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Mesh Tutorial

How to generate a mesh on a multi-material part

This tutorial will teach how to use the Surface tools to generate mesh files. In particular, this tutorial will walk through how to execute this on a multi-material part.



Understanding the Histogram

The values selected for a mesh extraction can be intuited from the histogram seen in the range map of the data you have selected. It is essential to understand that the data in the range map of the data object you selected will correlate to the threshold you set for the surface extraction.

It is also essential to understand that the peaks you see in a range map correlate to materials. As such, if you are looking to understand a proper threshold to pick, you typically want to select the value 50% of the way between the material you want to select and the background you want to separate it from.

Multi-material Surface Tools - Annotated_6

This tool handle is made up of a plastic overmolded to a fiberglass core. Note the material spikes in the range map, and the threshold to provide seperation.


Extracting the part surface

  1. Select the data object (in this example ROI1) from the data panel
  2. Use the range map to find the value between the two leftmost peaks (background and material 1).
    Multi-material Surface Tools_6
  3. Select the Mesh tool from the Author toolbar. Set the threshold to match the value from the range map.
    Multi-material Surface Tools_5
  4. Extract the mesh, and you will receive the mesh of the full part.
    Multi-material Surface Tools_2

Extracting the fiberglass

  1. Select the data object (in this example ROI1) from the data panel
  2. Use the range map to find the value between the two materials you are separating. The middle peak is plastic, and the rightmost is fiberglass.
    Multi-material Surface Tools_4
  3. Select the Mesh tool from the Author toolbar. Set the threshold to match the value from the range map.
    Multi-material Surface Tools_3
  4. Extract the mesh, and you will receive the mesh of the fiberglass core.
    Multi-material Surface Tools_1

Results Comparison

After performing these actions, you will receive two Mesh objects in your data panel. It can be helpful to rename these such that you can quickly tell them apart.

Multi-material Surface Tools_1

Multi-material Surface Tools_2