SpaceClaim Online Help

Mesh Infill

Printing the model above could take a long time and a lot of material, if the entire volume is filled.

Infill lets you shell the interior of a model and add an internal support structure. This provides strength while reduce material costs and printing time.

The tool has several options for controlling the size, shape and percentage of the volume filled.

To shell and add infill using basic shapes

1. Click the ShellSolidObject that encloses volume. A surface becomes a solid if it encloses volume. or part that is hollowed out from a selected face, leaving a shell of designated thickness. tool

2. Set the Thicken direction to Inside

3. Set the Thickness of the shell wall
4. Choose whether or not to keep the original Design2D or 3D model that contains at least one top-level component. Mesh after it is shelled
5. Choose the Basic option
6. Select the Design Mesh to shell
7. Choose an Infill Type:
   • Square (default) - 2D square pattern
   • Hex - 2D Hexagon pattern
   • 3D Hex - 3D Hexagons
   • Lattice - 3D lattice infill pattern
8. Set the Size:
   • FillUse the Fill tool to simplify or clean up geometry by extending surrounding faces to eliminate a selection. The selected region is filled in or healed with the surrounding surface or solid. % - Percentage of the shell volume filled by material
   • Length - Determines the size of the Square or Hexagon
   • Thickness - Sets the material wall thickness
   • The Size parameters are linked. Changing the Fill will change Length and changing Length will change Fill. Changing the Thickness will also change the Fill percentage.
9. Adjust the Preview:
   • Direction:
     • X, Y, or Z - The plane of the preview will be normal to the axis you select
     • Screen - The preview will be in the plane of the screen
   • OffsetDistance an edge, segment, or curve is moved or copied. - Use the dropdown slider to drag the preview along its normal direction. Use the Reset button to go back to the previous location
10. Click Complete
11. The Shell is added and a new mesh body is shown in the Structure Tree

The images below show preview for Square and Hex Infill shapes.

The image below shows the model shelled with a Hex infill. The body was split and moved to expose the Infill.

The image below shows the model shelled with a 3D lattice infill.

You can also use Custom shapes for the Infill. In the example below, the "X" shape will be used as a Custom Infill.

To shell and add infill using custom shapes

1. Click the Shell tool

2. Set the Thicken direction to Inside

3. Set the Thickness of the shell wall
4. Choose whether or not to keep the original Design Mesh after it is shelled
5. Choose the Custom option
6. Select the Design Mesh to shell
7. Choose an Infill Pattern:
   • Square Pattern (default)
   • Rectangular Pattern
8. Set the Sizing:
   • ScaleSolid or surface: Change the size of the selected object using the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. tool. You can scale dynamically or by entering a scale value. Drawing sheet or cross-section views: Magnify or shrink the view by selecting a ViewOrientation settings that you can apply to your design, including spin, pan, and zoom. You can adjust these settings individually or you can apply one of the following preconfigured views: Trimetric, Isometric, Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Right, Left. You can also select Snap View and click a face to view it head-on. in the Structure tree and editing the Properties panel. to Fit - Enter a length to scale the custom shape. Allows you to increase/decrease the size of the shape as needed.
   • Thickness - Sets the distance between the shapes in the pattern.
9. Choose what to Fill:
   • Interior of the custom shape - Creates a void between the shapes in the pattern
   • Fill spaces - Fills the space between the shapes in the pattern and leaves a void in the interior of the shape.
10. Click Complete
11. The Shell is added and a new mesh body is shown in the Structure Tree

The images below show some examples.

Shape scaled to fit a larger dimension and a large space between shapes
Shape NOT scaled to fit and a small space between shapes