Analyzing Draft Angle

You can analyze the draft angle on a surface to ensure its manufacturing feasibility. The Draft Analysis tool also provides you with various option to check and analyze the draft as per the design intent.

For a description of all the options available in the dialog box, refer to the Interface Description : Dialog Boxes section of this guide.

Before you begin:
  • Open an existing 3D shape.
  • Set discretization to a maximum: Click Tools > Options > General > Display, Performance tag and in the 3D Accuracy area, select Fixed and enter a value of 0.01.
  • Disable highlight of geometry selection: Click Tools > Options > General > Display, Navigation tag and clear Highlight faces and edges.
  • Set the visualization mode: Click View > Render Style > Shading With Edges.
  • Do one or both of the following:
    • Allow visualization of the analysis results on a selected element: Click View > Render Style > Customize View and then select Material.
    • Select No warning message if material mode is not ON under the General tab in Tools > Options > Shape > FreeStyle.

  1. Click Draft Analysis in the Shape Analysis toolbar.

    The Draft Analysis dialog box is displayed.

  2. Set up your analysis:

    1. In the Mode area of the dialog box, select Quick Analysis Mode .
    2. In the Display area of the dialog box, select Show/Hide color scale .

      The Draft Analysis.x dialog box is displayed. It shows the color scale and identifies the corresponding values for the analysis.

  3. Select a surface for analysis.

    The quick analysis is displayed on the surface.

    The draft direction is the w/z axis of the compass.



  4. In the Mode area of the dialog box, select Full Analysis Mode .

    The color scale and range of values in the Draft Analysis.x dialog box are expanded.

    The corresponding colors are displayed on the surface.



  5. Optional: Modify the colors and/or values in the color scale (right-click a color or value).

  6. In the Display area of the dialog box, select On the Fly and move the pointer over the surface.

    The following information about the current pointer location is displayed:

    • Green arrow, N: The normal to the surface
    • Red arrow, D: The draft direction
    • Blue arrow, T: The tangent to the surface
    • Circles: The plane tangent to the surface
    • Value (reverse highlighted): The angle between the draft direction and the tangent to the surface (the value is expressed in the units set in Tools > Options > General > Parameters > Units tab)
    • The cone
    • Value (unhighlighted): The cone angle (the angle between the axis of the cone and the draft direction D)

    As you move the pointer over the surface, this information is updated dynamically.



    Warning: The On the Fly analysis can only be performed on the elements of the current part.

    Note that you can activate the On the fly option even when not visualizing the materials. It gives you the tangent plane and the deviation value.

  7. Click Inverse to reverse the draft direction.

    This command affects all selected elements.



    Important:
    • If a result is obviously inconsistent, click Inverse to locally invert the draft direction.
    • The pulling direction defined in a Part Design's Draft is not taken into account. In case of inconsistency with the draft analysis orientation, click Inverse .

  8. Right-click the cone angle to display the Angle Tuner dialog box and then modify the angle using the up/down arrows.

    The value is automatically updated in the color scale dialog box, on the geometry and the cone diameter is adjusted.

    The value in the color scale dialog box (16.961deg in the example shown below) is highlighted in a different color .

    Important: You cannot modify the angle below the minimum value or above the maximum value.





  9. Right-click the red arrow, D (draft direction) to display a contextual menu.

    From the contextual menu you can:


    • Hide/show the cone.
    • Hide/show the angle.
    • Hide/show the tangent.
    • Lock/unlock the analysis position.
    • Keep the point at this location (a Point.xxx appears in the specification tree).

  10. Define a new draft direction and then lock the direction:

    1. In the Draft Analysis dialog box, click Compass .

      The compass is placed in the 3D area.

    2. As required, drag and rotate the compass until the w/z axis is aligned with the required new draft direction.

      The D draft direction arrow changes direction accordingly.

    3. In the Draft Analysis dialog box, click Lock draft direction .

      The draft direction (D, red arrow) is locked in the new direction. If you make subsequent adjustments to the compass, the draft direction will remain unchanged.

  11. When you have finished working with this command, do one of the following:

    • To create the analysis, click OK.

      The analysis is added to the specification tree where it is identified as Command_Name.Analysis.x.

      The analysis will be updated automatically whenever you modify any of the elements in the analysis (for example when you deform an element using control points).

    • To abandon the analysis, click Cancel.

Note:

  • Note that settings are saved when exiting the command, and redisplayed when you select Draft Analysis again.
  • Be careful, when selecting the direction, not to deselect the analyzed element.
  • A draft analysis can be performed just as well on a set of surfaces.
  • If an element belongs to an analysis, it cannot be selected simultaneously for another analysis; you need to remove the current analysis by deselecting the element to be able to use it again.
  • In some cases, even though the rendering style is properly set, it may happen that the analysis results are not visible. Check that the geometry is up-to-date, or perform an update on the involved geometric elements.
  • The analysis results depend of the current object. May you want to change the scope of analysis, use the Define in Work object contextual command.