Morph Mesh

Use the Morph Mesh tool to morph mesh by moving nodes, faces, and edges or by mapping to geometry.

  1. From the Mesh ribbon, Morph tools, click the Morph Mesh tool.


    Figure 1.
  2. Optional: On the guide bar, click to define morphing options.
  3. Select the node(s), face(s), or edge(s) to move.
    By default, the Morph Mesh tool automatically determines and selects anchor nodes and morph area elements based on the shape of the model connected to the moving nodes. Both are fully recalculated after each moving entity is either appended or deselected to allow for faster consecutive morphs with less manual selection, and more intuitive local morphing. This feature is enabled by default and can be turned off by deselecting the Automatic checkbox.
  4. Morph the mesh.
    • Move entities freely using the Move tool.

      The position of the Move tool is set at the center of the selected entities. Selecting new entities updates the position of the Move tool.

    • Activate the Targets selector and select target geometry or mesh to map to, then use the microdialog to execute the morph and adjust available mapping options.

      Deselect targets to move nodes freely again.

  5. Optional: Manually select anchor nodes and elements that make up the morph area by activating the corresponding selector on the guide bar then making your selection.


Figure 2.

Morph Mesh Options

Automatic
Automatically select anchor nodes and morph area elements.
Remorph changes
Re-applies previous morph with new options and entities.
Automatic anchors
Enables automatic selection of anchor nodes.
Calculate by
Select fixed nodes.
Value
Set distance or multiplier.
Morph method
Select method to morph mesh.
Free edges
Create a general domain for the affected elements for the purpose of applying the morphing. The movement of nodes along the boundaries of the affected elements is unregulated.
Domain edges
If you have already created domains via a panel or loaded a model with domains, those domains will be used to determine the way the morphing is applied to the model. Any morph area elements which aren't in existing domains are placed in a general domain. Thus, if you use this option with no domains in the model, it's the same as using free edges where a general domain is created for the entire morph area.
Inferred edges
Create local domains for the affected elements for the purpose of applying the morphing.
Create edge domains along the boundaries of the affected elements which will regulate morphing.
Morph all nodes
Using a proximity based algorithm, potentially morph every node in the model relative to the distances between the nearest moving node and the nearest anchor node.
Partitioned edges
Partition all of the affected elements before applying morphing.
Krig all nodes
Using the kriging algorithm, potentially morph every node in the model except for the anchor nodes.
Note: A practical upper limit on the number of moving nodes you can have is 3000. Computers with above average memory and CPU available may be able to support larger number of moving nodes comfortably.
Morph within envelope
Using a proximity based algorithm, potentially morph every node in the model relative to the distances between the nearest moving node and to either the edge of the envelope or the nearest anchor node (if selected). The envelope can either be defined as a discrete distance using the Distance option, or as a multiple of the magnitude of the perturbation applied to the nearest moving node using the Perturbation multiple option. If the Distance option is selected, this method will act identically to Morph all nodes.
For options Morph all nodes, Krig all nodes, and Morph within envelope, the influence of the moving nodes extends beyond the mesh to which they are attached, thus you will need to anchor or exclude any nodes that you do not want to have morphed. If you wish to exclude the nodes which are not displayed, set the Undisplayed nodes option to Exclude. Excluded nodes will neither be morphed nor will they affect the morphing. If you wish the nodes which are not displayed to act like anchor nodes, set the Undisplayed nodes option to Anchor. Anchor nodes will influence the morphing by reducing the amount of morphing of any nearby nodes. If the option is set to Morph, HyperWorks X will morph any undisplayed nodes which are not anchored.
Figure 3 shows how the different methods affect the mesh morphing. For the partitioned option, the inner edge closest to the moved nodes is unaffected since an edge domain is internally created for it. For the inferred edges option, no inner edges were created and thus the inner edge ends up curved as its nodes follow the moving nodes. For the free edges option, no outer edges were created either and thus the outer edges end up curved as well as the inner ones. For the morph all nodes and krig all nodes options, note the differences in the methods, especially the smoothness of the kriging algorithm. For the morph within envelope option, note how the mesh inside the envelope is linearly perturbed relative to the distance from the moving node and that no fixed nodes are required.


Figure 3. Example: Edge Bounding
Undisplayed nodes
Select option for undisplayed nodes.
Moving nodes
Set bias for moving nodes.
Anchors
Set bias for anchors.
Translate increment
Enables discrete movement of manipulator in translation.
Rotate increment
Enables discrete movement of manipulator in rotation.
Step size
Increment for translating/rotating multiplier
Real time
Morph mesh while moving manipulator.
Active
Allow manipulator to morph mesh.

Mapping Options

Use the following microdialog options when selecting target geometry.

- Use manipulator
Move entities interactively with the Move tool.
- Projection direction
Along vector
Project along manipulator primary.
Normal to target
Project normal to target.
Normal to source
Project normal to nodes' mesh.
Smoothed normals
Calculate the average normal direction for all elements and then smooth them so that transitions near corners are not abrupt.
CFD normals
Use a sophisticated algorithm to smooth the normals for all the elements such that the elements will not get folded when their nodes are morphed.
For cases where your mesh contains sharp corners, the CFD corners option will produce the smoothest projections. However, it can be time consuming, and for meshes without such sharp corners, the smoothed normals option will work quickly while giving good results.
Fit to line
Fit along line through target.
- Toggle extended surface edges
Extend the edges of the surfaces or mesh in a direction perpendicular to the normal at the closest point on the surfaces or mesh. If this option is selected, the moving nodes will be projected on to an extended representation of the surfaces or mesh, enabling you to project nodes beyond the edge of the surfaces or mesh as well as within any holes. If this option is not selected, the moving nodes will be projected on to the interior or edges of the surfaces or mesh, which may end up distorting the morphed mesh.
In Figure 4, three surfaces are floating above an angled mesh. All of the nodes of the mesh are selected as moving nodes and they are projected to the surfaces in the normal to geom direction. With extend surface edges selected, the moving nodes are moved either to the surfaces or to virtual surfaces which extend perpendicular to the normal direction at the edge of the surface. Note how the nodes end up placed inside the hole in the center of the largest surface. Without extend surface edges selected, the moving nodes are moved to the nearest point of the surfaces. Note how several layers of moving nodes end up compressed at the edge of the surfaces and around the edge of the hole.


Figure 4.
Note: Available when elements are the target entity.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Mouse Controls

To do this Press
Undo morphing Ctrl + Z
Undo all morphing operations Ctrl + Shift + Z
Redo morphing Ctrl + Y
Redo all morphing operations Ctrl + Shift + Y
Exit tool Esc