HM-3620: Shape a Bead With Cyclic Symmetry

In this tutorial, you will first create a bead using the default continuous edge connectivity. You will then update the edges to free and see how it affects the bead creation.

This exercise uses the bottle.hm file, which can be found in the hm.zip file. Copy the file(s) from this directory to your working directory.


Figure 1.

Open the Model File

In this step you will open the model file, bottle.hm.

Open the model file, bottle.hm.

Create Morph Volumes

In this step you will create morph volumes.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Morph Volumes.
  2. Switch create morphvol to create matrix.
  3. Set the following:
    • x density = 3
    • y density = 8
    • z density = 5
    • buffer % = 5
  4. Select elems >> displayed.
  5. Toggle global system to local system.
  6. For syst, select the system located at the top of the bottle.
  7. Use the default values for the remaining settings.
  8. Click create to create the morph volumes.
    Note: Morph volumes are created encompassing the bottle, with red colored handles created at the corners of each morph volume.
  9. Click return to exit the panel.

Create Symmetry

In this step you will create symmetry.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Symmetries.
  2. Under domain, activate morph volumes & mapping.
  3. Change 1 plane to cyclical.
  4. Change 180 degrees to set freq.
  5. Set # of cycles to 8.
  6. For syst, select the cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
  7. Click create.
    A cyclical symmetry is created.
  8. Click return to exit the panel.

Split the Morph Volumes

In this step, you will split the morph volumes.

  1. On the toolbar, click XZ Left Plane View ().
  2. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Morph Volumes, then select the split/combine subpanel.
  3. Set the toggles to split mvols and by edges.
  4. Set single split to 0.8.
  5. Select an edge of Morph Volume 1 as displayed in the image below.
  6. Click split.
  7. Set single split to 0.2.
  8. Select an edge of Morph Volume 2 as displayed in the image below.
  9. Click split.
  10. Click return to exit the panel.


    Figure 2.

Morph the Part

In this step, you will morph the part.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Morph, then select the move handles subpanel.
  2. Switch the morphing method from interactive to translate.
  3. Switch the translate option to along xyz.
  4. Set x-val = -5.0.
  5. For system=, select the cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
  6. Select a handle, as shown in the image below.
  7. Click morph.


    Figure 3.
    As the bead is created, the upper and lower portions of the bottle deform too (Figure 4). This is not the intention, as you want to create a bead without affecting the other parts of the bottle.


    Figure 4.
  8. Click undo to undo the morphing operation.

Update Morph Volume Edges

In this step you will update the morph volume edges.

To stop this bulging effect of the upper and the lower portions of the bottle, you will use the free edge connectivity between these morph volumes.
  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Morph Volumes, and then select the update edges subpanel.
  2. Toggle update nodes to update ends.
  3. Switch edge tangency to free.
  4. Update the edges, working your way around the bottle as in the following images.


    Figure 5.


    Figure 6.
  5. Click return to exit the panel.

Morph the Part

In this step, you will morph the part.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Morph, then select the move handles subpanel.
  2. Verify that the morphing method is translate.
  3. Switch the translate option to along xyz.
  4. Set x-val = -5.0.
  5. For system=, select the cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
  6. Select the handle as shown previously.
  7. Click morph.


    Figure 7.