# When meshing solids, the "Quad-dominated" option does not work for me **URL:** \ **Category:** General Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450 "2025-02-09T10:46:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MisiaKu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MisiaKu](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/MisiaKu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/1 "2025-02-09T10:46:12Z")
When meshing solids imported from STEP created in FreeCAD, the “Quad-dominated” option does not work for me. This is independent of the PrePoMax version. Does anyone have an idea what affects the use of a cuboid mesh? ![2766](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/8/8b6a9607440efcf7014ff932d563fadd95a801a3.png) **What am I doing wrong? Maybe the imported solid is faulty?** [Sprawdzenie2.pmx](https://prepomax.discourse.group/uploads/short-url/ftGgl289MJroTnXOrqaDMCYWxVF.pmx) (2.5 MB) [Sprawdzenie2.zip](https://prepomax.discourse.group/uploads/short-url/f4n5pHd90aGZdAM4qAph1YNRTeF.zip) (10.7 KB) ---
**Author:** ![FEAnalyst](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/prepomax.discourse.group/feanalyst/32/688_2.png) [@FEAnalyst](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/FEAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/2 "2025-02-09T13:57:26Z")
Quad-dominated works for surface meshes only - it tries to replace triangular elements with quadrilateral ones. If you want a hexahedral 3D mesh for a solid, you should use one of the Gmsh algorithms: [Summary of Gmsh hex meshing rules](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/summary-of-gmsh-hex-meshing-rules/1223) ---
**Author:** ![synt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/prepomax.discourse.group/synt/32/4658_2.png) [@synt](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/synt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/3 "2025-02-09T15:30:50Z")
for solid part is hex-dominant, but i did not know the reason to not work inside PrePoMax. ![2025-02-09 22_28_22-Window](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/8/8985f4c894f61f7c5c6093afb3e8bce7d23d797f.png) some discussion related, > [@Gmsh mesher : Quasi-Structured Quad & Hex-Dominant](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/gmsh-mesher-quasi-structured-quad-hex-dominant/1219/8): > > indeed, a feature in further processing based on existing surface mesh successfully generated by Gmsh is required. It can be used as purpose of extrusion or revolving of : base 2D mesh from quasi-structured quad mesh results midside nodes of quadratic element to follow geometry of revolve curved path normal extrusion of complex 3D Nurbs sure, it has been implemented. R-tree algorithm option is available in version of 3.x but later is deactivated by developer due to some reason. [2023-11-03… ---
**Author:** ![MisiaKu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MisiaKu](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/MisiaKu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/4 "2025-02-09T17:32:43Z")
**I managed to fix PrePoMax meshing.** None of the tetra meshing options in PrePoMax wanted to work. In the “C:\PrePoMax v2.2.10 dev\Temp” directory there were error files in which I found text pointing to GMSH. 1. I downloaded and ran the latest version of GMSH. The program hung on the model. That was the problem. 2. I searched the disk to find old files left by the GMSH program. 3. In the “C:\Users.…\AppData\Roaming” directory I found 3 old files: **- gmshrc,** **- gmsh-options,** **- untitled.geo,** ![2771](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/5/573a77324620c00a6cec28f02b2e08c23a82c6ec.png) which contained the settings and paths to what I did a few years ago. The problem is fixed. Meshing is much better and faster. Thank you for trying to help. ![2768](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/1/18fd46cc42e80383c74faad23254abd2c81b3f65.png) ![2772](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/1/1577925558545817bd7ce98f1f926f7d2b9cfc68.jpeg) ![2773](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/d/dc9caaaf8709f8cd8c8e3083a0196f11532b56fd.png) _(Machine translation)_ ---
**Author:** ![MisiaKu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MisiaKu](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/MisiaKu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/5 "2025-02-09T17:46:54Z")
**gmsh-options:** // Gmsh Option File // // This file contains configuration options (preferences) that // are loaded each time Gmsh is launched. You can create this // file by hand, or let Gmsh generate it for you (with // ‘File-\>Save Default Options’). This file can also be // automatically saved every time you quit Gmsh if the option // ‘General.SaveOptions’ is set. // General.Axes = 3; General.BoundingBoxSize = 2.82842712474619; General.DoubleBuffer = 0; General.DrawBoundingBoxes = 1; General.GraphicsFontSize = 16; Geometry.OCCFixDegenerated = 1; Geometry.OCCFixSmallEdges = 1; Geometry.OCCFixSmallFaces = 1; Geometry.Surfaces = 1; Geometry.Volumes = 1; Mesh.ElementOrder = 2; Mesh.HighOrderOptimize = 2; Mesh.MeshSizeMax = 1; Mesh.MeshSizeFromCurvature = 1; Mesh.MinQuality = 1e+200; Mesh.OptimizeNetgen = 1; Mesh.RecombinationAlgorithm = 2; Mesh.SaveGroupsOfNodes = 1; Mesh.Smoothing = 100; Mesh.SurfaceEdges = 0; Mesh.VolumeFaces = 1; ---
**Author:** ![synt](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/prepomax.discourse.group/synt/32/4658_2.png) [@synt](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/synt)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/6 "2025-02-10T05:32:30Z")
i checked again in menus to generate hex-dominant mesh, it seems some option is missing in `Mesh.Recombine3DAll` to be activated (yes/1) instead of default (no/0). Another meshing algorithm setting also in `2D R-Tree` options. ![2025-02-10 09_31_35-Window](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/c/c4e9f3f945f3f9774af739fcc366b0b7011ae343.png) result without recombine 3D in latest Gmsh (v4.13.1) ![2025-02-10 14_21_59-Window](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/4/48aaf27623a6ed8e413eb0f88071146d69bfac2d.png) result without recombine 3D in PrePoMax almost identical in pattern and division, ![2025-02-10 12_29_07-Window](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/b/b37556ed01fb8f19778256ee014e1e3f01e58d86.png) ![2025-02-10 12_31_15-PrePoMax v2.2.10 dev](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/prepomax/original/2X/5/578f3cbef53554c130da6a8422697f27a81bbd5a.png) ---
**Author:** ![Matej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@Matej](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/Matej)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:00am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/7 "2025-02-10T09:00:35Z")
> [@synt](#): > > i checked again in menus to generate hex-dominant mesh, it seems some option is missing in `Mesh.Recombine3DAll` to be activated (yes/1) instead of default (no/0). You are right. This option could be added, since the resulting meshes look nice. ---
**Author:** ![Matej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@Matej](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/Matej)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:02am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/8 "2025-02-10T09:02:36Z")
> [@MisiaKu](#): > > In the “C:\Users.…\AppData\Roaming” directory I found 3 old files: > **- gmshrc,** > **- gmsh-options,** > **- untitled.geo,** That is a nice find. We have already discovered that some settings in these files overwrite the PrePoMax settings, which should not happen. ---
**Author:** ![MisiaKu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MisiaKu](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/MisiaKu)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:18am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/when-meshing-solids-the-quad-dominated-option-does-not-work-for-me/2450/9 "2025-02-10T09:18:09Z")
Problem solved, topic to close. I hope I could help others 🙂