Copy Mesh

A mesh can be created by copying a part of or the whole other mesh. There are two modes of the operation:

  • copy mesh elements only;

  • copy mesh definition to another geometry. This mode can be used only if the source mesh is based on geometry. It is supposed that the new geometry is a modified geometry of the source mesh.

To make a copy of a mesh:

From the contextual menu in the Object Browser of from the Mesh menu select Copy Mesh or click “Copy Mesh” button img in the toolbar.

The following dialog box will appear:

_images/copy_mesh_dlg.png

In the dialog:

  • select the mode of the operation.

  • specify the part of mesh to copy:

    • Select whole mesh, sub-mesh or group by mouse activating this checkbox; or

    • choose mesh elements with the mouse in the 3D Viewer. It is possible to select a whole area with a mouse frame; or

    • input the Source Element IDs directly in this field. The selected elements will be highlighted in the viewer; or

    • apply Filters. Set filter button allows to apply a filter to the selection of elements. See more about filters in the Selection filter library page.

  • specify the New Mesh Name;

  • select the New Geometry;

  • specify the conditions of copying:

    • activate Generate groups check-box to copy the groups of the source mesh to the newly created mesh. In the mode of copying to new geometry, standalone groups are copied only if Copy Mesh Elements is activated.

    • activate Reuse hypotheses check-box to use hypotheses applied to the source mesh in the new mesh. Hypotheses having parameters defined as sub-shapes will be copied independently of this check-box state.

    • activate Copy Mesh Element to copy mesh elements of sub-shapes that are not modified.

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

Limitations of copying the mesh to the new geometry

It can happen that a sub-shape used to define a sub-mesh, group or hypotheses is not found in the new geometry. In this case a new object depending on the not found sub-shape is marked with red color in the Object Browser in order to allow identifying such objects and to fix them, either by modifying their definition or by removing. If a depending object is a group on geometry, a standalone group is created instead. You can’t transform it to a group on geometry, it can only be removed and re-created anew.

Empty standalone groups are not constructed.

See Also a sample script of Mesh Copying.