Creating a Surfaces Network

Use Surfaces Network to create a network of surfaces, as a feature, from a support mesh and a network of curves. Messages in the 3D area help you throughout the process.

  1. Select the inputs: a mesh and a curves network.
    1. Click Curves Network to create one.
    2. Click OK to validate the curves network and go to the next step.

      Note: If you start Curves Network again, the already created surfaces are hidden, the input curves are displayed again to allow selection. After editing the curves network, the surfaces are updated accordingly.

  2. To add curves to an existing curves network:
    1. Exit Surfaces Network.

      Recommendation:
      • Create additional curves lying on curves (and not on previous curves network).
      • Restore the visibility of all the input curves in one click using Hide/Show Inputs from the context menu of the curves network.

    2. Create curves.
    3. Double-click the curves network feature to edit it and add the created curves.
    4. Back in Surfaces Network, update the surfaces network.
  3. Select a surface type.
    1. Click the area to change the surface type.
    2. Use the context menu to reset the surface type or apply the same type to all surfaces.
    3. Validate by clicking the status icon, or selecting the next step.
  4. Check and modify the location of Sharp Edges.
    1. Click an edge to go from one type to the other.
    2. Use the context menu to reset the type of the edge, or specify all possible edges to one type or to the other.
    3. Validate by clicking the status icon, or selecting the next step.
  5. Select the areas to fill and compute.

    Non-Functional areas cannot be selected.

    1. Click an area to mark it as Selected or Unselected.
    2. Use the context menu to modify the selection.
    3. Adjust the parameters and click Compute Selection.
  6. Hover the pointer over an area to display local statistics or start a Deviation Analysis between the mesh and the generated surface.
  7. Optional: Click More Deviation Analysis Options to fine-tune the analysis parameters.
  8. Optional: Select another visualization mode to better assess the quality of the surface.
  9. If computation failed on a given area, a warning is displayed, the boundary of the failure area is displayed as thick red. Either
    • Recompute the area, or
    • Switch the surface type to Non-Functional, or
    • Start a deviation analysis, or
    • Exit Surfaces Network.

    Recommendation:
    • Verify the Sharp/Smooth status of the area boundary (Sharp status makes the surface creation easier).
    • Adjust the shape of existing curves or add curves to split the area into several subareas.
    Note: If the meshes from 2 neighboring areas overlap with a gap between the two skins, the surface generation may fail or result in a bumpy surface.

  10. Optional: Fine-tune the parameters and recompute the current selection.

    A selection remains current until:

    • You select a face for local edition, or
    • Start a new selection of not yet computed areas, or
    • You exit Surfaces Network.

  11. Optional: Start a local edition.
    1. Click an already computed face.
    2. Click another already computed face to add it to the selection.
    3. Click again an already computed face to remove it from the selection.
  12. Still in local edition, use the Surface Mesh slider to show the surface, or the mesh, or both.
  13. Click Geometric Information to display the mathematical definition of the face.

 

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