Selecting Items for Clash Testing

The Select tab of the Clash Detective control bar allows you to refine your clash test by only testing sets of items at a time, rather than the whole model against itself. This will produce faster and more sensible results. You choose two sets of items to test against each other using selection trees, which are exactly the same tabs as those in Roamer's selection tree control bar.

The Select tab is also where you set the test type and tolerance and where you run a single test from.

Selecting items for a clash test

1. There are two identical boxes in this tab called Left and Right . These boxes represent two sets of items that will be tested against each other during the clash test and you need to select items in each. You can select the items by choosing a tab from the selection tree and manually selecting items from the tree hierarchies. Any selection sets in the scene are also included on a tab, which is a quick and useful method of setting up items across sessions (see the chapter called "Selecting Items" in the Roamer book for more details).

2. You can also transfer the current selection to one of the boxes by selecting items in the usual way in the main navigation window and/or selection tree and clicking the appropriate Select Current button.

3. Check the appropriate Self Intersect check box if you want that set to test for self-intersection, as well as intersection against the other set.

4. Clash tests can also include the clashing of points, lines and surfaces depending on which of the three buttons underneath each window are selected. These three buttons correspond to surfaces, lines and points, and each can be toggled on and off by clicking on them.

   If it was required to do a clash test, for example, between some surface geometry and a point cloud, then it might be done by setting up the geometry in the left hand window, and the point cloud in the right. At that point the Surface button would be set under the left window, with the other two unset. The Points button would be set under the right-hand window with the other two unset, and the Type perhaps set to Clearance with a Tolerance of 1 meter.

   Note

   If the Type is set to Hard , lines and surfaces will actually need to intersect with any points to register a clash.

Setting the clash test type and tolerance options

There are four default clash test types for you to choose from:

• Hard . Choose this option if you wish the clash test to detect actual intersections between geometry.

• Hard (Conservative) . This option performs the same clash test as Hard , however it additionally applies a conservative intersection method. See for more information on this.

  Note

  This clash test type is only available when in Developer profile. See the Interface, Profiles section of the Roamer book for more information on user profiles.

• Clearance . Choose this option if you wish the clash test to detect for geometry within a set distance from other geometry (see for information on how to set this distance). You might use this type of clash when pipes need to have space for insulation around them, for example.

  Note

  Clearance clashes are not the same as "soft" clashes. Clearance clashes detect for static geometry coming within a distance of other geometry, whereas soft clashes detect potential clashes between moving components. JetStream Clash Detective does not currently support soft clash checking.

• Duplicates . Choose this option if you wish the clash test to detect for duplicate geometry. You might use this type of clash test to check a model against itself to ensure the same part has not been drawn, or referenced twice, for example.

To select the clash test options:

1. From the Run, Type drop down, choose the clash test type you wish to run. Any custom clash tests that have been defined (see ) appear at the end of the list.

2. Enter the Tolerance required, which will be in scene units. See for more information on this.

Time-based Clashing

If a JetStream TimeLiner license is available, the Link To TimeLiner check box will be available for selection.



Linking to TimeLiner integrates the features of Clash Detective and TimeLiner, allowing the automation of interference checking throughout the lifecycle of a TimeLiner project.

1. On clicking the Start button, if the Link To TimeLiner check box is checked, Clash Detective will combine with TimeLiner to produce a clash report based on the Clash Detective settings, TimeLiner simulation settings, and the project data contained in TimeLiner.

2. As the TimeLiner project simulation progresses forward in time, Clash Detective will check at each interval in the project to see if there are any clashes present. Once the simulation is complete, any clashes found in this manner will be shown in the Results tab alongside TimeLiner project information. See the following chapter on Results for more information.

   Note

   If the TimeLiner project is large in size, running this type of clash test will invariably take more time to complete than a normal clash run.

Running the clash test

1. Once the left and right sets are selected and the clash type and tolerance defined, click on Start to start the test running. The Found box shows how many clashes have been found so far during this test.

   Note

   The progress bar shows how far through the test Clash Detective has got. If you wish to stop the test at any time, press the Cancel button and all clashes found up until the interrupt will be reported and the test will be saved with a Partial status.