Rapidform Success
Training, Tips and Ideas for Rapidform Users

Author Archive

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 the 3D Triangulation command in the Addins menu, you will get better a result [...]



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 of the mesh. So if you want to export the [...]



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: Mesh Optimization
To get a high quality fitting surface, you will first need [...]



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 them via the *.dxf file format.
Method:
First of all, you can [...]



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 continuity, sometimes gives a bad result.
(In General, you should avoid drawing patch boundary curves [...]