Min/Max Curvature
Displays the points with minimum and maximum curvature on a surface or a set of surfaces.
Access this tool from the Evaluate palette:
Min/Max Curvature Options
Mode
Choose whether to compute the curvatures on only Active (picked) objects, or All objects. All is the default.
Curvature Type
Choose how to calculate the curvature values:
Mean – Use the average of the two principal curvatures to approximate the average curvature through each point.
Gaussian – Use the product of the two principal curvatures. The Gaussian value is a derived value and not a true radius.
Principle Minimum/Principle Maximum – Use the minimum or maximum curvature values. For example, the curvature of the steepest or flattest curves that pass through each point.
The Mean and Gaussian options are most useful for detecting surface irregularities. The Principle Min/Max options are most useful for finding inflection points.
Show curvature on a surface
Set up the Min/max curvature tool
- Set the Mode option to Active then click Save.
Show the minimum and maximum curvature values
Pick the surface(s) you want to measure.
Note: If you pick more than one surface, the minimum and maximum are calculated over all the surfaces, not each surface individually.Select the tool.
The tool highlights the points of minimum and maximum curvature on the surfaces, and opens a window showing detailed information.