Several plug-ins are provided on the Abaqus installation disk. You can view these plug-ins by selecting Plug-insAbaqus or Tools from the main menu bar.

Additional plug-ins are provided in the abaqus_plugins\additional_plugins.zip file (see “Installing additional Abaqus/CAE plug-ins,” Section 5.3 of the Abaqus Installation and Licensing Guide). The following directories are created when you extract the files:

• abq_FindNearestNode

• abq_VolumeWeightedAverageTemperature

• abq_PlaneRemainsPlane

For information on how to view a document that describes the plug-in and its usage, see “How can I get information about a plug-in?,” Section 76.3. The following additional plug-ins are available:

• Find Nearest Node

• Volume Weighted Average Temperature

• PRP (Plane Remains Plane)

  • Create Beam Element Normal to Plane

  • Create Parallel Planar Constraint

  • Create Planar Constraint

In addition, you can use the Plug-insAbaqusProcess Automation Portal menu to access the Abaqus Process Automation Portal. The portal provides example plug-ins as well as access to a community of users that fosters the advance of the Abaqus Scripting Interface and the Abaqus GUI Toolkit. You can also write your own plug-ins, as described in the rest of this chapter.