surface construction preferences

[SiW979]

Hi all

Quick question regarding the constructions options for freeform surfaces. There are two options in Preferences --> Modelling --> Freeform --> Freeform Construction Result. These are Plane or B surface. What is the difference/s between the two, which is the best to use and why?

many thanks in advance

Si

Best regards

Simon

NX7.5 NX8.5 NX9 NX10
NX Consultant

http://www.team-eng.com

 

[Toost]

A plane is forever a plane and cannot become other shape. A B-surface can, as you know do almost anything.
A plane is , counted in "megabytes", very small in comparison to a b-surface.
The planar surface is "as exact as possible" whilst a b-surface always (?) has the modeling distance tolerance.

So, if your intention is to deform something, it must be b-surface.
But, the modern deform features such as X-Form, I-Form , Match edge etc WILL convert whatever input faces to b-surface before you get to touch the dialog.
( The older Global Shaping did /do not do this why i used to extract, into b-surfaces, the faces before using it. Haven't used the Global Shaping feature recently so i don't know if it is the same today.)
I would go Planar until you realize that you need the b-surfaces for some specific reason. ( Styling/ pole manipulation is such a reason.)



Regards,
Tomas

 

[SiW979]

Thanks Tomas

Best regards

Simon

NX7.5 NX8.5 NX9 NX10
NX Consultant

http://www.team-eng.com

 

[Xwheelguy]

Also think in terms of any Drafting done after you model the part - have you ever tried to dimension to splines? Not fun in many cases. Granted there are times when it's unavoidable - but I wouldn't want to magnify it more than I had to.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.3.4 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB