LAB 7.

INTRODUCTION TO FREESTYLE WORKBENCH

You must activate the Temporary Analysis mode before running any analysis. Otherwise, a persistent
FreeStyle analysis will be performed. The Temporary Analysis node is displayed in the specification
tree; and the associated analysis (here Curvature Analysis.1) appears as shown below.

The Temporary Analysis is not persistent. Thus, when you click on OK in the 3D curve dialog box to
create the curve, the Temporary Analysis node disappears from the specification tree as shown below.

You can perform several analyses while in the Temporary Analysis command. All of them will
appear in the specification tree under the Free Form Analysis node.

(4) Auto-detection
The Auto-detection tool enables you to perform a remote point selection which is especially useful for
selecting on the fly point on geometry. It is also useful to position the compass at a specific location on
an element to define the local axis-system.

Step 1. Choose one of the four detection types from the FreeStyle Dashboard:

Click on the Snap On Vertex icon to detect the closest corner of the selected element,

Click on the Snap On Edge icon to detect the closest border (edge) of the selected element,

Click on the Snap On Cpt icon to detect the closest control point on the selected element, and

Click on the Snap on Segment icon to detect the closest segment of the selected element.

Step 2. Move the pointer close to the geometric element you wish to snap to the specified element
(corner, border, control point, or segment) is automatically detected and selected.

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When you check the Search Dressing option from the Tools > Options > Shape > FreeStyle tab and

click on the Snap On Cpt icon , the system automatically displays the control points on the
geometry detected below the pointer, provided a command is running.

If the Search Dressing option is not checked, yet the Snap On Cpt option is activated, the auto-
detection is still available, but the control points are not displayed.

Use the Shift key to activate/deactivate temporarily the auto-detection capability on the point you are
currently trying to snap, or not, to another element.

(5) Displaying manipulators on elements

This task shows you how to display manipulators on elements and how to modify their values. Four types
of manipulators can be displayed on a given element, whether the selected or the resulting element. The
four types of manipulators are:
continuity,
contact points,
tension (P2 only), and
U and V orders.

These manipulators are displayed either by using the Dashboard (P2 only) as illustrated in this task,
or by checking the adequate option in Tools > Options > Shape > FreeStyle. Once they are displayed,
their behavior is identical regardless of the chosen interface style. From now on, the manipulators are
introduced one by one in the following.

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Displaying continuity

Open the MatchSurface1.CATPart document.

Step 1. Click on the Match Surface icon and select the two edges to be matched (see Matching
Surfaces).

Step 2. Click on the Continuity icon from the Dashboard. Texts indicating the continuity type
wherever available are displayed.

Step 3. Right-click on a text to display the contextual menu and choose the Curvature continuity item.

You can also simply click on the text. It will automatically change to the next continuity type. Click
as many times as needed to go down to the desired continuity type. Shift-clicking goes up in the list. The
text changes to Curvature and the elements are updated in accordance.

In some cases the chosen type of continuity is not compatible with the geometry or with the
modification. In that case, a warning is displayed directly onto the geometry at the location where the
inconsistency arises. You can fix it by either changing the continuity, or modifying the geometry itself.

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A forbidden sign may even be displayed and the system will prevent you from modifying the element
in a specific direction, if it does not make sense geometrically speaking.

Displaying contact points

Open the BlendSurface1.CATPart document.

Step 1. Click on the Blend Surface icon and select an edge on each surface. The blend surface is
computed.

Step 2. Click on the Contact Points icon from the Dashboard. Manipulators are displayed on the
connection, allowing you to interactively define the blend limits by simply sliding them along the
boundaries.

You can edit the contact points by right-clicking any of them to display the contextual menu and
choosing the Edit item. The Tuner dialog box opens to let you key in a new value, in percentage of the
total boundary.

Displaying tensions (P2 only)

Step 1. Select two curves and click on the Blend Curve icon . The blend curve is previewed.

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Step 2. Click on the Tensions icon from the Dashboard. Green segments representing the direction
and limits tension are displayed. You can modify the tension by sliding the displayed value along
the green segment.

You can also edit the value or invert the tension direction, using the contextual menu on the value.

Displaying U, V orders

Open the MatchSurface1.CATPart document.

Step 1. Click on the Match Surface icon and select the two edges to be matched (see Matching
Surfaces).

Step 2. Click on the U, V Orders icon from the Dashboard. Numbers are displayed on the geometry,
indicating the order number of the element along the U and V directions.

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Step 3. Right-click on a text to choose another order value.

You can also simply click on the text. It will automatically change to the next digit down the list.
Shift-clicking goes up in the list. The surface order is instantly modified, but you will see it only when
using the Control Points icon, for example,

For curves, only the order along U is displayed.

(6) Displaying control points temporarily

This task shows you how to temporarily display control points geometry while in a FreeStyle
command. Once you exit this command, the control points are removed as opposed to those displayed
using the permanent visualization options (see Setting FreeStyle Visualization Options).

Open the MatchCurve1.CATPart document, or any .CATPart document containing FreeStyle

Step 1. Check the Control Points option in the Display area of the Tools > Options > Shape > FreeStyle

> General tab or click on the Furtive Display icon from the Dashboard (P2 only).

Step 2. Click on the Match Curve icon .

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Step 4. Click on OK in the current command.

Multi-selection is available, meaning that if several elements are involved in the current command, if

there were two curves to be projected for example when using the Project Curve icon the control
points are displayed on all the resulting elements.

7.3 Generic Tools Toolbar

The generic tools toolbar contains the following tools:

Setting FreeStyle visualization options,

Setting FreeStyle visualization options,

Displaying a part symmetrically,

Displaying geometric information on elements,

Managing the compass, and

Defining an axis system.

7.3.1 Setting FreeStyle visualization options

This task shows you how to display or hide permanent control points and curve/surface segments on
FreeStyle Shaper elements for analyses purposes.

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Open the VisuOptions1.CATPart document, or any .CATPart document containing FreeStyle

Step 1. Click on the Apply Dress-Up icon . The Dress-Up Options dialog box is displayed.

Step 2. Set the type of visualization you want to apply to geometric elements. You can choose:
to display, or not, control points,
the control points type, and
to display, or not, segments.

The Isoparametrics by patch is inactive but provides information on the number of isoparametric curves
(dotted lines) per surface patch (delimited by solid lines).

Step 3. Select the element on which you want to display the control points.

Step 4. Click on the Apply button. The control points and mesh lines are displayed on the selected
element.

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Step 5. Activate the Segmentation option in the Dress-Up Options dialog box, uncheck the Control
Points, and then click on Apply.

Step 6. Click on OK.

The visualization options are as defined by the user and remain on the selected elements till you click
the Remove Visualization Options icon, or till you modify them using the Dress-Up Options dialog box
again.
The visualization options are applied globally to the document, meaning that you can apply different
options to several elements, but if you save, close, and then open the document again, the options defined
last will be applied to all the elements on which visualization options have been set.
No modification is possible on the control points, as opposed to using the Control Points icon as
described in Editing Surfaces.
Multi-selection applies with these display capabilities.

7.3.2 Displaying a part symmetrically

This task shows you how to visualize a part symmetrically in relation to a plane, in a product context.
This allows you to work on half of the geometry only, therefore with a smaller document size-wise, but to
view the final element as a whole.

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Open the Product_to_symmetrize.CATProduct document.

Step 1. Expand the specification tree down to the Part5, then double-click on it. The Part5.CATPart now
can be edited within the FreeStyle Shaper workbench.

Step 2. Click on the Visual Symmetry icon .

Step 3. Select the Part to be mirrored from the specification tree.

Step 4. Select the mirror plane. It can be a plane or any planar face that the system recognizes as a plane
(a planar face of a pad, for example, and so forth). A part, symmetrical in relation to the selected
plane, is displayed.

The part is also duplicated in the specification tree as shown below. However, even though it will be
saved within the document, this part cannot be edited as geometry. It is modified only as the result of
modifications performed on the initial part.

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