Split, Swap, Combine Elements

Use the Edit Elements: Split tool to split quad elements and edges, combine tria elements, and swap element edges.

  1. From the Model ribbon, click the Edit Elements > Split tool.


    Figure 1.
    Elements are colored according to how well they adhere to the pre-set quality requirements defined in the criteria file.
  2. Optional: On the guide bar, click to to define the options used to edit elements.
  3. Optional: Find all elements at or below a certain quality level.
    1. Click Find on the guide bar.
    2. Increase or decrease the number of layers around patches of failed elements by clicking or on the guide bar.
    3. Review the next or previous patch of failed elements by clicking or on the guide bar.
  4. Edit elements in the following ways:
    • Split an element or element edge by left-clicking, or draw a split line by clicking-and-dragging. A preview of the split pattern displays when you hover the mouse over the entity (FE Edges and Elements) and after selecting the entities.
    • Swap an element edge by holding Ctrl while left-clicking on an element or edge. Additional clicks will cycle through the possible edge positions.
    • Combine two tria elements by holding Shift while left-clicking on their shared edge.


Figure 2.

Edit Elements: Split Tool

An overview of the Edit Elements: Split tool.



Figure 3.

Use the Edit Elements: Split tool to split quad elements and edges, combine tria elements, and swap element edges.

Access
Go to Elements > Edit Elements > Split.

Options

Allow to move fixed and shared nodes
Allow moving fixed and shared nodes for element operations.
Smooth
Smooth the mesh with the following number of layers.
Number of layers
Change the number of adjacent element layers to smooth.
Force edge swap
Force edges to swap even if an edge swap will not improve element quality.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls

To do this Press
Split element/edge Left Mouse Click
Split element with line Left Mouse Drag
Swap element edge Ctrl + Left Mouse Click
Combine tria elements Shift + Left Mouse Click