Designing Models with Design Guidance

You can use Design Guidance to help you design geometries taking into account forces, space, and loads.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin: You need to build your initial geometry then use Design Guidance to simulate pressure, loads, and torque on the geometry to complete your design.

Use Design Guidance to calculate the geometry to support the requirements you specify. Specify the location of the restraints, along with the direction and type of load you expect, and Design Guidance creates the shape of the geometry to support your requirements. The process is summarized as follows:

  • Initial Geometry
  • Define Restraints
  • Apply Loads
  • Review Material
  • Identify Contributing Obstacles
  • Analyze and Refine Results

Create a New Design

You do not have to model the entire design, but pieces of the geometry where loads and geometry can be defined. Loads and restraints are applied to geometries in your design. You can edit the parameters at any time and regenerate the shape. You can use sketch features to finalize the geometry from the generated shape.

  1. Load or create your geometry in the work area.
  2. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, add restraints used to keep parts from moving when loads are applied.

    More than one type of restraints can be applied.

    OptionDescription
    Clamp - Restrains the part from moving in all directions.
    Fixture - Restrains the part from moving in one or more directions.
  3. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, add the load to your design.

    More than one type of load can be applied.

    OptionDescription
    Distributed - Distributes the load on the selected faces.
    Point - Concentrates a force, applied at the face center of the selected faces.
    Pressure - Applies force normal to the selected faces.
    Torque - Applies a torque about an axis through the center of the selected faces.
  4. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, click New Design to open the Design Guidance dialog box.
  5. Optional: Click the Settings tab of the Design Guidance dialog box.
    1. Review the Material assigned to the geometry.

      The material used in the geometry is displayed along with the material properties. The material participates in the Design Guidance calculations. You can change the material from the Material command in Tools section of the action bar.

    2. In the Voxel Granularity menu, select the granularity used in solving your design. Finer granularity provides a more refined shape but increases the time required to generate that shape.
      Option Description
      Course Solves the shape using a cube of 16 x 16 x 16 voxels.
      Medium Solves the shape using a cube of 32 x 32 x 32 voxels.
      Fine Solves the shape using a cube of 64 x 64 x 64 voxels.
    3. Optional: Click Optional In the Desired Mass section, drag the slider to select the target mass of the new design shape.
    4. Optional: Specify the Load Case if available.

      The Load Case section is available in the Settings tab when you have more than one load, and have specify a load case. For example, if designing a chair you might want to compare the results with a load only on the seat, and then the load on the seat and backrest.

      For more information, see Compare Results Using the Load Case Manager.

      Click Load Case Manager from the action bar to specify load cases.
  6. Optional: Click the Volume tab to edit the following bounding box options. By default, the bounding box used for solving the requirements is the volume area used by the geometries identified in the design. Loads and restraints are included in the bounding box.
    OptionDescription
    Exclude regions Exclude bodies from the generated shape. The selected bodies are excluded in the generated shape.
    Preserve regions Includes bodies in the generated shape.
    Volume Size Resize the X, Y, and Z length of the bounding box.
    Volume Origin Move the center of bounding box.
    Volume Orientation Specify the bounding box angle.

    For more information, see Advanced Design Guidance Options.

    Click Auto fit design volume to reset the bounding box to include only the geometry used in the design.

  7. Optional: Click the Symmetry tab to generate a half, quarter, or eighth of the shape results.

    For more information, see Symmetry Options.

  8. Click Generate to generate a shape based on your geometry, loads, and restraints.
  9. Click the Results tab of the Design Guidance dialog box to view the results.

    For more information, see Viewing the Design Guidance Result.

  10. Click to save your shape results and selections in the Design Manager.
    The dialog box closes with the shape displayed in the work area.

Use the generated shape to model the solution with the Sketch and Feature tools. Run a stress and deflection study to make sure that the design solution does not fail under applied loads.

Redesign an Existing Geometry

You can redesign an existing body by reducing and changing the material, and by editing the restraints and loads.

  1. Load your geometry in the work area.
  2. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, add restraints used to keep parts from moving when loads are applied.

    More than one type of restraints can be applied.

    OptionDescription
    Clamp - Restrains the part from moving in all directions.
    Fixture - Restrains the part from moving in one or more directions.
  3. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, add the load to your design.

    More than one type of load can be applied.

    OptionDescription
    Distributed - Distributes the load on the selected faces.
    Point - Concentrates a force, applied at the face center of the selected faces.
    Pressure - Applies force normal to the selected faces.
    Torque - Applies a torque about an axis through the center of the selected faces.
  4. From the Design Guidance section of the action bar, click Redesign to open the Design Guidance dialog box.
  5. Optional: Click the Settings tab of the Design Guidance dialog box.
    1. Select bodies you want to redesign.
      Selections appear in the Body to Redesign box.
    2. In the Target Mass Reduction section, drag the slider to select the target mass of the amount of material in the redesign to remove.
    3. Review the Material assigned to the geometry.

      The material that is being used in the geometry is displayed along with the material properties. The material participates in the Design Guidance calculations. You can change the material from the Material command in Tools section of the action bar.

    4. In the Voxel Granularity menu, select the granularity used in solving your design. Finer granularity provides a more refined shape but increases the time required to generate that shape.
      Option Description
      Course Solves the shape using a cube of 16 x 16 x 16 voxels.
      Medium Solves the shape using a cube of 32 x 32 x 32 voxels.
      Fine Solves the shape using a cube of 64 x 64 x 64 voxels.
    5. Optional: Specify the Load Case if available.

      The Load Case section is available in the Settings tab when you have more than one load, and have specify a load case. For example, if designing a chair you might want to compare the results with a load only on the seat, and then the load on the seat and backrest.

      For more information, see Compare Results Using the Load Case Manager.

      Click Load Case Manager from the action bar to specify load cases.
  6. Optional: Click the Volume tab to edit the following bounding box options. By default, the bounding box used for solving the requirements is the volume area used by the geometries identified in the design. Loads and restraints are included in the bounding box.
    OptionDescription
    Exclude regions Exclude bodies from the generated shape. The selected bodies are excluded in the generated shape.
    Preserve regions Includes bodies in the generated shape.
    Volume Size Resize the X, Y, and Z length of the bounding box.
    Volume Origin Move the center of bounding box.
    Volume Orientation Specify the bounding box angle.

    For more information, see Advanced Design Guidance Options.

    Click Auto fit design volume to reset the bounding box to include only the geometry used in the design.

  7. Optional: Click the Symmetry tab to generate a half, quarter, or eighth of the shape results.

    For more information, see Symmetry Options.

  8. Click Generate to generate a shape based on your geometry, loads, and restraints.
  9. Click the Results tab of the Design Guidance dialog box to view the results.

    For more information, see Viewing the Design Guidance Result.

  10. Click to save your shape results and selections in the Design Manager.
    The dialog box closes with the shape displayed in the work area.

Use the generated shape to model the solution with the Sketch and Feature tools. Run a stress and deflection study to make sure that the design solution does not fail under applied loads.