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Mold/Plastic
Geometry Checks

Check your design frequently for geometry warnings (a.k.a. Geom Checks,) which
indicate potential problems with overlapping geometry, misalignments, etc. (e.g. tiny
edges that are perhaps not your design intent, and very difficult to manufacture.) Review
Geom checks when flagged by Pro/ENGINEER and take corrective action.

Misalignments, for example, create tiny edges or surfaces that are very troublesome to
the manufacturing software which will attempt to machine each and every one.

When Pro/ENGINEER detects a problem with geometry during regeneration, a message

Warning: Design intent is unclear. Use Info/Geom Check menu for
details. will pop up. Select Info, Geom Check.
All features with a potential geometry problem will conveniently list under the GEOM
CHECK menu, where you can access tools that help you rectify the problems. Geom
Checks are resolved when the Geom Check command in the Info menu is greyed out,
and the warning message does not appear anymore.

The Geom Check option allows you to view the feature that has the possible error, then
revise its definition to eliminate the potential problem. The system displays the GEOM
CHECK menu, which provides a namelist of problem features and a Restore command.
If you choose a feature, the system displays the SHOW ERRORS menu. This menu lets
you highlight the entities that cause the geometry check. The system provides
corresponding messages in the Information Window, including suggested workarounds
(Item Info.)

A potential source for Geom Checks is the Accuracy of the part. In a nutshell, the
accuracy of parts in Pro/ENGINEER is the ratio between the smallest and the longest
edge. Any entity with a length below the accuracy cannot be "seen" by Pro/ENGINEER.
Creating a relatively large, but thin part (Sheetmetal) can quickly reach the default
accuracy limit, causing Geom/Check warnings and even regeneration failures. In that
case, increase the part's accuracy in steps, until Geom/Check errors vanish and no feature
is failing anymore.
To change the accuracy for your part, select Set Up, Accuracy.The default setting
is .0012. The smaller the number the higher the accuracy. Try increasingly smaller
values such as .0006, .0003, .0001. Changing accuracy will cause a full regeneration of
your part. With increased accuracy the regeneration time will increase also, thus please
go in small steps, and only as low as you have to.

The Show Errors menu lists the following options:

Prev Item Highlight information for the previous item that causes a
geometry check.
Next Item Highlight information for the next item that causes a geometry
check.

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All Items Highlight information for all items that cause a geometry
check.
Feature Info Open an Information Window for the selected feature.
Item Info Open an Information Window to describe the error.
Hide Item Suppress the warning that the system had flagged as a possible
design error, because the feature is designed as intended.

Note: The option Hide Item applies only to the Show Errors window processing, and
does not affect the regenerated geometry.

If you choose Restore from the Geom Check menu, the system displays the Restore Err
menu. This menu allows you to restore specific geometry checks that you have hidden
with the Hide Item command. The possible options are as follows:

Select All Restore geometry checks for all features.

Unsel All Removes the checks from the entire list, allowing you to select
individual features again.

Geometry Check Messages

The geometry check process warns you of potential problems that could occur after you
modify the part, although none of the potential problems would cause the feature to fail.
The messages in this section are displayed when Pro/ENGINEER detects a geometry
check.

The following table lists the geometry-specific messages and suggested actions.

Message Recommended Act

This feature is defined with dimensions that
Change the part accuracy, if desired.
are very small compared to the rest of the part.
This feature removes small highlighted
The surfaces being merged do not exactly
imprecise vertices. Redefine the surface
match (surface merge only).
small edges.
Reduce the round radius so the edge ca
Define a relation so the proper round ra
The given radius is too large to round edge
automatically maintained.
No. nnn. (round only)
Redefine the round feature so it no long
edge.
An intervening feature was modified so
This feature references an edge (No. nnn) that
edge. Redefine the round feature so it n
is not present in the geometry (round only).
references the edge.

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This feature references an edge (No. nnn) that

was already rounded by another feature. Redefine one of these features so the ed
Feature No. nn, ID mm was redefined so that it rounded once.
rounded this edge (round only).
This feature references an edge (No. nnn) that,
due to modification of the part, was not
created during last regeneration (round only). Redefine the round feature so it no long
The feature that originally created the edge has edge.
been deleted, or, this edge was originally
created by feature ID nnn (round only).
Redefine feature attributes to ... (or dep
The beginning or ending position of the
...or...
section is very close to, but not touching the
Redefine the feature so the section start
highlighted edge (vertex).
highlighted edge (vertex).
This feature creates a tiny edge. The edge is
highlighted on screen.
This feature was sketched on a drafted plane,
which might be responsible for the problem.
A previously existing edge was almost
completely trimmed away, creating a tiny Redefine the feature so it intersects the
edge.
This feature was sketched on a drafted plane,
which might be responsible for the problem.
The system could not construct the
intersection of the part and feature.
This feature contains self-intersecting
surfaces.
The highlighted surface has overlapping
Align the highlighted entities to the hig
geometry.
A side surface of this feature is very close to,
but not touching, the highlighted vertex.
This feature cuts (leaves) tiny piece(s) from an Redefine the round feature so it passes
existing edge(s). highlighted vertex.
The highlighted surface contains a singularity
near the indicated point (where the surface
Exclude or delete the surface and recrea
isolines in the u or v direction become tangent
Pro/ENGINEER.
or
See the Interface Guide for detailed inf
anti-tangent). This surface may cause
creating solids from imported surfaces.
problems with future operations such as
creating an offset surface.

z Reject the requested changes. Unsele

attribute, then select a longer set of cha

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of the indicated points. Choose Zip Gap

the Join Surfs attribute.
...or....
Accepting the requested changes in the
z Align the surface boundaries near the
highlighted edges can lead to misalignment
using the option Edit Boundary.
near the indicated points (for misalignment
...or...
during Zip Gaps).
z Delete that portion of the geometry a

the Interface Guide for more informatio

solids from imported surfaces.
z Reject the requested changes, unselec
chain of edges, and continue performin
Accepting the requested changes in the
Fix Tangency on the remaining selected
highlighted edges can lead to misalignment
...or...
near the indicated points (for misalignment
z Delete that portion of the geometry a
during Fix Tangency).
the Interface Guide for more informatio
solids from imported surfaces.

Misalignment Example
In the example, Pro/ENGINEER issues the warning because of the very small edge and
surface between the corner round cut and the revolved blind cut. If this is what you really
intended, increase the accuracy of the part. If, however, you do not want the small
surface and edge, but rather a razor-sharp edge, you must modify one of the features. To
do this, do not modify the size of either feature until the warning disappears, because
adding extra digits to the dimension may still cause problems later. Instead, do the
following:

Redefine the cut and tell the system that the edges align exactly ...or... Replace the round
with a round through point. Then, no matter how the cut changes, the round will be
resized so the sharp intersection is maintained.

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Main Index

May 1, 2003

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