Mesh Workbench

Introduction
The Mesh Workbench handles triangle meshes. Meshes are a special type of 3D object, composed of triangular faces connected by their vertices and edges.

Many 3D applications, like Sketchup, Blender, Maya and 3D Studio Max, use meshes as their primary type of 3D object. Since meshes are very simple objects, containing only vertices (points), edges and triangular faces, they are very easy to create, modify, subdivide, stretch, and can easily be passed from one application to another without any loss of details. In addition, since meshes contain very simple data, 3D applications can usually manage very large quantities of them without using a lot of resources. For these reasons, meshes are often the 3D object type of choice for applications dealing with movies, animation, and image creation.

However, in the field of engineering meshes present one big limitation: they are only made of surfaces, and have no mass information, so they don't behave as solids. This means that all solid-based operations, such as addition or subtraction, are difficult to perform on meshes. The Mesh Workbench is useful to import 3D data in mesh format, to analyse it, detect errors, and finally convert it to a solid, for use with the Part Workbench.



Tools
The Mesh Workbench has a simple interface; all its functions are grouped in the menu.

General tools

 * [[Image:Mesh_Import.svg|32px]] Import Mesh: Import meshes in several file formats
 * [[Image:Mesh_Export.svg|32px]] Export Mesh: Export meshes in several file formats
 * [[Image:Mesh_FromPartShape.svg|32px]] Create Mesh from shape: Convert Part objects into meshes
 * [[Image:Mesh_CurvaturePlot.png|32px]] Curvature Plot: Creates a curvature plot
 * [[Image:Mesh_HarmonizeNormals.svg|32px]] Harmonize Normals: Harmonize normals
 * [[Image:Mesh_FlipNormals.svg|32px]] Flip Normals: Flip normals
 * Fill Holes...: Fill up holes
 * [[Image:Mesh_FillInteractiveHole.svg|32px]] Close hole: Close holes in meshes
 * Add triangle: Add triangle
 * [[Image:Mesh_RemoveComponents.svg|32px]] Remove components...: Remove components of meshes
 * Remove components by hand...: Remove components of meshes by hand
 * Create mesh segments...: Creates mesh segments
 * Smooth...: Smooth mesh
 * Scale

Analyze
Analysis of curvature, faces, and check if a mesh can be safely converted into a solid
 * Evaluate & Repair mesh...: Evaluates and repairs meshes
 * [[Image:Mesh_EvaluateFacet.svg|32px]] Face Info: Gives info on faces
 * Curvature Info: Gives info on curvature
 * Check solid mesh: Checks the solid if it can be converted to a mesh
 * Boundings info...: Evaluates the bounding box of a mesh

Regular solid
Regular solid... Create mesh primitives, like cubes, cylinders, cones, or spheres:
 * [[Image:Mesh_Cube.svg|32px]] Mesh Cube Create a mesh cube
 * [[Image:Mesh_Cylinder.svg|32px]] Mesh Cylinder Create a mesh cylinder
 * [[Image:Mesh_Cone.svg|32px]] Mesh Cone Create a mesh cone
 * [[Image:Mesh_Sphere.svg|32px]] Mesh Sphere Create a mesh sphere
 * [[Image:Mesh_Ellipsoid.svg|32px]] Mesh Ellipsoid Create a mesh ellipsoid
 * [[Image:Mesh_Torus.svg|32px]] Mesh Torus Create a mesh torus

Boolean

 * Union: Does a union (fusion) on meshes
 * Intersection: Does an intersection (common) on meshes
 * Difference: Does a difference (cut) on meshes

Cutting

 * [[Image:Mesh_PolyCut.svg|32px]] Mesh PolyCut: Cut meshes along a line
 * Trim mesh: Trims meshes
 * Trim mesh with a plane: Trims meshes with a plane
 * Create section from mesh and plane

Other

 * Merge: Merges meshes
 * Select Mesh: Selects meshes
 * Split Mesh: Splits meshes
 * [[Image:Mesh MakeSegment.png|32px]] Make segment: Makes a segment

Preferences

 * [[Image:Preferences-import-export.svg|32px]] Preference Import-Export

More mesh tools are available in the OpenSCAD Workbench.

Meshes can also be handled via Python using Mesh Scripting.

Links

 * FreeCAD and Mesh Import