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General: polyline creation#
This example shows how you can use PyAEDT to create and manipulate polylines.
Perform required imports#
Perform required imports.
import os
import pyaedt
Set AEDT version#
Set AEDT version.
aedt_version = "2024.1"
Set non-graphical mode#
Set non-graphical mode.
You can set non_graphical either to True or False.
non_graphical = False
Create Maxwell 3D object#
Create a pyaedt.maxwell.Maxwell3d object and set the unit type to "mm".
M3D = pyaedt.Maxwell3d(solution_type="Transient", designname="test_polyline_3D", specified_version=aedt_version,
new_desktop_session=True, non_graphical=non_graphical, )
M3D.modeler.model_units = "mm"
prim3D = M3D.modeler
Define variables#
Define two design variables as parameters for the polyline objects.
M3D["p1"] = "100mm"
M3D["p2"] = "71mm"
Input data#
Input data. All data for the polyline functions can be entered as either floating point
values or strings. Floating point values are assumed to be in model units
(M3D.modeler.model_units).
test_points = [["0mm", "p1", "0mm"], ["-p1", "0mm", "0mm"], ["-p1/2", "-p1/2", "0mm"], ["0mm", "0mm", "0mm"]]
Polyline primitives#
The following examples are for creating polyline primitives.
# Create line primitive
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Create a line primitive. The basic polyline command takes a list of positions
# (``[X, Y, Z]`` coordinates) and creates a polyline object with one or more
# segments. The supported segment types are ``Line``, ``Arc`` (3 points),
# ``AngularArc`` (center-point + angle), and ``Spline``.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points[0:2], name="PL01_line")
print("Created Polyline with name: {}".format(prim3D.objects[P.id].name))
print("Segment types : {}".format([s.type for s in P.segment_types]))
print("primitive id = {}".format(P.id))
Created Polyline with name: PL01_line
Segment types : ['Line']
primitive id = 6
Create arc primitive#
Create an arc primitive. The parameter position_list must contain at
least three position values. The first three position values are used.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points[0:3], segment_type="Arc", name="PL02_arc")
print("Created object with id {} and name {}.".format(P.id, prim3D.objects[P.id].name))
Created object with id 11 and name PL02_arc.
Create spline primitive#
Create a spline primitive. Defining the segment using a PolylineSegment
object allows you to provide additional input parameters for the spine, such
as the number of points (in this case 4). The parameter position_list
must contain at least four position values.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, segment_type=prim3D.polyline_segment("Spline", num_points=4),
name="PL03_spline_4pt")
Create center-point arc primitive#
Create a center-point arc primitive. A center-point arc segment is defined by a starting point, a center point, and an angle of rotation around the center point. The rotation occurs in a plane parallel to the XY, YZ, or ZX plane of the active coordinate system. The starting point and the center point must therefore have one coordinate value (X, Y, or Z) with the same value.
Here start-point and center-point have a common Z coordinate, "0mm".
The curve is therefore rotated in the XY plane with Z = "0mm".
start_point = [100, 100, 0]
center_point = [0, 0, 0]
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=[start_point],
segment_type=prim3D.polyline_segment("AngularArc", arc_center=center_point,
arc_angle="30deg"), name="PL04_center_point_arc")
Here start_point and center_point have the same values for the Y and
Z coordinates, so the plane or rotation could be either XY or ZX.
For these special cases when the rotation plane is ambiguous, you can specify
the plane explicitly.
start_point = [100, 0, 0]
center_point = [0, 0, 0]
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=[start_point],
segment_type=prim3D.polyline_segment("AngularArc", arc_center=center_point,
arc_angle="30deg", arc_plane="XY"),
name="PL04_center_point_arc_rot_XY")
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=[start_point],
segment_type=prim3D.polyline_segment("AngularArc", arc_center=center_point,
arc_angle="30deg", arc_plane="ZX"),
name="PL04_center_point_arc_rot_ZX")
Compound polylines#
You can use a list of points in a single command to create a multi-segment polyline.
By default, if no specification of the type of segments is given, all points are connected by line segments.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, name="PL06_segmented_compound_line")
You can specify the segment type with the parameter segment_type.
In this case, you must specify that the four input points in position_list
are to be connected as a line segment followed by a 3-point arc segment.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, segment_type=["Line", "Arc"], name="PL05_compound_line_arc")
The parameter close_surface ensures that the polyline starting point and
ending point are the same. If necessary, you can add an additional line
segment to achieve this.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, close_surface=True, name="PL07_segmented_compound_line_closed")
The parameter cover_surface=True also performs the modeler command
cover_surface. Note that specifying cover_surface=True automatically
results in the polyline being closed.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, cover_surface=True, name="SPL01_segmented_compound_line")
Compound lines#
The following examples are for inserting compound lines.
Insert line segment#
Insert a line segment starting at vertex 1 ["100mm", "0mm", "0mm"]
of an existing polyline and ending at some new point ["90mm", "20mm", "0mm"].
By numerical comparison of the starting point with the existing vertices of the
original polyline object, it is determined automatically that the segment is
inserted after the first segment of the original polyline.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, close_surface=True, name="PL08_segmented_compound_insert_segment")
p2 = P.points[1]
insert_point = ["-100mm", "20mm", "0mm"]
P.insert_segment(points=[insert_point, p2])
True
Insert compound line with insert curve#
Insert a compound line starting a line segment at vertex 1 ["100mm", "0mm", "0mm"]
of an existing polyline and end at some new point ["90mm", "20mm", "0mm"].
By numerical comparison of the starting point, it is determined automatically
that the segment is inserted after the first segment of the original polyline.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=test_points, close_surface=False, name="PL08_segmented_compound_insert_arc")
start_point = P.vertex_positions[1]
insert_point1 = ["90mm", "20mm", "0mm"]
insert_point2 = [40, 40, 0]
P.insert_segment(points=[start_point, insert_point1, insert_point2], segment="Arc")
True
Insert compound line at end of a center-point arc#
Insert a compound line at the end of a center-point arc (type="AngularArc").
This is a special case.
Step 1: Draw a center-point arc.
start_point = [2200.0, 0.0, 1200.0]
arc_center_1 = [1400, 0, 800]
arc_angle_1 = "43.47deg"
P = prim3D.create_polyline(points=[start_point],
segment_type=prim3D.polyline_segment(type="AngularArc", arc_angle=arc_angle_1,
arc_center=arc_center_1), name="First_Arc")
Step 2: Insert a line segment at the end of the arc with a specified end point.
start_of_line_segment = P.end_point
end_of_line_segment = [3600, 200, 30]
P.insert_segment(points=[start_of_line_segment, end_of_line_segment])
True
Step 3: Append a center-point arc segment to the line object.
arc_angle_2 = "39.716deg"
arc_center_2 = [3400, 200, 3800]
P.insert_segment(points=[end_of_line_segment],
segment=prim3D.polyline_segment(type="AngularArc", arc_center=arc_center_2, arc_angle=arc_angle_2))
True
You can use the compound polyline definition to complete all three steps in a single step.
prim3D.create_polyline(points=[start_point, end_of_line_segment], segment_type=[
prim3D.polyline_segment(type="AngularArc", arc_angle="43.47deg", arc_center=arc_center_1),
prim3D.polyline_segment(type="Line"),
prim3D.polyline_segment(type="AngularArc", arc_angle=arc_angle_2, arc_center=arc_center_2),
], name="Compound_Polyline_One_Command")
<pyaedt.modeler.cad.polylines.Polyline object at 0x000002263F0D1600>
Insert two 3-point arcs forming a circle and covered#
Insert two 3-point arcs forming a circle and covered. Note that the last point of the second arc segment is not defined in the position list.
P = prim3D.create_polyline(
points=[[34.1004, 14.1248, 0], [27.646, 16.7984, 0], [24.9725, 10.3439, 0], [31.4269, 7.6704, 0]],
segment_type=["Arc", "Arc"], cover_surface=True, close_surface=True, name="Rotor_Subtract_25_0", material="vacuum")
Here is an example of a complex polyline where the number of points is
insufficient to populate the requested segments. This results in an
IndexError that PyAEDT catches silently. The return value of the command
is False, which can be caught at the app level. While this example might
not be so useful in a Jupyter Notebook, it is important for unit tests.
MDL_points = [
["67.1332mm", "2.9901mm", "0mm"],
["65.9357mm", "2.9116mm", "0mm"],
["65.9839mm", "1.4562mm", "0mm"],
["66mm", "0mm", "0mm"],
["99mm", "0mm", "0mm"],
["98.788mm", "6.4749mm", "0mm"],
["98.153mm", "12.9221mm", "0mm"],
["97.0977mm", "19.3139mm", "0mm"],
]
MDL_segments = ["Line", "Arc", "Line", "Arc", "Line"]
return_value = prim3D.create_polyline(MDL_points, segment_type=MDL_segments, name="MDL_Polyline")
assert return_value # triggers an error at the application error
Here is an example that provides more points than the segment list requires. This is valid usage. The remaining points are ignored.
MDL_segments = ["Line", "Arc", "Line", "Arc"]
P = prim3D.create_polyline(MDL_points, segment_type=MDL_segments, name="MDL_Polyline")
Save project#
Save the project.
project_dir = r"C:\temp"
project_name = "Polylines"
project_file = os.path.join(project_dir, project_name + ".aedt")
M3D.save_project(project_file)
M3D.release_desktop()
True
Total running time of the script: (0 minutes 53.184 seconds)