TUTORIAL: Create surface using 6 Boundaries (N-sided Patch)

Version: 2001, Wildfire, Wildfire2.0, Wildfire3.0

Most of the surface modeling software needs minimum 4 sided boundaries to create a surface due to the free form surface mathematics - NURBS and Bezier. However, when dealing with 5 sided boundaries and above, designer may required dividing the surface into 2 or more pieces.

Using the Pro/ENGINEER parametric surface modeling tool, you are able to create a surface using 5 or more boundaries. This tool, N-Sided Patch, does not provide surface as flexible as the free form surface but it can provide you the quickest solution.

Click here to download the exercise files before you start.

To begin, open the N-sided_patch.prt after you have successfully downloaded and unzipped the exercise files. You should see the model as below.

To get the N-sided patch tool, select Insert>Advanced>Conic Surface and N-Sided patch

Next, with the menu manager appears, choose N-Sided Surf and Done

The system will now prompt you to select the boundaries.

Pick all the 6 edges (in RED) as shown in the figure below. After that, hit Done in the small menu.

Next, choose Boundary # 1, Tangent and Done in the menu manager. After that, hit the OK button in the Boundary #1 dialog box.

Repeat the step for Boundary #2 to Boundary #6. These steps basically set the boundary condition for the surface created.You should get the result by now.

The figures below shows the surface created in shaded mode and wireframe mode. Besides, you can also open the N-sided_patch_done.prt from the downloaded exercise files as reference.