FormingSuite Knowledge Base

The FlexLM utilities can be downloaded from the FormingSuite downloads page. These files are suitable for Windows based license servers. If you require the FlexLM utilities for a different server, you can download them here. You will also need the FTI server daemon. Please contact Technical Support to request the appropriate server daemon for your OS. 

If your security settings in MS Office are set too high, the macros used to generate the reports may not run. You can solve this problem by setting the security settings to low (in the Tools/Macros menu in older versions or Trust Center settings in newer versions). If your corporate security policy does not permit the above solution, you can also create a security certificate that will permit the FormingSuite® report macro to run even when the security is set higher. 

To create a security certificate to make this a trusted document do the following: 

1. From the Windows Programs menu, choose Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office Tools -> Digital Certificate for VBA Projects. In the Create Digital Certificate dialog type the name you want to display (i.e. “Forming Technologies Inc.”), and click OK. From within Excel, open the Visual Basic Editor (using the tool/macros menu). Choose Tools -> Digital Signature. In the Digital Signature dialog, click Choose. In the Select Certificate dialog, select the certificate to use (created in step 2), and click OK. Click OK again to close the Digital Signature dialog. 
2. Save and Close a workbook.
   Once the code is signed, you may see a Security Warning when you open a workbook again. -> Select the option “Always trust macros from this publisher” and click Enable Macros. 

Now you won’t see the warning every time you open a workbook that is signed. 

If you get an error that says "Programmatic access to Office VBA project is denied" or "Error 1004 - Programmatic access to the Visual Basic Project is not trusted", open the Trust Center in Excel and go to the Macro Settings section. Make sure the "Trust access to the VBA project object model" check box is checked. Close Excel and try making the report again. To access this setting: 

1. Open Excel 
2. From the File menu/Office button, select Options 
3. Select the Trust Center category 
4. Click the Trust Center Settings button in the lower right 
5. Select the Macro Settings category 
6. Check the box marked “Trust access to the VBA project object model” 

In order to run reports in FormingSuite version 2017.0 or newer, you also require Microsoft's XML library. This should be installed by default on most systems, but you can install it manually by downloading it from Microsoft's web site. 

If you are getting ActiveX related errors (like error 429), there is likely an installation issue with FormingSuite. One of the following solutions should resolve this issue: 

1. Try re-installing FormingSuite as Administrator (right click on the installer and select 'Run as Administrator'. 
2. Open a Command Prompt window (Start/Accessories/Command Prompt) as administrator, switch to the root folder (cd\) and type C:\FTI\FormingSuite\regtlibv12 "C:\FTI\FormingSuite\FS.tlb".  If you are using FormingSuite 2013 or newer, do this for FS32.tlb, FS64.tlb, FSTags32.tlb, FSTags64.tlb, FSConsts32.tlb and FSConsts64.tlb. This will register the type libraries that enable Excel to communicate with FormingSuite. Finally, register the FormingSuite executable by typing C:\FTI\FormingSuite\FS.exe /register 
3. An alternate solution is to run the software as administrator and create an excel report once (right click on the FormingSuite icon and select 'Run as Administrator'). This should automatically register the files required for user accounts to create reports. 

Note that the report may fail if Excel/PowerPoint is already open or if there are more than one instances of FormingSuite running on the machine. 

Powerpoint 2013 and 2016 will show the start screen after generating the report. Pressing the escape key will take you to the report, or you can select the report file name from the top of the recent file list to show the report. If powerpoint generates two documents and an error message is produced when a report is run, go into the Trust Center settings and uncheck the check boxes on the Protected View page. 

There are several reasons why this problem may occur:

1. If you don't have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable Package installed on the server, the server daemon (FTI.exe) won't start. You can download the package here. 
2. If you are using an old version of the FTI.exe server daemon or out of date FlexLM utilites, the server may not work. Please contact support for instructions for downloading the latest server license install package. 
3. If the server name or formingid/hostid/dvsn is incorrect or if the license is expired, the server won't start. You can open the license file with a text editor to check these values. If the server name is incorrect, you can change it with the text editor. If the license codes are incorrect, you will require a new license. 
4. There is a security feature in Windows called Data Execution Prevention. In some cases, this feature may prevent the license server from starting. If this is the case, the log file may show an error like "Failed to open socket to lmgrd, Exiting" and/or "EXITING DUE TO SIGNAL 28 Exit reason 5". To avoid this error, do the following: 
   
   1. Stop the license service using LMTOOLS or in Windows Services 
   2. Stop any process in Task Manager named lmgrd.exe or FTI.exe 
   3. Start the DEP program from Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Data Execution Prevention. 
   4. Add an exception for lmgrd.exe and FTI.exe where the license manager is installed 
   5. Restart the service 
5. Make sure that all the licensing files are in the same folder and that you have full control over the folder and the files. Ideally, the folder should be on the same drive as the operating system (typically the C: drive). Some problems have been reported when the folder has the same name as the daemon (FTI) so a different name should be used. 

Licenses for FormingSuite® can either be stored on a server for use over a network, or on individual PCs. To obtain a license, you must send your Forming ID to Forming Technologies or to your local reseller. 

Your Forming ID can be obtained in one of the following ways: 

• At the end of installation, the Forming ID will be displayed and an email is automatically generated. Simply send this email containing the Forming ID to Forming Technologies or to your local reseller and a license file will be emailed back to you. 
• After the software is completely installed, go to your installation folder and run \FormingSuite\Licensing\LICENSE_MANAGER.exe. When the application opens select Get License. This will generate your Forming ID, and an email is automatically generated. Send this email to Forming Technologies or to your local reseller. 

You can fax the Forming ID to Forming Technologies by filling out the form LICINFO.doc. This file can be found in the FormingSuite folder. Once the fax is received, a license will be emailed to you. 

NOTE: In all three cases, a valid email address is required. We strongly recommend using your company email address. 
 
Configuring a Nodelock License 

After receiving the license file, place it in the FormingSuite® Licensing folder (default location is C:\FTI\FormingSuite\Licensing). When Forming Suite is first started, you will see a warning message about your license configuration. After clicking OK, you will be presented with the License Configuration dialogue box asking you to enter a Hostname for Server Licensing or a Filename for Nodelock Licensing. Follow below instruction to set up the nodelock license. 

1. Select Nodelock Filename from the License Configuration dialogue box and click on Browse. 
2. Browse to the folder that contains your license file. Select the license file and click Open. The full path will now appear in the Nodelock Filename textbox as shown below. Note that you can also type in the path name instead of browsing for the file. 
3. In the License Configuration window click OK. A dialogue box will appear informing you that the License Nodelock has been loaded and prompts you to restart FormingSuite®. Click OK. 
4. Restart FormingSuite. 

Configuring a Server License 

Follow these instructions to configure your server license: 

1. Install the latest FTI LICENSE SERVER installation package on your server (you can download it from our website by going to Support > Downloads > FormingSuite after logging in.) 
   Note: You do not need to install the FormingSuite software on your server machine in order to configure your server license. 
   
   
2. Run lmtools.exe and make sure that Configuration using Services is checked. 
3. Click on the Configure Services tab. 
4. Type in the path to the lmgrd.exe file, the license file and the log file, which should be in the FormingSuite® folder. 
5. Ensure that Start Server at Power Up and Use Services is checked. 
6. Click on the Save Service button. 
7. Click on the Start/Stop/Reread tab. Make sure your FLEXlm Service 1 appears. 
8. To start the server, click the Start Server button. 
9. Close LMTOOLS by selecting the X in the upper right hand corner. 
10. Go to the client machine and check Server Hostname and enter the name of the license server. Click OK. 
    
    NOTE: You may have to open the windows firewall to the Flex LM utilities to allow the clients to get the license. The following are the steps to create exceptions in the Windows firewall: 

1. Select Start > Settings > Control Panel. 
2. In the Control Panel window, select Security Centre and then Windows Firewall. 
3. From Windows Firewall, select the Exceptions tab. 
4. Under Exceptions, press the Add Program button and then browse to lmgrd.exe 
5. Also create an exception for FTI.exe 
6. Press the Add Port button and add exceptions for TCP port 27000 (or the port you are using for serving the license). 
7. A dialogue box will appear informing you that the License Server has been loaded and prompts you to restart FormingSuite®. Click OK.
8. Restart FormingSuite®. 

Configuring the LS-DYNA license for FASTIncremental 

The LS-DYNA solver is required for FASTIncremental®. Follow these instructions to configure the license for the solver: 

1. Install the LS-DYNA solver by running the FASTIncremental Solver package (you can download it from our website by going to Support > Downloads > FormingSuite after logging in). The executable will place the LS-DYNA solver in the FormingSuite® root folder (default location is C:\FTI\FormingSuite), create the required system variables, and create the information necessary for the LS-DYNA license request. 
2. Send the LS-DYNA license request to support@forming.com. 
3. Once you have received the LS-DYNA license (LSTC_FILE), place the file in the same directory as the solver (default location is C:\FTI\FormingSuite). 
4. Restart your machine. 

Note: these instructions have been tested on Windows 7 with FormingSuite® 2014 

The standard FormingSuite® installation package was created using InstallShield. InstallShield does support silent installations and uninstallations. 

To create and deploy FormingSuite® silently, do the following:

1. Record a silent install response file by running the installation package from the command prompt with the /r switch (ex. fsinstall.exe /r /f1C:\TEMP\fsinstall.iss). The /f1 switch can be used to set the fully qualified path and file name (no special characters) to the response file. If the /f1 switch is not used, the file will be called setup.iss and will be located in the C:\Windows folder. The resulting response file can be edited via a text editor. 
2. Before installing the software silently on the client machine, make sure that the required Visual C++ redistributable is installed. For example, FS 2013 requires the latest Visual C++ 2008 redistributable and FS 2014 requires the Visual C++ 2010 redistributable. These redists can be downloaded from the microsoft web site and can also be installed silently. 
3. To install FormingSuite®, run the installation program with the /s and /f1 switches. The /f2 switch can also be used to define the fully qualified path to a log file. For example fsinstall.exe /s /f1C:\TEMP\fsinstall.iss /f2C:\TEMP\fsinstall.log. 
4. If there is a problem, check the log file for result codes. The following list summarizes common result codes:
   • 0 Success
   • -1 General error 
   • -2 Invalid mode 
   • -3 Required data not found in the Setup.iss file
   • -4 Not enough memory available 
   • -5 File does not exist 
   • -6 Cannot write to the response file 
   • -7 Unable to write to the log file 
   • -8 Invalid path to the InstallShield Silent response file 
   • -9 Not a valid list type (string or number) 
   • -10 Data type is invalid 
   • -11 Unknown error during setup 
   • -12 Dialogs are out of order 
   • -51 Cannot create the specified folder 
   • -52 Cannot access the specified file or folder 
   • -53 Invalid option selected 

Notes:

1. You can add the /sms switch if the silent install is being run from within another installation routine to force the parent routine to pause while the child installer is running. 

If you have problems reading IGES files into FormingSuite®, try changing the IGES export settings used in your CAD system. In SolidWorks, we find that the NURBS option works best. In CATIA V5, the B-Spline surfaces seem to work most reliably. In other systems, a little experimentation should yield consistent results. 

If you continue to have difficulty with IGES, or if you don't have access to CAD and often receive native CAD data, you may also consider adding direct translators to your FormingSuite license. These are available for a variety of CAD systems including CATIA V4 and V5, Pro/E, UG/NX, SolidWorks, Parasolid, Inventor, etc. 

Graphics problems are uncommon and are typically related to the video card and/or drivers. 

If your graphics aren't showing up properly, try decreasing your hardware acceleration settings. Open the Control Panel > Display > Settings Tab > Advanced > Troubleshooting and use the slider to turn the hardware acceleration settings down. Generally, you should decrease the hardware acceleration to none to see if the problem goes away. Then try increasing it gradually. For best performance, use the highest setting that will still display the graphics correctly. 

Alternatively, try updating the drivers for your video card. 

Note to laptop users: If you laptop is equipped with dual video cards (eg nVidia discrete video and Intel integrated graphics), try disabling the integrated video card and only utilizing the discrete video. nVidia uses a system called Optimus to control this. In this case, disable the Optimus technology via the BIOS settings. 

After generating an HTML report, you can open it using Microsoft word (or other software capable of reading HTML files) and make any edits as required. When finished, save the document in HTML format.

The templates for the Excel reports are located in the FormingSuite/Templates folder. You can customize these files to change the format of your Excel reports.

The numerical data is placed in cells identified by name. When you click on a cell, the name of the cell is shown in the top left corner of the display immediately under the File menu and icons. To move data to a different cell, change the name of both the original cell (where the data was) and the new cell (where you want the data to appear). You can change text and formatting with no consequence.

FASTIncremental requires a separate license for its LS-DYNA solver. You can find instructions to obtain and configure this license here. If you have already set up your license and you are still getting the "License error for solver module" error please check the following: 

1. Go to your installation folder and navigate to the FormingSuite folder. Ensure that these files are in the folder: lsdynasolver.exe and LSTC_FILE. If they are not, locate them and move them to this folder. 
2. Check that the license file is named LSTC_FILE with no extension. Some email programs add .dat to the end in which case you should remove the extension. 
3. Make sure the Environment Variables of your machine are pointing to the correct location of the LSTC_FILE. On Windows 7 you can check this by going to Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. 

The best place to find material properties is from your material supplier or your customer. This will ensure that properties match what can be expected in production. When dealing with international materials, several steel, aluminum, stainless steel, copper and other material suppliers offer foreign equivalent charts on their web sites.

Steps to Install FormingSuite® 

1. Create an account on our website (www.forming.com) by completing the registration form. (If you already have an active account, proceed to step 4.) 
2. Upon completion of this form an automated response will be sent informing you that you have registered and requesting that you validate your email address by clicking the link in the automated message. 
3. After validating your email address, your account still needs to be activated. Once deemed qualified, a new automated message will be sent informing you that your account is now active and you’ll be able to access the website and download area with the username and password that you created. 
4. Login to the website and go to Support > Downloads > FormingSuite. Download the installation package for FormingSuite. If you need to configure server licensing, download FTI LICENSE SERVER as well. 
5. Run the installation files as administrator (right click the installers and select Run as Administrator) and follow the presented instructions for installation.

Yes, the licensing system is compatible with virtual servers. It will behave just like a physical server. Note that nodelocked client licenses will not work on virtual machines.

If FormingSuite is crashing at seemingly random moments, it is likely caused by problems with the video drivers for your graphics card. We have recently observed this behavior with certain nVidia Quadro mobile (laptop) video cards. Upgrading to the latest version of the ODE video driver from the card manufacturer's web site will typically resolve the problem. 

• Typical symptoms related to bad video drivers may include: 
• Crashing while launching 
• Crashing after importing a geometry 
• Crashing when opening file selection dialogs (open, save as, create report, export, etc) 
• Dialogs opening without any content or all white except ok and cancel buttons 
• Reports containing only solid black images

If you are using a system with dual video cards (ex. Intel Integrated and nVidia dedicated), set the FormingSuite application to use the dedicated video card to ensure best performance. 

We do not currently offer a special version of FormingSuite® for Linux or Mac. FormingSuite® may run under virtual windows machines or Wine (also requires installation of a Visual C++ redistributable) however we cannot guarantee that this will work.

Server licenses allow licenses to be floated over a network. Server licenses control the number of concurrent users of the software. For example, if you have 5 server (also called floating) licenses, 5 people can access the software at a time. As soon as a user exits the software, the license becomes available for other users to access. 
 
Nodelocked licenses are locked to a single computer using the hardware ids.

The graphics in the HTML report are a screen shot from FormingSuite® that has been sized to fit on one page. Internet Explorer and Firefox don't display resized images very clearly. Printing the document should produce clear graphics. For viewing, Microsoft Word will display the images more clearly.

If you want to permanently move a nodelocked license from one computer to another and you are currently up to date with maintenance, fill out a License Transfer Request and send it to support@forming.com. To download the request form, click here.

A FormingID is a composite ID generated from various components of your PC. It is used for license generation to ensure that the license can only be used for the specified machine. 

A FormingID is generated automatically during installation and can also be generated manually using lmformingid.exe

Transferring a License

You should contact your FTI representative and request a license transfer. You will then be provided with a License Transfer Form. Once you acquire the form, based on your current license type follow the instructions below: 

NODELOCK LICENSE TRANSFER 

1. Record the FormingID from the existing installation in the field marked “Existing Number” in the License Transfer Form. The FormingID can be found in FormingSuite® by selecting Tools > License. You can also find the FormingID in a text file named lmformingid.txt located in C:\FTI\FormingSuite\Licensing. 
2. Install FormingSuite® on the new machine and record the FormingID in the field marked “New Number” in the License Transfer Form. 
3. Enter the reason for the transfer, date, and sign the License Transfer form. 
4. Submit the completed License Transfer form to your FTI representative. A new license will be sent to you once the License Transfer Form is processed at FTI. 
   

NETWORK LICENSE TRANSFER 

1. Install the FTI License Server installation package onto your new server. The installation package is available for download from our website. 
2. Enter the new server hostname in the License Transfer Form. 
3. Enter the new FormingID in the License Transfer Form, which is generated during installation. 
4. Enter the reason for the transfer, date, and sign the License Transfer form. 
5. Submit the completed License Transfer form to your FTI representative. A new license will be sent to you once the License Transfer Form is processed at FTI. 

Skinning problems are usually the result of problematic geometry. You can easily handle this situation in FormingSuite® Check your part for edges that aren't sharp or extra surfaces that shouldn't be in the model. You can delete the problem surfaces and then create a new domain to use for the skin. There is a useful video demonstrating this in the online help system.

To export a blank from FormingSuite® you must go to the blank geometry workbench. Right click on the Blank 1 branch from the blank geometry workbench in the feature tree and select Export from the menu to display to Export dialog box. The dialog gives you two options for orientation and three options for the type of entities to export. If the original orientation is chosen, the blank will be exported in the same orientation as the original part. If the tipped orientation is chosen, the blank will be exported using the tipping coordinate system and the blank will be in the X-Y plane. 

NOTE: If an addendum or smoothing has been applied there will be multiple branches, allowing you to export the different blank.

Firewalls on the server are the most common cause of this problem. If there is a firewall running, you should create exceptions for FTI.exe, lmgrd.exe and open ports 27000 to 27009 (or the port specified in the license file).

The lmformingid.exe utility will return the code you need to send to us when requesting a license for the FormingSuite® software. This code is automatically generated during installation. If you want to determine the formingid prior to installation, you can download the lmformingid tool from here.

You should be using FlexLM version 11.15 or newer. The appropriate files can be downloaded from the FormingSuite downloads page. You will require a username and password to access the downloads page (please contact FTI for this information).

To plot a blank with FormingSuite®, go to the blank geometry workbench. You can only print if a default printer has been set up. Right click on the Blank 1 branch from the blank geometry workbench in the feature tree and select Plot from the menu to display to Print dialog box.br />
NOTE: If an addendum or smoothing has been applied there will be multiple branches allowing you to plot the different blanks.

The "Date Licensing Error" is caused by rolling your system clock back. If this error message occurs, reset your system date to the current date. If this does not resolve the issue, please contact Technical Support for further instructions.