Fix Normals

Use the Normals tool to fix element normals using different methods.

1. From the View Controls toolbar, set the model color to Surface Normals to see the existing normals.

   
   
   Figure 1.

2. From the Discrete ribbon, click the Normals tool.

   
   
   Figure 2.

3. Select parts or surfaces that form a closed volume.
   Select elements if needed for the By Connectivity fix method.
4. Define a fix method.
   • By Ray Tracing - This option works best if the input almost forms a closed volume (irrespective if all shells have conformal connectivity or not) and many element patches have inconsistent normals.
     • Define Minimum gap size: This method creates voxels and shoots rays to fix normals. In order to get the best results, define this value in accordance with the smallest gap in the model.
   • By Connectivity - Use this option to fix normals on few remaining elements. For this method, it is not required that the input forms a closed volume.
     • Update - This option updates normals of a few inconsistent elements considering connected elements have mostly consistent normals.

       Figure 3. Input	Figure 4. Output with Update option

     • Reverse - This options reverses the normals of your selection.
5. Click Fix.