Imprint Controls

Reimprint Existing Contacts (available for all imprinting methods except CAD imprinting)	Reimprints existing contacts. By default, this option is deactivated and only new contacts are imprinted. When activated, all input parts are imprinted without any consideration of existing contacts. This includes contacts between the parts in the current operation, as well as "collateral" contacts between one part in the operation and one part that is not in the operation. This option is not available for CAD imprinting because during CAD imprinting, existing contacts are already reimprinted. This option is useful in cases where you have partial contacts (where there are contacting faces between two parts but other faces still need imprinting and were missed). This option is also useful when imprinting an extract volume part to another part. Since the extract volume operation creates contacts with its input, all faces are in contact. Previously, the imprint operation was unable to imprint these parts.
Candidate Pairs (available for conformal imprinting only)	Allows you to specify pairs of parts to imprint.
All Close Pairs	All close pairs of parts/part surfaces are imprinted.
Use Existing Contacts	Only pairs of parts/part contacts with existing contacts are imprinted.
Source Curves (available for edge imprinting only)	Controls which edges the imprinter attempts to imprint. The operation will use the union of the following two choices:
Imprint Part Curves	Specifies the curves to imprint.
Imprint Free Edges	Attempts to imprint any free edges on the body.
Preprocess	Allows you to specify if any boolean operations are performed before parts are imprinted.
No Preprocess	No boolean operations are performed before parts are imprinted.
Boolean Subtract	A boolean subtract operation is performed before parts are imprinted.
Intersect Surfaces (available for non-conformal imprinting only)	An intersect operation is performed to cut the existing surfaces before parts are imprinted. Coincident surfaces that lie inside other surfaces are also cut and automatically included in the resulting part surfaces.
Resulting Part Surfaces (available for conformal imprinting only)	Allows you to specify the surface that the resulting imprinted faces are added to. This option is only available for conformal imprinting as non-conformal imprinting creates new part surfaces by default. See Imprint Parts Resulting Part Surfaces.
Input Part Surfaces	The imprinted faces that are created are added to the part surface of the input part.
New Part Surfaces	The imprinted faces that are created are added to a new part surface.
Resulting Part Curves (available for edge imprinting only)	Controls the part curves created.
Input Part Curves	Assigns the imprinted edges to existing part curves.
New Part Curves	Assigns the imprinted edges to a new set of curves.
Face Orientation	Imprint based on the relative orientation of the outward normals of faces. For edge imprinting, this corresponds to the outward tangent at the edge.
Opposing and Aligned	Performs the imprint regardless of normals being opposing or aligned.
Opposing Outward	Performs the imprint when outward normals are opposing. See Using the Opposing Outward Face Orientation Option. This is the default option.
Aligned Outward	Perform imprint when outward normals are aligned.
Merge Angle	Specifies the maximum angle between the normals of the faces at which parts merge. Only pairs of faces which lie within the specified Value and have normal directions which differ by less than this Merge Angle are merged. For edge imprinting, this option specifies the tolerance angle between the edge to be imprinted and the faces.
Tessellation Options (available for CAD imprinting only)	Controls the tessellation parameters. Click to the right of this property to display the Tessellation Options dialog. The options presented here are: Mark Feature Edges — Allows you to specify which of the mesh edges that lie along CAD edges are marked as feature edges. See Mark Feature Edges. Sharp Edge Angle (deg) — Creates feature edges from edges of attached faces that make an angle sharper than this value. The default value is 30 degrees. Tessellation Density — determines the level of surface refinement on the geometry after imprinting. Activate the Show Detailed Tessellation Parameters option to reveal more parameters. See Show Detailed Tessellation Parameters.
Resulting Part Surfaces (available for CAD imprinting only)	Specifies the assignment of imprinted faces to a part surface. See Imprint Parts Resulting Part Surfaces.
Tolerance Type (available for CAD imprinting only)	Defines the tolerance method to use in the operation. The tolerance methods used in the imprint operation are the same as that used in 3D-CAD. See Imprinting Bodies: Imprint Bodies Panel.
Precise	Uses the default internal model precision of 1.0E-8 m as the tolerance. This tolerance setting requires that faces of separate bodies be within 1.0E-8 m of each other. This option takes a minimum amount of computational time and works well for all coincident faces and surfaces.
Tolerant Faces and Edges	Reduces the model precision by using a higher tolerance value that you provide in the Tolerance property on all the edges and faces in the model. This option causes any subsequent operations to use the lower precision model.
Remesh After Imprint (available for discrete imprinting only)	Remeshes the geometry parts after the imprint operation. By default, this option is deactivated. The imprinter can introduce poor-quality sliver triangles (high aspect-ratio cells) to the mesh. In most cases, this is not a problem since you remesh the geometry parts downstream. However, running the imprinter could introduce poor-quality sliver triangles to an existing remeshed surface. Activate the Remesh After Imprint option to remesh the geometry parts after the imprinter runs to avoid any sliver cells being introduced to the mesh. This option is not provided for CAD imprinting because that method of imprinting always produces a tessellated surface. This option is not provided for exact face imprinting because that method of imprinting does not create any sliver triangles. Do not activate this option with surfaces that have not been remeshed (have the initial tessellation). Doing so typically produces poor results where the remesher will use very large sizes for the mesh, resulting in an excessively coarsened mesh.

Reimprint Existing Contacts (available for all imprinting methods except CAD imprinting)

Reimprints existing contacts. By default, this option is deactivated and only new contacts are imprinted. When activated, all input parts are imprinted without any consideration of existing contacts. This includes contacts between the parts in the current operation, as well as "collateral" contacts between one part in the operation and one part that is not in the operation. This option is not available for CAD imprinting because during CAD imprinting, existing contacts are already reimprinted.

This option is useful in cases where you have partial contacts (where there are contacting faces between two parts but other faces still need imprinting and were missed).

This option is also useful when imprinting an extract volume part to another part. Since the extract volume operation creates contacts with its input, all faces are in contact. Previously, the imprint operation was unable to imprint these parts.

Candidate Pairs (available for conformal imprinting only)

Allows you to specify pairs of parts to imprint.

All Close Pairs

All close pairs of parts/part surfaces are imprinted.

Use Existing Contacts

Only pairs of parts/part contacts with existing contacts are imprinted.

Source Curves (available for edge imprinting only)

Controls which edges the imprinter attempts to imprint. The operation will use the union of the following two choices:

Imprint Part Curves

Specifies the curves to imprint.

Imprint Free Edges

Attempts to imprint any free edges on the body.

Preprocess

Allows you to specify if any boolean operations are performed before parts are imprinted.

No Preprocess

No boolean operations are performed before parts are imprinted.

Boolean Subtract

A boolean subtract operation is performed before parts are imprinted.

Intersect Surfaces (available for non-conformal imprinting only)

An intersect operation is performed to cut the existing surfaces before parts are imprinted. Coincident surfaces that lie inside other surfaces are also cut and automatically included in the resulting part surfaces.

Resulting Part Surfaces (available for conformal imprinting only)

Allows you to specify the surface that the resulting imprinted faces are added to. This option is only available for conformal imprinting as non-conformal imprinting creates new part surfaces by default. See Imprint Parts Resulting Part Surfaces.

Input Part Surfaces

The imprinted faces that are created are added to the part surface of the input part.

New Part Surfaces

The imprinted faces that are created are added to a new part surface.

Resulting Part Curves (available for edge imprinting only)

Controls the part curves created.

Input Part Curves

Assigns the imprinted edges to existing part curves.

New Part Curves

Assigns the imprinted edges to a new set of curves.

Face Orientation

Imprint based on the relative orientation of the outward normals of faces. For edge imprinting, this corresponds to the outward tangent at the edge.

Opposing and Aligned

Performs the imprint regardless of normals being opposing or aligned.

Opposing Outward

Performs the imprint when outward normals are opposing. See Using the Opposing Outward Face Orientation Option. This is the default option.

Aligned Outward

Perform imprint when outward normals are aligned.

Merge Angle

Specifies the maximum angle between the normals of the faces at which parts merge. Only pairs of faces which lie within the specified Value and have normal directions which differ by less than this Merge Angle are merged.

For edge imprinting, this option specifies the tolerance angle between the edge to be imprinted and the faces.

Tessellation Options (available for CAD imprinting only)

Controls the tessellation parameters. Click to the right of this property to display the Tessellation Options dialog. The options presented here are:

Mark Feature Edges — Allows you to specify which of the mesh edges that lie along CAD edges are marked as feature edges. See Mark Feature Edges.
Sharp Edge Angle (deg) — Creates feature edges from edges of attached faces that make an angle sharper than this value. The default value is 30 degrees.
Tessellation Density — determines the level of surface refinement on the geometry after imprinting.

Activate the Show Detailed Tessellation Parameters option to reveal more parameters. See Show Detailed Tessellation Parameters.

Resulting Part Surfaces (available for CAD imprinting only)

Specifies the assignment of imprinted faces to a part surface. See Imprint Parts Resulting Part Surfaces.

Tolerance Type (available for CAD imprinting only)

Defines the tolerance method to use in the operation. The tolerance methods used in the imprint operation are the same as that used in 3D-CAD. See Imprinting Bodies: Imprint Bodies Panel.

Precise

Uses the default internal model precision of 1.0E-8 m as the tolerance. This tolerance setting requires that faces of separate bodies be within 1.0E-8 m of each other. This option takes a minimum amount of computational time and works well for all coincident faces and surfaces.

Tolerant Faces and Edges

Reduces the model precision by using a higher tolerance value that you provide in the Tolerance property on all the edges and faces in the model. This option causes any subsequent operations to use the lower precision model.

Remesh After Imprint (available for discrete imprinting only)

Remeshes the geometry parts after the imprint operation. By default, this option is deactivated. The imprinter can introduce poor-quality sliver triangles (high aspect-ratio cells) to the mesh. In most cases, this is not a problem since you remesh the geometry parts downstream. However, running the imprinter could introduce poor-quality sliver triangles to an existing remeshed surface. Activate the Remesh After Imprint option to remesh the geometry parts after the imprinter runs to avoid any sliver cells being introduced to the mesh.

This option is not provided for CAD imprinting because that method of imprinting always produces a tessellated surface. This option is not provided for exact face imprinting because that method of imprinting does not create any sliver triangles.

Do not activate this option with surfaces that have not been remeshed (have the initial tessellation). Doing so typically produces poor results where the remesher will use very large sizes for the mesh, resulting in an excessively coarsened mesh.