Drawing an Equation-Based Surface
Any surface that can be described by an equation in three dimensions can be drawn.
- Click Draw > Equation Based
Surface.
- Type equations for X(_u, _v), Y(_u, _v), and Z(_u, _v).
- Click the ...
button.
The Edit Equation dialog box appears. - Do one or more of the following to define the equation:
- Type a numerical value or expression directly in the text box.
- Select a function to insert from the drop-down menu, and select Insert Function.
- Select an operator from the drop-down menu, and select Insert Operator.
- Select a quantity from the drop-down menu, and select Insert Quantity.
- When you are finished defining the equation, click OK to close the Edit Equation dialog box and return to the Equation Based Surface dialog box.
- Any unitless value input in equation based curve is taken as model units. For example, for Y(_t) = 1, the y value is taken as 1 model units (say mm). If a value has units, then it is converted to model units and used. For example, if Y(_t) = 1 cm, then y value will be correctly taken as 10 mm.
- While parsing expressions, equation based curves convert each variable separately to model units and assume that the resulting expression is in model units.
- Equation based curves depend on the variable value library to correctly evaluate the units of expression.
- Select start values from the Start_u and Start_v drop-down menus.
- Click OK on the Properties window.
The Equation Based Surface dialog box opens.
Note:
You can also define
an equation by doing the following:
Select end values from the End_u and End_v drop-down menus. 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.