This is the README file for version 1.3 of FElt  - a package for
introductory level finite element analysis.

See the file README.alpha for a basic description of the package.  See
the file CHANGELOG for a detailed description of what the changes are
from the public release of 1.0a and this release of 1.3.  This file will
simply bring you up to speed on a few things.

The most visible changes are to the velvet GUI.  Things should be a lot
easier to use now.  Most of the dialogs have keyboard interfaces (tab,
space, return keys etc.) which is nice and you can keep them up while
you work, which is very nice.  There is also a real file selection
mechanism.  For a nice gee whiz, from FElt/bin/Velvet execute "velvet
+numbers ../../etc/Tests/wrench.flt", solve it and then select plot
stresses from the problem menu ... wait a while and see the new color
stress output (assuming you have an 8-bit screen of course).  The other
post-processing addition is basic displaced structure plotting but this
still needs some work.  Other important, but not so visible, changes
mostly relate to distributed loads on beams and beam3ds and several bug
fixes to beam3d elements (they might even produce the right answers
now!) and constraints (displacement boundary conditions and hinges).
Some of the changes to distributed loads are not backward compatible.
If you have an input file from 1.0a that used direction=x y or z, you'll
have to change it to work with the new version.  Sorry.  The only new
element is a beam element that uses Timoshenko beam theory, but it is
pretty much just for instructional purposes at this stage, see Chapter 9
of the User's Guide and Reference manual on how to add elements to see
what we mean.

The file felt.ps ("FElt User's Guide and Reference Manual") in this
distribution bears little resemblance to the document in the alpha
release.  The manual has tripled in size and includes much better
discussions of elements, algorithms, adding elements and using velvet ... 
lots of cool new figures even.  Most importantly, we did this one in 
LaTeX and produced postscript with dvips so everyone should be able to 
print it :-).  Updated man pages are also available which briefly describe 
each individual application.

For installation instructions see the file INSTALL.  The best way to get
a feel for the package is to use it.  Several examples are provided 
in the etc/Tests/ directory. 

Finally, as you are probably aware, FElt has found a permanent home via
anonymous ftp at cs.ucsd.edu in /pub/felt.  Given this, we are going to
go to a system of smaller releases (e.g., 1.31, 1.32).  In all
probability we will not announce each such revision very broadly.  If
you want to be made aware of such updates, please let us know and we
will put your name on a mailing list whereby we will notify you every
time a new release becomes available.  The latest version (including bug
fix "patchlevel" changes) will always be available on cs.ucsd.edu.  We
will only be uploading major new versions (this one, the one that
finally has dynamic analysis in it, etc.) to sunsite.unc.edu.

As usual, we would like to stress that feedback is always appreciated ... 
we welcome all comments as to usability and functionality.  If you're using
the package please drop us a note and let us know what you think, even if
you've got no complaints whatsoever.  Mail bug reports, comments, hints,
suggestion, complaints, etc. to one of us at the email addresses below.  

Jason Gobat					Darren Atkinson
jgobat@ucsd.edu					atkinson@ucsd.edu
