Class-A Surface Creation Guidelines
Class-A Surface Creation Guidelines
Contents
1) 2) 3) Phases of Class-A surface creation Class-A surface Definition Mathematical Requirements 3.1 3.2 3.3 4) Positional Continuity OR 0 - Order continuity Tangent Continuity OR 1 - Order continuity Curvature Continuity OR 2 - Order continuity 3 4 6 6 8 11 16 16 17 18 19 19 21 21 22 23 24 25 25 26 27 29 30 31 31 31 32 33 33 33 34 34 35 35
Curve Creation 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Curve order Case study for curve creation Curve Redistribution Creation of Symmetry Curves Boundary curve creation
5)
Surface Creation 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 Criteria for surface creation Patch/Surface Parameterization Patch/Face Plan ISO-Curve distribution Patch/Face over building and trimming of Patch/Face Minimum Descriptive profile for surface creation Symmetry Criteria Transition Surface Surface Completeness Fillets
6)
Class-A surface verification 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 Patch properties Connectivity Analysis / G0 - Continuity Tangency Analysis / G1-Continuity Curvature Analysis Reflection Analysis Dynamic Highlight Analysis Absolute Curvature Analysis Mean Curvature Analysis Maximum and Minimum Curvature Analysis Guassian surface Analysis
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Manufacturing Criterias Case studies 9.1 9.2 9.3 Tips for manufacturability of hood Tips for manufacturability of fender Tips for manufacturability of Rear quarter panel
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1)
Figure 3.1-1
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2)
Class-A surfaces and their requirements have a close relationship with the aesthetics of a product. The reflection of light plays a major role in surface appearance. If a surface does not posses certain described characteristics, Visual appearance of the product will get affected. Characteristics of Class-A surface can be classified into three major categories
Visual Characteristics
a) b) c) Aesthetic requirements Reflection, smoothness Style features as intended by Designer/Stylist
Mathematical Requirements
d) e) f) g) 0 order continuity (Positional Continuity / G0 Continuity) 1 order continuity (Tangent Continuity / G1 Continuity) 2 order continuity (Curvature Continuity/ G2 Continuity) 3 order continuity (Constant rate of change of curvature/ G3 Continuity)
Manufacturing requirements
h) i) j) k) l) Panels should retain their shape - proper stretching requirement should be taken care, Styled features should retain intended shapes, Feature lines like shoulder line or waist line on body side panel, feature lines on hood panel should retain their place (skidding), Bulge effect on flange lines should be avoided, Manufacturability of shapes (Forming of sheet metal, Moulded components) etc.
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Common Mathematical defects found in surfaces t) u) v) w) x) y) z) aa) bb) Connectivity problems like gap and overlapping along common edge, Tangency problem between two adjacent surfaces along common edge, Curvature discontinuities between surfaces, Bad parameterization, Bad distribution of ISO-parametric curves, Topological problems, Twisted patches, Local depressions and bumps, Triangular patches, etc.
Common Manufacturing defects found in surfaces For sheet metal panels cc) dd) ee) ff) gg) hh) ii) Flat surface inadequate lensings, Possibility of skid marks, Bulge at flange lines, Sharp, acute trim lines and shut lines, Draw depth and corner radii mismatch, Under flush and Over flush co-ordination, Local depressions and bumps etc.
For Plastic components jj) kk) ll) Shrinkage marks, Molding direction, Undercuts,
mm) Seen parting lines, nn) oo) pp) Insufficient draft angle for given textures, Inadequate lensing, Warping etc.
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3)
Mathematical Requirements
3.1 Positional Continuity OR 0 - Order continuity
Surface are said to be having Positional Continuity, when they posses the following characteristics Adjacent faces/surfaces are sharing a common edge, Gap between them is less or equal to the recommended tolerance limit along the common edge They are curvature continuous within Refer images for more information
Image 3.1-1
Image 3.1-2
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Curvature Continuous within Share a common edge Gap between them along the edge is within tolerance limit
Note: Angle between the Normals to the surface or curve on a point laying on the common edge is not within the set tolerance limit.
Image 3.1-3
Dynamic reflection highlights Analysis Result Note the broken Highlights at Common edge
Image 3.1-4
Image 3.1-5
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Refer images below for allowable errors for acceptance of surface for Positional continuity
Image 3.1-6 Industry Standard Examples DCX Value 0.02 GM 0.025 FORD 0.02 BERTONE 0.01 TTL 0.01
Note: Some values given here are based on the inputs from un-official source Image 3.1-7
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Surfaces are smooth Note: 1) Observe the smooth variation in reflection of light. 2) Observe the absence of sharp reflection line in the middle of the surface in comparison with Figure for G0 continuity.
Image 3.2-1
Image 3.2-2 Note: Curvature Continuous within Gap between them is within the recommended tolerance limit Share a common edge
Angle between the normals to the surface or curve at a point laying on the common edge is within in the set tolerance value.. Observe the sudden change in curvature value between the normals to the surface or curve at a point laying on the common edge. Image 3.2-3
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Image 3.2-4
Image 3.2-5 Refer image below for allowable errors for acceptance of surface for Tangent continuity
Note: Some values given here are based on the inputs from un-official source
Image 3.2-6
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Surfaces are smooth Note: 1) Observe the smooth variation in reflection of light. 2) Observe the uniform dispersion of light in the reflection zone in the middle of the surface in comparison with Figure for G1 continuity.
Image 3.3-1
Image 3.3-2
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1) Curvature Continuous within 2) Gap between them is within in the tolerance limit 3) Share a common edge Note: Angle between the normals to the surface or curve at a point laying on the common edge is within the set tolerance value.
Image 3.3-3
Dynamic reflection highlights Analysis Result Note the smooth deviation in highlights at Common edge
Image 3.3-4
Image 3.3-5
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Refer image below for allowable errors for acceptance of surface for curvature continuity
Note: Some values given here are based on the inputs from un-official source
Image 3.3-6 Constant Rate of Change of Curvature Continuity OR 3 - Order continuity Surface are said to be having Constant rate of change of curvature Continuity, when they posses the following characteristics Adjacent faces/surfaces are sharing a common edge, Gap between them is less or equal to the recommended value along the common edge Angle between the normals at any common point on common edge is within in the set tolerance value. Variation in curvature value at two points on same curve on surface is within specified value. Distant between two points on curves for which the change of curvature occurs has to be same for all point on the curves. Refer images for more information
Surfaces are smooth Note: 1) Observe the smooth variation in reflection of light. 2) Observe the further improvement in uniform dispersion of light in the reflection zone in the middle of the surface in comparison with Figure for G2 continuity.
Image 3.3-7
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Image 3.3-8
Curvature Continuous within Gap between them is within the set tolerance value
Share a common edge Note: Distance between points on curve on the surface For which curvature changes is constant
Image 3.3-9
Image 3.3-10
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Image 3.3-11
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4)
Curve Creation
Creation of a curve plays a very important role in the process of Class-A surface creation. The quality of the curve dictates the quality of the surface. Criteria for curve creation Curves should be of minimum required order as far as possible (preferred order-3 maximum order is based on the software being used) Curves should support or facilitate the adjacent curve nature Avoid curve with inflection unless they are a must Split the curve as far as possible to avoid unnecessary tension Give a close look to curve descriptors while creating curves
Curve of Degree 3, and Class 4 Note: Curves of this type are easier to handle; for any change made to the curve by moving its pole, the change in shape will be monotonic in nature across the curve.
Image 4.1-1
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Curve of Degree 5, and Class 6 Note: Curves of this type are not easier to handle; for any change made to the curve by moving its pole, the change in shape may not be monotonic in nature across the curve because of high parameterisation of the curve. Shape of the curve is exactly similar in shape and size to the curve shown in the image.
Image 4.1-2
Curve of Degree 6, and Class 7 Note: Shape of the curve is exactly similar in shape and size to the curve shown in Image 4.1-1 and Image 4.1-2 on page No. 16 Observe the bad parameterisation of the curve, which is not desirable for Class-A surface creation.
Image 4.1-3
Curve Degree 7, Class 8 Note: Observe the curve parameter distribution, which is erratic. Curve is of very high degree and class, which is not recommended. Observe the adulations in curvature variation as seen from the curvature normals.
Image 4.2-1
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Image 4.2-2
Curve of Degree 9 and Class 10 Note: Observe highly haphazard distribution of curve parameters. Curve created by software tool from digitized data.
Image 4.3-1
Curve of Degree 9 and Class 10 Note: Observe smooth and monotonic variation in distribution of curve parameters Curve created by using smoothing technique. optimization and
Image 4.3-2
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Image 4.3-3
Symmetry Curve Note: Observe the absence of curve node at plane of symmetry, most of the times this condition automatically ensures G0, G1 and G2 continuity.
Figure 4.4-1
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Image 4.5-1
End boundary curves Note: Observe the change in the polynomial distribution of the curves and the change in the curve position due to this.
Image 4.5-2
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5)
Surface Creation
As explained in the earlier chapter, quality of the surface plays major role in aesthetics of the product, it is very important we take a lot of care while creating a surface. Apart from basic requirements like positional continuity, tangent continuity and curvature continuity, following criterias has to be given due consideration.
Patch/Face Plan
Division or splitting of patches to create features in surfaces
Symmetry criteria
Guidelines for creation of symmetric surfaces.
Surface completeness
Completely defined surface in all respects, by mathematical definitions.
Fillets
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Image 5.2-1
Bad patch/Face descriptors Note : High number of patch descriptors. Kink in one of the descriptors.
Image 5.2-2
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Image 5.2-3
Image 5.2-4
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Bad ISO-curve distribution Note: Distribution of ISO-Parametric curves is not homogeneous May have local surface tension. Smooth variation is not there. Curves are bent and Curves are straight.
Image 5.3-1
Image 5.3-2
Difference between good and bad ISO-curve distribution of patch/face Note: Path with Bad ISO-parametric curve distribution is shown in dotted lines. Observe the difference in shorter boundary condition between two patches
Image 5.3-3
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Subject: Class-A Surface Guidelines 5.4 Patch/Face over building and trimming of Patch/Face 5.5 Minimum Descriptive profile for surface creation
While creating a patch, use minimum required number of end boundaries and internal support profiles to define a face or patch. Try to create the main patches bigger than required area, Later trim them to a desired shape using trimming profiles. Note: e) f) Use of high number of profile to define the patch may result in bad quality. Patch with minimum number of constraints posses characteristics like, good distribution of ISO-parametric curves, Better parameterization.
Trimming profiles
Image 5.5-1
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Symmetry Plane
Curvature of good symmetry patch Note: In this case Positional, Tangency, and curvature continuities are fulfilled. Observe the length and shape variation of curvature normal in the marked area.
Image 5.6-1 Symmetry Plane Curvature of bad symmetry patch Note: In this case only Positional and Tangency continuities are fulfilled. Observe the length and shape variation of curvature normal in the marked area.
Image 5.6-2
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C M T C
Observe Two main surfaces marked M are joined by using transition surface marked C Two main corner surfaces marked C are joined by using transition surface marked T
Observe Concept of using transition surfaces is not applied while creating the surface
Figure 5.7-2
Uniform ISO-curve distribution
Irregular
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Figure 5.7-3
Observe Uniform variation in ISO-curve shapes. Synergy in variation of gaps between ISO-curves distribution.
Observe Irregular variation in ISO-curve shapes. Irregular variation of gaps between ISO-curves distribution.
Figure 5.7-4
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5.9 Fillets
While creating fillets for joining two surfaces/patches, avoid using circular / cylindrical fillets. This kind of fillets, will not guarantee a good reflection effect because of the sudden change in curvature at the joining lines. To improve the aesthetic effects, it is suggested to use conical blending, which is available in softwares like CATIA and EUCLID-3. Limit the use of mechanical blending to following areas 1) 2) Unseen areas like corners, Flange line blending, Joggles on flanges etc. Less important areas, like where fillet radius required R is < 5.
Mechanical Filleting
Conical Filleting
Image 5.9-2
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6)
Polynomial representation of a surface, defined by a network of lines and points, called control points or poles. These points are distributed over sections.
Image 6.1-1
Global connectivity analysis This method is used for finding out the gaps in surface topology connections. Connectivity analysis result for hood surface is shown in following images.
Image 6.2-1
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Green lines Global connectivity analysis Wire frame model of the hood surface, shown before submitting for connectivity analysis Note: Observe green lines in surface
Image 6.2-2 Global connectivity analysis Green lines Red lines Result of connectivity analysis Gaps more than 0.05 are shown in red colour Gaps less than 0.05 and free edges are still shown in green colour. Note: 1) Threshold value for connectivity analysis used in this case is 0.05. Method of result display software dependent. is
2)
Image 6.2-3
Image 6.3-1
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Image 6.4-1
Display of the reflection lines created on a patch by a line of light of infinite length
Image 6.5-1
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Image 6.6-1
It is used to detect the surface areas where the surface is locally almost flat, that is when the absolute curvature is almost null.
Image 6.7-1
The utmost values appear where the surface is the most warped. Mean is largely used to detect irregularities on the surface. A minimal surface is characterized by a null mean curvature.
Image 6.8-1
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Subject: Class-A Surface Guidelines 6.9 Maximum and Minimum Curvature Analysis
The geometric construction of main curvatures is the following: let be a plane containing the normal to the surface in a given point. This plane cuts the surface along a curve that has a given curvature in this point. If this plane rotates around the normal, the curvatures of the curves of intersection with the surface will vary between two utmost values. These two values are the main curvatures
Image 6.9-1
Image 6.10-1
7)
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Good roof surface Observe Smoothness of Dynamic highlights Uniform variation in dynamic highlight line shapes Uniform Gap between dynamic highlight lines
Defective roof surface Observe Smoothness of Dynamic highlights Uniform variation in dynamic highlight line shapes Non-uniform Gap between dynamic highlight lines Image 6.10-2
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Good roof surface Observe absence of local depression in Guassian curvature analysis result
Defective roof surface Observe presence of local depression in Guassian curvature analysis result Image 6.10-4
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8)
External Panels
Internal Panel
External Seen
External Unseen
Internal Seen
Internal Unseen
Class A Standard I
Class A Standard II
Class A Standard II
Figure 8.1-1
Plastic Trims
External Panels
Internal Panel
Painted/Textured Seen
Painted/Textured Unseen
Painted/Textured Seen
PaintedTextured Unseen
Class A Standard I
Class A Standard II
Class A Standard II
Figure 8.1-2
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Characteristics
G0 Positional Continuity G1 Tangency Continuity G2 Curvature Continuity G3 Constant rate of changes of curvature Patch descriptors ISO-curve distribution Fillets Manufacturability criterias Dynamic highlights Table 8-1 0.01 0.05 0.001 ---
Standards
Refer Section 5.2 Refer Section 5.4 Mechanical Fillets for < 5R * Refer Section 9 Refer Section 6.6
Characteristics
G0 Positional Continuity G1 Tangency Continuity G2 Curvature Continuity Patch descriptors ISO-curve distribution Fillets Manufacturability criterias Dynamic highlights Table 8-2 0.02 0.05 0.02
Standards
Refer Section 5.2 Refer Section 5.4 Mechanical Fillets for < 5R * Refer Section 9 Refer Section 6.6
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Characteristics
G0 Positional Continuity G1 Tangency Continuity G2 Curvature Continuity Patch descriptors ISO-curve distribution Fillets Manufacturability criterias Dynamic highlights 0.02 0.1 0.05
Standards
Refer Section 5.2 Refer Section 5.4 Mechanical Fillets for < 4R * Refer Section 9 Refer Section 6.6
2)
Note: 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Take care for not changing styling intent shapes and features in all above cases. Seen means - areas which are coming in lines of direct visual angle of a person standing next to the car, and sitting inside the car. Unseen means - areas which are not coming in lines of direct visual angle of a person standing next to the car, and sitting inside the car.
* In case of fillet values take care for minimum exterior and interior projection regulations.
Decide the maximum allowed deviation for Class-A surface creation from Digitised data for each model. Take the approval from Styling department in case of deviation from digitized data. Observe for regulatory requirements during the creation of Class-A surfaces. Example: Minimum external and internal projection regulations.
10)
At the stage of design verification, changes done on styled surface with respect to the Stylingfreeze should be documented and agreed upon.
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9)
Objective of this section is to lead stylist or product engineers through the manufacturing process for sheet metal. Cases listed in this section of the documents are only for reference and knowledge of the stylist and product engineers. The cases explained here are not to be considered as guidelines. While designing the panels for manufacturability, proper attention needs to be given for following aspects of sheet metal components. Panels should retain their shape after stamping process, for the same proper stretching requirement should be taken care, Styled features should retain intended shapes, For example, Feature lines like shoulder line or waist line on body side panel, Feature lines on hood panel should retain their place. Bulge effect on flange lines should be avoided. In the same way, while designing plastic trims, care should be taken care to avoid warping of panels at free ends, shrinkage effect on the areas where internal ribs are provided for strength purpose.
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Figure 9.1-1
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In depth D is not constant, give constant offset depth d to avoid bulge effect along flange line
Feature line near wheel arch, high risk of skidding, if the panel is stretched to the maximum limit
Incase of radical under sweeping at rear of wheel arch, Reduce the flange with to minimum possible
Figure 9.2-1
Minimum angle suggested between the two surfaces creating this kind of feature is 20
Figure 9.3-1
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Figure 9.3-2
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Figure 9.3-3