To Create a Scaled Thicken Feature
Scaling your thicken feature enables you to further control the direction and behavior of the resulting geometry. You can scale the geometry with respect to coordinate systems, axes, and surfaces.
1. Select the quilt or surface geometry to thicken.
2. Click
Model >
Thicken. The
Thicken tab opens and default preview geometry appears in the graphics window.
3. On the
Thicken tab, define what type of geometry to create. The default option is to add a thin section of solid material. If you want to remove a thin section of material, right-click the preview geometry and click
Remove Material.
4. Define which side of the quilt or surface geometry to thicken. Click
to switch between one side, symmetric about both sides, or the other side.
5. Set the feature thickness by typing a value in the
thicken offset box or by dragging the thickness handle in the graphics window.
6. Click the Options tab to scale the direction of the thicken feature. Select an option depending on the type of scale you need:
◦ Normal to surface—(Default) Offsets the Thickened surface normal to the original surface. You can select individual or multiple surfaces to exclude from the Thicken operation.
▪ Exclude Surfaces—Displays surfaces to exclude.
|  The Exclude Surfaces list is not available for design situations involving quilts made of unique surfaces and quilts where all but one of the quilt surfaces have been excluded. You cannot exclude the last remaining quilt surface. |
◦ Automatic fit—Scales and translates the thickened surface with respect to an automatically determined coordinate system.
◦ Controlled fit—Creates a "best fit" scenario by scaling the original surface about a selected coordinate system and then translating it along a specified axis.
▪ Coordinate system collector—Displays the coordinate system reference for the Thicken feature.
▪ Allow translationX, Y, and Z check boxes—Indicates the axes used to control the scaling and behavior of material for the Thicken feature. By default the x-, y-, and z-axes are selected as the translation axes. If you do not want to allow translation along a certain axis clear the appropriate check box.
7. Click
.