Projecting Vertices to a Plane

The Project to a Plane mode projects selected vertices by the shortest distance to an imaginary plane.

Origin and normal components define the plane. The pick operation is available to select origin and normal points interactively in the Graphics window. You can specify origin and normal coordinates in the following ways:
  • Specify the plane origin and normal using a Vector.

    Either use one or both of the following methods:

    • Define the plane origin and normal using the plane tool.

      Simcenter STAR-CCM+ extracts the plane origin and normal from the orientation of a plane that you define using the Plane Tool. The vertices are then projected to the plane that passes through the specified origin.

    • Define the plane origin and normal using Fx Section.

      The Fx Section button allows you to specify a plane section interactively in the Graphics window to represent the plane origin and normal.

    • Enter the plane origin and normal vector coordinates directly.
  • Specify the plane origin and normal using Picked Points.

    The Picked Points operation allows you to select three points in a specified coordinate system to represent the plane normal. The three points all lie on the plane to which you project the vertices.

    When defining a plane with three points, all three points must be different and cannot be aligned. The plane cannot have zero area.

To Define the Plane Origin and Normal Using Fx Section:
  1. Make sure that Normal Specification is set to Vector.
  2. In the Plane and Section Tools group box, click Fx Section.
  3. In the Graphics window, click once to begin your selection of the plane section.
  4. Move the cursor until an appropriate plane section is defined, then click to confirm the selection.
  5. If necessary, use the plane tool to refine the selection.
To Define the Plane Origin and Normal Using the Plane Tool:
  1. In the Plane and Section Tools group box, activate Display Plane Tool.
  2. In the Graphics window, click and drag the Plane Tool to represent the plane origin and normal.
    You can also use the X, Y, and Z buttons to toggle the Plane Tool to lie on the X, Y, or Z axis.
To Define the Plane Origin and Normal Using Picked Points:
  1. Define the Plane Origin.
  2. Set Normal Specification to Picked Points.

  3. To specify the plane points, either:
    1. Use the Pick buttons to define each plane point interactively in the Graphics window, or
    2. Enter each set of Plane Point coordinates directly.
    Note To set the plane origin coordinates as one of the plane normal coordinates, activate Use plane origin for plane point #1.

The diagrams below demonstrate an example of this method.

After selecting the vertices to be projected and entering the project vertices mode, the origin (yellow) and normal (red, green, and blue) points are selected.

After applying the operation to the geometry, the plane on which the vertices lie is coincident with the origin. The projected plane also maintains the normal specification of the selected normal points:

Note The Project Vertices button is only available if one or more vertices are selected for projection.