WF4 Import Data Doctor

About Defining and Closing Gaps

Gaps are open spaces between two or more surfaces of a quilt. They consist of pairs of one-
sided boundaries internal to the quilt. Each boundary is made up of one or more one-sided
edges. One-sided edge is an edge that belongs to only a single surface and is displayed in
pink in the graphics window. Each boundary of a gap may have a different number of one-
sided edges. You can quickly and easily define or identify gaps by using the Define Gaps
tool or the Search Tool. You can define gaps only in the Repair and Featurize modes.
If you use the Define Gaps tool, you must manually select the one-sided edges of the
surface in the graphics window for Side 1 and Side 2 edge collectors.
If you use the Search Tool, you must specify the rules for the search operation by using
attributes such as size and value to find the gaps. After you specify the search criteria, IDD
automatically searches for the gaps in the active component node or active set of surfaces
and highlights them in the graphics window.
After defining a gap, you can repair it in several ways. In Repair mode, you must first add
the gap to the wireframe. The surfaces between which you have defined the gap must
belong to the same component node. After adding the gap to the wireframe, you can
activate the automatic Repair tool. If the Repair tool fails to close a gap, you can try the
Close tool. Select the black wireframe piece or pieces, and activate the Close tool.
In Featurize mode, after defining or searching for the gaps, activate the Close tool. In
Featurize mode the input to the Close tool is the gap definition, not black wireframe, as
there is no wireframe display in this mode. Also, unlike Repair mode, a gap may be closed
between any surfaces, even ones that do not belong to the same base nodes. However, you
cannot define gaps between surfaces belonging to merge nodes.

To Define Gaps Using the Define Gaps Tool

1. Click on the IDD Repair Tools toolbar or click IDD > Define Gap. The Define
Gaps dialog box opens and GAP0001 is displayed on the left of the dialog box and the
primary collector, Side 1, becomes active.

2. Select a one-sided edge in the graphics window. The selected edge is added to the
Side 1 collector.

Note:

o To select more than one edge, hold down the CTRL key and select the edges in the
graphics window.

o When an edge is added to the collector, Pro/ENGINEER automatically selects the

tangent chains.

3. Click the Side 2 collector in the Define Gaps dialog box and select the opposite one-
sided edge of the gap in the graphics window. The selected edge is added to the Side 2
collector.

Note: To activate the Side 2 collector, you can also right-click in the graphics window
and click Side 2 on the shortcut menu.

4. To add a new gap, click New Gap in the Define Gaps dialog box and select one-
sided edges for Side 1 and Side 2 in the graphics window. You can also right-click in the
graphics window and click New Gap on the shortcut menu to create a new gap.
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5. To remove an edge, select the edge in the Side 1 or Side 2 collectors, right-click,
and click Remove on the shortcut menu. If a side collector has more than one edge, you
may remove all of them or select individual edges for removal.

6. Click OK in the Define Gaps dialog box.

About Defining and Removing Sliver Surfaces

Slivers are very small and or very thin, high aspect ratio surfaces, or contiguous chains of
surfaces. Even though a quilt may be completely closed, the presence of slivers in the quilt
may cause problems in down-stream applications such as manufacturing. You can quickly
and easily define or identify slivers in an imported model using the Define Slivers tool or
the Search Tool. You can define and identify slivers only in Repair mode or Featurize mode.
If you use the Define Slivers tool, you must manually select the sliver surfaces in the
graphics window. When you select the sliver surface, the edges that correspond to the sliver
are automatically added to the Side 1 and Side 2 edge collectors of the Define Slivers
tool. However, for some slivers where there is ambiguity, you may have to manually define
the sides of the sliver. You can also modify the automatically selected sides in the side
collectors, if required.
If you use the Search Tool, you must specify the rules for the search operation by using
attributes such as size and value to find the slivers. After you specify the search criteria,
IDD automatically searches for slivers in the active component node or active set of surfaces
and highlights them in the graphics window.
After defining a sliver, you can remove it in several ways. In Repair mode, you must first
add the sliver to the wireframe. The surfaces between which you have defined the sliver
must belong to the same component node. Adding the sliver to the wireframe results in the
deletion of the sliver surface or surfaces and creation of black wireframe pieces,
representing the gap that is left by removal of the surface. You can activate the automatic
Repair tool. If the Repair tool fails to close the gaps created by the sliver surface removal,
you can use the Close tool. Select the black wireframe piece or pieces and activate the Close
tool.
In Featurize mode the input to the Close tool is the gap definition, not black wireframe as
there is no wireframe display in Featurize mode. After defining or searching for the slivers,
activate the Close tool. For slivers, the Close tool removes the sliver surface or surfaces and
attempts to close the gap left behind in one step. A sliver may be closed between any
surfaces that are logically joined by a Combine node; they need to belong to a single
component. However, slivers cannot be defined between base-level nodes.
In both, the Repair and Featurize mode, you may delete slivers that are in the selection
buffer. This effectively deletes the sliver surfaces without creating black wireframe pieces or
attempting to close the resulting empty space in the quilt. You must then either define a gap
or manually repair to patch the quilt.

To Define Slivers Using the Define Slivers Tool

1. Click on the IDD Repair Tools toolbar or click IDD > Define Sliver. The Define
Slivers dialog box opens. SLIVER0001 is displayed on the left of the dialog box and the
primary collector, Surfaces, becomes active.

2. Select a surface that contains slivers. The selected surface is added to the Surfaces
collector and the edges that correspond to the sliver are automatically added to the Side
1 and Side 2 collectors of the Define Slivers dialog box.

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 Note:

o To select more than one surface, hold down the CTRL key and select the surfaces in
the graphics window.

o In some cases, it may be necessary to manually select the edges representing the
sides of the sliver. You may also edit the sides that are automatically selected.

3. To add a new sliver, click New Sliver in the Define Slivers dialog box and select
the sliver surface in the graphics window. You can also right-click in the graphics window
and click New Sliver on the shortcut menu to create a new sliver.

4. To remove a sliver surface, select the surface in the Surface collector, right-click,
and click Remove on the shortcut menu.

5. Click OK on the Define Slivers dialog box.

To Define Gaps and Slivers Using the Search Tool

1. Click on the Edit toolbar or click Edit > Find. The Search Tool dialog box opens.

2. To define slivers, select Slivers under Look for. Alternatively, to define gaps, select
Gaps under Look for.

3. On the Attributes tabbed page, under Rule, ensure that Size is selected. This size
represents the maximum distance between the two Gap or Sliver sides.

4. Click Find Now with Value set to the required value. The Search Tool searches for
gaps or slivers that have a value less than or equal to the value specified for Value. A
list of found items and an area to transfer selected items are displayed.

5. Select the required gaps or slivers under list of found items and click to
transfer the selected gaps or slivers to the items selected area.

6. Click Close in the Search Tool dialog box.

To Remove Gaps and Slivers In Featurize Mode Using the Close

Tool
1. Define gaps using IDD > Define Gaps or Edit > Find. Alternatively, define slivers
using IDD > Define Slivers or Edit > Find.

Note: You cannot select edge or surface references from merge geometry for gap or
sliver definition.

2. Click on the Featurize Tools toolbar or click IDD > Close. The dashboard appears.

The gaps and sliver that you have defined or selected are added to the collector in the
References slide-up panel.

3. If required, click Define beside the collector in the References slide-up panel and
define additional gaps or slivers. These gaps or slivers are added to the to the collector in
the References slide-up panel.

4. If required, you can also remove items from the collector in the References slide-up
panel. To remove an item, select the item in the collector, right-click, and click Remove.

A preview of the import feature with the selected gaps or slivers removed is displayed in
the graphics window.
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 5. Click on the dashboard. For slivers, IDD first removes the sliver surface resulting
in a void. IDD extends, intersects, and trims the surfaces that border the boundaries defined
by the gaps or slivers, to remove the void in the quilt. Two-sided edges are created at the
new surface boundaries.

Note:
• If you define gaps between base level nodes, the Close tool creates a new base-level
combine node containing all base-level nodes involved in the definition of the gap
boundaries. The Combine node is required for creation of the two-sided edges.

• A Close operation is treated as a single operation. If you have many surface or

surface set selected for Close and one of the surface or surface sets fails removal, none of
the selected surfaces or surface sets are removed.

About the Repair Tool

The Repair tool is used to automatically repair unsatisfied topological connections and
tangency conditions of the imported data. The Repair tool uses the active Wireframe and
any of its associated tangency constraints as input. After you define the Wireframe and
associated tangency as required, use the Repair tool. The Repair tool attempts to satisfy all
unsatisfied topological connections and tangency conditions by changing the surfaces or
their boundaries.
Using the Repair tool may potentially result in changes that are not required. To avoid this,
freeze the surfaces. Freezing a surface means that the repair tool can modify the surface’s
boundaries but not its mathematical definition to repair the data. Any surface that is not
frozen may be changed in an unlimited way by the Repair tool. For example, if an analytical
plane surface is not frozen, the Repair tool may re-parameterize it into a spline surface and
change its geometry so that it is no longer planar. If you want to prevent certain surfaces
from being re-parameterized by Repair, you must freeze them before using the Repair tool.
Analytical surfaces are frozen by default.
If you want to prevent the boundaries of certain surfaces from being modified, that is
prevent both surface definition and boundary modification, you must specifically activate
only the surfaces of the component that you want to allow Repair to change. The Repair tool
cannot change any surface that is not part of the active surface set.
The Repair tool may fail to repair the topological connections and tangency automatically if
too many restrictions are made on the changes that it is allowed to make to the associated
surfaces. For cases such as these, either the restrictions must be reduced by activating
more surfaces or by removing frozen constraints, or use manual repair methods must be
used instead.

To Use the Repair Tool

1. Select a component or surface subset of a component and activate it to enable
access to the Repair tool. If there is only one base-level node in the tree and it is a
component node, the Repair tool can be accessed without explicitly activating it.

2. Click on the IDD Repair Tools toolbar or IDD > Repair to apply repair
algorithms to the surfaces of the active node or the import feature.

The repair algorithm automatically runs. The repair dashboard appears. All the Edit
options and IDD Repair Tools on the toolbar are not available for use. After the repair
algorithm has automatically run, the resulting new surface or surfaces and their
corresponding wireframe and tangency are displayed in the graphics window.
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 Note:

o Wireframe and tangency are displayed only for a component node or a subset of a
component node is active. If a component node or a subset of a component node is
not active, the Repair tool is not available.

o Wireframe and tangency conditions that are not satisfied after Repair is executed are
displayed in black.

o Blue surface split wireframe may be converted to general green two-sided edge
wireframe by repair, if one portion of the surface split is reparameterized to close a
gap or fix tangency.

o Repair tool only changes the active geometry to satisfy the defined constraints of
the Wireframe. If a gap is shared by a surface that is part of an active surface subset
and a surface that is not part of the active subset, the Repair tool only modifies the
active surface and or its boundaries to close the gap.

3. To change the display options in the graphics window, click the Options slide-up
panel on the dashboard and select one of the following options:

o Display original Surfaces—Displays only the original surfaces and the

corresponding wireframe and tangency.

o Display new Surfaces—Displays only the computed new surfaces and the
corresponding wireframe and tangency.

o Display new and original Surfaces—Displays the original and new surfaces. No
wireframe and tangency are displayed.

4. Click .

To Repair the Wireframe Using the Close Tool

1. Select one or more black wireframe pieces in the graphics window.

2. Click IDD > Close. The dashboard appears.

The black wireframe pieces that you have selected are added to the collector in the
References slide-up panel.

3. If required, click Define beside the collector in the References slide-up panel and
select black wireframe pieces to close.

These gaps, slivers, or wireframe pieces are added to the to the collector in the
References slide-up panel.

4. If required, you can also remove items from the collector in the References slide-up
panel. To remove an item, select the tiem in the collector, right-click, and click Remove.

A preview of the import feature when the selected gaps are closed is displayed in the
graphics window.

5. Click on the dashboard. IDD extends, intersects, and trims the surfaces that
border the boundaries defined by the black wireframe pieces to remove the void in the quilt.
Two-sided edges are created at the new surface boundaries.

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To Remove Chains of One-Sided Edges Using the Close Tool
1. In Featurize Mode, select a chain of one-sided edges that forms an inner contour
within a quilt. Edges of the contour may belong to the inner loop of a single surface,
many surfaces of a single component or surfaces in any combination of sub-nodes of a
Combine node branch.

2. Click on the Featurize Tools toolbar or click IDD > Close. The dashboard
appears.

The one-sided edges that you have selected are added to the collector in the
References slide-up panel.

3. If required, click Details beside the collector in the References slide-up panel. The
Chain dialog box opens. You can modify chain types and references, or append or exclude
items from the chain using the Chain dialog box.

4. If required, you can also remove items from the collector in the References slide-up
panel. To remove an item, select the item in the collector, right-click, and click Remove.

5. If required, click the Options slide-up panel to view the additional configurations.
Click Next and Previous to view the next possible configuration or the previous
configuration, respectively.

A preview of the import feature when the contour that is outlined by the one-sided edges
is removed is displayed in the graphics window.

6. Click on the dashboard. If the contour is an inner boundary loop of a single

surface, IDD simply removes the contour. If the contour is defined by edges of multiple
surfaces, it extends, intersects, and trims these surfaces to fill in the void defined by the
contour. Two-sided edges are created at the new surface boundaries.

To Modify a Curve or a One-Sided Edge

1. Select a 3D, UV-curve, or one-sided edge that you want to modify. You can select a
curve either in the graphics window or on the GTS Tree. You can select one-sided edges
in the graphics window.

Note:

o You can modify a curve or one-sided edge only in the Modify mode.

o A one-sided edge is converted to a UV-spline when you modify it. After modification,
the UV-spline is converted back to a one-sided edge. If the resulting geometry
overlaps, the modify process is aborted and the geometry is not affected.

o If the modified one-sided edge belongs to a component, on exiting the Modify tool, if
possible, two-sided edge gets automatically created with the adjacent surface in same
component.

o The modify curve tool is object-action oriented, that is, the tool is available only if
you select a curve or a one-sided edge.

2. Click on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar or Edit > Modify. Alternatively, right-click
the selected curve or one-sided edge and click Modify. The Curve Modify dialog box
opens.

3. Perform one of the following curve modification operations:

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 o Click to modify the curve using its control points and select a point on the
curve to move.

o Click to modify the curve using its interpolation points and click one of the
following options for interpolation points in the Curve Modify dialog box:

Move—Moves the selected interpolation point on the curve.

Add—Adds an interpolation point to the curve at the selected location.

Delete—Deletes the selected interpolation point from the curve.

Redistribute—Redistributes the interpolation points on the curve according to the

curvature of the curve.

4. To specify the movement options for the curve, select one of the following options
under Movement Options:

o Curve Plane—Restricts curve movement to the curve plane only. A curve plane is a
plane formed by the tangent and the normal vector of the curve.

o 3d Movement—Moves the curve freely in 3D space.

o Local—Moves only the selected control point.

o Smooth Region—Moves the control points by a distance relative to the selected

point. The point movement distance decreases in proportion to its distance from the
selected point by a cubic rule.

o Linear Region—Moves the control points by a distance relative to the selected point.
The point movement distance decreases in proportion to its distance from the selected
point by a linear rule.

o Constant Region—Moves all the control points by the same distance from the
selected point. For a constrained surface, the boundary does not move.

5. Select and drag a vertex on the curve to modify the curve. Alternatively, specify
increment values for the following options for finer control of point movement:

o Normal Direction—Specifies the increment in the normal direction.

o Tangent Direction—Specifies the increment in the tangent direction.

o Binormal Direction—Specifies the increment in the binormal direction.

o Increment—Specifies the value of the point movement increment.

6. Click to apply the changes made to the curve.

7. Click to quit the Modify Curve dialog box.

To Merge Two Contiguous Curves or One-sided Edges

1. Select two contiguous curves or one-sided edges belonging to the same surface in
the graphics window.

Note:

o IDD merges one-sided edges of the same surface only.

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 o You must select curves of the same type, that is, all the one-sided edges that you
select must either be UV-curves or 3D-curves. You cannot merge a UV-curve with a
3D curve. Similarly, you cannot merge a 3D curve with a UV-curve.

2. Click on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar or on the IDD Repair Tools toolbar.
Alternatively, click Edit > Merge Crv/Wfm. The two curves or one-sided edges are merged
into a single curve or one-sided edge. The resulting curve or one-sided edge may change
shape to maintain smoothness.

Note:
• The merge curve tool is object-action oriented, that is, the tool is available only if you
select two adjacent curves or one-sided edges.

• When merging two one-sided edges, if the resulting geometry overlaps, the merge
process is aborted.

To Move a Vertex

1. Click .

2. Select a common vertex between two one-sided edges of the same surface.

3. Drag the vertex to the required location on the surface. The vertex is shifted to the
new location.

Note: When you move a vertex, IDD automatically creates two-sided edges from its
associated one-sided edges and bordering one-side edges of neighboring, if possible. This
happens for each individual move; two-sided edges are created dynamically even before you
exit the Move Vertex tool. To avoid this behavior, detach the surface before using the Move
Vertex tool. You can then use unlimited drag and drop movements of the vertex to fine-tune
the vertex’s placement before IDD attempts to create any new two-sided edges. The
detached surface is moved to the top-level node in the Geometry and Topology Structure
(GTS) Tree. Once the position of the vertex is finalized, cut and paste the surface back into
the original component of the GTS Tree.

To Align Curves
1. Select a 3D curve or UV-curve that you want to align with another curve or surface.

2. Click on the Modify Tools toolbar or Edit > Align. A handle appears at one end
of the selected curve. This end of the curve is aligned and modified.

3. Select Position, Tangent, Curvature, or Normal on the dashboard. Position is the

default.

Note: If you have selected a UV-curve, only the Position and Tangent constraints are
available.

4. Click the End 1 collector on the Curve Ends slide-up panel on the dashboard.
Alternatively, right-click and select End 1. Select a vertex of another curve, a location on
another curve, a vertex of an edge of a surface, or a location on an edge of a surface as the
reference.

While aligning, the 3D curve or UV-curve that you selected modifies itself to align with
the selected reference and the selected constraint is applied.

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5. If required, to change the constraint, you can right-click and select the required
constraint from the shortcut menu.

6. If required, move the vertex of the modified curve along the reference to the
required location. The vertex of the modified curve is indicated by a handle.

7. If required, you can also align the other end of the curve. Click End 2 collector on
the Curve Ends slide-up panel on the dashboard. Alternatively, right-click and select End 2.
A handle appears at the other end of the selected curve. This end of the curve is aligned and
modified.

8. Select a vertex of another curve, a location on another curve, a vertex of an edge of

a surface, or a location on an edge of a surface as the reference.

While aligning, the 3D curve that you selected modifies itself to align with the selected
reference and the selected constraint is applied.

9. If required, to change the constraint, you can right-click and select the required
constraint from the shortcut menu.

10. If required, move the vertex of the modified curve along the reference to the
required location. The vertex of the modified curve is indicated by a handle.

11. If required, change the applied constraint using the Curve Ends slide-up panel.
Select a new constraint from the list next to the End 1 collector or the list next to the End 2
collector on the Curve Ends slide-up to apply the constraint to End 1 and End 2 of the 3D
or UV-curve, respectively.

12. Click .

To Use the Replace Tool

1. Select one or more contiguous one-sided edges of a single surface. Hold down the
CTRL key to select more than one edge. You may also select the entire surface
boundary.

2. Click or Edit > Replace. The replace tool dashboard appears.

The edge or the curves that form the edge are added to the Items to be replaced
curves collector in the References slide up panel.

Note: You can access the Replace tool in the Repair mode and Modify mode in IDD.

3. Select the UV-curves that you want to replace the selected edges with. These curves
is added to the Replace with UV-curves collector in the References slide up panel.

Note:

o The UV-curves that you select must be created on the surface that owns the edges
selected for replacement. It does not suffice if the edge is only coincident with the
surface.

o It is not required that the number of replacement curves match the number of edges
being replaced as long as the set of replacement curves represent the same portion of
the surface boundary defined by the selected edges.

4. Click . The UV-curves replaces the edge and the surface is modified according to
the new UV-curve.

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To Edit Math Properties of a Surface
1. Select a surface in the graphics window or on the Geometry and Topology Structure
Tree.

2. Click on the IDD Repair or Modify Tools toolbar or Edit > Math Properties.
Alternatively, right-click in the graphics window and click Math Properties. The surface
properties dashboard appears. The selected surface is added to the Surface collector in
the Reference slide-up panel.

3. Select the Spline, B-spline, or Bezier surface interpolation type on the dashboard.
If the selected surface is analytical, then Spline is the default. If the selected surface is
free form, the current definition of the surface is displayed by default on the dashboard.

4. If you select Spline, specify the number of segments in the u- and v-directions.

5. If you select Bezier, specify the degree of surface in the u- and v-directions.

6. If you select B-spline, you can specify both, the number of segments in the u- and
v-directions and the degree of the surface in the u- and v- directions.

Note: For Bezier and B-spline surfaces, the maximum value for the surface degree in the
u- and v-directions is 15.

7. To change the display options in the graphics window, click the Options slide-up
panel and select one of the following options:

o New Surfaces Only—Displays only the computed new surfaces while the surface
properties dashboard is open.

o Original Surfaces Only—Displays only the original surface that was selected for
editing while the surface properties dashboard is open.

o New and Original Surfaces—Displays the original and new surfaces.

8. Click .

To Modify a Free Form Surface

1. Select a free-form surface in the graphics window or a surface leaf node on the GTS
Tree.

2. Click on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar. The Surface Modify dialog box opens.

Note: The Surface Modify option is only available in Modify mode.

3. Select one of the following directions for the movement of points on the surface.

o Normal Direction—Moves points relative to the direction of the view. This is the
default.

o In Surf Direction—Moves points relative to the surface.

4. Specify the direction for tweaking the surface. You can tweak the surface in either
one or both the directions. For First Direction and Second Direction, click one of the
following options for the movement distribution of the group of selected points:

Local—Moves only the selected point.

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 o Smooth Region—Moves the points adjacent to the selected point with a distance
relative to the selected point. The point movement distance decreases proportional to
its distance from the selected point by a cubic law.

o Linear Region—Moves the points adjacent to the selected point with a distance
relative to the selected point. The point movement distance decreases proportional to
its distance from the selected point by a linear law.

o Constant Region—Moves all points on the surface by the same distance from the
selected point. For a constrained surface, the boundary does not move.

5. Select and drag a vertex of the control polyhedron to the desired location to tweak
the surface.

6. Alternatively, instead of dragging, specify the following options for finer control of
point movement:

o Increment—Specifies the increment value for point movement.

o Normal Direction—Specifies the increment value in the normal direction.

o First Direction—Specifies the increment value in the first direction.

o Second Direction—Specifies the increment value in the second direction.

7. Click to complete the surface modification.

To Align Surfaces
1. Select a free form surface that you want to align with another free form surface.

2. Click on the Modify Tools toolbar or Edit > Align. An edge of the surface is
highlighted. This edge of the surface is aligned and modified.

Note: The Align tool is only available in Modify Mode

3. Select Position, Tangent, Curvature, or Normal constraint on the dashboard.

Position is the default.

4. Click the Side 1 collector on the Surface Sides slide-up panel on the dashboard.

5. Select an edge of another surface as reference.

While aligning, the surface that you selected modifies itself to align with the selected
reference and the selected constraint is applied.

6. If required, move the edge of the modified surface along the reference to the
required location. The edge of the modified surface is indicated by a handle.

7. If required, you can also align the other edges of the surface. Click Side 2, Side 3,
or Side 4 on the Surface Sides slide-up panel on the dashboard and repeat steps 5 and 6.

8. If required, change the applied constraint using the Surface Sides slide-up panel.
Select a new constraint from the list next to the Side 1, Side 2, Side3, or Side4 collector
on the Surface Slides slide-up panel to apply the constraint to Side 1, Side 2, Side3, or
Side4 of the selected free form surface, respectively.

9. Click .

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 About the Extrapolate User Interface
The Extrapolate user interface consists of:
• Feature Icon

• Dashboard

• Slide-up panel

Feature Icon
The Extrapolate tool is identified by on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar. To access the
Extrapolate tool, select one of the following leaf nodes on the Geometry and Topology

Structure Tree and click on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar or click Edit > Extrapolate.

Dashboard
The Extrapolate dashboard consists of:

• —Lets you accept the changes that you made to the surface using the
Extrapolate tool.

• —Lets you reject the changes that you made to the surface using the
Extrapolate tool and quit the tool.

Slide-up Panels
The Extrapolate User Interface consists of Options slide-up panel. This slide-up panel has
the following options:
• Make closed—Extrapolates the selected periodic surface to make it closed. For
example, making a partial cylinder into a full, 360-degree cylinder.

• Make Open—Extrapolates the selected periodic surface to make it open. For

example, making a 360 degree revolved surface with only two boundaries, that is, top
and bottom into a 180 degree revolved surface with four boundaries.

To Extrapolate a Surface
1. Select a single surface of a joined quilt, a full cylinder with two faces, a full periodic
free-form surface, an extruded node, or a revolved node.

2. Click on the IDD Modify Tools toolbar or click Edit > Extrapolate. The
extrapolate dashboard appears.

Note: The extrapolate tool is not available in Repair mode

3. Select one of the boundary edges and use the drag handle to manually extrapolate
the selected boundary edge to the required distance.

4. If required, click the Extrapolate Options slide-up panel on the dashboard and
select one of the following options:

o Make closed—IDD extrapolates the selected periodic surface to make it closed.

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 o Make Open— IDD extrapolates the selected periodic surface to make it open.

5. Click on the extrapolate dashboard. IDD extrapolates the selected surface.

Note: The extrapolate tool is object-action oriented, that is, the tool is available only if you
select a periodic surface.

Difference between Merge and Combine

The differences between Merge and Combine are as follows:
• In IDD, you can only merge two quilts at a time. You may combine any number of
quilts and or datums together. You may however embed datums into a merge node after
creation.

• To successfully merge two quilts, the quilts must physically intersect each other. This
is not a requirement for combining quilts.

• A successful creation of a merge always results in a single quilt. Combining quilts

only results in a single quilt if a one-sided boundary of one quilt matches with a one sided
boundary of another quilt that it is being combined with. In this case, the one-sided
boundaries are stitched together to form a single quilt.

• When the quilts of a combine node share a two-sided edge boundary, a Close
connection exists between them at that boundary. If you transform one of those quilts,
Pro/ENGINEER attempts to re-construct the boundary in the new transformed location to
maintain the connection between the two quilts. Pro/ENGINEER does this by extending or
trimming and re-intersecting the two quilts. This allows the connection to be retained
even if the two quilts no longer touch after transformation. Reconstruction of the
boundary is successful as long as the two quilts can be extended and or trimmed to
create a new boundary that is topologically equivalent to the original configuration.

Note: Observe the changes in the Geometry and Topology Structure Tree for the examples.

Example 1
The following example illustrates the successful update of a close connection of a combine
node.
The hole quilt and base quilt are joined by a close connection of a combine node.

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 The hole quilt is translated in the downward direction so that it no longer touches the base
quilt.

When completing the transformation, the close connection is updated successfully by

extending the sides of the hole quilt to meet the original boundary on the base quilt.

• A merge connection remembers and maintains the original geometry of each quilt. If
you transform one of the quilts of the merge, the connection recalculates the intersection
of the two quilts based on their original geometry and their new relative positions.

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Example 2
The following example illustrates the successful update to a merge connection.
In the following figure, the hole quilt is merged to the base quilt.

The hole quilt is translated so that its geometry now overlaps a different surface of the base
quilt.

The merge connection updates successfully. The hole and base quilts are re-intersected, and
updated merge geometry is created.

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• If the boundary created by trimming, extending, or re-intersecting the quilts of a
combine cannot generate a topologically equivalent boundary, then the close connection
fails. What this actually means is that only the surfaces that were involved in the original
boundary between the two quilts may be trimmed or extended to re-create the boundary,
and no surface may be completely removed. If a connection fails in a combine node, the
combine node is not removed; you simply have two physically disconnected quilts in the
combine. They are still logically joined.

Example 3
The following example illustrates a translation that causes a close connection of a combine
node to fail. Note this is the same case for which the merge connection successfully updated
in Example 2.
The hole quilt is joined to the base quilt by a close connection defined by the combine node.

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 The hole quilt is translated to the right, well beyond the perimeter of the planar surface on
the base quilt with which it shared its original connection boundary.

After exiting the transform tool, the close connection of the combine fails because the
original surfaces of each quilt that shared the original boundary can no longer be extended,
trimmed, or re-intersected to re-create the boundary. Note that even though the connection
is broken, the structure in the GTS tree does not change. The quilts are still logically joined
even though they are no longer physically joined.

• If modifications are made such that the quilts of a merge node no longer intersect,
the merge fails and the quilts are restored to their original, non-intersected geometry and
become base nodes in the GTS tree. Similarly, if you manually delete the merge
connection, the quilts are restored to their original, non-intersected geometry and
become base nodes in the GTS tree.

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Example 4
The following example illustrates a translation that causes the failure of a merge connection.
Note it is the same case that the Close connection of the combine node successfully updated
in Example 1.
The hole quilt is merged with the base quilt. Originally, the boundary of the hole quilt lay on
the planar surface of the base quilt, so the merged geometry of the hole represents the
original hole quilt’s geometry.

The hole quilt is translated in the downward direction so that it no longer intersects the base
quilt.

Since there is no longer an intersection between the hole and base quilts, the merge
connection fails. Note that when a merge connection fails, the GTS tree is change. The
merge node is removed and its sub-nodes become base-level nodes.

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• Successfully updated combine connections result in permanent geometry
modifications of the quilts involved. The original state of each quilt's geometry is not
remembered when an update occurs. If you delete a combine node, the two-sided
boundary boundaries defined by its close connections are removed, but the geometry
remains unchanged from its current state.

Example 5
This example illustrates the behavior of removing the close connection between two quilts
by deleting the combine node joining the quilts after the close connection has been updated.
The hole quilt and base quilt are joined by a close connection of the combine node.

The hole is then translated in the upward direction.

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The sides of the hole quilt are trimmed to match the original boundary on the base quilt, and
the close connection is successfully updated

The combine node is deleted and the close connection removed. Note that after deletion, the
updated geometry of the hole quilt resulting from the previous translation is maintained.

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Example 6
The following example illustrates changes to GTS Tree after deletion of a merge node.
The hole quilt is merged with the base quilt. Originally, the boundary of the hole quilt lay on
the planar surface of the base quilt, so the merged geometry of the hole represents the
original hole quilt’s geometry.

The hole quilt is translated in the upward direction.

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The hole and base quilts are re-intersected and the merge geometry updated.

The merge node is then deleted, removing the merge connection between the two quilts.
Note that the hole quilt returns to the original geometry before translation and update of the
merge connection. Note the distinction between this behavior and the deletion of the
combine node in Example 5.

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About Collapse Geometry
You can merge parametric features that you have previously created in the standard
Pro/ENGINEER environment, to the imported feature using Collapse Geometry. After you
collapse features into the imported geometry, they lose their parametric properties including
parent-child relationships, but retain their feature ID. After you quit the IDD environment,
the collapsed features remain merged with the imported geometry. You can no longer
individually select them in Pro/ENGINEER.
Collapse Geometry is available only in the Redefine Import Feature mode. To access the
Redefine Import Feature mode, right-click the imported feature on the Model Tree and click
Edit Definition on the shortcut menu.

To Collapse the Geometry

1. Click on the IDD toolbar or click Geometry > Collapse Geometry. The SELECT
FEAT Menu Manager appears with the following commands:

o Select—Selects the features in the graphics window or on the Model Tree, that you
want as part of the imported geometry.

o Layer—Selects the features to be collapsed by specifying the layers.

o Range—Selects features by specifying a range of feature numbers.

Note: If you are selecting features in the graphics window or on the Model Tree, hold
down the CTRL key to select more than one feature.

If the feature that you select has child features, the Child menu appears.

2. Use the Child menu to determine how the child features in the collapsed feature are
to be handled.

3. Click Done on the Menu Manager. Pro/ENGINEER merges the selected features with
the imported geometry and removes them from the Model Tree.

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