Trimming Surfaces

Source:
Don LaCourse, Principal Partner, eDocHelp
Editor, 3DCADTips.com

Surfaces may be trimmed or divided by curves and or other surface boundaries. This is a very convenient and powerful technique to seemingly discard unwanted surface areas. However, trimmed surfaces do pose concerns for the development of solid models and for data exchange through neutral formats such as IGES and STEP.

Many trimmed surfaces in a single model will increase database size and complexity since more information is required for storage (original surface, trim boundaries, and resulting trimmed surface). Also, the resulting surface edge is dependent on the accuracy and dependability of your 3D CAD system's surface trimming functions. Air tight surface enclosures are required for solids so always check trim boundaries that are to mate with other surfaces.