HM-3630: Morph with Shapes

In this tutorial, you will increase the diameter of one of the prongs of a yoke using morph volumes. You will reflect the shape on to the other prong and finally position the combined shapes from one yoke to the other.

This exercise uses the yoke.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, yoke.hm.

  1. Open the model file, yoke.hm.
  2. In the Model Browser, right-click the component yoke_2 and select Hide. Make sure component yoke_1 is in Show mode.

Convert Hexas to Morph Volume

In this step you will convert hexas to morph volume.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Morph Volumes, then select the convert subpanel.
  2. Select elems >> by collector.
  3. Select hexas. Make sure that register all inner nodes is checked.
  4. Click select.
  5. Click convert.


    Figure 2.
    Note: All seven hexa elements are converted into morph volumes.

Increase the Prong Diameter

In this step, you will increase the prong diameter.

  1. In the Model Browser, right-click Tag and select Show to display all the tags.
  2. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Morph, then select the move handles subpanel.
  3. Set the mode selector to move to node.
  4. Click options and make sure morphing > mvols: is set to active (toggle if it is set to inactive).
  5. Click return.
  6. For handle, click Handle 1, and for node, click tag 1'.
  7. Repeat this process for the other 35 handles.


    Figure 3.

Save the Morphed Shape

In this step, you will save the morphed shape.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Shapes.
  2. Go to the save as shape subpanel.
  3. For name=, type Prong1.
  4. Toggle as handle perturbations to as node perturbations.
  5. Click create and select Yes to the message that appears.
  6. Click undo all to bring the model to its original position before morphing.

Create a Coordinate System

In this step you will create a coordinate system.

You need to reference a coordinate system in order to create symmetry.

  1. In the Model Browser, right-click and select Hide for Shape and Morphing Volume.
  2. Right-click on yoke_1 and select Show.
  3. Click origin and select the node labeled "origin."
  4. For X-axis, select the node labeled "X."
  5. For XY plane, select the node labeled "Y."
  6. Click create.
  7. Click return.

Create Symmetry

In this step, you will create symmetry.

  1. From the menu bar, select Morphing > Create > Symmetries.
  2. For name=, type symm1.
  3. Under domains, click the checkbox for morph volumes (make sure it is active).
  4. Set 1 plane and keep the rest of the default settings.
  5. Click syst and select the newly created coordinate system.
  6. Click create.
  7. Click return.

Position the Shapes

In this step, you will position the shapes of the two prongs of the yoke onto the opposite yoke.

  1. In the Model Browser, right-click Title and select Show.
  2. In the Model Browser, right-click yoke_2 and click Show.
  3. In the apply shapes subpanel, under shapes, change reflect shapes to position shapes.
  4. Change the selector from scale to no scale.
  5. Click shapes and select the two shapes present in the model.
  6. Under from: select the three nodes named from_N1, from_N2, and from_N3 for N1, N2, and N3.
  7. Under to: select the three nodes named to_N1, to_N2, and to_N3 for N1, N2, and N3.
  8. Click position.
  9. Click return.


    Figure 4.
    Note: The two or more shapes have been created and applied to the other yoke. The name of the first new shape (on the other yoke) will have a suffix “2” because it is the second copy of the first shape and the second shape will have a suffix of “11” as it is the first copy of the reflected shape.