About Creating a Matching Constraint

This topic provides you with the additional information you may need when creating a matching constraint.

This page discusses:

See Also
Creating a Matching Constraint and Modify Continuity Constraints
Defining the Continuity to keep at Opposite End Points or Edges
Updating Network and Work with Constraint Manager
Match Constraint Dialog Box

About Constraints

  • General information

    You can set constraints only on datum elements.

    You can create as many constraints as there are elements.

  • Compatibility

    Constraints created using this command are very similar to the constraints created in the Part Design and the Sketcher apps: they are compatible and are solved using a variational approach.

  • Delete constraints

    If you want to delete a constraint, delete it in the tree, under the Free Form Constraint.x node. You can also delete it using the context menu or by selecting the constraint in 3D area and hit the Delete key.

  • Mean surface result

    You can get the result of multiple constraints surface is a mean surface between each constraint result by selecting Mean Surface Solver in Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > Styling > FreeStyle Shape Design, General tab, Matching Constraint command options section. If a surface is modified by two constraints, the results for the two constraints are computed separately. The final result is a mean surface between those two intermediate results.

  • Update linked constraints

    If several constraints are linked together and either the target or source element of a constraint is modified, all linked constraints are updated. The constraint taking the modified element as its input is updated last. This is to ensure that the continuity is maintained on the modified element.

    After the update process, the continuity created by the constraint that is not the last one to be updated may not be met. In such a case use the Apply Constraint context menu command on the constraint.

  • Constraint sets

    You can insert a constraint set on the existing constraint set by right-clicking Free Form Constraint.x root node in the tree using the Insert Constraint Set context menu command.

    You can also insert a constraint set on the existing constraint set using the Free Form Constraint Set command (available at Tools section of the action bar). In the Insert Constraint Set dialog box, type the name of the constraint set in the Name box. Select the father of the constraint set in the Father list or by selecting the constraint from the specification tree. Select the children of the newly created constraint set from the tree.

Context menu

In 3D area, right-click the continuity type to display the context menu with following options:

Point continuity (G0), Tangent continuity (G1), Curvature continuity (G2), and G3 continuity (G3)
Sets the continuity type selected (G3 in ICEM Shape Design only).
Deactivate
Activates/deactivates the constraint.
Update Network
Updates the constraints linked ones with the others, from the selected constraint taking into account their creation order.
Apply Constraint
Updates the constraint locally.
Invert Source/Target
Swaps the source and target elements.
Delete
Deletes the constraint.
Insert
The Match Constraint dialog box opens with the same options set for the selected constraint, allowing you this way to create a copy of this constraint.

About Limiting Points

You can create the points to define the limit area on the target edge using the context menu commands available from the boxes in the Limits area:

  • Insert Wireframe > Create Point: For more information, see Generative Shape Design User's Guide: Creating Wireframe Geometry: Creating Points.
  • Insert Wireframe > Create Midpoint: Creates the midpoint of the line you select.
  • Insert Wireframe > Create Endpoint: Creates the endpoint of the line you select.
  • Insert Wireframe > Create Intersection: For more information, see Generative Shape Design User's Guide: Creating Wireframe Geometry: Creating Intersections.
  • Insert Wireframe > Create Projection: For more information, see Generative Shape Design User's Guide: Creating Wireframe Geometry: Creating Projections.
  • Insert Wireframe > Create Extremum: For more information, see Generative Shape Design User's Guide: Creating Wireframe Geometry: Creating Extremum Elements.
  • Insert Operations > Create Extract: For more information, see Generative Shape Design User's Guide: Performing Operations on Shape Geometry: Extracting Elements.

These points can be outside the target curve. In this case, the constraint computes the minimum distance between the target curve and point, and uses the corresponding position on the target curve for limit.

About Automatic Target Edge Selection

To automatically select the possible target element after choosing the source element, select Automatic target selection in Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > Styling > FreeStyle Shape Design, General tab, Matching Constraint command options section.

To select a target edge of the current visible body only, select Only current body in Me > Preferences > Common Preferences > Object Properties > 3D Shape > Display, 3D Shape Infrastructure tab, Display in geometry area section.