topic Re: split all intersecting surfaces in Inventor Programming Forum

split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:54:54 GMT

is there a command or workflow to split all intersecting surfaces? currently we build surface models and split manually or open in autocad, explode, overkill, breakall, then export the lines for rebuilding in an FE package.

Ideally we would like to export straight from inventor with one hit

See attached part, i would like to do the 5 splits below the EOP marker automatically

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

xiaodong_liang — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:35:33 GMT

Hi,

Hope the following code is what you are looking for.

Sub Split()
    Dim oDoc As PartDocument
    Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    Dim oCompDef As PartComponentDefinition
    Set oCompDef = oDoc.ComponentDefinition
    
'    Dim oPl As WorkPlane
'    Set oPl = oCompDef.WorkPlanes("XZ Plane")
    
    'arguments
    Dim oWS1 As WorkSurface
    Set oWS1 = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces(1)
    
    Dim oObjColl As ObjectCollection
    Set oObjColl = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection()
    
    
     Dim oSurface As SurfaceBody 'WorkSurface
      Set oSurface = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces.Item(2).SurfaceBodies(1)
            
        Dim oFace As Face
        For Each oFace In oSurface.Faces
            oObjColl.Add oFace
        Next
            
    
    
    Dim oSplit As SplitFeature
    Set oSplit = oCompDef.Features.SplitFeatures.SplitFaces(oWS1, False, oObjColl)
   
End Sub

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:07:10 GMT

thanks for the reply, i have been on leave... i will try it today hopefully

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:18:10 GMT

I tried it and it only does (split 2) if you pull down the EOP marker.

I want to split every intersecting surface on a model that may have 1000 surfaces.

I gues it would run something like,

List all visible surfaces

split surface 1 with surface 2

split surface 1 with surface 3

split surface 1 with surface xxx

split 2 with 3

2 with 4

etc etc

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:05:58 GMT

this would be so useful... i cant see any software that does it...

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Vladimir.Ananyev — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:57:18 GMT

Try this demo on your model. This code uses the idea of Xiaodong in two loops.

Sub Split_2()

  Dim oDoc As PartDocument
  Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
  Dim oCompDef As PartComponentDefinition
  Set oCompDef = oDoc.ComponentDefinition
  
  'The 1st work surface
  Dim oWS1 As WorkSurface
  Set oWS1 = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces.Item(1)
  
  Dim N As Integer
  N = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces.count
    
  Dim oObjColl As ObjectCollection
  Set oObjColl = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection()
  
  Dim i As Integer
  Dim oSurface As SurfaceBody
  Dim oFace As Face
  Dim oSplit As SplitFeature
  
  For i = 2 To N
     Call oObjColl.Clear
     Set oSurface = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces.Item(i).SurfaceBodies(1)
     For Each oFace In oSurface.Faces
         oObjColl.Add oFace
     Next
     Set oSplit = oCompDef.Features.SplitFeatures _
           .SplitFaces(oWS1, False, oObjColl)
   Next i
   
   
  For i = 2 To N
     Call oObjColl.Clear
     For Each oFace In oWS1.SurfaceBodies(1).Faces
         oObjColl.Add oFace
     Next
     Set oSurface = oCompDef.WorkSurfaces.Item(i).SurfaceBodies(1)
     Set oSplit = oCompDef.Features.SplitFeatures _
           .SplitFaces(oSurface, False, oObjColl)
  Next i

  Beep
End Sub

I hope that the idea is clear, and you can customize this code to suit your needs.

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:34:56 GMT

This seems to work perfectly on the test model and Ive added a few more surfaces that also seem to work, dropped into femap and meshed instantly with no problems...

thankyou very much, I am going to try it on a proper model now and let you know the results, this could save me a lot of time

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:59:20 GMT

is there a way to just list and act on the visible surfaces?

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Vladimir.Ananyev — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:25:41 GMT

No problem.
You may exclude any work surface if its property Visible returns False.

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:40:41 GMT

is there a maximum number of surfaces this can handle? it counts all of the surfaces correctly but doesnt split them all over a certain number. i tried on a real model then came back and tested against the attached part...

also it would be good if it automatically deleted failed splits that dont intersect

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:44:34 GMT

ok, I understand a bit better, it is only splitting based on the worksurface, i need it to split every surface that intersects another so I am missing any surfaces off this plane...

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:16:36 GMT

This has risen again... can anyone think of an easy way to do this? ideally automated

Re: split all intersecting surfaces

xiaodong_liang — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 04:42:01 GMT

Hi stephengibson76,

I came back this question. I am thinking probably TransientBrep may help. But I need to make sure I understood your question (it seems it is a further question instead of the orignal post, right?) . Could you provide a sample on what kind of surface you want to do split?