Orient faces

This operation allows fixing the orientation of a set of faces in the following ways:

  • The required orientation of a set of neighboring faces can be defined by a vector giving the direction of a normal to a certain face. Since the direction of face normals in the set can be even opposite, it is necessary to specify a control face, the normal to which will be compared with the vector. This face can be either:
    • found by proximity to a given point, or

    • specified explicitly.

  • The required orientation is given by faces of specified reference groups or/and sub-meshes. The reference groups can be omitted, then orientation of an arbitrary selected face to orient defines common orientation.

  • Alternatively, the faces can be oriented relatively to the adjacent volumes.

The orientation of a face is changed by reverting the order of its nodes.

To set orientation of faces:

  1. In the Modification menu select Reorient faces item or click “Reorient faces” button imgfac in the toolbar.

  2. In the “Reorient faces” dialog box

    • Select a way to define orientation:

      • imgpnt - by specifying a point and a vector

      • imgfac - by specifying a face and a vector

      • imggrp - by specifying reference face groups

      • imgvol - by specifying reference volume groups

    • Select the Object(s) (mesh, groups and/or sub-meshes) containing faces to reorient, in the Object Browser or in the 3D Viewer.

    • To reorient by direction of the face normal:

      • Specify the coordinates of the Point by which the control face will be found. You can specify the Point by picking a node in the 3D Viewer or selecting a vertex in the Object Browser.

      • Set up the Direction vector to be compared with the normal of the control face. There are following options:

        • adjust vector components directly;

        • select a vertex in the Object Browser or a node in the 3D Viewer; their coordinates will define vector components;

        • pick two nodes (holding Shift button), the Direction vector will go from the first to the second node.

        _images/reorient_2d_point.png

        The orientation of adjacent faces is chosen according to a vector. The control face is found by point.

    • In the second mode it is possible to pick the Face by mouse in the 3D Viewer or directly enter the Face ID in the corresponding field.

      _images/reorient_2d_face.png

      The orientation of adjacent faces is chosen according to a vector. The control face is explicitly given.

    • In the third mode, the faces can be reoriented equally to reference faces:

      • If necessary, select 2D Reference objects (groups or/and sub-meshes) containing the reference faces, in the Object Browser or in the 3D Viewer. This field can be left empty, then orientation of an arbitrary face will be used as a reference.

        _images/reorient_2d_refgroup.png

        The orientation of faces is given by reference face groups and/or sub-meshes.

    • In the fourth mode, the faces can be reoriented according to volumes:

      • Select an object (mesh, sub-mesh or group) containing reference Volumes, in the Object Browser or in the 3D Viewer.

      • Specify whether face normals should point outside or inside the reference volumes using Face normal outside volume check-box.

        _images/reorient_2d_volume.png

        The orientation of faces is chosen relatively to adjacent volumes.

  3. Click the Apply or Apply and Close button to confirm the operation.

See Also a sample TUI Script of a Reorient faces operation.