processing
Once a simulation is completed, result data will typically be shown in the navigation tree.
CST Studio Suite contains powerful post-processing capabilities, which include various
options for visualizing the results and calculating secondary quantities. Please refer to
the module specific documentation and the online help system for more information.

Parametric Result Storage

In order to reduce the effort required for obtaining typical parametric results, all zero and
one dimensional data points / result curves are stored parametrically by default. In the
following, we will introduce this functionality briefly. Please refer to the online
documentation for more information.

For the following explanations, we assume that your model has a parameter “offset’”
defined and that you have performed multiple simulations for different values of this
parameter. Furthermore, the examples show the results of an S-Parameter computation
using CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, but the concept is the same for all other solvers and
modules.

Once a computation has finished, selecting a result from the navigation tree will display
the corresponding result curves for the current parameter values:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Further results from all previously calculated parameter values are summarized in the
Result Navigator window:

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 Here you can change the parametric result selection to plot more results within the
current result view:

The Result Navigator offers an advanced filtering functionality to reduce the number of
displayed results based on desired parameter values or plotted 0D results. Changing
the selection in the navigation tree allows you to inspect other results based on the active
parameter combination selection.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The parametric plotting functionality allows for convenient access of typical parametric
results without the need for further setting up more advanced post-processing
operations. The automatically stored parametric results can also be used directly for
optimizations. Please refer to the online documentation for more information.

Another very powerful feature, which is common to all modules of CST Studio Suite is
the concept of Post-Processing Templates which will be introduced in the following
sections.

Post-Processing Templates
The Post-Processing Templates allow for flexible processing of 2D/3D Fields, 1D
Signals, or scalar values (0D Results).

All defined Post-Processing Templates are evaluated after every calculation during
parametric sweeps and optimizations. The calculated data is then stored parametrically
to allow for flexible access to the entire data set.

Typical examples for Post-Processing Templates are 1D results such as the following:

 Z, Y versus frequency
 Farfield 1D plots at a single frequency
 Broadband farfield values
 Group delay times
 1D Plots of 2D/3D results along arbitrary curves
 FFT of existing time signals
 Exchange excitations and TDR functionality
 Mixture of any of these 1D-results using an analytic formula
 and more…

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 or 0D results (single real scalar values):

 Min, max, mean, integral, and other values of existing 1D-results

 Q-values, energies, losses, coupling coefficients of eigenmodes
 Curve-, face-, or volume integrals of 2D/3D results
 Mixture of any of these 0D-results using an analytic formula
 and more…

The following sections introduce the framework of this feature and present its application
with an example.

Framework to set up Result Templates

The following picture shows the template-based post-processing dialog box, which can
be opened by choosing Post-Processing: Result Templates  Template Based Post-
Processing (Shortcut Shift+P):

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The list contains the currently defined sequence of post-processing tasks. You can add
new tasks to the list by first selecting a template group and then selecting a particular
item from the drop-down list below. The Type field indicates whether the result of a post-
processing task is a one-dimensional curve (1D) or a single data point (0D).

You can easily rename a task by clicking on the corresponding line and directly changing
its name in the list.

If the currently selected task provides a settings dialog box, pressing the Settings button
will open that box and allow you to change template parameters.

Clicking the Duplicate button creates a copy of the currently selected item. Some post-
processing operations require many settings. However, most of the time one is only
interested in investigating the results, which depend on varying parameters, leaving
most of the settings unchanged. In such a case, instead of repeatedly entering all
settings, you may simply duplicate an existing entry and modify the settings of interest
afterwards.

The Evaluate button executes the currently selected task whereas the Evaluate All
button executes the entire list starting from the beginning.

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 All Post-Processing Templates are automatically processed after each solver run,
including parametric sweeps and optimizations. The execution takes place in the order
shown in the list. You may need to change the order (up / down arrow buttons),
especially if tasks refer to previously obtained data.

The template based post-processing results are managed as follows:

 1D results are shown in the navigation tree under Tables  1D Results …

 0D results are shown in the navigation tree under Tables  0D Results …
Additionally, the latest result value is shown in the Value column of the task list.
 Templates with a “-“ sign in front of their name do not add useful results to the
navigation tree’s Tables folder, but store their results at other locations. Please
refer to the corresponding template’s description for more information.

Pre-Loaded Post-Processing Templates

The standard installation includes an extensive list of pre-loaded Post-Processing
Templates. They can be mainly categorized as follows:

1. Load data into the post-processing chain.

2. Calculate secondary quantities.
3. Extract data from other post-processing results.

Besides operations on S-parameters, a variety of pre-loaded Post-Processing

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Templates deal with the extraction of 1D or 0D data from fields (including farfields, etc.).

We recommend you to browse through the list of available templates in the online help
system to get an overview of what is already available. Each of the Post-Processing
Template’s Settings dialog boxes contains a Help button, which will open an online help
page providing more information.

Since all Post-Processing Templates are written in the VBA programming language, you
can add your own specific post-processing operations. Please refer to the online
documentation or contact technical support for more information.

Example for Post-Processing Templates

The following example shows a typical Post-Processing Template for CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO. However, even if you are using another module, we still
recommend reading through this example since it describes general procedures
common to all modules.

Let us assume that you have simulated a device and that you want to calculate the
accepted averaged power 0.5*(1-|S11|^2) as well. You can take any example that
calculates S-parameters.

Please note that the accepted averaged power is available right away in the navigation
tree NT  1D Results  Power  Excitation [1]  Power Accepted. Although there is
no actual need for Post-Processing Templates here, it can still serve as a good example
to illustrate the principle workflow.

You should select the General 1D template group from the upper drop-down list in the
dialog box. Once a particular group is selected, the lower drop-down list shows all

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 available post-processing tasks within this group. Now we can calculate the accepted
averaged power 0.5*(1-|S11|^2) by selecting the Mix Template Results template:

Selecting this task from the list opens the following window, where arbitrary 1D results
can be combined using VBA expressions, several predefined mathematical functions
and physical constants (cf. the Function List button). If we select A as a placeholder for

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

the complex S11 result, our expression would be 0.5*(1-abs(A)^2).

Please note that this and some other result templates allow selecting primary result
curves directly without the need for loading them into the post-processing system
beforehand.

Back in the Post-Processing Template dialog box, you can set the name of the newly
created task by clicking on the corresponding item and changing its name to Accepted

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 Power. Clicking the button Evaluate will immediately add the corresponding result to the
navigation tree’s Tables folder:
Evaluate:

You can change the definition of any task by selecting the corresponding line and
clicking on Settings.

So far, you have seen how Post-Processing Templates can be a very flexible and
powerful tool to perform complex post-processing tasks. However, many useful results

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

will be calculated and stored in a parametric way automatically, so please check what is
available before setting up Post-Processing Templates.

Once defined, a set of Post-Processing Templates will always be executed right after an
individual simulation run is completed. This functionality provides an efficient way to
automate post-processing steps. This automation becomes most useful when running
parametric sweeps or optimizations.

Let us now assume that we have a model where “offset” is one of the structure’s
parameters. Each solver dialog box contains buttons named Optimizer and Par. Sweep:

In our example, we assume that the Accepted Power calculation was defined as
described above. Once a Parameter Sweep is performed, the Accepted Power results

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 can be visualized as a function of the structure’s parameters by selecting the
corresponding template result:

Let us now assume that you want to optimize the Accepted Power averaged over the
entire simulation frequency band. This can be achieved by adding a Post-Processing
Template calculating the mean value of the Accepted Power. Therefore, switch to the
General 1D template group again and select the task 0D or 1D Result from 1D Result
(Rescale, Derivation, etc.):

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

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 This will open the corresponding Post-Processing Template’s settings dialog box:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

The results of 0D Post-Processing Templates are also written to the Tables folder in the
navigation tree after pressing the Evaluate button. Once the evaluation of a 0D Post-
Processing Template is performed, the latest results are shown directly in the task list’s
Value column:

The same 0D Post-Processing Templates that we used for parametric sweeps can be
used as goal definitions for the optimizer. The ability to combine various templates
together provides a very powerful way to define even complex post-processing tasks,
which in turn allows for very flexible goal setups.

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 The following picture shows an example of such a 0D Result optimizer goal definition
based on Post-Processing Templates. Choose Home: Simulation  Optimizer to access
the optimizer:

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

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 Chapter 6 – Finding Further Information
After carefully reading the Getting Started manuals, you should have some idea of how
to use the CST Studio Suite modules efficiently for your own applications. However, you
may have additional questions once you start creating your own models. In this chapter,
we will give you an overview of the available documentation and help systems.

Online Help System

The online help system should generally be your primary source of information. You can
access the help system’s overview page at any time by selecting File: Help  Help
Contents or simply by clicking on the icon on the right hand side of the Ribbon bar.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Please note: By default the CST Studio Suite Help browser shows the help contents.
By activating File: Options > Preferences > General settings > Use default browser to
view help contents you can use your system Web browser. Currently Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are compatible.

The help system’s overview page contains a collection of useful links, making it easy to
access frequently requested information. The system also features a powerful full text
search function, which provides fast access to the help system’s extensive content.

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 The help system’s content is organized into a hierarchical structure of books and pages,
which can be easily accessed from within the navigation tree. In each of the dialog boxes
there is a specific Help button that directly opens the corresponding manual page.
Additionally the F1 key gives some context sensitive help when a particular mode is
active. For instance, by pressing the F1 key while a basic shape generation mode is
active, you can obtain some information about the definition of shapes and possible
actions.

If no specific information is available, pressing the F1 key will open an overview page
from which you may navigate through the help system.

Tutorials and Examples

The component library provides tutorials and examples, which are generally your first
source of information when trying to solve a particular problem. See also the explanation
given when following the Tutorials and Examples Overview link on the online help
system’s start page. We recommend that you browse through the list of all available
tutorials and examples and choose the one closest to your application.

Technical Support
Before contacting Technical Support, you should check the online help system. If this
does not help to solve your problem, you find additional information in the Knowledge
Base and obtain general product support at 3DS.com/support.

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Macro Language Documentation
More information concerning the built-in macro language for a particular module can be
accessed from within the online help system’s VBA book: Automation and Scripting >
Visual Basic (VBA). The macro language’s documentation consists of four parts:

 An overview and a general description of the macro language.

 A description of all specific macro language extensions.
 A syntax reference of the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) compatible macro
language.
 A collection macro examples.

History of Changes
An overview of important changes in the latest version of the software can be obtained
by following the What’s New in this Version link on the help system’s main page or
from the File: Help backstage page. Since there are many new features in each new
version, we suggest that you browse through these lists even if you are already familiar
with one of the previous releases.

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 Appendix – List of Shortcut Keys
The following list gives an overview of available shortcut keys that may be very useful,
especially for advanced users.

General Shortcut Keys

Alt Shows the key tips and enables to navigate through the Ribbon by
using the keyboard
F1 Open context sensitive help
F2 Rename the currently selected shape in the navigation tree
F5 Update 1D results (while solver is running only)
Ctrl+F5 Start simulation
F7 Update parametric changes
F8 Open the component library
Ctrl+O Open new project file in current modeler window
Ctrl+N Switch to File: New and Recent
Ctrl+S Save current project
Delete Delete the currently selected object
Space Reset view to contents
Shift+Space Reset view to selection

Shortcut Keys Available in 3D Modeling View

You can activate this view by clicking on it with the left mouse button.

Esc Cancel currently active mode

Alt+V Open view options dialog box
Ctrl+C Copy the currently displayed result curves to clipboard

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Ctrl+Alt+C Copy the active view to clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste result curves from clipboard into the active result curve plot
Alt+O Toggle from outline off to colored and black outline
Alt+W Toggle working plane visualization on or off
Ctrl+A Toggle axis view on or off
Ctrl+W Toggle wireframe mode on or off
Shift+A Toggle field plot animation on or off
Shift+C Activate/deactivate cutting plane view
Shift+T Add to Report
x If the cutting plane view is active, the cut is made on the x-plane
y If the cutting plane view is active, the cut is made on the y-plane
z If the cutting plane view is active, the cut is made on the z-plane
Tab Open the numerical coordinate input box (also available in 1D plots
for axis marker positioning)
Shift+Tab Open the numerical coordinate input box with zero defaults
Numpad-(5) Front view
Numpad-(3) Back view
Numpad-(4) Left view
Numpad-(6) Right view
Numpad-(8) Top view
Numpad-(2) Bottom view
Numpad-(1) Nearest axis view
Numpad-(0) Perspective view
Cursor-Left Decrement phase (2D/3D plots), move axis marker left (1D plots)
Cursor-Right Increment phase (2D/3D plots), move axis marker right (1D plots)
Cursor-Up Move cutplane or meshplane in positive normal direction
Cursor-Down Move cutplane or meshplane in opposite normal direction
Page-Up Increase frequency for visualization of frequency dependent port
modes
Page-Down Decrease frequency for visualization of frequency dependent port
modes
Alt+X Select vector component X (2D/3D Plot)
Alt+Y Select vector component Y (2D/3D Plot)
Alt+Z Select vector component Z (2D/3D Plot)
Alt+A Select vector component Abs (2D/3D Plot)
Alt+N Select vector component Normal (2D/3D Plot)
Alt+T Select vector component Tangential (2D/3D Plot)
Ctrl+H Hide selected shape or object
Ctrl+Shift+H Show selected shape or object
Ctrl+U Show all
W Align the WCS with a point, edge or face

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 Shift+U Rotate the WCS around its u-axis by 90 degrees
Shift+V Rotate the WCS around its v-axis by 90 degrees
Shift+W Rotate the WCS around its w-axis by 90 degrees
S Pick point, edge or face
P Pick point
M Pick edge midpoint
A Pick face center
R Pick point on circle
C Pick circle center
E Pick edge
F Pick face
Ctrl+F Pick faces by rectangle selection
Ctrl+Shift+S Pick similar faces
Shift+E Pick edge chain
Shift+F Pick face chain
D Clear picks
Ctrl+E Open history tree for selected shape
Ctrl+T Transform selected shape
Ctrl+Shift+A Align selected shape
Ctrl+R Remove the selected feature
Ctrl+Shift+D Delete the selected face
Ctrl+Shift+C Cover the selected edges
Backspace Delete previous point in generation of basic shapes.
+ Start Boolean add operation for selected shape
- Start Boolean subtract operation for selected shape
* Start Boolean intersect operation for selected shape, start trim
curves operation for selected curve
 Start Boolean insert operation for selected shape
% Start Boolean imprint operation for selected shape
# Start trim curve operation for selected curve

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Return Perform Boolean operation (if active)
Shift+P Open result template post-processing dialog box
Mouse Wheel Dynamic zoom view. By default the mouse wheel performs a zoom
operation around the current mouse pointer location. Optionally, by
pressing the Ctrl key the origin for this operation is located in the
center of the screen.

The following shortcuts are active when the mouse is dragged while pressing the left
mouse button:
Shift Restrict mouse movement along one coordinate axis (in shape
creation) or Planar rotate view (otherwise)
Ctrl Rotate view
Shift+Ctrl Pan view

Shortcut Keys Available in Edit Fields

Ctrl+C Copy selected text to clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste clipboard to current marker’s position
Ctrl+X Cut selected text
Ctrl+Z Undo last editing operation

Shortcut Keys Available in Schematic View

Ctrl+X Cut selected component/text
Ctrl+C Copy selected component/text into clipboard
Ctrl+Alt+C Copy the active view to clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste clipboard into drawing/to current marker’s position
Ctrl+Z Undo last editing operation
Ctrl+Y Redo previously undone operation
Ctrl+A Select all
Ctrl+E Open property dialog of selected component
Esc Cancel currently active mode (and return to selection mode)
Ctrl+Alt+Z Activate zoom mode
Ctrl+Alt+P Activate panning mode
Space Reset view
Shift+Space Reset view to selection
Shift+T Add to Report
Ctrl+Alt+Mouse Zoom in/out (without switching to zooming mode)
wheel
Ctrl+Shift Pan (without switching to panning mode)

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 Ctrl+G Switch grid on or off
A Activate the insertion mode for a connection label
C Activate the insertion mode for a connector
G Activate the insertion mode for a ground element
O Activate the insertion mode for a probe
P Activate the insertion mode for an external port
Shift+R Activate the insertion mode for a resistor
Shift+L Activate the insertion mode for an inductor
Shift+C Activate the insertion mode for a capacitor
D Changes the direction of the selected probe
Left Scroll to the left if no components are selected, otherwise move the
selected components to the left
Right Scroll to the right if no components are selected, otherwise move the
selected components to the right
Up Scroll up if no components are selected, otherwise move up the selected
components
Down Scroll down if no components are selected, otherwise move down the
selected components
Page Up Scroll up page by page
Page Down Scroll down page by page

L Rotate left the selected components

R Rotate right the selected components
Ctrl+Alt+H Flip the selected components horizontally
Ctrl+Alt+V Flip the selected components vertically
Ctrl+Left Select the component(s) to the selected component's left
Ctrl+Right Select the component(s) to the selected component's right
Ctrl+Up Select the component(s) to the selected component's top
Ctrl+Down Select the component(s) to the selected component's bottom

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Shift+P Open result template post-processing dialog box

Shortcut Keys Available in Assembly View

Esc Cancel currently active mode
Alt + V Open the view options dialog box
Alt + O Toggle between outline off and black outline
Shift + C Activate cutting plane view
A Align
B Show bounding box
D Clear picks
E Edit part
P Pick point
R Rotate part
T Translate part
Ctrl+T Absolute transform
X If the cutting plane view is activated the cut is made in the x-plane
Y If the cutting plane view is activated the cut is made in the y-plane
Z If the cutting plane view is activated the cut is made in the z-plane
Tab Toggle between active modes
Shift+Tab Toggle between active modes
Left Toggle between active modes
Right Toggle between active modes
Up Toggle between active modes
Down Toggle between active modes
Numpad-(5) Front view
Numpad-(3) Back view
Numpad-(4) Left view
Numpad-(6) Right view
Numpad-(8) Top view
Numpad-(2) Bottom view
Numpad-(1) Snap to closest aligned view
Numpad-(0) Perspective view
Backspace Go back to previous operation
Return Perform operation
Mouse-Wheel Dynamic zoom around center or mouse position (according to mouse
settings in Options - Preferences)
Ctrl+Mouse- Dynamic zoom around center or mouse position (according to mouse
Wheel settings in Options - Preferences)

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 The following shortcuts are active when the mouse is dragged while pressing the left
mouse button:
Shift Planar rotate view
Ctrl Rotate view
Shift+Ctrl Pan view

Shortcut Keys Available in VBA Editor

Ctrl+N File new
Ctrl+O File open
Ctrl+S File save
Ctrl+P Print
Ctrl+F Find
F3 Find again
Ctrl+R Replace
Ctrl+Z Undo previous operation
Ctrl+Y Redo previously undone operation
Ctrl+X Cut
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+V Paste
F1 Context help for the word next to the caret position
F5 Run macro
ESC Pause macro
F7 Debug step to
F9 Debug break
Ctrl+F9 Add watch
Ctrl+Shift+F9 Clear all breaks
Shift+F9 Quick watch
Ctrl+F8 Debug step out

© Dassault Systèmes | CST Studio Suite 2024

Shift+F8 Debug step over
F8 Debug step into

More information about the VBA Language is provided in the Online Help. Especially the
Overview page contains a short, useful introduction to the most important language
elements. In addition, there is also a Python interface for basic project handling and 1D
result access available. Please refer to the Automation and Scripting section in the
Online Help:

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