Rapidform Success
Training, Tips and Ideas for Rapidform Users

Author Archive

Parting Lines 101: How to Get Those Pesky Meshes to Trim

By Rob Liebert • Nov 2nd, 2009 • Category: Intermediate, Self-paced Learning, Tech Tips

If you’ve ever had to manufacture a really complex, organic shape, you may have wanted to split the model along a parting line for machining. Well, this can be a very tough job without a very powerful tool, plus a little guidance. Luckily,…



Rapidform Success 2009 Training Conference

By Rob Liebert • Jan 19th, 2009 • Category: Industry News, Success Blog

We are having our Rapidform Success Training Conference this April (14-17) at the Hilton in Las Vegas! Come join our team of experts and our growing network of hardcore users, as we all take part in a wonderful opportunity to:

  • Gain expert training from



How to Generate an Accurate Mesh from Line-type Scan Data

By Rob Liebert • Aug 22nd, 2008 • Category: Success Blog, Tech Tips, XOR, XOS

When you create a mesh, you typically use the Mesh Buildup Wizard. If scan data is constituted by line-type point clouds, however, boundaries are not easy to maintain in their original shape while you generate the mesh.

If you manually triangulate using



How To Get a Watertight Solid Model in CATIA

By Rob Liebert • Aug 22nd, 2008 • Category: Success Blog, Tech Tips, XOR, XOS

Rapidform XOR/XOS can create a body on a mesh using the “Auto Surfacing” command. This method can quickly and automatically wrap the mesh and create a surface/solid body by clicking one button, but it may possibly create gaps between patches on complicated and sharp areas…



How To Create a High Quality Mesh-Fit Surface

By Rob Liebert • Aug 22nd, 2008 • Category: Advanced, Success Blog, Tech Tips, XOR

XOR’s Boundary Fit Surfacing function helps you to easily create a surface body using boundary curves on the mesh, even if the mesh is a complex freeform shape.

This technical tip will help you understand how to create a high quality fitting surface.

Step 1:



How To Extract True Scale Section Profiles from CAD and Scan Data

By Rob Liebert • Aug 22nd, 2008 • Category: Intermediate, Success Blog, Tech Tips, XOV

In XOV, you can obtain several types of inspection results, such as deviation maps, section profiles, etc. during the inspection process. However, the results will be recorded as captured images. If, instead, you want to print out sections at their true scale, you can export…



Beginner’s Exercise: Creating High Quality Boundary Fit Surfaces

By Rob Liebert • Aug 1st, 2008 • Category: Tech Tips

Create fit surfaces by drawing a patch network on the mesh:

As you can see below, there are some cases where the trimmed surfaces will produce a bad result. Specifically, the “Tangent Constraint On Boundary” option, which uses mesh normals to match