Power Tools GUI Tutorial Step 5

Step 5: Splitting Filleted Surfaces

The previous step determined that the volume was not currently meshable, and that further decomposition was required. This decomposition can be performed using the tools in the Geometry Repair power tools. A good place to start is with blend surfaces.

A blend surface is a transitional surface that connects two orthogonal planes, also known as a fillet. Blend surfaces can be problematic in meshing because there is no clear transition between the two orthogonal surfaces, making sweeping or mapping algorithms difficult. The Split Surface function divides these blend surfaces (or any surface) into two distinct surfaces.

The graphics window should look like this:

knuckle_22_zoom_to.gif

OR

The Geometry-Surface-Modify-Split Menu will appear on the Control Panel. Make sure the Surface id is input in the window.

The blue line shows where the surface will be split.

knuckle_split_preview.gif

The surface should now appear split.