Fill Holes
This command allows filling or modifying free borders of the selected mesh(es).
Requirements
Select the mesh(es) and launch the command.
Select the holes you want to fill. Selected holes are displayed in pink.
Use the options Select borders shorter than or Select borders longer than and set the Length threshold
And / or select holes by click
And / or make a rectangular selection of holes in the scene
The triangles are built in prolongation of the free edge to fill. Prolongation means that the shape is extended in the continuity of the border (tangency).
Add points inside holes: some points are added inside the hole. If curvature filling is not activated the shape will be "as flat as possible".
Curvature filling: the shape is generated to preserve the continuity (tangency and curvature) with free borders. The curvature may be adjusted with the Tension slider. If, for any reason the hole cannot be completely filled, no surface continuity will be done.
Prevent self intersection: this option prevents from generating self-intersecting surfaces when filling complex holes. The corresponding holes will be smaller but will not be fully filled.
Tips & Tricks
As the software tries to unconditionally fill the hole, there is a risk to obtain unwanted triangles. They can be removed thanks to the Clean / Separate Mesh command. You can also create a Bridge to help the hole filling procedure.
Technical information
Spheres drilled with a small hole or spherical skullcaps are strictly identical from the topological point of view
In the software, concepts of “holes” and “free border or external border” are identical. Imagine for example a hollow sphere in which you pierced a small hole on the surface. The edge of this element is a circle that you call “hole”. Imagine now that the dimension of this hole increases until reaching the complete diameter of the sphere! This element that is always a circle is now called “external border”. This concept of “hole” or “external border” is, thus, only a question of vocabulary, but from a strict mathematical point of view it is the same thing.
