Drawing an Ellipse
Draw an ellipse by specifying a center point, base radius, and secondary radius.
- On the Draw
menu, click Ellipse.
- Select the center point of the ellipse in one of the following ways:
- Click the point.
- Type the point’s coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
- Specify the base radius of the ellipse. If the current drawing plane is xy, then x is the base radius direction. If the drawing plane is yz, then y is the base radius direction. If the drawing plane is xz, then z is the base radius direction. Select the point in one of the following ways:
- Click the point. Maxwell constrains mouse movement to the base radius direction.
- Type the coordinates of a point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, or dZ box, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.
- Specify the secondary radius of the ellipse. Select the point in one of the following ways:
- Click the point. Maxwell constrains mouse movement to a point on the plane orthogonal to the base radius direction.
- Type the coordinates of a point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, or dZ box.
- If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog box appears, in which you can modify the object’s properties.
- Click OK.
The Ratio value represents the aspect ratio of the secondary radius to the base radius.
If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options window, the ellipse will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise, it will be a closed 1D polyline object.
If the base radius is larger than the secondary radius, the ellipse’s longer axis will lie along the default base radius direction. If the secondary radius is larger than the base radius, the ellipse’s longer axis will lie perpendicular to the default base radius direction. To create an ellipse with an arbitrary orientation, rotate or move the ellipse after drawing it.
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.
For details about these commands, see Technical Notes, Surface Approximations and related sections, Modifying Surface Approximations, and Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations.