Tool Palettes > Surface Edit > Stitch > Shell stitch

Surface Edit > Stitch > Shell stitch

Creates a special object called a shell from a group of surfaces, in preparation for Boolean operations or export to a CAD package.

See Check for gaps before exporting to a solid model

See Export STEP/IGES/PTC Granite to Pro/ENGINEER

See Convert surfaces to and from shells (stitch/unstitch)

Use construction options

Turn on this option to use the Maximum Gap Distance from the Preferences > Construction options as the stitching tolerance. Turn it off to set the tolerance using the Tolerance slider below.

Tolerance

This slider only appears when Use construction options is turned off. If the gap between two edges is within this tolerance, the edges are joined. The range is 0.0001 to 1.0000

Detach periodic surfaces

Detach the seam of periodic surfaces (that is, closed surfaces such as cylinders and surfaces created with the Revolve tool) before stitching them into a shell.

This option is sometimes necessary when the stitch function does not notice that a surface edge is attached to another edge on the same surface. This is a common problem in CAD systems.

Detach single curve boundaries

Detach trim edges made from single curves on surface (such as a round hole in the middle of a plane).

Some CAD systems have problems with these kinds of trims. Turn this option on to allow export to those systems.

Keep originals

Keep the original surfaces after the shell is created.

Depending on how you set the options, a shell may not match the original surfaces exactly. In this case, unstitching will not produce surfaces that match the originals exactly either; it is a good idea to keep originals. The default is to keep the original surfaces.