Drawing a Torus

Draw a torus by selecting its center point, major radius, and minor radius. The modeler then sweeps a circle around a circular path. Toruses are drawn as true surfaces in the modeler.

  1. Click Draw > Torus.
  2. Select the center point of the torus in one of the following ways:
    • Click the point.
    • Type the point’s coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
  3. Specify the major radius by selecting a point in one of the following ways:
    • Click the point.
    • Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

    The major radius determines the diameter of the torus.

  4. Specify the minor radius by selecting a point relative to the major radius point.

    5. The minor radius determines the diameter of the "donut hole".

    If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties window appears, in which you can modify the object’s properties.

  5. Click OK.
Note: The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values.
For details about these commands, see Technical Notes, Surface Approximations and related sections, Modifying Surface Approximations, and Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations.