CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application relates to application to Ser. No. 14/830,656, titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATIC THICKNESS CALCULATION, and filed on Aug. 19, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. This application also relates to application Ser. No. 14/843,472, titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATIC THICKNESS DETERMINATION, filed on Sep. 2, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. This application also relates to application Ser. No. 14/738,616, titled FINITE ELEMENT BASED DIRECT MODELING, filed on Jun. 12, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to face pair and mid-surface determination of a virtual representation of an object.

2. Background

A face pair includes opposing exterior surfaces of a solid in a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model. Inappropriate automatic identification of face pair can cause increased manual work (via user input) to correct the face pair, adding burden to a user of the simulation platform.

Conventional automatic mid-surface extraction tools directly extract the mid-surface from automatic identified face pair. This can be a straightforward option that likely generates an inappropriate mid-surface given that the identified face pair is inappropriate. Other conventional mid-surface extraction tools requiring user input are complex and unintuitive, often causing tremendous user-unfriendliness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments described herein related to an incremental mid-surface workflow for generating a mid-surface from a face pair of a solid. At least one face pairs of the solid can first be identified automatically. Modification and adjustment of the identified face pairs can be performed based, as least in part, on user input. Particularly, the user can edit face pair surfaces of a given face pair and/or edit a face pair as a unit. The face pairs can be displayed in different graphical states. After automatic identification, editing, and previewing the face pairs, the face pairs can be defined. Even after the face pairs are defined, the user can still edit and preview the defined face pairs. The mid-surface can be extracted from the defined face pairs.

The face pair can be automatically identified based on dimensions, topological connections, and/or geometric continuity of the surfaces and/or volumes of at least a portion of the solid. The face pairs can be edited by editing one or more face pair surfaces of a given face pair. The face pairs can also be edited by editing face pairs as units. The face pairs can be displayed differently based, at least in part, on different grouping of the face pairs, a method by which each face pair is identified, and a method by which a mid-surface is identified and/or the like.

In some embodiments, a method for generating face pair surfaces of a solid includes, but not limited to, identifying at least two face pairs including a first face pair and a second face pair. Each of the first and second face pairs including at least two face pair surfaces, graphically displaying the at least two face pairs, and receiving user input for at least one of (1) merging the first face pair and the second face pair, (2) deleting the first face pair, (3) adding a third face pair, (4) adding an additional surface to one of the at least two face pair surfaces of the first face pair, (5) removing at least one face pair surface of the first face pair, or (6) splitting the second face pair into at least a fourth and a fifth face pair, and determining at least one adjusted face pair based on the user input.

According to some embodiments, a method for generating face pair surfaces of a solid includes identifying at least two face pairs comprising a first face pair and a second face pair, each of the first and second face pairs comprising at least two opposing face pair surface, receiving user input to merge the first face pair and the second face pair, and merging the first face pair and the second face pair to generate an adjusted face pair based on the user input.

In various embodiments, a method for splitting face pair surfaces of a solid includes identifying a first face pair comprising at least two opposing face pair surfaces, receiving user input to split the first face pair; and splitting the first face pair into at least a second face pair and a third face pair base on the user input.

According to some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-readable instructions, such that, when executed, causes a processor to perform a method for generating face pair surfaces of a solid, the method including identifying at least two face pairs comprising a first face pair and a second face pair, each of the first and second face pairs comprising at least two face pair surfaces, graphically displaying the at least two face pairs, receiving user input for at least one of (1) merging the first face pair and the second face pair, (2) deleting the first face pair, (3) adding a third face pair, (4) adding an additional surface to one of the at least two face pair surfaces of the first face pair, (5) removing at least one face pair surface of the first face pair, or (6) splitting the second face pair into at least a fourth and a fifth face pair, and determining at least one adjusted face pair based on the user input.

According to some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-readable instructions, such that, when executed, causes a processor to perform a method for generating face pair surfaces of a solid, the method including identifying at least two face pairs comprising a first face pair and a second face pair, each of the first and second face pairs comprising at least two opposing face pair surfaces, receiving user input to merge the first face pair and the second face pair, and merging the first face pair and the second face pair to generate an adjusted face pair based on the user input.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-readable instructions, such that, when executed, causes a processor to perform a method for splitting face pair surfaces of a solid, the method including identifying a first face pair comprising at least two opposing face pair surfaces, receiving user input to split the first face pair, and splitting the first face pair into at least a second face pair and a third face pair base on the user input.

