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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Explore how to use the Zebra Analysis tool to check continuity between surfaces, and how to create and combine a T-spline surface to an existing solid body.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
6 min.
Transcript
00:04
Before we begin,
00:05
I just want to show you the zebra analysis tool
00:07
which helps you double check the continuity between faces
00:13
under the inspect drop down, you'll find it here.
00:15
So click on that,
00:16
select the solid and press, OK,
00:22
just move the view of the surface around and check for any irregularities.
00:27
I can see on the top here, the transitions are not quite as smooth
00:30
indicating the surface might need some rework
00:34
with that in mind. I'll head back into the sculpt environment.
00:36
Although first, I'll rewind the timeline to hide any creative features.
00:40
For example, solid bodies,
00:43
if we were to edit the scab now without doing this,
00:45
then any subsequent features would also appear.
00:47
So by moving the timeline back, we're just simplifying things.
00:51
After zooming in on here,
00:53
we can see the sharp edge details are causing this issue
00:56
as mentioned
00:57
when inserting an edge to create a sharper edge,
00:60
you do have more faces to work with which can result in scenarios such as this.
01:04
However, in this case, I'll show you one way in which we can improve the topology.
01:10
I'm going to first delete these edges, then create some points.
01:17
I won't be positioning the inserted points as close as before
01:19
as this will give a more gradual flow between adjoining faces.
01:31
Now, if we go back to the same view,
01:33
you can see a slight improvement on the surface continuity.
01:37
Of course, we could spend a lot of time fine tuning this in other areas.
01:40
Although for now,
01:41
we'll take a quick look to see how you can
01:43
match your teeth flying body to an existing solid.
01:47
I've done some solid modeling on our main body to create
01:50
some mounting holes as well as brought in the grind,
01:52
the casing component which you want to match to our main body.
01:56
We have the flat plate, we want to connect to the mounting holes.
01:59
Although we want to use T
02:00
blinds to create our enclosure.
02:03
These T
02:03
blinds must then align with the flat plate before
02:05
we convert to a solid and combine the two,
02:10
one way of achieving.
02:11
This is to go into the sculpt environment and
02:13
create a sketch where the two components will meet.
02:20
I'll project the profile of our solid body then extrude,
02:28
I'll set the number of faces to an odd number.
02:30
So we have a central parting line we can use to mirror against
02:35
to coincide with this.
02:36
I'll also insert an edge on the bottom face. Exactly 50%.
02:41
We now have a two spine surface that matches the profile of our solid body.
02:47
I'm going to edit the form and look through it a couple more times
02:49
using the alt and drag technique as I want to maintain that initial shape.
02:53
Otherwise, we may have issues later when combining them,
03:01
then
03:02
I'll go ahead and apply an internal mirror. So we don't have to duplicate our work.
03:09
Also
03:10
the profile of the bodies we later to combine will ideally match.
03:13
So to help achieve this, I'm going to freeze the first set of edges,
03:18
freezing edges, locks a set of edges, vertices and faces in place,
03:22
meaning they are unaffected.
03:23
If we edit surrounding features,
03:27
I can now go ahead and match the shape to our canvas.
03:30
Again,
03:31
don't be afraid to jump into box mode to
03:33
make sure your underlying topology is looking good.
03:38
I'm pretty happy with this
03:39
and we just need to fill the hole before we can continue.
03:42
Luckily, there's a command just for that.
03:47
Notice how the maintain crease edges option is checked.
03:50
I'm doing this because I'd rather add a paramedic filet later on.
03:55
Finally,
03:56
I can see by the thick black lines that a crease has been applied to this front face.
04:01
This is maintained the creases from the bottom edges
04:03
and although it won't be visible as on a flat surface,
04:06
we'll increase them just to maintain consistency.
04:11
Now, we finish working on our model,
04:13
we're ready to thicken and combine this with our existing solid,
04:19
simply open up the thickened command and into your value.
04:26
Now, if you look in the browser tree, our services turned into a solid body.
04:31
Then
04:31
using the combine command,
04:33
I'll select this newly created body and I'll plate. And again,
04:37
you'll see in the browser tree, a single solid body has been created.
04:43
I can now apply some Phyllis to the respective
04:45
areas which will be captured in the timeline.
04:52
If we go to our section view,
04:54
we can better see how our components sit together in position.
Video transcript
00:04
Before we begin,
00:05
I just want to show you the zebra analysis tool
00:07
which helps you double check the continuity between faces
00:13
under the inspect drop down, you'll find it here.
00:15
So click on that,
00:16
select the solid and press, OK,
00:22
just move the view of the surface around and check for any irregularities.
00:27
I can see on the top here, the transitions are not quite as smooth
00:30
indicating the surface might need some rework
00:34
with that in mind. I'll head back into the sculpt environment.
00:36
Although first, I'll rewind the timeline to hide any creative features.
00:40
For example, solid bodies,
00:43
if we were to edit the scab now without doing this,
00:45
then any subsequent features would also appear.
00:47
So by moving the timeline back, we're just simplifying things.
00:51
After zooming in on here,
00:53
we can see the sharp edge details are causing this issue
00:56
as mentioned
00:57
when inserting an edge to create a sharper edge,
00:60
you do have more faces to work with which can result in scenarios such as this.
01:04
However, in this case, I'll show you one way in which we can improve the topology.
01:10
I'm going to first delete these edges, then create some points.
01:17
I won't be positioning the inserted points as close as before
01:19
as this will give a more gradual flow between adjoining faces.
01:31
Now, if we go back to the same view,
01:33
you can see a slight improvement on the surface continuity.
01:37
Of course, we could spend a lot of time fine tuning this in other areas.
01:40
Although for now,
01:41
we'll take a quick look to see how you can
01:43
match your teeth flying body to an existing solid.
01:47
I've done some solid modeling on our main body to create
01:50
some mounting holes as well as brought in the grind,
01:52
the casing component which you want to match to our main body.
01:56
We have the flat plate, we want to connect to the mounting holes.
01:59
Although we want to use T
02:00
blinds to create our enclosure.
02:03
These T
02:03
blinds must then align with the flat plate before
02:05
we convert to a solid and combine the two,
02:10
one way of achieving.
02:11
This is to go into the sculpt environment and
02:13
create a sketch where the two components will meet.
02:20
I'll project the profile of our solid body then extrude,
02:28
I'll set the number of faces to an odd number.
02:30
So we have a central parting line we can use to mirror against
02:35
to coincide with this.
02:36
I'll also insert an edge on the bottom face. Exactly 50%.
02:41
We now have a two spine surface that matches the profile of our solid body.
02:47
I'm going to edit the form and look through it a couple more times
02:49
using the alt and drag technique as I want to maintain that initial shape.
02:53
Otherwise, we may have issues later when combining them,
03:01
then
03:02
I'll go ahead and apply an internal mirror. So we don't have to duplicate our work.
03:09
Also
03:10
the profile of the bodies we later to combine will ideally match.
03:13
So to help achieve this, I'm going to freeze the first set of edges,
03:18
freezing edges, locks a set of edges, vertices and faces in place,
03:22
meaning they are unaffected.
03:23
If we edit surrounding features,
03:27
I can now go ahead and match the shape to our canvas.
03:30
Again,
03:31
don't be afraid to jump into box mode to
03:33
make sure your underlying topology is looking good.
03:38
I'm pretty happy with this
03:39
and we just need to fill the hole before we can continue.
03:42
Luckily, there's a command just for that.
03:47
Notice how the maintain crease edges option is checked.
03:50
I'm doing this because I'd rather add a paramedic filet later on.
03:55
Finally,
03:56
I can see by the thick black lines that a crease has been applied to this front face.
04:01
This is maintained the creases from the bottom edges
04:03
and although it won't be visible as on a flat surface,
04:06
we'll increase them just to maintain consistency.
04:11
Now, we finish working on our model,
04:13
we're ready to thicken and combine this with our existing solid,
04:19
simply open up the thickened command and into your value.
04:26
Now, if you look in the browser tree, our services turned into a solid body.
04:31
Then
04:31
using the combine command,
04:33
I'll select this newly created body and I'll plate. And again,
04:37
you'll see in the browser tree, a single solid body has been created.
04:43
I can now apply some Phyllis to the respective
04:45
areas which will be captured in the timeline.
04:52
If we go to our section view,
04:54
we can better see how our components sit together in position.
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