Getting started

Inspection and Healing

Check CAD model validity.
Check CAD facets.
Check geometric tolerances.
Check if face contour is closed.
Merge small edges.
Check naked (open) edges.
Check non-manifold edges.
Convert to analytical (canonical) representation.
Fill gaps.
Stitch faces.
Curvature plots and combs.
Gaussian and mean curvature maps.
Check thickness distribution.
Recognize analytical shapes.

Feature Recognition

This block contains description of the shape interrogation and feature recognition facilities available in Analysis Situs. Feature recognition is a backbone for such use cases as:

Simplification of design models.
Manufacturing planning.
Automatic pricing for on-demand manufacturing.

Assemblies

Architecture.
Load assembly from STEP.
Assembly XDE document.
JSON hierarchy.

Interoperability

Read/write STEP.
Read/write BREP.
Read STL/OBJ.
Write REK.
Write GLTF.
Write DXF.
Write SVG.
Read/write ASTRA.

Simplification

Part-level simplification is also known as defeaturing. It becomes necessary in different engineering applications, such as IP protection or preparation for CAE simulations. Analysis Situs comes with a CAD simplification framework to serve these needs.

Suppress faces.
Repatch faces.
Suppress blends.
Fill with prism.
Exchange with prism (add other types of exchange operations).

Low-level Modeling

NURBS modeling.
Topology killer.
Euler operators.
Rebuild edge.
Convert C1 curves and surfaces to C2 continuity class.
Convert curves and surfaces to Bezier.
Basic surface and solid modeling operators.
Explode shapes to sub-shapes.
Compute distances between shapes.
History of modifications.
On-fly naming service.

Mesh Toolkit

Read/write STL and PLY.
Offset mesh shells.
Surface mesh quality.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering eliminates the need to design from a blank sheet. The process takes an existing part, captures its surface measurements, and uses this information as a reference to create the new design. Reverse engineering techniques can contribute to solving the following tasks:

Create CAD models for legacy parts where no digital models are available.
Design organic shapes whose features are very difficult to reproduce without a polygonal underlayer.
Change (optimize) design of existing product.
Replicate existing products.
Repair worn-out or broken parts.
Understand better the properties of the existing parts (e.g. it symmetry, defects, etc.).
Convert models to editable format after topologic optimization.
Convert triangular and quadrilateral surface meshes to higher-order models for isogeometric analysis.

Tips & Tricks

Find entity.
JSON representation of curves and surfaces.