An addition to a mesh

[ronakatz]

Hi all!
I was wondering if it's possible to import a mesh to Preview and then to create a very thin mesh on it, a membrane maybe? I want the new mesh to be another part so that I will be able to assign material to it.

Thanks!
Rona

[maas]

Hi Rona,

Yes, you can. You can extract the surface of a mesh. In the Mesh panel, activate face selection, select your surface and press the Extract option. This essentially copies the surface and creates a shell mesh of it. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Steve

[ronakatz]

Hi Steve,
I followed your instructions and I created the mesh but it's not running. Is the new mesh that I have generated has a tied contact to the old one automatically?

Thanks a lot!
Rona

[ronakatz]

Hi Steve,
I'm trying everything but it still doesn't run with a shell mesh. Do you have a tip for me? Do you know what is the thickness of the shell?

Thanks again!
Rona

[maas]

Hi Rona,

I tried it with a simple model and I do get it to work. Here's what I did:
-1. create a box, mesh it and convert it to a editable mesh
-2. go to the mesh panel, select a face and extract it. This creates a second object from the mesh
-3. still in the mesh panel, reattach this second object back to the first
-4. select all nodes from the face you just extracted. Since they were duplicated during extraction, use the weld tool to reattach the face.
-5. select all shell elements that you just created and assign a thickness using the Shell thick tool in the Mesh panel.

Try this first and if it works you can try the same with your model. Let me know what you find.

Cheers,

Steve