Local Join

The Local Join dialog box appears when you select Local Join.

This dialog box contains controls for:

This page discusses:

See Also
Performing a Local Join

Elements

Elements
Lists the elements selected for local join.

Options

Automatic Merging
As soon as at least two edges have been selected, Local Join tries to find the distance between these edges at that the two edges could be considered as joined. This distance is proposed in the box on the right of Automatic Merging.Automatic Merging uses the distance found as the Join Merging Distance for a Join or Join/Heal or the Heal Merging Distance for Automatic Join/Heal.
Important: This distance computation is only possible for edges within a reasonable distance. If the computation fails, the value remains zero.
Join
Starts only a local join and gives access to the Join Parameters with the Join Option Definition dialog box.
Join/Heal
Starts a local join and a healing, and gives access to the Heal parameters.
Automatic Join/Heal
Starts both a local join with the Join Merging Distance criterion and a local healing with a Heal Merging Distance criterion, i.e. a simple join is performed on small gaps and a join plus a healing are performed on larger gaps.
Join Merging Distance
Sets the tolerance at that two elements are considered as being only one for a Join. It is equivalent to the Merging Distance in the Join Parameters. When you modify one, the other is updated.
Heal Merging Distance
Sets the tolerance at that two elements are considered as being only one for a Healing.

Join Parameters

Only the Parameters tab is available.

Check connexity
Finds out whether the elements to be joined are connex. If they are not, and the check box is selected, an error message is issued indicating the number of connex domains in the resulting join. Click Preview in the Checker dialog box. The free boundaries are highlighted to help you detect where the joined element is not connex.
Ignore erroneous elements
Lets the system ignore elements that would not allow the join to be created.
Keep small elements
Keeps the elements whose size is inferior to the Join Merging Distance. This can be useful when you relax the tolerance: Some gaps are hidden but the geometry still has gaps and may be unusable for later processing. This parameter allows maintaining topology matched to geometry.
Simplify the result
Allows the system to automatically reduce the number of elements in the resulting join whenever possible.
Merging distance
Sets the tolerance at that two elements are considered as being only one. It is equivalent to the Join Merging Distance. When you modify one, the other is updated.
Angular Threshold
Specifies the angle value below that the elements are to be joined.
  • If the angle value on the edge between two elements is greater than the Angular Threshold value, the elements are not joined. An error message appears.
  • This is particularly useful to avoid joining overlapping elements. You can either:
    • Deactivate the check box,
    • Or increase the value of the angular threshold,
    • Or remove all the elements or sub-elements that are in error.

Heal Parameters

The options in the Continuity list are as follows:

  • Point ensures a passage continuity with a Distance objective, i.e. the maximum gap allowed between two healed elements.

    The proposed Distance objective is 0.001 mm. It can be increased to 0.1 mm.

  • Tangent ensures a tangency continuity with a Distance objective and a Tangency objective that is, similarly to the Distance objective, the maximum tangency deviation allowed between healed elements.

    The proposed Tangency objective is 0.5 degree. It can range anywhere between 0.1 degree to 2 degrees.

Freeze
This tab lets you freeze elements, i.e. define elements that will not be modified. You can either select specific elements to freeze, or select automatically all planar elements or all canonical elements.
Elements to freeze
Lists the elements selected.
  • These are elements that should not be affected by the healing operation.
  • You cannot freeze edges to be joined. If you want to do so, you first need to freeze the faces.
  • You can edit this list.
Freeze Planar elements
Freezes all planar elements found in the selection to be healed.
Note: This option is inactive on edges adjacent to surfaces that are not continuous.
Freeze Canonical elements
Freezes all canonical elements (including planar elements as they are canonical elements) found in the selection.
Note: This option is inactive on edges adjacent to surfaces that are not continuous.
Sharpness
Available for a Tangent continuity. Provided the Tangent continuity mode is active, Sharpness lets you retain sharp edges, by clicking the tab and selecting one or more edges.
Edges to keep sharp
Lists the sharp edges that must remain sharp. You can edit the list.
Sharpness angle
Redefines the limit between a sharp angle and a flat angle (the maximum value). This can be useful when offsetting the resulting healed geometry for example.

The proposed Sharpness angle is 0.5 degree.

Visualization

The Visualization tab enables you to better understand the discontinuities in the model and the results of the join/healing command.

For a simple Join command, you can highlight:

  • Surface boundaries
  • Joined edges
  • Unjoined edges.

For a Join/Heal or an Automatic Join/Heal command, you can highlight:

  • Surface boundaries
  • Joined edges
  • Unjoined edges
  • Healed edges
  • Smoothed surfaces.

After Apply, the number of elements found in each category appears in the dialog box. To highlight them in the work area, check the corresponding line. The elements are displayed with the color displayed beside their callout. A color editor is available on each color patch.

Output Information
Displays information on errors (gaps greater than the tolerance) found on the output elements, e.g. the elements have been partially healed.
Input Information
Displays information on errors (gaps greater than the tolerance) found on the input elements.
Interactively
Displays textual information as you move the cursor over the edges.
Sequentially
Indicates in the counter below the rank and the total number of errors.
<< or >>
Displays the information on the previous or next edge.