Load and Prepare CAD Geometry

Tutorial Level: Beginner In this tutorial, you will learn how to load and prepare CAD geometry.

Before you begin, copy the file(s) used in this tutorial to your working directory.
In this tutorial you will:
  • Use the View Controls toolbar to evaluate model integrity.
  • Delete the surface that overhangs the round corner using the Split tool.
  • Create surfaces to fill gaps in the model using the Patch tool.
  • Combine free edges using the Stitch tool and change tolerance.
  • Reload the model and quickly combine free edges using higher tolerance.
  • Reload the model and use the Surface Repair tool to adjust the topology.

Evaluate Model Integrity

In this step, you will evaluate the model integrity using the View Controls toolbar.

  1. Start HyperMesh.
  2. From the menu bar, click File > Open > HyperMesh Model.
  3. Browse to your working directory, select TOPOLOGY-REPAIR.hm, and click Open.
    The model opens in the modeling window.
  4. From the View Controls toolbar, click and select Topology.
  5. From the View Controls toolbar, click and select .
  6. From the Topology ribbon, click the Stitch tool.
    Figure 1.


  7. From the visualization legend, clear all check boxes except the Free check box to display only the free edges.
    These are locations that have missing surfaces.
    Figure 2.


  8. Select the T-Junctions check box.
    There are no yellow edges (there are no duplicate surfaces or T-connection).
    Figure 3.


  9. Select All check boxes.
  10. From the View Controls toolbar, click and select .
  11. In the modeling window, rotate, zoom, and pan to locate any errors in the geometry.
    Areas to be worked on (highlighted with red edges):
    • A surface that overhangs a round corner
    • Missing surfaces

Delete Overhanging Surface

In this step, you will delete the surface that overhangs the round corner using the Split tool.

  1. From the Topology ribbon, select the Split > Lines tool.
    Figure 4.


  2. For Target and Tool, select the entities highlighted in Figure 5 and click Split.
    Figure 5.


  3. Exit the tool.
  4. Set the Entity Selector to Surfaces.
  5. In the modeling window, right-click the surface highlighted in Figure 6 and select Delete from the context menu.
    Figure 6.


Create Surfaces

In this step, you will create surfaces to fill gaps in the model using the Patch tool.

  1. From the 2D ribbon, select the Surfaces > Patch/Spline tool.
    Figure 7.


  2. From the guide bar, verify Patch is selected.
  3. Select the surface edges loop highlighted in Figure 8 and confirm.
    Figure 8.


  4. Click on the created surface to toggle tangency.
  5. Patch the part highlighted in Figure 9 by clicking-and-dragging one edge over the other.
    Note: Alternatively, you can use again Stitch tool.
    Figure 9.


  6. Optional: From the Topology ribbon, click the Suppress tool from the Stitch tool group.
    Figure 10.


Combine Free Edges

In this step, you will combine free edges using the Stitch tool and change tolerance.

  1. From the Topology ribbon, select the Stitch tool.
    Figure 11.


  2. From the guide bar, click .
    The Options dialog opens.
  3. Set the Maximum stitching distance to 0.01.
  4. In the modeling window, select all surfaces displayed and click Stitch from the guide bar.
    Now only two free edges remain because the gap is larger than the stitching distance.
    Figure 12.


  5. Click-and-drag an edge to the other edge to stitch it.
    Figure 13.


  6. Repeat step 5 on the other site to correct the gap.
    Figure 14.


  7. Review the model.
The geometry no longer has any free edges.

Combine Free Edges Using Higher Tolerance

In this step, you will reload the model and quickly combine free edges using a higher tolerance.

  1. Reload the TOPOLOGY-REPAIR.hm model.
  2. From the Topology ribbon, select the Stitch tool.
    Figure 15.


  3. From the guide bar, click .
    The Options dialog opens.
  4. Set the Maximum stitching distance to 0.1.
  5. For Stitching method, select Stitch and intersect.
    Figure 16.


  6. In the modeling window, select all surfaces displayed and click Stitch from the guide bar.
    Figure 17.


Review and fix the model topology with the tools you prefer.

Adjust Topology

In this step, you will reload the model and use the Surface Repair tool to adjust the topology.

  1. Reload the TOPOLOGY-REPAIR.hm model.
  2. From the 2D ribbon, select the Surface Repair tool.
    Figure 18.


  3. From the guide bar, click .
    The Options dialog opens.
  4. Options dialog, click to restore default values.
  5. In the modeling window, select all of the Surfaces displayed and click Find from the guide bar.
  6. From the guide bar, click to fix identified problems based on options.
    The number of free edges decreased from 11 to six.
    Figure 19.


  7. From the visualization legend, click Free edges to review and fix edges.
  8. From the guide bar, use the arrows to navigate the problems and select the problem in the modeling window to Stitch.
  9. Where you are not able to stitch, complete one of the following options based on the scenario and select the problem in the modeling window to stitch:
    • From the microdialog, click , select Stitch, and increase the stitching tolerance to 0.1.
    • From the microdialog, click to patch.
  10. Stitch the last free edge.
    1. From the microdialog, click and select Stitch and intersect.
    2. Select the problem in the modeling window.
    3. From the microdialog, click and select the extra surface to remove it.
      Figure 20.


  11. From the secondary ribbon, select the Closed shells tool.
    Figure 21.
  12. From the guide bar, click to generate the solid geometry.
    Figure 22.