Embedded Tools Reference

Common tools are embedded in the Graphics window.

Color Modes

Color modes color visible faces in the Graphics window. Using color modes other than the default color, disables the diagnostic colors.

Embedded tools operates the same way for both patch and individual modes.

Default Color

Colors faces in the display with the default color, apart from erroneous faces that are colored by the surface diagnostics, and source and target faces in imprints and intersections.

Patch

Colors faces according to their underlying patch definition. Faces that share a patch definition use the same color.

Individual Selection Mode	Patch Selection Mode

CAD Association

Colors faces according to whether they have CAD association or not.

Beige faces represent surfaces that have underlying CAD available for CAD projection during the meshing process. Dark gray surfaces represent surfaces with no CAD association. An example of the CAD association color mode is shown below.

Individual Selection Mode	Patch Selection Mode

Part Curve

Highlights part curves using a different color for each part curve.

Part Point

Highlights part points using a different color for each group of marked vertices. This option is only available if part points are enabled within the simulation tree.

Part Surface

Colors faces according to the surface to which they belong.

Part Surface (Custom)

Displays the user specified part surface colors. If a color has not been allocated to a part surface, then it appears using its default slate gray color in the scene.

Part Boundary

Colors faces according to the boundary to which they are assigned.

Part

Colors faces according to the part to which they belong.

Part (Custom)

Displays the user specified part colors. If a color has not been allocated to a part, then it appears using its default slate gray color in the scene.

Face Normal

Colors faces according to their topological orientation, that is, the direction of the face normals.

Green faces have a positive face normal and red faces have a negative face normal.

For a closed-body, the positive face normals (green) point outwards, and negative face normals (red) point inwards. If you import a surface representing the solid component and manually extract the wetted surface using surface repair tools, the orientation is reversed as the face normals were pointing outwards from the solid component upon import.

When in Merge/Imprint mode, this option overrides the default colors. Therefore, the green and red faces do not identify the source and target faces, but identify the positive and negative face normals instead.

Contact/Interface

Colors faces within a contact/interface according to their underlying part surfaces/boundaries.

Use the Contact/Interface color option to quickly visualize and assess the quality of any given imprint result. Any gray or different color faces seen within the context of the main contact/interface color indicates an incomplete or incorrect result and needs further attention. The colors used to represent a contact will not be the same color as used for the underlying part surface coloration. For example, if you toggle back and forth between coloring by part surface and coloring by contacts, different colors are applied to the contacting faces.

Display Control Tools

Show All Faces

Displays all part faces. Any currently selected faces remain selected.

Hide All Faces

Hides all part faces. Any currently selected faces remain selected.

Show Selected Faces

Displays the faces currently selected in the Graphics window.

Hide Selected Faces

Hides the faces currently selected in the Graphics window. You can redisplay the hidden faces by growing from neighboring displayed faces, or by showing all faces.

Show Faces on Part Surfaces

Specifies the part surfaces and contacts to display using the Show Part Surfaces dialog.

Hide Faces on Part Surfaces

Specifies the part surfaces and contacts to hide using the Hide Part Surfaces dialog.

Grow Displayed Faces

Grows display by one set of neighbor faces from the currently displayed faces.

Shrink Displayed Faces

Shrinks selection by one set of neighbor faces from the currently displayed faces, which are based on connected vertices.

Toggle Face, Edge and Vertex Selection Depth Control

Switches depth control method for displaying selected faces, edges, and vertices. By default, the depth control is not activated and all selections are displayed through the model.

When depth control is active, selections that are obscured by the outside surfaces of a model are hidden from view.

Selected feature edges are not highlighted in the scene when depth control is on. Turning on screen transparency negates the effects of the depth control.

Restore the previously displayed scene faces

When you perform a display change, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ stores both the currently displayed face subset and the previously displayed face subset. When activated, this option allows you to toggle between the current and previous face subset view in the Repair Surface scene.

If you perform a repair operation, or use the undo or redo operations, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ deactivates this option and clears the stored face subsets.

Store and recall Individual (face) and Patch based view snapshots of the current display surface

Allows you to store, manage, and recall geometry and view information for any scene configuration. The display tool is split into two different modes:

Main Button—opens the Manage View Snapshot dialog.
Split Button—opens a quick access menu for storing and restoring snapshots.

You can create either individual (face) based snapshots or patch based snapshots. The type of snapshot created is determined by the Selection Mode. Individual based snapshots are temporary and only available for the current surface repair session. When you close the surface repair session or select Reset Parts the snapshot is deleted. Patch based snapshots are persistent and available in any surface repair session. You can also save patch based snapshots to the simulation file.

For individual based snapshots Simcenter STAR-CCM+ stores a list of the currently displayed faces in the scene. For patch based snapshots Simcenter STAR-CCM+ stores a list of patches.

If you make changes to the geometry, either inside or outside Surface Repair, the snapshots are not updated and simply restore the remaining valid faces. For patch based snapshots, if the newly created faces belong to the same patch ID as the original set of faces, these faces are restored along with the original saved faces. Any faces which do not belong to the saved patch ID will not be restored.

For more information, see View Snapshot Reference.

Selection Control Tools

Select Zone

This tool selects entities on the displayed surface using a polygonal zone.

The tool selects a face if all three vertices belonging to the face are within the zone, even if the zone does not completely encompass the face. The tool selects an edge if the two vertices belonging to the edge are within the zone. The tool selects a vertex when the vertex is within the zone.

To end the zone selection, right-click in the Graphics window or click the starting point.

The various functions of the tool are described in Selection Options.

Select Specified Threshold

This tool selects entities on the displayed surface using the Threshold Selection dialog.

Four selection options are available for the zone selection tool, which you can access by expanding the Select Zone button.

Using a threshold selection option opens the Threshold Selection dialog, where you specify the Threshold, and enter Minimum and Maximum values. See Selecting With a Specified Threshold.

Select Face/Edges on Part Surfaces/Part Curves

This tool can be used to provide an object selector to select, add, remove, or subset part surfaces, curves, points, and contacts in the active model. For a part surface/curve/point, this tool selects the associated entities according to the faces, edges, and vertices filters. Baffle contacts appear in the object selectors. Periodic contacts do not appear in the object selectors, and therefore cannot be used.

The Points folder only appears in the object selection dialog if there is at least one part point already created in the model.

There are two approaches to selecting entities on surfaces:

Using the Selection Controls. See Selecting Surfaces and Curves with the Selection Controls.
Using the Graphics Window. See Selecting Surfaces and Curves with the Graphics Window.

Grow Selected

This tool grows the selection by one set of neighboring faces from the pre-selected faces, edges, or vertices. The tool grows from any connected vertices in the selection. This button becomes available when you select at least one face, edge, or vertex.

Shrink Selected

This tool shrinks the pre-selected faces by one neighbor, which is based on the connected vertices of the faces. This button becomes available when you select at least one face.

Multiple Grow Selected

This tool grows multiple sets of neighboring faces from the pre-selected faces, edges, or vertices.

Number of Steps

This group box provides two options:

Infinite—grows faces until the selection includes all connected part faces.
Finite—grows faces by the supplied finite value, with growth based on connected edges or vertices, depending on the Grow Options

Grow Options

The Grow Options determine how the selection grows, be it edge-based or vertex-based.

Edge based Growth—selects faces with an edge connected to the currently selected faces. The tool does not include faces connected to the surface by a vertex.
Vertex based Growth—selects faces with a vertex connected to the currently selected faces. This results in a faster growth of faces per step, and allows selections on another surface that is connected by a single vertex.

Break Options

This group box provides the following options for constraining the growth extent:

Break at Feature Edges—breaks the growth of faces at part curves on the part surface
Break at Non-manifold Edges—breaks the growth of faces at non-manifold edges on the part surface
Break at Sharp Angles—breaks the growth of faces at sharp angles in the surface, with a user-defined Angle.

Select Attached Edges

This tool selects the attached edges that are based on the currently displayed faces or vertices.

The Select Attached Edges Options dialog configures the behavior of the Select attached edges tool. It contains the following properties:

Select All Edges—is the default option, which selects all edges belonging to highlighted faces and vertices.
Deactivating this option makes the Select Perimeter Edges and Select Feature Edges options available.
Select Perimeter Edges—selects the edges lying on the perimeter of a face or contiguous group of faces.
Select Feature Edges—selects attached edges that are marked as part curves.
It is possible to choose Select Perimeter Edges and Select Feature Edges together.

Select Attached Vertices

This tool selects the attached vertices that are based on the selected faces or edges.

The Select Attached Vertices Options dialog configures the behavior of the Select attached vertices tool. These options are only available if part points are enabled in the simulation, or if the model contains part points. It contains the following properties:

Select All Vertices—selects all vertices belonging to highlighted faces and vertices.
Select Feature Vertices—selects attached vertices that are marked as part curves.

Invert Selection

This tool inverts the current selection of faces, edges, and vertices that are based on the active model (not the displayed model).

The filter options are taken into account when the inversion is performed. Suppose, for example, that you have selected a number of faces and edges, but only want to invert the selection of faces. You can deactivate the Edges filter checkbox, keep the Faces filter checkbox activated, and click the Invert Selection button. All faces in the active model that were not previously selected are selected, and the faces that were previously selected are deselected.

This tool is available when at least one face, edge, or vertex is selected. If nothing is selected before the inversion, the inverted set is empty.

As an example of this operation, consider the following selection that contains faces, edges, and vertices.

If all three filters for Faces, Edges and Vertices are ticked, and the Invert Selection button is clicked, the corresponding inverted selection includes faces, edges, and vertices.

If, however, only the Faces filter had been ticked, and the filters for Edges and Vertices had been deactivated, the inverted selection would only contain faces. The rest of the current selection would remain as before.

If all three filters are deactivated, no inversion is performed.