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Create a surface (or a part from surfaces) by defining boundaries and refine the surface with boundary conditions (instead of requiring the use of reference surfaces).

In the Feature toolbar:

Feature toolbar with Fill feature icon highlighted

Create a surface (or a part from surfaces) by defining boundaries and refine the surface with boundary conditions (instead of requiring the use of reference surfaces).

The Fill feature allows you to create a surface (or a part from surfaces) by defining boundaries and refine the surface with boundary conditions (instead of requiring the use of reference surfaces). Click the Fill feature tool on the toolbar. Select the edges to act as the boundaries of the fill. Optionally, define the continuity of the Fill. Select Zebra stripes from the View tools. Position is the default, which makes edges meet with no tangent or curvature relationship to each other. Select Tangency to create an implicit tangency, or Curvature to Match the curve of the adjacent surface. Click the green checkmark to accept the new fill.

Here is another example of a sketch on the Front plane and a single vertex on an offset plane. Select Fill. Then select the edges of Sketch 1. Click the Guides checkbox. Then select the vertex in Sketch 2, which is used to influence the shape. The resulting surface intersects the vertex in the interior of the boundary. Check Show isocurves to evaluate how the underlying surface is defined. Adjusting the count up or down increases or decreases the number of curves displayed. Click the green checkmark to accept the new fill.

  1. Click Fill icon.

    Fill dialog

  2. Select the Edges, which act as the boundaries of the fill.

    Selecting the edges to form the boundary of the fillExample after the fill is applied

     

  3. Optionally, define Continuity for each selected edge or curve (you can select Zebra stripes from the small View cube menu to see the effects):
    1. Position - Make edges meet with no tangent or curvature relationship to each other
    2. Tangency - Create an implicit tangency (normal to the plane of the selected surface) between the boundaries and the new surface (as if you had a reference surface). This works for sketch selections only, not for other planar curves. Optionally, when selected, the Adjacent faces field is enabled. Pick any face in which underlying geometry is coincident with at least one profile part's curve (the face and edge do not need to intersect or be part of the same part).
    3. Curvature - Match the actual curve of the adjacent surface. Optionally, when selected, the Adjacent face field is enabled. Pick any face in which underlying geometry is coincident with at least one profile part's curve (the face and edge do not need to intersect or be part of the same part).

      For example, for the left most selected edge, below, each of the Continuity options were selected. Note the differences in the visualization stripes:

      Position:

      Position

      Tangency:

      Tangency

      Curvature:

      Curvature

  4. Select Guides (points, vertices, points on a sketch, or curves) with which to influence the shape. The resulting surface intersects these points which will lie in the interior of the boundary. When curves are selected, the surface pushes through the curves and you can select from two types of calculations:
    1. Sampled - Uses the Sample Size to determine the number of vertices along the curves are used to calculate the surface. A long Sample size may result in the surface following the entire curve:

      Sample size of 3:

      Example of a long Sample size resulting in the surface following the entire curve

      Sample size of 10:

      Example of a long Sample size resulting in the surface following the entire curve

    Depending on the Sample size, some rippling of the surface may occur.

  5. Precise - Uses the exact curve to form the surface. Note that this option requires very carefully designed and selected curves. See the examples below for more information.
  6. Check Show isocurves to evaluate how the underlying surface is defined.

    The untrimmed underlying surface is shown as a mesh to display the iso parametric curves, enabling you to evaluate the quality of the underlying surface.

  7. Click Accept checkmark icon.

The edges of the surfaces and the two bridging curves are selected as boundaries. A new surface is created:

Example of edges of surface and two bridging curves selected as boundaries, resulting in a new surface created Example of edges of surface and two bridging curves selected as boundaries, resulting in a new surface created

Guide vertices

The Guide vertices are selected to further define the shape of the surface:

Example of Guide vertices

Guides with Precise option

When using the Precise option with guide curves especially, if the curves meet each other, the intersection must be at a point such that the curve and the point are tangent to each other. Also, when using the Precise option, the curves must touch the boundary but not cross the boundary.

Guides that do not intersect

Example of Guides that do not intersect

Guides that meet tangentially

Example of Guides that meet tangentially

Guide that touches one boundary

Example of Guides that touch one boundary

Guide that does not touch a boundary

This scenario can work when Sampled is selected:

Example of Guide that does not touch a boundary

But will not succeed when Precise is selected.

Guides that intersect at tangent plane

Example of Guides that intersect at tangent plane

Failure due to lack of tangency

Example of failure due to lack of tangency

Guides that meet tangent criteria

Example of Guides that meet tangent criteria

Show isocurves

Show isocurves is selected to display the iso parametric curves, enabling you to evaluate the quality of the underlying surface:

Example of Show iso curves selected

  • When selecting edges, you might see red dots; these indicate missing or open curves in the boundary.
  • If the operation results in a closed surface (creating a volume), Onshape automatically creates a solid part (if Add is selected). If the creation of a part is an undesired result, use New to keep all surfaces and not create a part.

Create a surface (or a part from surfaces) by defining boundaries and refine the surface with boundary conditions (instead of requiring the use of reference surfaces).

  1. Tap Fill tool.

    Fill tool icon

    Fill tool dialog

  2. Select the Edges, which are boundaries of the fill.

    Optionally, define Continuity for each selected edge or curve:

    1. Tangent - Create an implicit tangency (normal to the plane of the surface) between the boundaries and the new surface (as if you had a reference surface). Optionally, when selected, the Adjacent faces field is enabled. Pick any face in which underlying geometry is coincident with at least one profile part's curve (the face and edge do not need to intersect or be part of the same part).
      Fill tool example showing the tangent option
    2. Curvature - Match the actual curve of the other surface. Optionally, when selected, the Adjacent faces field is enabled. Pick any face in which underlying geometry is coincident with at least one profile part's curve (the face and edge do not need to intersect or be part of the same part).
      Fill tool example showing the curvature option
    3. Position - Make edges meet with no tangent or curvature relationship to each other
      Fill tool example showing the position option
  3. Select Guide (points, vertices, points on a sketch, or curves) with which to influence the shape. The resulting surface intersects these points. When curves are selected, the surface pushes through the curves and you can select from two types of calculations:
    1. Sampled - Uses the Sample size to determine the number of vertices along the curves used to calculate the surface. A large sample size may result in the surface following the entire curve. A smaller Sample size may result in some rippling of the surface.
    2. Precise - uses the exact curve to form the surface. Note that this option requires very carefuflly designed and selected curves.
  4. Check Show isocurves to evaluate how the underlying surface is defined.

    The untrimmed underlying surface is shown as a mesh to display the iso parametric curves, enabling you to evaluate the quality of the underlying surface.

  5. Tap the checkmark.

The edges of the surfaces and the two bridging curves are selected as boundaries. A new surface is created.

Fill tool example before the fill Fill tool example after the fill

Guide vertices

The Guide vertices are selected to further define the shape of the surface.

Fill tool example showing guide vertices

Show isocurves

Show isocurves is selected to display the iso parametric curves, enabling you to evaluate the quality of the underlying surface

Fill tool example showing iso curves

When selecting edges, you might see red dots; these indicate missing or open curves.

If the operation results in a closed surface (creating a volume), Onshape automatically creates a solid part (if Add is selected). If the creation of a part is an undesired result, use New to keep all surfaces and not create a part.