Objective:
Learn the different methods available for creating surface meshes. If you are looking for how to create a surface mesh, go here.
Applies to:
- Exporting, design analysis, topology optimization, manufacturing
Procedure:
Mesh from Implicit Body
Mesh from CAD Body
Voxel Grid from Implicit and Mesh from Voxel Grid
Mesh from Implicit Body by Voxels
Extract Volume Mesh Boundary
Quadrangulate Mesh
There are three kinds of meshing blocks in nTopology. Surface meshes, solid meshes, and Finite Element (FE) meshes. Note that in nTop we refer to surface meshes as simply ‘meshes’, while volume meshes are specified as volume or solid meshes.
Typically meshes start as a surface mesh, get refined, and can be converted to solid and FE meshes depending on your goal. If you want to export your mesh, you can keep it as a surface mesh, but if you want to analyze it in nTop or another program, you will need to create a volume mesh and then an FE volume mesh.
Mesh from Implicit Body:
Convert an implicit body to a surface mesh.
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The feature size input of this block should be less than the minimum feature size you want to capture in your implicit body. Since all future meshes will be based on this, you should consider using a very small feature size for intricate implicit bodies, and then remesh to a coarser mesh later. The adaptivity input takes in a number greater than 0, which controls if mesh elements will increase in size over flat areas. Low values will result in a more uniform and accurate mesh, while larger values will result in lower element counts.
Mesh from CAD Body:
Convert CAD Body to a surface mesh.
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Voxel Grid from Implicit and Mesh from Voxel Grid:
Convert voxel grid to a surface mesh and an implicit body into a voxel grid.
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Mesh from Implicit Body by Voxels (beta):
Convert an implicit body to a surface mesh using voxels.
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Extract Volume Mesh Boundary:
Reduces a volume mesh to a surface mesh by extracting the outer triangles.
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Quadrangulate Mesh:
Converts a triangle mesh into a quad mesh by remeshing it.
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