Auto Surface

Contours > Auto Surface is a wizard that automatically generates contour lines, panels, patches, and grids, and creates a NURBS surface (a combina­tion of the most common functions on the Contours Menu, Patches Menu, Grids Menu, and NURBS Menu). It creates a NURBS surface without the fine control offered by the individual functions.

This function is selectable immediately after activating Shape phase, and becomes unselectable after Contours > Detect Contours, Contours > Edit Contours, or Contours > Detect Curvature.

Auto Surface can also be used to eliminate repetitive work. Advanced users who frequently work on similar models can the adjust the sensitivity of the operation (under Tools > Options > Advanced > AutoSurface) according to their experience with the individual Shape Phase functions that constitute the Auto Surface wizard.

The equivalent steps, in order, are:

• create black contour lines with Patches > Detect Curvature

• construct four-sided patches with Patches > Construct Patches

• construct an N-by-N grid in each patch with Grids > Construct Grids

• apply a NURBS surface to the grids with NURBS > Fit Surfaces

The controls for the wizard are:

• Model Geometry group - is similar to the Granularity group in Patches > Detect Curvature, controls the number of black curvature lines to be added to the Shape object. (Black contour lines can later be promoted to orange panel-demarcation lines.)

• Auto Estimate checkbox - specifies that the application will calculate an appropriate number of black curvature lines.

• Geometry slider (selectable when Auto Estimate is Off; five degrees from Simple to Complex) - specifies a relative number of black lines (few for a Simple object, many for a Complex object).

• Surface Detail slider (five degrees from Min to Max) - specifies the fine­ness of the NURBS surface.

• OK button - saves the surfaced Shape object to the Model Manager.

• Cancel button - terminates the dialog without saving the surfaced Shape object.

• Apply button - surfaces the Shape object and leaves the dialog open for adjustment of the parameters.

To automatically create a NURBS surface:

1. Highlight a Shape-phase object in the Model Manager, then select Con­tours > AutoSurface. A dialog appears.

2. Check Auto Estimate for automatic selection of a complexity, or set the slider for a specific degree of complexity. (A simple surface is one with few holes, edges, and features, and can be divided into few components. A complex surface has many holes, edges, or features, and can be divided into many components.)

3. Use the Surface Detail to adjust the detail of the NURBS surface.

4. Click Apply.

5. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 and necessary.

6. Click OK to accept the results, or Cancel to close the dialog.

See Tools > Options > Operations > Auto Surface for parameters that affect this function.