About integrating digitized clay model data with modeled surfaces

A typical clay prototyping workflow

1. Create a model in Alias.
2. Mill a clay model from the Alias data.
3. Reshape the clay model by hand.
4. Digitize the reshaped parts of the clay model.
5. Integrate the changes back into the Alias surfaces with the Surface Edit > Claymate tool.

How It Works

The Claymate tool works by asking you to select:

• surfaces to modify (corresponding to the changed data),
• modifier curves or surfaces (the digitized, reshaped data), and
• reference surfaces (surfaces that have not changed).

It then uses the modifier curves/surfaces to reshape the original surfaces, while maintaining positional and tangent continuity with the reference surfaces.

Tip:

To streamline the use of the Claymate tool, you may want to put the surfaces to modify, the modifier curves/surfaces, and the reference surfaces in different layers.

More Uses

You can also use Claymate in other situations that require you to fit surfaces back to modified curves or surfaces. For example:

1. Create cross-section profile curves from a surface model.
2. Modify the curves.
3. Use the Claymate tool to fit the original surfaces to the new profile curves.