Generative Shape Design & Optimize - Part 6 pptx

Replace elements: select the element to be replaced, choose the Replace.... double-Move elements from a geometrical set: select the element, use the Change Body contextual menu, select t

Editing Surfaces and Wireframe GeometryGenerative Shape Design provides powerful tools for editing surfaces and wireframe geometry

Edit definitions: double-click on the element in the tree and modify its parameters

Select using a filter: select an object, and use the Selection Filter toolbar to manage element types and modes

Replace elements: select the element to be replaced, choose the Replace contextual command, then select the replacing element

Create elements from an external file: key in space coordinates of elements into an Excel file containing macros, then run the macro

Select implicit elements: press and hold the Shift key while clicking the element to which the implicit element belongs

Manage the orientation of geometry: click a line or a plane in the specification tree, and change the Angle value

double-Move elements from a geometrical set: select the element, use the Change Body contextual menu, select the element before which it should be inserted

Copy and paste: select the element(s) to be copied, click the Copy icon, select the target geometrical set, then click the Paste icon

Delete geometry: select the element, choose the Delete command, set the deletion options

Deactivate elements: select the element to be deactivated, choose the Deactivate contextual menu and choose to deactivate its children as well, if needed

Isolate geometric elements: select the element

to be isolated, choose the xxx object -> Isolate contextual menu

Edit parameters: click Preview while creating the element, or, if the element is already created, select it and choose the xxx object -> Edit Parameters contextual menu

Upgrade features: select the elements to be upgraded, choose the xxx object -> Upgrade contextual menu

Editing Surface and Wireframe DefinitionsThis task shows how to edit the definition of an already created geometric element.

1 Activate the Definition dialog box of the element that you want to edit in one of the

following ways:

● Select the element then choose the xxx.object -> Definition menu item from the

contextual menu

● Select the element then choose the Edit -> xxx.object -> Definition command

● Double-click the element identifier in the specification tree

2 Modify the definition of the element by selecting new reference elements or by entering

new values

3 Click OK to save the new definition

Replacing Elements

This task shows how to replace a geometric element by another.

This may be useful when a modification occurs late in the design as the whole geometry based onto the element that is replaced is updated according to the new specifications coming from the replacing elements.

Open the Replace1.CATPart document.

1 Right-click the pink curve (Profile.1) and choose

the Replace contextual menu

The Replace dialog box appears

2 Click the With field and select the blue curve in the

geometry.

The Replace dialog box is updated accordingly

and the geometry displays the curves

orientation.

You can check the Delete replaced elements and exclusive parents if you do not need these elements for later operations.

A warning message is issued if the element to replace is a

published element.

● Click Yes to replace the published element

● Click No to cancel the operation and close the Replace

dialog box.

In our example, we published Profile 1.

3 Click OK to validate the replacement.

The geometry is updated accordingly

Creating Elements From An External File

You can create points, curves, and multi-sections surfaces from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing macros, and in which you define:

● the points space coordinates

● the points through which the curves pass

● the curves used as profiles for the multi-sections surface

Only Excel sheets created with Excel 97 and subsequent versions are supported

Therefore this capability is available with WindowsTM only

Open any CATPart document containing a Geometrical Set or an Ordered Geometrical Set

1 Open the ElementsFromExcel.xls file from the Samples directory into Excel, and enable the macros

The document looks like this:

It contains:

● instructions, such as StartMulti-SectionsSurface and EndMulti-SectionsSurface, StartCurve and EndCurve between which other instructions or numerical data are given

● numerical data that are point space coordinates: X, Y, Z respectively from the left to the right

● a final End instruction

In the above example, a multi-sections surface is to be created based on three curves The first and second curve pass through four points, and the third curve passes through five points

The elements will be created from top to bottom, i.e the four points of the first curve will be created, then the curve itself, then the points making up the second curve and the latter itself, and so forth

You can add rows to create more elements or delete rows to edit elements or delete them (point), then save the spreadsheet

is displayed

3 Select the

Feuil1.Main macro and click Run

The User Info dialog

box is displayed

4 Key in the type of element to be generated:

● 1: to generate only the point(s)

● 2: to generate the points and the curve(s)

● 3: to generate the points, curves and multi-sections surface(s)

5 Click OK.

The elements (points, curves, and multi-sections surface) are created in the

geometry

The specification tree is updated accordingly

● The Generative Shape Design or Wireframe and Surface workbench needs not to be loaded, provided a CATIA session is running and a CATPart document is loaded

● The curve definition is limited to 500 points, and the multi-sections surface definition to 50 splines, with the delivered macro This can be modified using the Excel macro edition capabilities

Selecting Implicit Elements

There are many ways of selecting geometrical elements either in the geometry as described in

the CATIA Infrastructure User's Guide, Selecting Objects section, or in the specification tree.

However, specific to wireframe and surface elements are some implicit elements, such as the axis of a cylinder, or the vertex of a cone for instance, participating in the creation of a feature yet not directly selectable as a separate element

This task shows how to select these implicit elements

Open the Cylinder1.CATPart document

1 Click the Spline icon

and successively select the four points

The Spline Definition dialog box looks like this:

2 Select Point.3 from the list, to impose a tangency constraint on this point

Note that you cannot select the cylinder's surface

3 Press and hold the

Shift key, then move the pointer over the cylinder

The cylinder's axis is automatically

detected as a selectable element to indicate a direction, and displayed

4 Click anywhere on the

cylinder's surface, still holding the Shift key pressed down

The tangency constraint direction, based on the cylinder's axis,

is displayed at the selected point

5 Click OK to create the

spline tangent to the cylinder at the

selected point

Managing the Orientation of Geometry

This task shows you how to manage the orientation of modified geometry

This capability is only available with the Line and Plane functionalities

Open the Orientation1.CATPart document

1 Double-click Line.2 in the specification tree.

The Line dialog box is displayed

2 Change the Angle value from

180deg to 90deg

3 Click OK to validate the modification.

The Orientation Management dialog box is displayed

● Click Yes to align the modified geometry with the original orientation.

An inverse element is created that replaces the original line or plane (here Line.2) The inversion is proposed according to the following criteria: the normal vectors to the planes or the tangent vectors to the lines, before and after edition, have a null or negative scalar product

● Click No to align the modified geometry with new orientation.

Refer to '' Inverting the Orientation of Geometry'' to have further information about the Inverse functionality

Moving Elements From a Geometrical Set

This task shows how to move any element from a Geometrical Set to another location within another body (Hybrid Body or Geometrical Set)

Open any CATPart document containing several geometrical elements

You can also open the GeometricalSets2.CATPart document

1 From the specification tree, select the

element then choose the xxx.object

-> Change Geometrical Set item

from the contextual menu

Multi-selection of elements of different types is supported However, note that in this case, the contextual menu is not available, and that you can access this capability using the Edit menu item

The Change Body dialog box is displayed

2 Select the Destination Body for the selected element.

Here we selected Geometrical_Set.3

You can do so by selecting the Body in the specification tree, or using the drop-down list from the dialog box

3 Select the element above which the

one you already selected is to be inserted

You can directly select this positioning element In this case the Destination field of the

Change Body dialog box is automatically updated with the Body to which this second element belongs

4 Click OK in the dialog box.

The element selected first is moved

to its new location in the specification tree, but geometry remains unchanged

● Check the Change body unshared

parents option to move all parents of the

first selected element to its new location, provided these parents are not shared by any other element of the initial body

In this case, all the unshared parents are highlighted prior to the move

● Check the Change body all parents

option to move all parents of the first selected element to its new location, regardless of whether these parents are used (shared) by any other element of the initial body

In this case, all the parent elements are highlighted prior to the move

● You can move a whole branch, i.e a whole

body and its contents, at a time

Here we moved Geometrical_Set.3 last in Geometrical_Set.1

See also Managing Geometrical Sets

Copying and PastingThis task shows how to copy and paste geometrical set entities in your part design.

1 Select the elements that you want to copy either directly in the part geometry or in the

specification tree

2 Select the Edit -> Copy command.

3 Click the Geometrical Set entity in the tree where you want to paste the selected

elements

4 Select the Edit -> Paste command.

The elements are copied into the target Geometrical Set

● The identifiers of copied elements are incremented with respect to the original elements.

● The original elements and copied elements can be edited independently

● A few elements cannot be copied/pasted as such They need their parent element to be copied as well This is the case with boundaries, extracts (basic and multiple edges), and fillets for example

In this case, you may also consider using PowerCopies

Deleting Surfaces and Wireframe Geometry

Deleting a Specific Element

This task shows how to delete geometry from your design

Open the Delete1.CATPart document.

1 Select the entity you want to

delete

2 Select the Delete command either

from the Edit menu or the contextual menu

The Delete dialog box appears

3 Set the desired options for managing the deletion of parent and children entities.

Two options are available:

● Delete exclusive parents: deletes the geometry on which the element was created This geometry can be deleted only if it is exclusively used for the selected element

● Delete all children: deletes the geometry based upon the element to be deleted, in other words, dependent elements

● Delete aggregated elements: deletes the geometry based upon the elements

aggregated to the element to be deleted

4 Click OK to validate the deletion.

While deleting elements you may want to replace children of the deleted elements To do this, click the More>> button to display the Advanced Children Management area, and refer to the

Replacing Elements task as the replacement principles are the same

For further information, refer to "Deleting Features" in the Part Design User's Guide.

Deleting Useless Elements

This command is only available with the Generative Shape Design 2 product

This task shows how to delete all un-referenced elements, i.e not participating in the creation

of other geometrical elements

Please note that the command would delete all the elements of the part, if you do not wish all elements to be deleted, you have to specify it

Open the Delete1.CATPart document

1 Choose the Tools -> Delete useless elements menu item

The Delete Useless Elements dialog box appears

It lists all the wireframe and surface elements, datum or not, that are present in the document or in other documents when working in context (in a CATProduct

document referencing CATPart documents)

When an element is used by a Part Design feature, its status is Keep, used by solid, meaning

it cannot be deleted

2 Select an element you wish to keep from the list, and using

the contextual menu, choose the Keep menu item

The list of un-referenced elements is automatically updated, indicating a new status for the selected element (Keep) and which elements are to be kept as a

consequence (Keep, propagate status)

In the bottom left corner of the dialog box, the global status is also updated

3 Click OK to confirm the deletion of all elements listed with the Delete status.

● Use the Delete contextual menu item, to delete an element which status is either Keep or

Keep, propagate

Also available in the contextual menu, are the Center Graph and Reframe On items

● Bodies, whether Geometrical Sets, Ordered Geometrical Sets or PartBodies located directly below the main Part are not displayed in the list, as when creating a new document, they are necessarily empty of geometric elements, and it does not make sense to delete them

Deactivating Elements

This task shows how to inactivate a geometric element

This may be useful when, in a complex part, a branch of the part should not be affected by an update, or is not updating correctly for instance

This capability will let you work on the other elements present in the document while ignoring a specific element

Deactivated elements are identified by the () symbol in the specification tree Also refer to

Symbols Reflecting an Incident in the Geometry Building

Open the Join3.CATPart document

1 Right-click the element to be deactivated from the specification tree, and choose the XXX object -> Deactivate contextual command

Here we select Extrude.4

● If the selected element does not have any children, it

is directly deactivated This is indicated by a symbol in the specification tree:

● If the selected element has children, the Deactivate

dialog box appears, listing the elements to be deactivated, and their children as affected elements

In this case, the geometry is displayed in red, as if

needing an update