OpenUtilities Substation Help

Creating and Manipulating Features on Parametric Solids

You can add various parametric features to solids using tools in the Features toolbox. Using these tools you can add:

  • Blends and Chamfers.


    Top: Slab with constant blend (left) and varying blend (right). | Bottom: Slab with symmetrical chamfer (left) and unequal chamfer (right).

  • Holes and Bosses


    Slab with examples of countersunk, simple, and counterbore holes, plus a simple boss right and boss with draft and rounding (left).

  • Cuts and protrusions — where profiles can create cuts or protrusions on solids.


    Slab and profile (left) used to create a cut (center) and protrusion (right).

  • Swept edges — where a profile can be swept around a solid, as a cut or a protrusion, using an edge as a reference trace path.


    Solid, with elliptical profile to be swept, using edge of solid (shown in heavy line weight) as a reference trace path.



    Swept profiles can create a cut (left) or a protrusion (right).

  • Ribs


    Example rib (shown heavy line weight).

  • Thin shell solids


    Before thin shelling (left) and after (right).

In a similar manner to how you manipulate individual elements, you can use tools in the Manipulate Feature toolbox, to move, copy, rotate, mirror, or create an array of, existing features on a solid. A further tool lets you add one or more constraints to features. This may be, for example, to ensure that a hole or cut always has a minimum clearance distance from one or more edges of a solid.