Shrink/Fit Morph Volumes

Use the Morph Volumes: Shrink/Fit to shrink selected morph volumes to fit registered nodes more tightly or alter the morph volume faces to better fit the relevant elements.

  1. From the Morph ribbon, click the Morph Volumes > Shrink/Fit tool.


    Figure 1.
  2. Choose the operation to perform from the guide bar.
    Option Description
    Shrink method Choose the algorithm used when shrinking the selected morph volumes, from the drop-down menu on the guide bar.

    Implicit: shrink morph volumes using internally calculated sensitivities. This option is faster than explicit mode, however it usually requires twice as many iterations (30-50 is usually enough) to converge.

    Explicit: shrink morph volumes using externally calculated sensitivities. This option is slower than implicit mode, however it usually converges in 15 to 20 iterations.

    Free inner faces Click from the guide bar and select Free inner faces to move the inner faces (faces shared by more than one selected morph volume) freely during the shrinking operation.
    Fit method Choose the type of fitting applied to the faces, from the drop-down menu in the guide bar.

    Slide faces: slide the faces normal to their orientation, maintaining the orientation angles and shapes of the faces.

    Tilt faces: change the orientation angles of the faces, but maintain the shapes.

    Fit faces smooth: smoothly curve the face to closely match the selected nodes.

    Fit faces wavy: fit a trigonometric shape to match the selected nodes.

    Fit faces approx: smoothly curve the face to roughly match the selected nodes.

    Fit by face/by volume Select either morph faces or morph volumes from the guide bar, then select the morph volume faces or morph volumes to be fitted.
    Note: When you select morph volumes, only the outward faces of the morph volumes will be fitted.
    Around registered, around selected, and through selected Around registered: fits the selected morph volume to its registered nodes.
    Around Selected: fits the selected morph volume to the Selected nodes/elements from the guide bar.
    Note: Click to register selected nodes after fitting.

    Through selected: fits the selected faces through the selected nodes/elements.

  3. Select the morph volume/morph volume faces to shrink/fit.
  4. Define options in the microdialog.
    Option Description
    Iterations Specify the maximum number of iterations to perform when shrinking morph volumes.
    buffer % Expand the microdialog and specify the amount of empty space between the selected nodes or elements and the faces of the created morph volumes, based on the average size of the morph volume to be created.

    For example, if a mesh measured 30x30x30 and a 10% buffer percentage was selected, the morph volume would be created measuring 36x36x36, which would give it a 10% (3 unit) buffer zone between each side and the enclosed mesh.

    Smoothness Expand the microdialog to modify the smoothness used for fitting the morph volumes.
    Higher values will give a flatter result and lower numbers will allow more curvature.
    Note: The smoothness does not apply when using slide faces or tilt faces.
    Midhandles When performing a fit operation, change the number of Handles along the morph volume edge using the microdialog.
    Note: Select the keep check box to keep the current number of handles.
    Project normal/project by vector Expand the microdialog to choose whether to project the faces normal to their current orientation or along a vector. If using a vector, point the vector in the direction the target nodes or elements will end up relative to the faces, after the faces have been fitted.
  5. From the guide bar, click Shrink or Fit.