Pen-based user interface for geometric decomposition for hexahedral mesh generation

Abstract

In this work, we present a pen-based user interface (UI) that makes manual geometry decomposition easier and helps reduce user time spent on geometry decomposition for hexahedral meshing. This paper presents the first attempt to apply a pen-based UI for geometry preparation for mesh generation. The proposed UI is more natural, intuitive, and easier to use than existing interfaces such as Window-Icon-Mouse-Pointer and commandline interfaces. The pen-based UI contains the following features: (1) drawing freeform strokes, (2) fitting and aligning strokes to CAD geometry automatically, (3) creating cutting surfaces, and (4) performing various tasks including webcutting through gestures. The proposed pen-based UI has been tested on a few models to demonstrate its effectiveness in decomposition, defeaturing and controlling mesh orientation. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.