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
> 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.
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
> 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
, 3D Shape Infrastructure
tab, Display in geometry area
section.