Trimming Volumes

You can trim a volume to define the elements to be kept or removed while performing the union operation.

Before you begin: Create a 3D shape containing 2 shells.

This is your initial data, the Trim representation is composed of two shells contained in one geometrical set.



See Also
In the Knowledge Base
Operation on volumes, such as trimming, sometimes result in geometrical instabilities
  1. From the Volume section of the action bar, click Union Trim .
  2. In the Volume to trim box, select the volume to be trimmed.


  3. In the Cutting Volume box, select the cutting volume.
  4. Click the Faces to remove box and select Shell.2 's inner face.
    The selected face appears in pink, meaning that the app is going to remove it.

  5. Click the Faces to keep box and select the inner face of Shell.1.
    The selected face appears in light blue, meaning that the app is going to keep it.



    Important: Faces to remove and Faces to keep must belong to the same volumes as the selected Volume to trim and Cutting volume.
  6. Click Preview to check whether your specifications meet your needs or not.
  7. Click OK to compute the material to be removed.

    The operation (identified as Trim.xxx) is added to the tree. The tree and the Trim representation now look like this:



    Tip: The multi-selection capability is available.

    Click to display the list of selected faces.

    Notes:
    • You can edit a Trim feature and modify the destination volume. Double-click the feature in the tree and select a new volume in the Cutting volume box.
    • You can also swap the input volumes: Right-click the Base object box and select the Swap operands contextual item. This capability only works when both volumes belong to the same geometrical set or ordered geometrical set.
    • As much as possible, avoid selecting volumes trimmed by the operation. In some cases, defined trimmed volumes have the same logical name: the app then issues a warning message requiring a better selection.
    • If you want to perform the Union Trim operation and create a datum feature, you need to activate the Create Datum command. Ensure that you activate it only after selecting the required volumes and faces in the Trim Definition dialog box and before clicking Preview. Activating the datum command at any other instance may result in the failure of Trim operation.