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(continued...) Marine engineering applications are also provided with tools to generate hydrostatic values for surfaces.
Although significant further capabilities will be built on the new Gazelle technology in future versions, it already offers significant benefits.
In addition to allowing the creation of high quality NURBS surfaces from non touching curves, if the base curves do not meet the edges of adjoining surfaces smoothly, G2 surface continuity can still be achieved.
Gazelle also creates less complex surfaces and is generally faster than conventional calculation methods.
A range of surface analysis tools are available.
For moulded components the draft angle analysis is invaluable as complex organic forms can be difficult to assess.
A colour contour plot is displayed indicating the angle between the surface normal and the current construction plane.
If a staggered split line is to be used multiple plots can be generated independently.
The quality of surfaces can also be assessed by displaying an environment bitmap displyed on the surface or a zebra stripe pattern that indicates surface defects and tangency by flow or misalignment of the stripes.
Curvature analysis includes Gaussian plots, max radius that helps identify flat spots and minimum radius to identify where curvature may be tighter thasn an intended milling cutter.