Column

Description

Name

Lists the names of all of the contact interfaces and surfaces found by theAuto Contact tool.

Underneath each contact interface name is the temporary master and slave surfaces associated to that interface. Red indicates a slave surface, and blue indicates a master surface.

Renaming entities, as well as Master/Slave surface swapping is possible via the context menu.

Accept

This checkbox defines whether or not a contact interface will be included in the creation process once you click Create.

Color

Color that will be assigned to the contacts and contact surface entities.

Type

Type of CONTACT assigned to each contact interface.

Reverse Normal

This checkbox defines whether or not the normal direction of the given  surface should be reversed or not. When OFF (default), surfaces on 3D elements will be pointing outwards, and surfaces on 2D elements will point in the direction of the element normal.

Option

Description

Rename

Renames the selected entity.

Delete

Deletes the selected items from the browser.

Swap Master - Slave

Allows you to switch the contact surfaces identified as master and slave. When executed, you will see the surfaces switch places in the master/slave positions in the browser.

Edit Faces

Opens the Element Selection panel, where you can manually add and  remove individual elements from a selected contact surface. Click Proceed when you are finished.

Also accessible via the Select Elements Manually icon .

Add by Adjacent

Automatically adds all of the immediately adjacent elements to a selected contact surface.

Also accessible via the Add by Adjacent icon .

Add by Face

Automatically adds all of the elements by face to a selected contact surface. The feature angle controlling face detection tolerance can be modified inside the Options dialog .

Also accessible via the Add by Face icon .

Review Normal

Allowed only for surfaces containing 2D elements. For surfaces containing 3D element faces, normal direction is automatically assigned in an outward direction.

Accept All/None

Automatically checks and unchecks the Accept checkbox for every item in the Auto Contact Browser.

Reverse

Reverses the Accept checkbox status for every item in the Auto Contact Browser.

Expand/Collapse All

Automatically expands and collapses every folder in the Auto Contact Browser.

Option

Description

Opens the browser's Options dialog. From this dialog you can enter a new feature angle or customize the transparency for a selected entity. Click OK when you are finished.

When this icon is turned on, the elements that belong to the currently selected contact interfaces or surfaces are highlighted in the graphics area. You can use the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple items from the browser.

Highlight Elements is mutually exclusive and may be switched off. This could be helpful when working with large models.

When this icon is turned on, the elements that belong to the currently selected contact interfaces or surfaces are reviewed in the graphics area. Elements are highlighted by color, while all other components are grayed out. You can use the Ctrl and Shift key to select multiple items in the browser.

Review Elements is mutually exclusive and may be switch off. This could be helpful when working with large models.

Automatically zooms in on the elements that belong to the currently selected contact interfaces or surfaces.

When this icon is turned off (default), the graphics area will dynamically update depending on the entities that are selected in the browser. When turned on, the current display state will remain unchanged, even when you change your selection in the browser.

When this icon is turned on (default), the elements belonging to the currently selected contact interfaces or surfaces are highlighted and reviewed in the graphics area, while also displaying the components they belong to. All of the other components are masked and will not display in the graphics area.

When this icon is turned on, the elements that belong to the currently selected contact interfaces or surfaces are highlighted and reviewed in the graphics area, while masking everything else.

Opens the Element Selection panel, where you can manually add and remove individual elements from a contact surface. Click Proceed when you are finished.

Also accessible via the context menu (Right-Click > Edit Faces).

Automatically adds all of the immediately adjacent elements to a selected contact surface. Right-click the icon to undo one time.

Also accessible via the context menu (Right-Click > Add by Adjacent).

Automatically adds all of the elements by face to a selected contact surface. Right-click the icon to undo one time. The feature angle controlling face detection tolerance can be modified inside the Options dialog .

Also accessible via the context menu (Right-Click > Add by Face).

Opens the Auto Contact dialog, so that you can recheck the selected interfaces.

When you select interfaces from the browser, the GUI will automatically populate the components that the interaction was based on. This helps modify an existing interface.