Classify Reference

In Surface Repair, you can Classify faces based on specified settings and create corresponding part surfaces. You can influence the classification process using the settings in the Classify tab.



Classify Surfaces

These options define the classification settings and the target point locations for the selected face subset.

Source Distance
Defines the distance between the source point and target point.
  • Edge Coefficient—the distance between the source and target points is the average edge size of the target face multiplied by the coefficient that you specify.
  • Specify Distance—you directly specify the absolute distance between the source and target points.
The source distance required to cover a surface depends on the surface you are classifying and the number of faces you want to include in the subset. Generally, if you are using multiple target points, you require a smaller source distance whereas for a single target point you should use a source distance greater than, but approximately on the same scale, as the maximum dimension of the part or assembly of parts.
Visibility Angle
Defines the maximum angle [0° - 90°] between the center of source point and the normal of a face on the surface (that is, the angle at which the face center is visible by the source point). Any face where the angle between the face normal and the source point is below the specified value are included in the classification.
In general, the visibility angle increases as you move further away from the target point (except for concave surfaces). Once the specified maximum visibility angle is reached, the classification process stops.
Mode
For each target point specified, allows you to Add Faces or Remove Faces from the classification subset.
Break at Sharp Angles
When activated, adjacent faces with a dihedral angle greater than the specified Sharp Angle are not included in the classification subset. For example:

If α is greater than theSharp Angle specified face 2 is not included in the classification subset.
Target Point Location
Pick Target... allows you to position the target point directly in the Surface Repair scene. The target point coordinates are read-only. In the Repair Surface scene, target points are indicated in green and source points are indicated in red.
Classified Faces
Displays the accumulated face count for the classified subset.
Select Classified
When selected, highlights the current faces included in the classification subset in the Repair Surface scene.
(Re)Classify
Allows you to re-perform the classification using the existing target point. To improve the classification, you can modify the classification settings such as the Source Distance or Visibility Angle before your reclassify the subset. When the classification subset is reclassified the previous classification result is deleted.
If Auto Classify on Pick is not activated, this option performs the initial classification.
Undo Last
Removes the most recent action from the classification subset. If no unique faces are added to the classification result this option is deactivated. If you have activated Auto Fill Gaps, this option removes both the classification faces and gap fill faces from the classification subset. Otherwise, only the manual gap fill faces or most recent classification is removed from the classification subset.
Clear Points
Deletes the target and source points displayed in the Repair Surface scene.

Advanced Options

Available when you activate Show Advanced Options.

Auto Classify on Pick
When activated, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ automatically adds or removes (depending on the specified Mode) faces defined by the target point and classification settings to the classification subset. When you deactivate this option, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ only creates the target and source points, without adding or removing faces. To produce the classification subset, select (Re)Classify.
Auto Fill Gaps
When activated, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ automatically locates closed loop gaps which satisfy the parameters set under the Fill Gap cleanup tool. These faces are automatically added to the classification subset.
Invert Source Direction
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ requires all classified faces to have the same face normal orientation. For inconsistent face orientation (a negative face normal surface enclosed by positive face normal surfaces or vice versa), this option allows you to reverse the direction of the normal from the target point to the source point, to provide a consistent classification of the surface.
Journal Source Point
When you record the classification process in a java macro, the target point is recorded by default. If you activate this property, the source point is recorded to the macro instead of the target point, allowing you greater versatility when applied to design variants.

Classification Surface Cleanup Tools

These options allow you to modify the classification subset by adding closed loop gaps and removing isolated surfaces.

Fill Gaps
Allows you to automatically add closed loop gaps to the classified face subset. The fill gaps operation is independent of the current source point location. Closed loops are only located and filled if the gap contains less faces than the face count limit. You can specify the maximum face count limit using one of the following options:
  • % Limit—allows you to define a percentage of the current classified subset.
  • Face Limit—allows you to define an absolute face count limit.
Cleanup Boundary
When selected, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ automatically adds or removes faces from the classification subset to improve the boundary between the classification subset and the unclassified faces. A face is only included in the cleanup process if it has a certain number of surrounding faces which do not belong to the same subset (classified or unclassified). This number of surrounding faces depend on the face shape:
  • Triangle—two or more
  • Quadrilateral—three or more
If the classification subset contains ten or less edges, the cleanup process has no effect. The results of the cleanup process is displayed in the Repair Surface scene and the Output window.
Find Isolated
Allows you to locate distinct and separate isolated surfaces (islands) in the target surface. When selected, any isolated faces below the face count limit are identified. You can remove these faces from the classification subset using the Remove Selection option.
Add Selection
Allows you to add faces selected manually in the Repair Surface scene to the classification subset.
Remove Selection
Allows you to remove faces selected manually in the Repair Surface scene from the classification subset.
Clear Classified
Deletes the current classification subset.

Modify Part Surface

These options allow you to define a new part surface for the classified face subset. For more information, see Part Controls.