offsetPlane

Overview

This utility is used to offset the given plane points to specified offset distance.

Note: To obtain plane points use definePlaneFromGroup or definePlaneFromEntity utility.

Syntax

PlanePoint1,PlanePoint2,PlanePoint3 = simlab.offsetPlane(PlanePoint1,PlanePoint2,PlanePoint3,offsetDistance)

User Case

To break the symmetry models and use half portion for analysis. Refer Fig-1
To create solid pretension for bolts. Refer Fig-2.

Why we need this utility?

After extracting the plane points using definePlaneFromGroup or definePlaneFromEntity, we may want to offset the plane to certain distance in script itself. This can be easily achieved by using this offsetplane function.

Utility Input/output

Hint

After extracting the plane points, convert it as a string by adding "str" and remove the () using ".strip" and store it in a variable for ease of use.

Sample

Note: Sample Script