Each curve drawn by Maxsurf is made up of a number of short straight lines.
The precision selected corresponds directly to the number of line segments shown in a surface edge or contour, and also equates directly to the number of parametric lines shown when displaying parametric contours.
Lowest Precision
Lowest Precision may be used early in the design process for general design layout. It allows for fast modification of the shape, but lacks the necessary detail for optimising a design. It uses an 8 by 8 parametric mesh.
Low Precision
Low Precision is the suggested working precision for your design development and modification if you have a slow computer. It uses a 16 by 16 parametric mesh.
Medium Precision
Medium Precision is the suggested working precision for designs with more curvature, or with discontinuities, which need more precision for display. It uses a 32 by 32 parametric mesh.
High Precision
High Precision may be used for complex shapes, or during printing or zooming when more curve definition is needed. It uses a 64 by 64 parametric mesh.
Highest Precision
Highest Precision may be used when extremely high definition is required, typically for plotting final lines plans. Highest Precision will take much longer to calculate than Low precision.
High and Highest precision are not fixed precisions, but adapt the number of segments to the amount of curvature in a surface.
Data Insertion
High and highest precisions start with a 64 by 64 parametric mesh and then insert points into the curve to reach the curve tolerance you have specified using the Contour Tolerance field in the Preferences dialog.
Data Reduction
At Highest Precision redundant points are also removed from the curve. For example, if a surface is flat, all of the co-linear points along the middle of a line will be removed, just leaving the required end points. This can considerably increase display speed in Maxsurf and reduce the size of the DXF or IGES file. This makes the curves much faster to manipulate in your CAD system.
|
Precision |
Number of segments |
Data reduction |
Data insertion |
|
Lowest |
8 |
|
|
|
Low |
16 |
|
|
|
Medium |
32 |
|
|
|
High |
64 |
|
|
|
Highest |
64 |
|
|
The number of curve segments apply both to lines drawn to the screen, Clipboard, and IGES files, as well as to output devices such as printers.
