Creating Swept Volumes

You can create swept volumes.

Swept volumes represent the path traveled by a component of a mechanism during a simulation.

  1. From the top bar, select Add > Content.
    The New Content dialog box appears.
  2. Under Physical Product Structure, click VOCSweptVolume .
    The Swept Volume dialog box appears.
  3. Select the animation object for which you want to compute the swept volume in the Simulation box.
    By default, all the moving elements in this animation are selected.
  4. Select the element(s) for which you want to compute the swept volume in the tree or in the 3D area.
  5. Select a reference product.
    Note: The Reference product box is filled in by default with the root product.
  6. Select the Filter Positions option to remove some mechanical positions and enter a minimum deviation of positions in the Filtering precision box.

    By default, it is selected.

    Note: Conversely, clear the Filter Positions option to keep all mechanism positions.
  7. Select the Enable Wrapping check box to create an envelope around the selected parts and enter a grain value in the Wrapping grain box.

    By default, it is cleared.

    The Envelope options are enabled.

  8. Select the Enable simplification check box and enter an Accuracy value to simplify the representation of the selected elements.

    By default, it is cleared.

    Important: The simplification is only available if the Wrapping option is selected. Indeed the simplification is applied on the wrapping result (contrary to the wrapping result that is applied on the swept volume result).

  9. Select the Enable Silhouette check box and enter an accuracy value to compute a silhouette over the swept volume.

    By default, the check box is cleared.

    A silhouette is computed considering the six canonical views.
  10. Optional: For improved performance,
    1. Under Envelope, select the Simple option.
    2. In the Offset ratio box, specify a value.
    3. Select the Cubic check box.

      By default, the offset ratio is 0.1 and the Cubic check box is cleared.

    The results are computed using V5 algorithm.
    Note: If the simple envelope type is selected, the quality of the result may be impacted.
  11. Click OK.
    A new 3D shape is created containing the resulting swept volume.