DraftAngleAnalysis

Toolbar	Menu
Surface Analysis	Analyze Surface > Draft Angle Analysis

Toolbar

Toolbar: Surface Analysis

Surface Analysis

Analyze

Surface >

Draft Angle Analysis

The DraftAngleAnalysis command visually evaluates surface draft-angle using false-color analysis.

Draft angle is often used to design injection-molded parts that must eject from molds.

Input

Surface, Polysurface, Extrusion, Mesh

Steps

Select objects.
In the Draft Angle dialog box, set the angle for the color display.
Adjust the density of the mesh if the level of detail is not fine enough.

Draft Angle Analysis options

Upper value (Blue)

A draft angle above the upper value displays blue. The range between the upper value and 0 displays a blue-green gradient.

Lower value (Red)

A draft angle below the lower value displays red. The range between 0 and the lower value displays a green-red gradient.

Show isocurves

Display surface isocurves and edges.

Adjust Mesh

Open Polygon Mesh Options to change analysis mesh density. Increasing mesh density improves the analyzing accuracy.

Add Objects

Select more objects to analyze.

Remove Objects

Remove selected objects from the analysis.

The draft angle depends on the z-axis direction of the construction plane that is in the active viewport when the command starts.
If the surface direction (Dir) is the same direction as the construction plane z-direction, the draft angle is 90 degrees.
If the surface direction (Dir) is perpendicular to the construction plane z-direction, the draft angle is 0 degrees.
If the surface direction (Dir) is the opposite to the construction plane z-direction, the draft angle is ‑90 degrees.

If you set the minimum and maximum angle to the same value, all portions of the surface that exceed the angle will be red.
Change the construction plane before using DraftAngleAnalysis to define any direction as the reference direction.

DraftAngleAnalysisOff

Toolbar	Menu
Surface Analysis	Not on menus. Close the dialog box.

Toolbar

Toolbar: Surface Analysis

Surface Analysis

Not on menus.

Close the dialog box.

The DraftAngleAnalysisOff command turns off draft angle analysis.

DraftAnglePoint

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

Toolbar

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The DraftAnglePoint command places a point object at a surface's draft angle break location.

Draft angle is often used to design injection-molded parts that must eject from molds.

Steps

Select a surface near the draft point, and press Enter.

Tip

One way to find locations on the surface close to the desired draft angle is to turn on DraftAngleAnlaysis. Set the upper and lower limits to bracket the desired angle closely. For example, if the angle is 5, set the limits to 4.9 and 5.1.
Use a dense analysis mesh. Points can then be picked along the strip dividing the red from the blue parts of the surface. The points will be on the break line.

Command-line options

Angle

The angle in world coordinates of a line tangent to the surface at the draft angle point.

Wikipedia: Tangent

PullDirection

The direction of the part ejection in world coordinates.

Edge

Restricts the point placement to an edge.

DraftAngleAnalysis

Input

Steps

Upper value (Blue)

Lower value (Red)

Show isocurves

Adjust Mesh

Add Objects

Remove Objects

DraftAngleAnalysisOff

DraftAnglePoint

Steps

Tip

Angle

PullDirection

Edge

See also