Composite Design > Composite Design Workflow > Creating Plies > Create Plies from Zones
Create Plies from Zones
You can automatically create multiple laminate objects in more than one laminate zone using the plies from zones tool. This tool creates laminate objects in the Laminate Tree, and zone-based ply or zone-based core features in the Composite Tree.
To create multiple laminate objects, perform the following tasks:
Create a Laminate Zone
A laminate zone stores a boundary definition. You can use the laminate zone to create zone-based plies and cores. To create a laminate zone, you must first set up the Composite Design environment. To learn how to set up the Composite Design environment, see Setting Up the Composite Design Environment.
When you create a laminate zone, a laminate zone feature is created in the Composite Tree.
Create a laminate zone as follows:
1. Click Laminate Zone. The Laminate Zone tab opens.
2. In the Boundary chains collector, select chains to define a boundary. You can define a boundary by selecting a single closed loop, one outer and one or more inner loops, multiple individual loops, or multiple intersecting curves, edges, or loops. To learn how to define the boundary of a ply, see Example: Define a Ply Boundary.
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To invert the selection, click Flip Side.
3. Click OK.
Create a Zone Stack
Use the zone stacks tool to define stacks of laminate objects. You can use them with the plies from zones tool to automatically create stacks of laminate objects. This eliminates the need of creating each laminate object manually and saves time.
You can specify the full path to the default directory of your stack files library in one of the following ways:
• Click File > Options. In the Creo Parametric Options dialog box, click Applications > Composite. Specify the values under Plies from Zones.
Create a zone stack as follows:
1. Click Zone Stacks. The Zone Stacks dialog box opens.
2. Under Stacks, select a stack to define. To create a new stack, click . To open an existing stack, click .
3. Under Stack definition, modify the rows in the table, as follows:
a. To move the selected rows up, click .
b. To move the selected rows down, click .
c. To add rows below the selected rows, click Add. Alternatively, click . The default values appear in the added rows.
d. To add rows above the selected rows, click . The default values appear in the added rows.
e. To mirror the whole stack below the last row, click .
f. To duplicate the selected row below it, right-click, and select Duplicate.
g. To delete the selected row, right-click, and select .
4. Modify the content of the selected row as follows:
a. To specify a different material, click the cell that shows the current material, and select a different material. To define a core in the stack, use a material with Core architecture
b. To specify a different orientation, click the cell that shows the current orientation, and select or enter a different orientation.
5. To store the selected stacks to disk, do one of the following:
◦ Click , to store the stack with the same name.
◦ click , to store the stack with a different name.
6. Click OK.
Create Laminate Objects
Create laminate objects using the plies from zones tool as follows:
1. Click Plies From Zones. The Plies from Zones dialog box opens.
2. The default set, Set 1, is selected by default. To add a new set, click Add set.
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You can use up or down to reorder the sets.
3. Define the highlighted set on the right as follows:
a. To specify the boundary of the laminate objects, select a zone in the Zone box. To create plies with a different zone, change the zone, or add a new set and define the zone.
b. To change the default rosette, click in the Rosette box and select a different rosette.
c. To specify a stack for the set, select an option from the list under Stack. The content of the selected stack is displayed in the stack properties table under Stack definition. You can add or modify stacks with the zone stacks tool, and then use them on the fly in the plies from zones tool.
4. Click OK.
The laminate objects are created in the Laminate Tree. The features that created the laminate objects are grouped in the zone-based plies group.
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