Nobody's favourite job

Where the answer is won or lost. Element shape enters the error bound directly, which is why the metrics a mesh generator reports matter more than they look, and why this is the part of the job that resists automation.

• 01Nobody's favourite job, and where the answer is wonMeshing is where practitioners actually spend their time, and a badly shaped element poisons the solution around it.
• 02Why element shape governs accuracyAspect ratio, skew and Jacobian are not aesthetics: they enter the error bound directly.
• 03The angle that actually mattersMinimum angle, maximum angle and what each one breaks — the quality metrics that mesh generators report.
• 04Structured against unstructuredHex meshes are better behaved and far harder to make; tets are automatic and less forgiving.