Exporting ROIs and Multi-ROIs to Thickness Meshes

For analysis and visualization purposes, Dragonfly can compute color-coded meshes from regions of interest and selected multi-ROI classes that show referential values of the local thickness between boundary points. Thickness is calculated as the diameter of a hypothetical sphere that fits within each boundary point. It is the same, except for numerical errors, as computing volume thickness at the source of the mesh and sampling it on the vertices of the mesh.

As shown in the illustration below, referential values are color-mapped according to the applied look-up table (LUT). Thickness meshes can be examined in 2D and 3D views and you can filter displayed ranges in the Measurement Inspector (see Evaluating Scalar Meshes with the Measurement Inspector).

Thickness mesh of an additively manufactured metal bracket

Thickness mesh

Two methods — Laplacian Smoothing and Hamming Windowed Smoothing — are available for smoothing in the Export as Thickness Mesh and in the Export as Sampled Thickness Mesh dialogs.

Export as Sampled Thickness Mesh dialog

The measurements available in the Scalar information box on the Data Properties and Settings panel for thickness meshes, shown below, include the minimum and maximum values of the local thickness.

Scalar information box on the Data Properties and Settings panel

A tutorial video describing how to generate thickness meshes from regions of interest is available in the topic Videos About Meshes (see Thickness Mesh and ROIs Tutorial).
  1. Select the required region of interest in the Data Properties and Settings panel.
  2. Click the To a Thickness Mesh button in the Export group box on the ROI Tools panel.

  3. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Normal in the drop-down menu to export the thickness mesh without sampling.
    • Choose Normal (Sampled) in the menu options to export the thickness mesh with sampling and then select the required sampling values for the X, Y, and Z axes.

  4. If required, check the Perform smoothing option.

  5. Do the following if you are smoothing the mesh during export:
    • Choose a smoothing method — Laplacian Smoothing or Hamming Windowed Smoothing (see Smoothing Meshes for information about the smoothing methods).
    • Choose the number of iterations required.
  6. Click the OK button to export the thickness mesh.

    When processing is complete, the exported thickness mesh appears on the Data Properties and Settings panel.

    See Mesh Properties and Settings for information about making a mesh visible in a scene and about the settings available in the lower section of the panel. See Evaluating Scalar Meshes with the Measurement Inspector for information about inspecting the mesh with the help of the Measurement Inspector, shown below.

  1. Select the required multi-ROI in the Data Properties and Settings panel.
  2. Right-click the multi-ROI class(es) that you want to export as a thickness mesh in the Classes and scalar information box.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Export Class as a Thickness Mesh in the drop-down menu to export the mesh without sampling.

      The Export as Thickness Mesh appears.

    • Choose Export Class as a Sampled Thickness Mesh in the drop-down menu to export the mesh with sampling. You can then select the required sampling values for the X, Y, and Z axes.

      The Export as Sampled Thickness Mesh dialog appears.

  4. If you are exporting a sampled thickness mesh, select the required sampling values for the X, Y, and Z axes in the Export as Sample Thickness Mesh dialog.

    You should note that the use of simplified models is one way to enable real-time, interactive visualization of large, complex meshes.

  5. If required, check the Perform smoothing option.

  6. Do the following if you are smoothing the mesh during export:
    • Choose a smoothing method — Laplacian Smoothing or Hamming Windowed Smoothing (see Smoothing Meshes for information about the smoothing methods).
    • Choose the number of iterations required.
  7. Click the OK button to export the thickness mesh.

    When processing is complete, the exported thickness mesh appears on the Data Properties and Settings panel.

    See Mesh Properties and Settings for information about making a mesh visible in a scene and about the settings available in the lower section of the panel. See Evaluating Scalar Meshes with the Measurement Inspector for information about inspecting the mesh with the help of the Measurement Inspector.