Collapse mesh faces

The collapse mesh faces commands help to edit existing meshes by removing unwanted or unnecessary faces from the mesh. Mesh faces can be collapsed using:

Selecting individual faces.
A specified maximum or minimum area.
A specified aspect ratio.
A specified edge length.

Some STL/SLA printers have problems if meshes contain many long, thin facets. These facets can slow the printer down, produce odd results, or run the printer out of memory.
The MeshRepair command may be useful when tuning up meshes for STL/SLA printing.

CollapseMeshFace

Toolbar	Menu
Collapse Mesh	Mesh Edit Tools > Collapse > Face

Toolbar

Toolbar: Collapse Mesh | Mesh Tools

Collapse Mesh

Mesh

Edit Tools >

Collapse >

Face

The CollapseMeshFace command moves the vertices of a mesh face to a single vertex.

Steps

Select a mesh face.
The surrounding edges and faces adjust.

CollapseMeshFacesByArea

Toolbar	Menu
Collapse Mesh	Mesh Edit Tools > Collapse > By Area

Toolbar

Collapse Mesh

Mesh

Edit Tools >

Collapse >

By Area

The CollapseMeshFacesByArea command moves the vertices of mesh faces that have a surface area greater or less than a specified value to a single vertex.

Steps

Select a mesh object.

Collapse mesh faces by area options

Select faces larger than ___

Selects faces with an area larger than the specified setting.

Select smallest face

Select a mesh face to set the area of the smallest face.

Select faces smaller than

Selects faces with an area smaller than the specified setting.

Select largest face

Select a mesh face to set the area of the largest face.

Increment

Sets the amount the Area value is changed with each arrow click.

Select range from face

Select an example face to set the size range. A range of ±10% of the area of the selected face is used.

CollapseMeshFacesByAspectRatio

Toolbar	Menu
Collapse Mesh	Mesh Edit Tools > Collapse > By Aspect Ratio

Toolbar

Collapse Mesh

Mesh

Edit Tools >

Collapse >

By Aspect Ratio

The CollapseMeshFacesByAspectRatio command moves the vertices of mesh faces that are greater than a specified ratio of length to width to a single vertex.

A ratio of 25:1 or above is considered long.

Steps

Select a mesh.

Collapse mesh faces by aspect ratio options

Aspect ratio ___ to 1

Set the target aspect ratio.

Increment

Sets the amount the Aspect ratio value is changed with each arrow click.

Select aspect ratio from face

Select a mesh face to specify the Aspect Ratio value.

CollapseMeshFacesByEdgeLength

Toolbar	Menu
Collapse Mesh	Mesh Edit Tools > Collapse > By Edge Length

Toolbar

Collapse Mesh

Mesh

Edit Tools >

Collapse >

By Edge Length

The CollapseMeshFacesByEdgeLength command moves the vertices of mesh edges that are greater or less than a specified length to a single vertex.

Steps

Select a mesh.

Collapse mesh faces by edge length options

Edge length

Sets the edge length to compare.

Select edge

Pick a mesh edge to specify the edge length you want.

Increment

Sets the amount the Edge length value is changed with each arrow click.

Select edges:

Shorter than edge length

Selects faces with an edge length shorter than the Edge length setting.

Longer than edge length

Selects faces with an edge length longer than the Edge length setting.

Collapse mesh faces

CollapseMeshFace

Steps

CollapseMeshFacesByArea

Steps

Select faces larger than ___

Select smallest face

Select faces smaller than

Select largest face

Increment

Select range from face

CollapseMeshFacesByAspectRatio

Steps

Aspect ratio ___ to 1

Increment

Select aspect ratio from face

CollapseMeshFacesByEdgeLength

Steps

Edge length

Select edge

Increment

Select edges:

Shorter than edge length

Longer than edge length

See also