| Forming Suite Quick Reference
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| Main Functions: |
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Click the New icon, select New from the Project menu or type Ctrl+N. This allows you to start a new project.
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Click the Open icon, select Open from the Project menu or type Ctrl+O. You can open FTC project files.
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Click the Save icon, select Save from the Project menu or type Ctrl+S to save a project file in Forming Suite.
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Click the Regenerate icon,
select Regenerate from the Project menu or type Ctrl+R
to recalculate the analysis based on changes made.
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Click the Import Geometry icon from the Geometry Workbench
toolbar after the Geometry icon  has been clicked from the Workbench Wizard toolbar or selected from the Workbench menu. You may import an IGES, STEP or VDAF file. |
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Click the Geometry icon, or select Geometry from the Workbench menu. Use the Geometry tools to operate on surfaces, lines and points of the geometry. You can also remove holes in surfaces, fix problems produced during IGES translation, etc. First select the desired icon for the tool, then select the entity/entities you want to modify. To make the change(s), click the OK button. |
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Click the Generate Mesh icon from the Meshing Workbench toolbar, after you have clicked on the Meshing icon  or selected Meshing from the Workbench menu. Forming Suite will suggest a mesh size based on product geometry. If you wish to change the suggested values, you should select a size that produces at least 3 elements on the sharpest radii. The ratio of minimum to maximum should not exceed 1 to 10 (e.g., min=1, max=10 or min=0.5, max=5). Click the OK button to start meshing. If your mesh is too coarse or too fine, try different sizes.
Holes - All holes should automatically be filled. If all holes are not filled and you would like all holes in the geometry to be meshed over, click the Fill holes icon  .
Offset Mesh - If the geometry is of a solid and you have meshed the inner or outer surfaces, you may want to offset the mesh to the mid-plane. If you want to offset in the negative Z direction, enter a negative value half the material thickness. If you want to offset in the positive Z direction, enter a positive value half the material thickness. Other offset values other than the mid-plane value can be entered. The maximum value is equivalent to the thickness of the part.
Note: Every time you double the number of elements, you quadruple the solve time. Always inspect the meshed part to make sure there aren't any irregularities. You may need to use a smaller mesh size to correctly model some features.
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Click the Material Selection icon which is available in the Forming Workbench toolbar, or the Nesting Workbench toolbar. Choose a material type from the drop down menu and enter the part thickness in the Property dialog box.
Click here to learn how to customize your materials database. |
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Click the Solve icon from the Forming Workbench toolbar, Springback Workbench toolbar,
User Defined Blank Workbench toolbar, or the Nesting Workbench toolbar to produce the results. If you wish to view the part shaded, click on the Shading icon  . |
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Click the Blank Geometry icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Blank Geometry from the Workbench menu to create or load a blank. |
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Click the User
Defined Blank icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select
User Defined Blank from the Workbench menu to perform a forming
analysis on a user defined blank.
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Click the Nesting icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Nesting from the Workbench menu to modify parameters before solving to produce the nesting results.
To calculate the Blank Die Cost, click here.
To view layout constraints, click here.
To view nesting results, click here. |
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| Click the Binder icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Binder from the Workbench menu to create or load a binder. |
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Click the Forming icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Forming from the Workbench menu to simulate any of the following forming conditions:
- Blankholder Force
- Draw Bead
- Pressure Pad
- Forming Constraints
- Bend Line
To learn more about the forming conditions, click here. |
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Click the Springback icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Springback from the Workbench menu to define constraints and view 6 different graphical results. |
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Click the Layout Editing icon from the Workbench Wizard toolbar, or select Layout Editing from the Workbench menu to edit the layout or blank of a part. |
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| Other Functions: |
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Click the Screen Capture icon or select Screen Capture from the
Project menu to capture the Graphics Display Area. Use the Save As dialog box to save the graphic as either a TIFF or JPEG file.
The background is changed to white to conserve printer ink.
Click here to view a sample screen capture. |
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Click the Selection Filter icon to choose one of the 7 selection options.
Select Nothing: Choose this option, if you don't want to select anything.
 Select Surfaces: Choose this option to select only surfaces, all surfaces are displayed in yellow.
 Select Lines: Choose this option to select only lines, all lines are displayed in cyan.
Note: Any created lines will be displayed in blue.
 Select Points: Choose this option to select only points, all points are displayed in orange.
Note: Any created points will be displayed in red.
 Select Holes: Choose this option to select any holes in the geometry, all holes will be highlighted in purple.
 Select Edges: Choose this option to select only edges, all edges are displayed in yellow.
 Select Nodes: Choose this option to select only nodes, all nodes are displayed in white in meshing and green in forming.
Note: Nodes are available to be selected in meshing and forming.
- May also select all of the above by holding down the Ctrl key while selecting the different entities.
- May also use window selection to select multiple entities.
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Click the Help icon to open this online help document. |
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| Manipulating Views: |
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Click the Standard Views icon to display one of eight predefined views: top, bottom, front, back, left, right, isometric and tipping.
Top view is normal to the XY plane and front view normal to the XZ plane. |
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Click the Track icon to turn on free rotation of the model in space. Then click on the model and drag the mouse to rotate the part to the desired orientation. Until the Track or another icon is clicked, track mode will remain engaged.
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Click the Zoom icon to turn on zoom mode. Then click on the model and drag the mouse pointer up to zoom in or down to zoom out. Until the Zoom or another icon is clicked, zoom mode will remain engaged.
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Click the Zoom Window icon to turn on zoom window mode. Then select a window area on the model and it will automatically zoom in on that selected area. Until the Zoom Window or another icon is clicked, zoom window mode will remain engaged.
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Click the Pan icon to turn on pan mode. Then click on the model and drag it to the desired position. Until the Pan or another icon is clicked, pan mode will remain engaged.
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Click the Fit icon to fit the model to the graphics display area. |
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