To create a right circular cone or cone frustum (conical frustum, truncated cone), on the 3D Geometry toolbar, click Cone (). By adding a Cone 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 Geometry node to add this node from the context menu. Enter the properties of the cone using the following sections:

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

Define the size and shape of the cone in the Bottom radius, Height, Specify top size using, and Top radius or Semiangle fields.

From the Specify top size using list select Radius (the default setting) to specify the cone top size using the Top radius field. The top radius must be a positive value or 0 for a cone with a sharp apex. Alternatively, from the Specify top size using list select Angle to specify the cone top size using the Semiangle field. The semiangle is the angle a cone makes with the vertical axis. The default semiangle 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 semiangle is 45 degrees (for a cone with a sharp apex). The maximum semiangle depends on the values for the radius and height. The semiangle must be larger than −90 degrees. Setting the semiangle to 0 makes the cone into a cylinder.

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

Specify the direction of the cone’s axis. From the Axis type list, choose x-axis, y-axis, or z-axis (the default) to obtain an axis aligned with the specified coordinate axis. Choose Cartesian to enter a direction vector using the x, y, and z fields. Choose Spherical to enter the direction using the angles theta (polar, zenith) and phi (azimuth).

Specify the rotational angle about the axis in the Rotation 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 Work plane list, select xy-plane (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 xw, yw, and zw (which are then 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 Layers table, and optionally a name for each layer. The outermost layer comes first. Select the check boxes to specify where to apply the layers. Each layer must have a minimal thickness (depending on the size of the geometry).

Select the Resulting objects selection 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 Show in physics (Show in instances if in a geometry part) list: All levels, Domain selection, Boundary selection, Edge selection, or Point selection. The default is Domain selection, which is suitable for use with materials and physics defined in domains. For use with a boundary condition, for example, choose Boundary selection. These selections do not appear as separate selection nodes in the model tree. Select Off to not make any selection available outside of the geometry sequence. From the Color list, choose a color for highlighting the resulting objects selection. See Selection Colors.

If you want to make the resulting entities contribute to a cumulative selection, select a cumulative selection from the Contribute to list (the default, None, gives no contribution), or click the New button to create a new cumulative selection (see Cumulative Selections).