Extracting Midsurfaces

Midsurfaces can be extracted for sheet metal stampings, molded plastic parts with ribs, and other parts that have thickness clearly smaller than width and length using the auto midsurface tool in the midsurface panel.

During midsurface extraction, the original geometry that you select to extract the midsurface from remains unchanged, and the new geometry that represents the midsurface is created. The (variable) thickness of each middle surface is calculated and stored with the surface definition.

1.	Go to the Midsurface panel and select the auto midsurface tools.

2.	Go to the auto extraction subpanel.

3.	Using the selector, select surfaces or solids to extract the midsurface from.

4.	Define all of the midsurface extraction options accordingly.

5.	Click extract. A midsurface representation of a solid part or a finite element shell representation of solid geometry is generated and organized in a new component collector called Middle Surface, or in the current component, depending on your choice.

6.	Review and modify the midsurface as needed.