Creating Projections

You can create geometry by projecting one or more elements onto a support. The projection may be normal or along a direction. Projection

Before you begin: Create a 3D shape containing a surface and at least one wire element.
  1. From the section of the action bar, click Projection .
  2. In the Projected box, select one or several wireframe elements.
  3. In the Support box, select a support.
  4. Select the Projection type.
    OptionDescription
    Normal Projects the element normal to the support.
    Along a direction Projects the element along a direction. You can define the direction by
    • selecting a line,
    • selecting a plane whose normal will be the projection direction, or
    • selecting an X, Y, or Z component or robot direction in the context menu.
  5. If more than one result is possible,
    • select Find Nearest Solution check box to keep the nearest projection, or
    • deselect Find Nearest Solution to choose a solution in the Multi-Result Management dialog box.
      Important: If the elements have the same distance to the support, an error message is issued. The distance corresponds to the maximum distance between a point of the projected element and its projection onto the support.
  6. Optional: Select an Extrapolate on support mode to extrapolate the projected wire.
    OptionDescription
    None The projected wire is not extrapolated.
    Tangency Extrapolates the wire's extremities in tangency to the surface boundary.
    Curvature Extrapolates the wire's extremities in curvature to the surface boundary.

    Warning:
    • Extrapolating projected closed wires and points is possible but will provide no difference.

    • Extrapolating a wire onto a closed support surface, for example a sphere, is not possible and will cause an error.

  7. Optional: Select a Smoothing option.
    OptionDescription
    None Deactivates the smoothing result.

    With support surface: the smoothing is performed according to the support. As a consequence, the resulting smoothed curve inherits support discontinuities.
    Tangency Enhances the current continuity to tangent continuity.
    Curvature Enhances the current continuity to curvature continuity.

    If Tangency or Curvature is selected, the following options are available:

    OptionDescription
    Deviation Specifies the maximum Deviation for tangency or curvature smoothing.
    Note: For curvature vertices, the topology is automatically simplified by merging cells with curvature continuity.
    3D Smoothing Smooths the projected element without specifying any support surface. The result has a better continuity quality, however, it does not lie exactly on the support.
    Tip: Select the Tolerant laydown option in Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > 3D Modeling Core > Generative Shape Design, General tab, Tolerant Modeling section.

    3D Smoothing cleared 3D Smoothing selected