Hints & Tips

For this newsletter we will take a look at some of the common questions asked where answers are not so obvious. During the training courses, many of these questions are explained but for those who have been unable to attend....

Extending Surfaces with the help of DELETE EDGES
Extending surfaces or creating addendum surfaces can be a complex and time consuming task. There are a number of different ways to extend a surface edge, but there are often geometric features that cause problems such as self intersecting areas. Most commonly, concave peripheral loop cut-outs will create conditions where a large extension will create a self intersecting condition. One solution would be to try and fill over the cut-out using new surfaces. However, a better technique is to use the surface data that already exists.

Using the Modelling > Delete Edges command, it is possible to delete partial edges from a complete loop and rebuild the geometry to the condition before the trim. Using our example below, the red edge creates a self intersection condition (pink surfaces). However, if we use the Delete Edges command to remove the cut-out before the extension, the resulting edges are greatly simplified and the final result is dramatically improved.

The red zone indicates the surface edges to extend	Using typical extension techniques, internal cut-outs can create self intersecting conditions	The red zone indicates the edges to be deleted

With the problem zone removed, the extending edge is greatly simplified	The 'simplified' red zone indicates the surface edges to extend	The surface extension now creates clean, valid geometry

Stroke It
In this issue, we are going to look at how we can improve the use of 'Quick Key' commands. You may recall that we studied the use of 'Quick Keys' in the August 2009 newsletter (select HERE to see the August Hints & Tips). Well, for this issue, I have an interesting addition to hotkeys and how they can be used. There are a number of software available on-line (I am using "StrokeIt 9.7" ) where you can program a mouse movement to call a Quick Key combination.

StrokeIt is an advanced mouse gesture recognition engine and command processor. What is a mouse gesture? Mouse gestures are simple symbols that you "draw" on your screen using your mouse. When you perform a mouse gesture that StrokeIt can recognize, it will perform the "action" associated with that gesture. For example, if I hold the right mouse button and create a "S" shape with the mouse, this calls the CTRL + S hot key and will save my workfile. The system creates a virtual shape on the screen as you move the mouse. This means that I do not need to let go of the mouse or look at the keyboard. Other examples I have setup are the "U" shape for undo, the "Z" shape for zoom, the "P" shape for print......... The options are endless.

To perform a mouse gesture, simply click and hold down the right mouse button and then draw the mouse gesture you want performed. You can temporarily disable StrokeIt by holding down the Control key, or right clicking on the StrokeIt icon in the system tray. If you want to cancel a mouse gesture you've already started drawing, simply left click.

If you are interested in trying StrokeIt, you can download a version from : www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/

If you have any tips or tricks that you would like to share, please email me with a short description (marc@vero.co.uk) and I will include them within a future Vero Newsletter.

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