Mesh Workbench

Introduction
The Mesh Workbench handles triangle meshes. Meshes are a special type of 3D object, composed of triangular faces connected by their vertices and edges.

Many 3D applications, like Sketchup, Blender, Maya and 3D Studio Max, use meshes as their primary type of 3D object. Since meshes are very simple objects, containing only vertices (points), edges and triangular faces, they are very easy to create, modify, subdivide, stretch, and can easily be passed from one application to another without any loss of details. In addition, since meshes contain very simple data, 3D applications can usually manage very large quantities of them without using a lot of resources. For these reasons, meshes are often the 3D object type of choice for applications dealing with movies, animation, and image creation.

However, in the field of engineering meshes present one big limitation: they are only made of surfaces, and have no mass information, so they don't behave as solids. This means that all solid-based operations, such as addition or subtraction, are difficult to perform on meshes. The Mesh Workbench is useful to import 3D data in mesh format, to analyse it, detect errors, and finally convert it to a solid, for use with the Part Workbench.



Tools
All Mesh Workbench tools can be accessed from the Meshes menu. Some tools are also available in the Mesh tools toolbar.


 * [[Image:Mesh_Import.svg|32px]] Import mesh...: Imports a mesh from file.


 * [[Image:Mesh_Export.svg|32px]] Export mesh...: Exports a mesh to file.


 * [[Image:Mesh_FromPartShape.svg|32px]] Create mesh from shape...: Creates meshes from Part objects.


 * Refinement...: Refines a mesh.


 * Analyze
 * Evaluate and repair mesh...: Opens a dialog to analyze and repair a mesh.
 * [[Image:Mesh_EvaluateFacet.svg|32px]] Face info: Gives information on selected faces.
 * Curvature info: Gives information on the curvature.
 * Check solid mesh: Checks if a mesh is a solid.
 * Boundings info...: Shows the coordinates of the boundingbox of a mesh.


 * [[Image:Mesh_VertexCurvature.svg|32px]] Curvature plot: Calculates the curvature of the vertices of a mesh.


 * [[Image:Mesh_HarmonizeNormals.svg|32px]] Harmonize normals: Harmonizes the normals of a mesh.


 * [[Image:Mesh_FlipNormals.svg|32px]] Flip normals: Flips the normals of a mesh.


 * Fill holes...: Closes holes in a mesh.


 * [[Image:Mesh_FillInteractiveHole.svg|32px]] Close hole: Interactively closes holes in a mesh.


 * Add triangle: Adds a triangle to a mesh.


 * [[Image:Mesh_RemoveComponents.svg|32px]] Remove components...: Removes independent components from a mesh.


 * Remove components by hand...: Marks a component for removal from a mesh.


 * Create mesh segments...: Creates mesh segments.


 * Create mesh segments from best-fit surfaces...: Creates mesh segments from best-fit surfaces.


 * Smooth...: Smooths meshes.


 * Decimation...: Decimates meshes.


 * Scale...: Scales meshes.


 * [[Image:Mesh_BuildRegularSolid.svg|32px]] Regular solid... Creates a regular solid mesh.


 * Boolean
 * Union: Creates a union (fusion) from meshes.
 * Intersection: Creates an intersection (common) from meshes.
 * Difference: Creates a difference (cut) from meshes.


 * Cutting
 * [[Image:Mesh_PolyCut.svg|32px]] Cut mesh: Cuts a mesh with a polygon
 * Trim mesh: Trims a mesh with a polygon.
 * Trim mesh with a plane: Trims a mesh with a plane.
 * Create section from mesh and plane: Creates a section from a mesh and a plane.
 * Cross-sections...: ???.


 * Merge: Merges meshes.


 * Unwrap Mesh: Creates a flat representation of a mesh.


 * Unwrap Face: Creates a flat representation of a face of a mesh.

Preferences

 * [[Image:Preferences-import-export.svg|32px]] Preference Import-Export

More mesh tools are available in the OpenSCAD Workbench.

Meshes can also be handled via Python using Mesh Scripting.

Links

 * FreeCAD and Mesh Import