Defining the Support Structure

• Click Analysis to display the Support Structure Assessment dialog box. For more information, see Support Structure Assessment.
• Click Display to display the existing zones.
• Click Sectioning to define a sectioning plane in the work area.

1. Select one of the following as the type of shape to apply to the supports:
   • Wire
   • Conical
   • Tree
   • Volume
     Note: It is only available for the Surface support zone type.

2. Define the associated shape parameters. The parameters vary depending on the selected support zone type.
   • Surface:

     Type	Wire	Conical	Tree	Volume
     General parameters	Geometry and Pattern parameters			Lattice pattern import and parameters
     Anchor	See Rules for Generating Anchors	Same profile as Wire, but in 3D, after a 360 degrees revolution		None
     Perforation	See Perforation	None
     Fragmentation	See Additional Wire Support Parameters	None
     Fillet	Defines Fillets by their Offset, Radius, and Step. Perforation can be added, and the pattern can be set as the same with the As Support choice. Else, see Perforation	Defines fillets by their radius. See Fillet

   • Edge:

     Type	Wire	Conical	Tree
     General parameters	Geometry parameters and spacing along 1Direction
     Anchor	Same parameters as for Surface	Same parameters as Surface
     Perforation
     Fillet	None

   • Point:

     Type	Wire	Conical	Tree
     General parameters	Geometry parameters and Z Offset to Bottom/Top
     Anchor	None	Same parameters as Surface
     Fillet

• Surface
• Edge
• Point

For more information, see Zones.

• Ground Type
• Minimal surface width
• Tolerance
• Surface angle:
  • Minimum
  • Maximum.

Then click Compute to create all the support zones.

Support zones are displayed, and the Manual Support Creation dialog box switches automatically to the Shape tab. Clicking a support zone creates a support with the shape parameters defined for the selected support zone. Clicking in the Zone creation tools palette creates the supports with the shape parameters defined for all the computed support zones.

Note: If the support zone type is defined as Surface , clicking Compute displays the support zones in two different colors. One color represents zones that are over a part, and another color represents zones that are over a build tray. Contours for each of the support zones are also displayed. When you hover over a support zone, its landing zone is shown on the part or the build tray.

1. Define the support. You can either:
   • Select geometrical elements in the work area:
     • If the support zone type is defined as Surface : select a surface with , or select triangles, either one by one with or by trap with
       Note: Triangle selection with or is only available for STL pieces.
     • If the support zone type is defined as Edge : click and select an edge.
   • Draw the support zone directly on the part in the work area with Free Form , or with a predefined primitive shape (rectangle , circle , triangle , diamond , or polyline ).

   Tips: You can offset the created zone. You can also modify the zone shape in freeform or with a primitive shape curve or a polyline. Use Undo to return to the previous definition step. Click to restart the zone definition from scratch.

   For more information, see Zones Creation.

2. Optional: If the support zone type is defined as Surface , you can select the top and bottom surface, and do a projection or a blend to define the overall shape of the support:
   • Click to define a point on the part to project the zone to. This projects the zone somewhere else on the part where the support will land.
   • Click to define another zone on the part to blend to. This lets you define a new zone that will specify a blend volume between this zone and the current zone.
   Notes:

   • The created zone can be edited and modified before and after projection. The projection made with can be moved (by dragging the center point) and offset (by dragging the handle), but not modified:

     

   • Specific to : To define the zone's shape, you can move the top and bottom synchronisation points along the contours:

     

   • With shapes defined with either or , you can only create supports of the Volume or Wire type.

3. Click to validate the support zone, and to create the support zone and compute the support.
   The support zone is created, and the support is computed.

• lets you split the zone
  Note: Other primitive shapes are available.
• deletes the zone
• computes the support on the zone
• exits the edition mode and returns to the creation mode.

1. Click an existing support, then click Edit the Support . Select the green point at the bottom of the support.
   The Robot appears on the build tray, and the support's envelop is projected onto the build tray.

   Note: Any existing geometries between the top of the support and the build tray are ignored.
2. Drag the support with the Robot to display potential collisions between the support and the parts. The collision areas display in red.
   Note: You cannot move the Robot outside of the build tray, as they are connected to each other.

3. Validate the position of the Robot on the build tray.
   The support's portions that are in collision with the part are automatically trimmed, avoiding any collision on its final geometry.
4. You can reset the support to its state before the move or split operations by clicking Undo .
   Note: If you reset the support when the previous operation had created multiple sub supports, these supports are also removed.