INTERACTIVE USER GUIDE Exact Surfacing for the Precise Reproduction of Surfaces Proprietary and Restricted Rights Notice Information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or microfilming, or by any information storage and retrieval system including a web site, without the written permission of Geomagic, Inc. No liability is assumed by Geomagic, Inc. with respect to the use of the information contain herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, Geomagic, Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may appear. References in this document do not constitute an endorsement of any products or services. © 2010 Geomagic, Inc. All rights reserved Geomagic, the Geomagic logo, Geomagic Studio, Geomagic Qualify, Geomagic Review, Geomagic Blade, Geomagic Parametric Surfaces, Geomagic eShell and “the magic of making it Simple” are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Geomagic, Inc. Other company and product names referenced herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners. Guide History Date Revision Aug 2009 First Release May 2010 Updates for Geomagic Studio 12 About Geomagic Inc. Geomagic, Inc. is a worldwide software and services company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (U.S.A.), with subsidiaries in Europe and Asia and distributors worldwide. Geomagic is the market leader in digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP) with a vision of mass customization, technology innovation, and business performance. Geomagic software enables customers to accelerate product development cycles and ensure quality at every step. More than 5,000 professionals use Geomagic software and services across diverse industries including automotive, aerospace, medical, and consumer products. Contact Information Geomagic, Inc. P.O. Box 12219 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA Phone: +1 (800) 251-551 or +1 (919) 474-0122 Fax: +1 (919) 474-0216 Web Sites Geomagic, Inc. http://www.geomagic.com Technical Support http://support.geomagic.com Training http://training.geomagic.com Email Addresses Technical Support support@geomagic.com Training training@geomagic.com Services servicesinfo@geomagic.com Sales salesinfo@geomagic.com Table of Contents 1 GUIDE DESCRIPTION 5 1.1 Introduction 5 2 PRECISE REPRODUCTION OF SURFACES 8 2.1 Point Phase 8 2.2 Polygon Phase 12 2.2.1 Optional Output Steps 13 2.2.1.1 Saving the Polygon Object for use by Other Apps 13 2.2.1.2 Exporting a Profile from a Polygon Object 13 2.2.2 Choosing the Next Phase 14 2.3 Exact Surfaces Phase 15 2.3.1 Emphasis on Curved Regions 1 5 1.1.2 Legacy Workflow 18 1.1.3 AutoSurface 21 1 GUIDE DESCRIPTION This Guide leads an advanced beginner through two fundamental workflows that yield precise reproduction of a scanned part. The goal is to highlight the differences and expected results of each workflow, enabling you to choose the best workflow for a real-life project. The Guide requires Geomagic Studio 12 with the Geomagic Capture, Geomagic Wrap, and Geomagic Exact Surfaces module licenses. 1.1 Introduction The fundamental workflows: • Precise reproduction of un derlying data with emphasis on curved regions (data capture, cleanup, conversion to a polygon object, refinement of the polygon object, surfacing with the “Detect Contours” method in the Exact Surfaces Phase, and exporting to CAD). An advantage of this technique is that the resulting CAD object has distinct faces for the curved regions, thus allowing curved regions to be further engineered in the external system if necessary. See section 2.3.1, “Exact Surfaces Phase with Emphasis on Curved Regions.” Preferred Workflow ( ) • Precise reproduction of underlying data(“legacy workflow”) (data capture, cleanup, conversion to a polygon object, refinement of the polygon object, and surfacing with the “Detect Curvature” method in the Exact Surfaces Phase). This is a legacy workflow that customers find useful in certain situations—“Precise reproduction of underlying data with emphasis on curved regions” is typically preferred over this workflow. See section 2.3.2, “ Exact Surfaces Phase Legacy Workflow”. In Geomagic Studio, an object always exists in one of several Phases: • Point Phase: the state of an object when it is a collection of scanned points. • Polygon Phase: the state of an object when its appearance is approximated by drawing a blue triangular surface between every three data points. • Surface Phase(either Exact Surfaces Phase or Parametric Surfaces Phase): the state of an object when a reproducible surface is being applied over its underlying polygon mesh This Guide describes the Exact Surfaces Phase. • C D Phase: the state of an object when it is ready for trimming or for Boolean operations to be performed. 2 PRECISE REPRODUCTION OF SURFACES The instructions in this document use example files available from the Geomagic web site. To obtain the examples, download the data files from the web page on which you found this Guide to a directory of your choice. Double-click it to extract the example files that are referenced in this Guide, then start Geomagic Studio 12. It is possible to open the first file, follow the instructions carefully, and complete a workflow without opening another file. But each section also mentions a specific file name that provides a new starting point. For example, the result of steps applied to HandlePointPhase.wrpin Step 1 can be checked by opening HandlePolygonPhase.wrp. 2.1 Point Phase The Point Phase procedure explains how to register and merge two point objects into a single object, and represent that object as a polygon object. The typical way to begin is to obtain one or more Point objects, either by creating them with a scanner plugin or by opening an existing Point object file. These steps are common to both workflows described in this document. Step 1.Use Application Button > Opento open HandlePointPhase.wrpin Geomagic Studio 12. This object contains two scans: Underside and Topside. (Note: The Application Button is the Swirl icon in the top-left corner of Studio.) Step 2. Select the Undersidescan in the Model Manager and press F2to hide all other objects. Use one of the selection tools from the right-hand menu to highlight the points (in red) that belonged to the tabletop. Press the Deletekey to delete these points. Step 3. Select the Underside and Topside scans in the Model Manager. These objects contain extraneous data points. From the Points tab, clickReduce Noise. Select “Prismatic Shapes (aggressive)” as the Noise Reduction type. To perform the reduction, click Applyand then OK. Step 4.Navigate to the Alignmenttab, highlight both objects in the Model Manager, and click on Manual Registrationto achieve a rough registration of the two halves. Pick “Topside” as theFixed object, and “Underside” as the Floatingobject. Use n-Point Registrationand pick at least three points on the Fixed and the same three points on the Floating, then press RegisterandOK.The parts become aligned. Step 5.Stay on the Alignmenttab and click onGlobal Registration to “fine-tune” the alignment between the two halves. After you press Applyand OK, the halves are well registered but remain as separate objects (as shown to the right). At this stage, the object appears to be a smooth surface— increasing the magnification on the object still reveals the points. Step 6. Select Group 1in the Model Manager, navigate to the Pointstab, and click onCombine Point Objectsto create a single point object that represents the whole door handle. When prompted, name the single object “Whole Handle.” Click Applyand OK. Step 7.Click on the Uniform Sample icon from the Pointstab to create an evenly dense point cloud. Accept the default settings, then press Applyand OK. Step 8.Create a polygon object by clicking on the Wrap icon. Set the Max Trianglesto 220,000, and set Noise Reductionto Medium. (This noise reduction supplements the reduction performed earlier.) Move the Sampling slider bar all the way to the right to Quality. To minimize the amount of data in the Model Manager, uncheck “Keep Original Data.” ClickOK. The Point Phase is now complete. The object has become a Polygon object. [...]... move to either the Exact SurfacesPhase This Guide describes two paths through or Parametric Surfacing Phase the Exact Surfaces Phase Step 1.Open ExactSurfacesPhase.wrpand select the Exact Surfaces tab Click the Start Exact Surfacing icon on the left side of the ribbon toolbar Producing a “good” surface during Exact Surfacing Phase requires creating an object with ashapedpatch (i.e., rectangular shaped... by The Exact Surfaces Phase with emphasis on curved regions” objective is such asan CAD package a external system, complete 2.3.2 Exact Surfaces Phase with Legacy Workflow The steps in this section produce a precise reproduction of the original object with no particular emphasis on curved regions Step 1.With HandleExactSurfacesPhase.wrpselect the Exact Surfaces Click the , tab Exact Start Surfacing. .. reproduction of the scanned data The Exact Surfaces Phase Legacy Workflow is complete 2.3.3 Exact Surfaces Phase with AutoSurface The steps in this section produce a precise reproduction of the original object automatically with onecontours or curves) two workflows (emphasis on of Step 1.Open With HandleExactSurfacesPhase.wrpselect the Exact Surfaces the , tab Click Start Exact Surfacing icon on the left side... usage” of Geomagic Studio Step 1.Navigate to the Curves and click Create by Section Pressing generates a tab Apply OK and Curvesobject in the Model Manager Step 2.Right-click on the curves object in the Model Manager and save it with a file type of obj or igs 2.2.2 Choosing the Next Phase Once the Polygon Phase has been completed, the next step is to move to either the Exact SurfacesPhase This Guide describes... multiple-curvature The basic steps for Exact Surfaces Phase are illustrated in the flowchart on the next depicts steps to produce a precise reproduction of an object with column page The first the emphasis second set of steps places no emphasis on curved regions regions The on curved • For the Exact Surfaces Phase with Emphasis on Curved Regions,” start 2.3.1 atFor the Exact Surfaces Phase Legacy Workflow,”... through either of the above two workflows, start at section 2.3.3 Note:AutoSurface may not be suitable for all models, so it is a good idea to understand the Surfaces Workflow full Exact 2.3 Exact Surfaces Phase 2.3.1 Exact Surfaces Phase with Emphasis on Curved Regions The steps in this section produce a precise reproduction of the original object with emphasis on the precision of the curvy parts... 5.Within Mesh Doctor, click on Make Manifoldtriangles to be connected on all to force all sides The object is now a highly refined Polygon object that is ready to be taken to one of the Surface Phases (Exact Surfaces Phase or Parametric Surfaces Phase) or to be exported using one of the optional output steps 2.2.1 Optional Output Steps Most of the time, the workflow will continue on to one of the Surface... ribbon toolbar Click on AutoSurface Step 2 Select the Mechanical and leave all the other settings as default Notice that radio button Interactive modeis checked Click Apply It will run through 8 phases of surfacing Step 3 Interactive mode allows the user to stop and fix some problems manually before continuing at certain stages An error like below may occur ClickYes Use the Arrow Keys under Walkthrough... Avoid fixed Tip: or wide angles when editing the patches Think of it as trying to make the patches as rectangular/square as possible When no problems remain, clickAutoSurface The command will complete surfacing to continue Done to create a NURBS model ClickOKolive green model can be exported as igs or stp to exit This Save the CAD object as igs or stp for further processing by an external accurate reproduction . Geomagic, Inc. All rights reserved Geomagic, the Geomagic logo, Geomagic Studio, Geomagic Qualify, Geomagic Review, Geomagic Blade, Geomagic Parametric Surfaces, Geomagic eShell and “the magic. choose the best workflow for a real-life project. The Guide requires Geomagic Studio 12 with the Geomagic Capture, Geomagic Wrap, and Geomagic Exact Surfaces module licenses. 1.1 Introduction The. either the Exact Surfaces Phase or Parametric Surfacing Phase. This Guide describes two paths through the Exact Surfaces Phase. Step 1.Open ExactSurfacesPhase.wrpand select the Exact Surfaces