how to measure the projected area of any part 1

[senthil850614]

hi friend,
I want to measure the projected area of any model in unigraphics, please can anyone provide some tips on these.
thanks in advance for tips and solution.

 

[cowski]

What version of NX are you using? Do you have the module for creating mold tooling? If so, I would look in there first as it will probably have automated methods to get what you want.

If you don't have that module, here is a method to get that information.

[ol][li]Turn off perspective if you have it on.[/li]
[li]Set up the view so that you are looking straight down the pull direction (view plane perpendicular to pull direction)[/li]
[li]Go to the view preferences and choose 'static wireframe' with 'invisible hidden edges' (see attached screenshot). On older versions of UG/NX (pre NX5 I think) this would just be a hidden line wireframe view.[/li]
[li]Go to Insert -> Curve from bodies -> Extract... and choose shadow outline[/li]
[li]Hide the solid body[/li]
[li]Project the resulting curves to the view plane.[/li]
[li]Clean up resulting curves as necessary (some small gaps will be OK)[/li]
[li]Choose Analysis -> Advances mass properties -> Area using curves -> Boundary (Temporary) choose the curves that outline your part.[/li]
[li]Set the tolerance value as needed and choose Perimeter/Area, the area reported is the projected area of your part[/li][/ol]

This is just one method of getting this projected area, you might also want to try isocline curves instead of shadow outline (but I generally get better results with shadow outline). If others have a better method, I'm also interested in hearing it.

 

[cowski]

My instructions were written with NX6 in mind (what I'm currently using). Menu item locations may change depending on the exact version you are using.