Mesh Tools: Grade Plates and Bricks

Description

Provides a set of graded shapes that subdivide matching plate and brick elements into a variety of different patterns. These patterns are used to add details, transition or locally refine the mesh.

Triangular shaped grades apply to wedge brick elements and to triangular plate elements.

Quadrilateral shaped grades apply to hexahedral brick elements and to quadrilateral plate elements.

The Brick Corner Grade applies only to hexahedral brick elements.

Plate and brick attributes are transferred when grading.

Three selection modes are activated depending on the type of grade selected.

Edge Selection

Patterns that require an orientation to be specified with reference to a single edge have a single thick white line drawn on their icons. This line will be mapped to the edge selected on an element. If a correct mapping exists, the selected element will be subdivided according to the pattern shown, otherwise, the element will be ignored.

For example, the 1 x 3 Grade pattern requires one edge to be selected. If more than one edge is selected, the element will not be subdivided because the mapping is invalid.
Corner Selection

Patterns that require an orientation to be specified with reference to a corner have two thick white lines drawn at adjacent edges on their icons. These lines will be mapped to the edges selected on an element. If a correct mapping exists, the selected element will be subdivided according to the pattern shown, otherwise, the element will be ignored.

For example, the Quarter Circle Cut pattern requires two adjacent edges to be selected, which together identify a single corner on the element. If two edges on opposite sides of a plate are selected, a single corner is not identified and the element will not be subdivided because the mapping is invalid.
Whole Element Selection

Patterns that do not need an orientation to be specified are indicated by thick white lines along all edges of the element representation on the icon. These patterns work on whole or partial element selections.

For example, the Quad Cut Out pattern will be applied to an element that is partially or fully selected.

Ratio

For grade shapes that contain an arc, the ratio defines the proportion of the arc radius relative to the length of the selected edge.