HFSS15: Setting the Curved Surface Visualization

HFSS allows you to specify the faceting for rendering true curves by using the View>Render>Curved Object Visualization command. There are two options for control--Maximum surface deviation and Maximum normal deviation. This resembles the Mesh surface approximation settings. Reduce either or both of the allowed deviations to improve the image quality. Improved image quality comes at the cost of increased CPU consumption. Changes apply to the current model until they are changed again. Any changes reset the default.

This release moves to an ACIS R21 faceting algorithm and has new defaults:

• Relative 0.002mm surface deviation and 30 degree normal deviation for 3D design

• Relative 0.002mm surface deviation and 2 degree normal deviation for 2D design

Legacy projects with non default settings are approximately converted to new settings with warning. Overall faceting time may be around 20% more but number of triangles should reduce.

The default gives satisfactory results (i.e. cpu/memory consumption vs. graphical display) for various model complexities.

When you change Curved Object Visualization settings and apply them to a design, those settings are saved with design unless you change it again. That means when you open the design again, it will apply saved visualization settings and NOT the default settings. Because this affects the CPU and memory required to open the project, typically, you should not save a project with other than the default settings.

To set the Curved Object Visualization for the active modeler window:

1. Click View>Render>Curved Object Visualization.

This command displays the Curved Object Visualization dialog for the active modeler window. The dialog contains areas for setting the Maximum Deviation, and the Maximum Normal deviation.

2. Set the Maximum Deviation by first selecting from the radio buttons for Ignore, set as Relative Deviation or set as Absolute Deviation. Selecting the later two radio buttons enables the value field.

When set as Relative Deviation, the actual surface deviation depends on the model size. For example, sphere with a radius of 10 has same number of facets as a sphere with a radius of 1. This means that CPU cost does not increase based on the model dimension.

When set as Absolute Deviation, the maximum surface deviation for both the spheres will be approximately same since a bigger sphere has more facets than a smaller one. This means that the most CPU cost applies to the larger objects.

3. If you selected the radio buttons for Relative or Absolute Deviation for Maximum Deviation, enter a value in the field.

4. To change the Maximum Normal Deviation, enter a value in the text field. Units are degrees.

5. The Save As Default button lets you Save any values you change to the drop down menus for the fields.

6. The Restore Defaults button lets you return to the original values. Any values you provided through Save As Default remain on the drop down menus for the fields for surface and normal deviations

7. Click Apply to apply the current values to the active modeler window, and Close or Cancel to close the dialog without changing settings.