Trimming and extending geometry
Release Notes
This section reflects additions or changes that apply to Enventive Concept v4.2 and later. We strongly recommend upgrading to the most current version of Concept to take advantage of new features and bug fixes. If you are running an earlier version of the software, please open the Online Help for your version using the Enventive Concept Help menu.
Concept v4.2 introduced the ability to trim and extend geometry.
Concept's trimming and extending features help you to quickly and easily trim unwanted length extending past the connection point between objects or extend object endpoints in order to connect them (when you don’t expect the location of the line or arc to change).
The methods you can use to trim/extend geometry, depending on the objects to be trimmed/extended and the desired results, are described below. (Note: Trim/extend features should generally be used prior to dimensioning/constraining geometry.)
|
Tool |
Description |
Usage |
Example |
|
Coincident Point
|
This method uses the Coincident Point tool to extend and/or trim lines/arcs to their intersection point without moving the objects. A Coincident Point constraint is created between the two objects. |
Select the end points of two lines and/or arcs to trim/extend to the intersection point of the two objects. Valid selection pairs include:
Note that if the endpoints are already constrained, the Coincident Point constraint will work in its normal manner and the geometry will move in order to create a Coincident Point constraint rather than be trimmed/extended. |
In the following example, we want to extend the line and the arc to join the objects at their endpoints. To do this, you select each of the endpoints that are to be extended to their intersection point:
The line and arc now intersect and are connected by a Coincident Point constraint:
In this example, we want to trim the excess line and arc to join the objects at their endpoints. To do this, you select each of the endpoints that are to be trimmed to their intersection point:
The line and arc are trimmed to intersect and are connected by a Coincident Point constraint:
|
|
Point on Object
|
This method works essentially the same as the Coincident Point tool described above, but places a Point on Object constraint at the intersection of the selected geometry. |
Select an end point of either a line or an arc, and then select the line or arc to trim/extend to the Point on Object. Valid selections include:
|
In the following example, we want to trim the excess line that extends beyond the arc. To do this, you select the endpoint and then select the arc.
The endpoint is trimmed and constrained Point on Object with the arc:
|
|
|
This tool lets you trim sections of lines or arcs. Note: A section is the geometry between an end point and a Point on Object constraint or between two Point on Object constraints. When a center section of a line is trimmed, the remaining sections are converted to a Continuous Feature. When a center section of an arc is trimmed, the remaining sections are turned into separate arcs. A Continuous Feature constraint will not be created automatically for the remaining arc sections in this release. Existing constraints will be retained where possible; however, some constraints may be deleted, so be sure to check the constraints after trimming sections of lines/arcs. If the geometry lacks the Point on Object constraint(s) needed for defining intersection points, you can use the Point Between Objects tool to create the point(s), as described below.
|
Select a section of a line or arc to trim that section. Valid selections include:
|
In this example, we want to remove the section of the circle that is on the inner side of the two lines. To do this, you simply select the section to be trimmed:
The section between the two Point on Object constraints is removed:
Similarly, we can select the sections of lines that extend past the Point on Object constraints:
The section of line is trimmed back to the Point on Object constraint:
|
|
Point Between Objects
|
This tool creates one or two Point on Object constraints at the intersection points of overlapping objects. This gives you a quick way to create the point(s) needed to use the Trim tool described above.
|
Select any two arc/line/circle objects that overlap. Valid selection pairs include:
|
In this example, the line that intersects the circle has no Point on Object constraints to enable the line to be trimmed back to its intersection points with the circle:
To enable the objects to be trimmed, you select the line and the circle to automatically place Point on Object constraints at the intersection points of the two objects:
You may then use the Trim tool as described above to remove sections of lines; for example, we can now use the Trim tool to remove the center section of the line as shown below. This also automatically creates a Continuous Feature constraint on the line:
|
Related Topics