Improved Triangle Hole Filling

You can now manually split triangle holes into smaller regions when using the Fill Holes dialog box ., which is available from the Triangle Fixing toolbar, .

This allows more complicated holes to be fixed without the need for full manual triangle editing. After selecting a hole to fill, you can now pick two points on the boundary to split the hole into two regions. If the wrong side is highlighted by default, click to select the region that you want to fill.

For example, using the plate.stl example, you can fill the hole in two parts, filling the flat area with a planar cap, and the curved area with a curvature cap.

To fill "split" holes:

1. Click on the Triangle Fixing button on the main toolbar to display the "TriFIX" side toolbar.
   
   
2. Click on the Fill Holes button .
   
   
3. First, pick the hole you want to fill by clicking on its boundary. The selected boundary turns red.

4. Click twice to select the part of hole you want to fill first. CopyCAD shows each pick mark with a circle and outlines the selected part of the hole using a yellow dashed line.

5. In the Fill Holes dialog box, select the Fill Mode you require:
   • Use central node – CopyCAD generates a node at the centre of the hole by averaging the positions of the nodes around the boundary. A new triangle is generated for each boundary edge, using the central node as the third vertex. However, if the hole has only three edges, it is filled with a single triangle, and if it has four edges, it is filled using two triangles.
     
     
   • Planar cap – CopyCAD generates a nominal plane which passes through the boundary nodes (approximately if the boundary is not planar). New nodes are generated on the plane which are within the boundary. New triangles are generated using the boundary nodes and the new nodes.
     
     
   • Curvature cap – CopyCAD calculates the curvature needed to fill the hole by examining the surrounding triangles. New nodes are generated on the curved area. New triangles are generated using the boundary nodes and the new nodes.

6. Click on Apply to fill the selected part of the hole.
   
   
7. You can now repeat the steps to fill the rest of the hole using a different fill mode.
   
   
8. Click on Accept to close the Fill Holes dialog box.

See also:

Overview