Every surface element created by SURFCAM has a small arrow attached to one corner. This arrow indicates the surface side and direction that a cutter will traverse. You can change the side or direction for the cut with this menu.
When a surface is created, the surface arrow is placed at the first point selected.
Side
Change a surface arrow to the other side of the surface.
|
Original Surface |
Change Side |
|
|
|
This determines which side of the surface will be used for machining, filleting, offsetting, and cutter intersections.
Direction
Change a surface arrow so that it points in the other direction. If it is currently pointing along the cross sections, using this command will cause the arrow to point across the cross sections (and vice versa).
|
Original Surface |
Change Direction |
|
|
|
Corner
The location of a surface arrow can be changed so that it causes cutting to start at a different corner of the surface.
|
Original Surface |
Change Corner |
|
|
|
Arrow
Toggle the surface arrow to make it visible or invisible simply by selecting the surface(s). Selecting surfaces with an invisible arrow causes the arrow to reappear.
Use Tools
> Options > Create
> Surfaces and the Tools
> Options > Colors
> Entities to change the default Size and Color of the
arrow.
Decompose
Untrim the surfaces that make up a composite surface and return them to the state they were in before they were trimmed into the composite surface.
|
Original Surface |
Decomposed |
|
|
|
Change a surface's twist vectors.
Polygon
Create a polygon on an existing NURBS or parametric surface.
|
Original Surface |
|
|
|
|
Display
Select the number of curves to display in the U and V direction. When the value of zero is entered, the surface will be displayed with flow splines at the actual surface patch boundaries.
|
Original Surface |
|
|
|
|
Specify either a location or a vector (direction) that will be used as a reference for setting the surface side by aligning the arrows on one or more surfaces automatically.
Untrim
Untrim a previously trimmed surface. A single surface can also be untrimmed from an existing composite surface with this option.
|
Trimmed Surface |
Untrim > Surface
|
Untrim > Edge |
|
|
|
|
Color
Change the color of surfaces to help separate models that consist of inner and outer surfaces. SURFCAM does so by determining which surfaces are above, or outside, of others and colors them accordingly.
Check
Detect defective or invalid surfaces. When you click Check, the Select menu appears and the prompt reads "Select surfaces to check." After you make your selection, the Surface check options dialog box appears.
