Cone

To create a right circular cone or cone frustum (conical frustum, truncated cone), on the 3D toolbar, click (

). By adding a feature you can create the part of a cone contained between two circular bases without going through an apex. You can also right-click the node to add this node from the context menu. Enter the properties of the cone using the following sections:

From the list, select or to specify if the cone is a solid object or a (hollow) surface object.

Define the size and shape of the cone in the , , , and or fields.

From the list select (the default setting) to specify the cone top size using the field. The top radius must be a positive value or 0 for a cone with a sharp apex. Alternatively, from the list select to specify the cone top size using the field. The semi-angle is the angle a cone makes with the vertical axis. The default semi-angle is roughly 26.565 degrees (that is, arctan(1/2)), which for the default cone with a bottom radius and height of 1 makes the radius of the top base 0.5. For the default radius and height the maximum semi-angle is 45 degrees (for a cone with a sharp apex). The maximum semi-angle depends on the values for the radius and height. The semi-angle must be larger than −90 degrees. Setting the semi-angle to 0 makes the cone into a cylinder.

Enter the position of the cone using the , , and fields. This is the center of the bottom circle.

Specify the direction of the cone’s axis. From the list, choose , , or (the default)to obtain an axis aligned with the specified coordinate axis. Choose to enter a direction vector using the , , and fields. Choose to enter the direction using the angles (polar, zenith) and (azimuth).

Specify the rotational angle about the axis in the field. When this angle is zero (the default), the second axis of the cone’s local coordinate system is parallel to the xy-plane.

The coordinate system in which the position, axis, and rotation angles above are interpreted. From the list, select (the default, for a standard global Cartesian coordinate system) or select any work plane defined above this node in the geometry sequence. If you choose a work plane, the work plane and its coordinate system appear in the Graphics window, using an extra coordinate triad with the directions , , and (which are the used to specify the cone’s position).

Layers can be used to create sandwich primitives by adding layers to one or more sides of the cone. You specify the thicknesses of layers in the table, and optionally a name for each layer. The outermost layer comes first. Select the check boxes to specify where to apply the layers.

If you want to make the resulting entities contribute to a cumulative selection, select a cumulative selection from the list (the default, , gives no contribution), or click the button to create a new cumulative selection (see Cumulative Selections).

Select the check box to create predefined selections (for all levels — objects, domains, boundaries, edges, and points — that are applicable) in subsequent nodes in the geometry sequence. To also make all or one of the types of resulting entities (domains, boundaries, edges, and points) that the cone consists of available as selections in all applicable selection lists (in physics and materials settings, for example), choose an option from the ( if in a geometry part) list: , , , , or . The default is , which is suitable for use with materials and physics defined in domains. For use with a boundary condition, for example, choose . These selections do not appear as separate selection nodes in the model tree. Select to not make any selection available outside of the geometry sequence.