Getting started

PyRocky is a Python client library for remotely controlling Ansys Rocky, which is the most powerful software in the market for performing DEM (discrete element method) simulations.

Install PyRocky

PyRocky is currently a private GitHub library in the Ansys Internal account. To install PyRocky in user mode, run this command:

python -m pip install ansys-rocky-core

Launch PyRocky

The best way to experiment with PyRocky is by using Jupyter Notebook or Visual Studio Code. The following code launches a headless Rocky session and returns a RockyClient instance from which you can programmatically interact with the software:

import ansys.rocky.rocky as pyrocky

rocky = pyrocky.launch_rocky()

You use the close() method to close the Rocky session:

rocky.close()

If you want to launch the Rocky UI, set headless=False:

rocky = pyrocky.launch_rocky(headless=False)

Connect to an existing session

Assume that a Rocky session is started with the --pyrocky option:

C:\Program Files\Ansys Inc\v241\Rocky> bin\Rocky.exe --pyrocky

When the Rocky session is started in this way, you can connect to it with PyRocky:

import ansys.rocky.rocky as pyrocky

rocky = pyrocky.connect_to_rocky()