STL Rapid Prototyping

STL Rapid Prototyping Version 5 Release 11 Page 1
STL Rapid Prototyping
Preface
Preferred Road Maps
More Information
What' New
Getting Started
Basic Surface Tessellation
Repairing the Tessellation
Checking the Tessellation Quality
Basic Tasks
Starting the STL Rapid Prototyping Workbench
STL files
Importing One File
STL Edition
Activating a Portion of a Cloud
Remove
STL Tessellation
Tessellation
Surface Tessellation
Offset
Flip Edges
Smoothing Polygons
Fill Holes
Decimating Polygons
STL Operations
Meshes Merge
Split
Display Options
Information
Interoperability
Updating Your Design
Using the Historical Graph
Creating Datums
Points in Generative Shape Design
Advanced Tasks
Managing Open Bodies
Workbench Description
Menu Bar
View
Insert
Creation Toolbars
Import and Export
STL Edition
STL Tessellation
Operations
Operations
Analysis Toolbars
Display Options
Specification Tree
Index
Preface
STL Rapid Prototyping helps the stereolithography specialist to build and manage STL
files.
The STL Rapid Prototyping user's guide has been designed to show you how to do
that. Although stereolithography knowledge is not mandatory, it is recommended to
have some technical background in the area.
Preferred Road Maps

More Information
Using this Guide

This User's Guide is intended for the user who needs to become
quickly efficient with STL Rapid Prototyping. Before reading it, you
should be familiar with the basic concepts, such as the document
windows, standard toolbars and menus.
To make the most out of this book, we suggest that a beginning

user reads the Getting Started chapter first of all and the
Workbench Description to find his way around the STL Rapid
Prototyping workbench.
Where to Find More Information

Prior to reading this book, we recommend that you read the
Infrastructure User's Guide that describes generic capabilities
common to all products. It also describes the general layout and
interoperability between workbenches.
Conventions
What's New?
New Functionalities
Decimate
Reduces the triangle count of a polygon.
Enhanced Functionalities
Fill Holes
The user interface has been improved
Better selection of the holes edges,
Possibility to insert filling points,
Choice between a flat or a curved filling.
Getting Started
The following tutorial aims at giving you a feel of what you can do with STL Rapid
Prototyping. It provides a step-by-step scenario showing you how to use key
capabilities.
The main tasks proposed in the chapter are:
Basic Surface Tessellation

All together this scenario should take 15 minutes to

complete.
The final cloud element will look like this:
Creating a Basic Surface Tessellation

The first task will show you how to enter the STL Rapid Prototyping
workbench and create a basic surface tessellation.
The only pre-requisites for this task is to have a current session running.
1. Choose STL Rapid Prototyping from the Start/NC

Manufacturing menu.
The STL Rapid Prototyping workbench is displayed and ready to

use.
2. Open the GettingStartedSTL.CATPart from the samples directory. It is

a hairdryer, made of surfaces, with a gap and a hole in it.
3. Click the Surface Tessellate icon and select the hairdryer.

Click Apply and OK.
You can see clearly the hole and the gap in the tessellation.

This task will show you how to repair a tessellation.
Use the tessellation you have created in the previous task.

Repairing the hole:
1. Click the Fill Holes icon and select the tessellation.

The exterior edge of the model is displayed in red, with an "x" meaning this edge is not candidate
for a filling.
The two other edges in green with a "v" surround holes candidates for the filling.
2. Place the cursor over the label of the long hole and call the contextual menu. Choose Not selected.
3. Click Apply and OK. The hole is filled:

Repairing the gap:
1. Click the Activation icon and select the tessellation (Tessellation.1).

2. Draw a trap around the gap and check the Inside Trap option.
Click Apply and OK. A portion of the tessellation is activated:
3. Click the Tessellation icon and select the tessellation (Tessellation.1). Check the
Constrained option.
Click Apply and OK. A Cloud Tessellation.1 element is created in the specification tree:
this portion has been re-tessellated.
4. Select the Tessellation.1 element in the specification tree and click the Activation icon. Push
the Activate All button. Both tessellations are now active (we have changed Cloud
Tessellation.1 to pink). From the picture below you can see that they are complementary:
5. Click the Merge icon and select the two tessellations:

6. Click OK. A Polygons Merge.1 element is created in the specification tree. You have now a flawless
tessellation.

This task will show you how to quickly check the quality of the
tessellation.
Use the tessellation you have created in the previous task.
1. Click the Display icon and select the Polygons

Merge.1 tessellation. The Cloud Display Options dialog
box is displayed.
The default option is Smooth. You can check :

the Triangles option:
the Free Edges option:
the Non-manifold Edges option: (none in

our example)
the Flat option:
You can combine all of them too.

Basic Tasks
Starting the STL Rapid Prototyping Workbench

STL files
STL Edition
STL Tessellation
STL Operations
Display Options
Information
Interoperability
Opening the STL Rapid Prototyping

Workbench
The first task will show you how to enter the STL Rapid
Prototyping workbench and create a basic surface tessellation.
The only pre-requisites for this task is to have a current session
running.
1. Choose STL Rapid Prototyping from the Start/NC

Manufacturing menu.
The STL Rapid Prototyping workbench is displayed

and ready to use.
2. You can then either import an STL file, or open a CAD

model, or standard IGES or STEP data.
STL Files
These actions deal with the import of files.
Importing Files
This task shows how to import digit files describing a cloud of points (scanned or computed) or a polygon.
Use the MultiImport1.cgo_ascii, MultiImport2.cgo_ascii, MultiImport3.cgo_ascii from the samples directory.
Available formats depend on the workbench you are working in.
Digitized Shape Editor accepts:
Ascii free,
Atos (the quality of the points can be taken into account),
Cgo,
Gom-3d (as points, scans, grids or polygons, the quality of the points can be taken into account),
Hyscan,
IGES (IGES Entities 116 are processed. If the cloud to import is made of Entities 116 only, the result is a cloud of
points. Otherwise, the result is made of scans).
Kreon
Steinbichler (as points, grids or scans),
Stl (bin or ascii, with creation of free edges and facets, if requested).
STL Rapid Prototyping accepts:
STL files (bin or ascii, with creation of free edges and facets, if requested).
1. Click the Import icon . The Could Import dialog box is displayed.
2. In the Format field, select the file format.

3. In the Selected File area, use the button ... to browse your directories and select a file.
4. Check the box Statistics to display information about the model you are importing. If you want to import several
files in one shot, please refer to the Grouped explanations.
5. In the Options field:
Enter the Sampling percentage to apply;

The sampling value determines the percentage of points or scans or grids that will be read from the digit
file.
Enter the Scale factor to apply to the model, as well as the Unit used in the file.
Sampling is not available for STL Rapid Prototyping.

If the extension of the file you have selected is consistent with the list proposed, the Format field is updated
automatically. Otherwise, be careful to enter the correct format in that field.
Once you have performed an import operation, V5 proposes the last entered file path and format as default. If you
click on ..., the last entered directory is proposed as default.
The File unit option is not relevant to the Steinbichler format, nor the Sampling percentage to the Stl format.
6. For some digit file formats, you may want to enter additional data that are displayed by clicking the button More>>
For Ascii: For Atos and Gom-3d: For Iges: For Stl:
Direction and Delimitors apply to scans. Enter these data whenever you know them.
Minimal Point Quality is used to clean Atos file from invalid points. The quality value of a point lies
between 0 and 255 (low to high). Choose a value to ignore points below that value:
Minimal Point Quality value is 125:

Minimal Point Quality value is 75:
System applies to the operating system (Unix or Windows NT) used to generate the binary data: select Same if
you know you are using the same operating system as the one used to generate the binary data, Other for the
other way, Unknown if you have no indication.
Free Edges is used to create or not the scans representing the free edges of a polygon:
or
Facets is used to create or not the facets of the imported polygon:
or
7. Click Apply to display the cloud of points or polygon:

8. Push the button Update to display the bounding box of the cloud of points or polygon. Use the green arrow to resize
it in order to import only a part of the cloud of points or polygon.
The bounding box appears every time the cursor passes over a cloud of points or a polygon. Its size corresponds to that
of the visible points.
The check box Replace is used to replace the current cloud of points or polygon by a new one.
9. Once you are satisfied with the preview, click Apply and OK to finish the import of the cloud of points or polygon.
The name of the element created in the specification tree is the name of the original file, without its extension.
Undo and Redo are available.
V5 memorizes the data of the last imported file and proposes them at the next import action.
Importing a Set of Files

1. Click the Import icon . The Could Import dialog box is displayed. The operating mode is the same as for
one file.
The files to import must:

have the same format,
be located under the same directory.
The Selected File field looks like this:

If you check the Grouped option (this is the default If you do not check the Grouped option:
status):
The files are imported separately.
All the files are imported as one single cloud of
points instead of several:
The three digit files have been imported separately, resulting in

three clouds of points.
The three digit files have been imported together,
resulting in one cloud of points or polygon.
One Element Cloud Import.x is created in the The name of each cloud created in the specification tree is the name
specification tree. of the original file, without its extension (MultiImport1.1,
MultiImport2.1, MultiImport3.1) .
You can also merge several clouds of points into one whenever necessary, using the Merge Clouds command.
Editing Polygons
This chapter deals with the edition of polygons, i.e.

Selection, Remove actions.
Although the dialog boxes look similar, the operating mode of
the Select and Remove actions are slightly different:
De-activated triangles can be recalled using Activate
all and Invert in a new activation action.
Removed triangles can not be recalled! Activate all
and Invert apply only to the current removal action.
They can not be used to recall removed triangles, once
you have clicked OK.
The Activation action displays only triangles that are
fully selected (i.e. the whole triangle is inside the
selection trap, or all its vertices have been picked). If you
select only one or two vertices of a triangle, or if the
selection trap intersects the triangle, it is not displayed.
As a consequence, when you push the button Swap, the
triangles displayed are not the exact complement of the
previous selection.
The Remove action takes into account triangles that are
at least partially selected (at least one vertex has been
picked, or the selection trap intersects the triangle).
select a polygon and define a portion to

Define a mesh Area:
activate by pick or trap
select a polygon and define a portion to
Remove:
remove by pick or trap
Activating a Portion of a Cloud of

Points
This task shows how to select a portion of a cloud of points or
of polygon in order to create a work area, either:
by picking directly elements of the cloud (points, scans,
grids, cells, clouds) or
by defining a portion of the cloud or polygon with a 2D or
3D trap.
Open the Cloud.CATPart model the from the samples
directory.
1. Click the Activate icon and the cloud of points or

polygon. The Activate Points dialog box is
displayed.
The Apply button has been replaced by the Valid

Trap button and the OK button:
To activate an area by picking elements, select

them and click OK to confirm the activation and
close the dialog box.
To create a single activation area by trap, draw
the trap, modify it when necessary and click
OK to confirm the activation and close the
dialog box.
To create several activation areas by traps,

draw the first trap, modify it when necessary,
click Valid Trap to validate this trap. Repeat
these steps for each trap then click OK to
confirm the activation and close the dialog box.
You can define :

the Selection Type:
Pick: activation occurs by direct picking, according
to the level of selection:
Point
Scan or
Grid
Cell
(sub-
element
of a
cloud)
Cloud
(global
cloud)
Trap: the points are selected using a graphic

trap:
either Rectangular or
Polygonal or
Spline.
As long as you have not double-clicked to end the polygonal

trap, you can undo/redo each pick of the polygonal trap.
The activated points are those that appear in red during

the selection.
By default, as shown above, the trap is displayed in the
view plane. It is thus a 2D trap.
You can rotate the model to display it as a 3D trap.
You can modify the shape of the trap using the green
arrows that appear on the edges of the trap.
You can create as many areas as you wish by clicking

Valid Trap and drawing another trap, until you click OK
to validate and exit the action.
If you draw a trap and click Valid Trap, and then choose
Swap, you validate the complement of the trap.
2. You can choose to keep the points :
Inside the trap or

Outside the trap.
3. You can select an activated portion of a cloud of points or

a polygon and recall the activation action to:
Activate all (the whole cloud of points or
polygon is re-activated),
Swap the selection (the complement of the current
selection becomes active whereas the current
selection is hidden)
The Activation action displays only triangles that are

fully selected (i.e. the whole triangle is inside the
selection trap, or all its vertices have been picked). If you
select only one or two vertices of a triangle, or if the
selection trap intersects the triangle, it is not displayed.
As a consequence, when you push the button Swap, the
triangles displayed are not the exact complement of the
previous selection.
The free edges displayed are those of the complete polygon:
if you activate only a portion of a polygon, the free edges
of that portion are not displayed.
Removing Elements
This task shows you how to remove a elements from a cloud or a polygon.
Open the Cloud.CATPart model from the samples directory.
1. Click the Remove icon and the polygon. The Remove points dialog box is
displayed.
2. Check the Pick option, then the required element type (Level) to remove elements
using the hierarchical selection. According to your choice and the application you are
working in, only points, or triangles, or scan/grid, or cells (sub-cloud) or clouds (global
cloud) will be removed. Select the unwanted elements on the cloud, then Click OK to
confirm their removal and close the dialog box.
Or check the Trap option then the required Trap Type and the portion of cloud to
remove (Inside or Outside Trap) to remove elements using a graphical trap. You
can draw either one single trap, or several traps.
In that case, valid each trap with the Valid Trap push button before drawing the
next one.
If you draw a trap, push Valid Trap, then Swap, you will remove the complement
of the original selection.
Click OK when all traps have been defined to remove the unwanted elements and
close the dialog box.
The traps may be either rectangular :
In that case, you can modify the trap using the green manipulators.
or polygonal :
or spline:
In those cases, you can modify the trap using the green manipulators or use the
Undo action on each segment of the trap as long as you have not double-clicked to
end the polygonal trap.
The deleted elements are those that appear in red during selection.
By default, the trap is displayed in the view plane (2D trap). You can rotate the model to
display the trap as a 3D trap.
Within one removal action, use Activate all to recall all the points of the original
cloud of points, or Swap to invert the selection (the complement of the current selection
becomes active whereas the current selection is hidden).
The Remove action takes into account triangles that are at least partially selected (at
least one vertex has been picked, or the selection trap intersects the triangle).
Undo/Redo are not available on the global action.

Although the dialog boxes look similar, the operation mode of the Select and the Remove
actions are slightly different:
Removed elements can not be recalled !
Activate all and Swap apply only to the current removal action. They can not
be used to recall removed elements once you have validated the action.
All free edges may be displayed.
Tessellation
This chapter deals with the tessellation of clouds of points.
Re-Tessellate: select a cloud and a mesher type

Surface Tessellation: select a surface or a solid
Offset: select a polygon and an offset value
Flip Edges: select a polygon and a flip angle
Smooth Polygon select a polygon
Fill Holes: select a polygon and a hole to fill
select a polygon and a target triangle
Decimation
count
Tessellating a Polygon
This task shows how to tessellate a cloud of points or Re-Tessellate an existing polygon.
The tessellation action offers:
a neighborhood parameter that makes it possible to fill holes or to let some areas unmeshed,
an automatic detection or a manual definition of the meshing plane for the 2D mesher,
boundary continuity with contiguous tessellations through the Constrained option,
a fully automatic 3D meshing (c)INRIA, suitable for mechanical parts with blind or through holes, that
respects details, especially sharp edges,
a sag value to tessellate dense clouds with a reduced number of triangles, but still respecting the 3D
Shape within a given tolerance.
Open the Cloud.CATPart model from the samples directory.
1. Click the Tessellate or Re-Tessellate icon . The Cloud Tessellation dialog box is
displayed.
2. Check the Execution Mode option you need:
3D (c)INRIA: this is a tessellation method for 2D: this is a less complex tessellation
complicated shapes (e.g. mechanical objects, method, to apply to simple objects, i.e. that
clouds that can not be projected onto a single plane, can be projected onto a single plane
or without draft characteristics). (smooth shapes).
This is the default option. The entry dialog box is replaced with that of the
2D Mesher.
This mesher provides a Sag option to reduce the number 3. Select the plane that is the computation
of triangles computed on dense clouds. However, this reference for the tessellation:
option respects the shape of the object.
either one main plane
You would achieve the same result by filtering the cloud
with the adaptative option set to the sag value and or one defined with the compass
tessellating the output. The quality of the tessellation depends on
the computation direction.
You can also tessellate a cloud with a sag equal to 0.
This means that all the points are tessellated. This
algorithm is more suitable to tessellate large clouds
quickly.
3. If necessary check the sag option and enter its

value, or keep the default 3D Mesher.
4. A Neighborhood value is proposed in accordance with the model. This value represents the maximal
edge length of the triangles displayed. The value proposed is just an approximation of this value. Its
relevance depends on the distribution of the points in the cloud. It is visualized by a sphere. You can
change its position by a simple mouse click.
The sphere is updated when you change the Neighborhood value.

Tessellation requires a complex computation. The computation time will increase according to the size and
complexity of your model. You may want to filter the cloud before starting the tessellation.
5. Check the Display option you need:
Triangles to display only the tessellation,

Shading to simulate the surface of the object:
with the Flat option, the light is sent on the triangles along their normal,
with the Smooth option, the light is smoothed over the triangles, giving a better image
of the quality of the surface.
These display options are applied within this action only. Once you have validated the result with OK, the
result is displayed in the Smooth mode, even if the input element or the computed mesh were displayed in
another mode.
6. Constrained is used to:
re-process a portion of a tessellation by adding points to an existing tessellation or

reprocessing a meshed cloud that has been unfiltered::
Open the Tessellation2.CATPart model from the

from the Samples directory.
The original tessellation had holes in it. Select a

faulty portion and proceed to a new tessellation on
that portion.
The original tessellation is in red. The re-processed

tessellation is in blue.
connect several tessellations:

Open the Tessellation1.CATPart model from the from the Samples directory. Draw two traps
on that part and tessellate them with different values, as shown below. Now activate the
remaining square of points, as shown below.
For quicker tessellation performances, you can filter portions of the parts according to your successive
needs.
The tessellation is constrained, the activation trap

The tessellation is unconstrained, the activation trap overlaps the previous tessellations. The resulting
does not overlap the previous tessellations. The tessellation is connected to the other two. Facets of
resulting tessellation is independent from the other the existing tessellation that were totally or partially
two. inside the trap have been removed and recomputed
to adjust to the additional tessellation.
7. Click Apply to check or update the result. Then click OK to confirm the result and exit the action. An
element Cloud Tessellation.x is created in the specification tree.
Increase the Neighborhood value to improve the

tessellation or reduce it to avoid filling holes that should
remain clear:
Triangles:
Shading:
In some cases, it may be difficult to find a Neighborhood value that will fill unwanted holes, without
creating unwanted triangles:
Seams may appear on the tessellation with the Smooth option, :
They indicate that the normals to the facets have different directions at this place.
In 2D and 3D mode, some triangles may overlap and tessellation should be corrected.
In Constrained mode, they show the common boundaries of tessellations.
When computing a constrained tessellation, enter 0 as the Neighborhood value to check the
boundaries of the tessellation. If the boundaries are not satisfactory, modify the tessellation plane to
improve them.
After the computation of a constrained tessellation, two tessellation elements are visible in the
specification tree: the constrained tessellation and the initial tessellation. You can select one and then
the other to make sure they are complementary.
You can use the Merge Polygons action to obtain a single polygon.
Tessellating an Object
This task shows how to create a tessellation from a surface or a

solid. Inside this action, you may specify the maximum size of
the triangles and the maximum distance (sag) between the
geometry and the triangles.
Open the SurfTessellation1.CATPart model from the samples
directory.
1. Click the Surface Tessellation icon . The

Tessellation dialog box is displayed.
2. Select the surface or the solid to tessellate. Click Apply.

3. You can modify the Sag value, that is the maximum distance
between the geometry and the triangles:
it has been increased to 1
4. You can also check the Step box to control the length of
triangles:
5. Click OK to validate. A Tesselation.x element is created

in the specification tree.
The free edges of the tessellation are those of the surfaces

or solids.
To avoid free edges between the tessellations of several
contiguous faces, you can join them with the Join action of
Quick Surface Reconstruction or Generative Shape Design.
They will then be processed as a single surface.
Offsetting a Polygon
This task shows how to offset a polygon and create a

watertight polygon.
Open the Offset1.CATPart model from the samples directory.
1. Select the Offset icon . The Offset Polygon

dialog box is displayed.
2. Select the polygon.

3. Enter an Offset value. The offset polygon is
displayed, together with a green vector representing the
offset. The direction of the offset is given by the sign of
the value.
4. Check the Create shell option to create a watertight

offset::
Create shell unchecked Create Shell checked

5. Click Apply to check or update the result. Then click OK

to confirm the result and exit the action. The element
Offset Polygon.x is created in the specification tree.
The offset is computed in the direction of the weighted

normals of the points.
For better results, you should avoid to enter a high offset
value.
Flip Edges
This task shows you how to flip edges of triangles of a

polygon, for a better respect of sharp edges, by rotating the
triangles common edges without modifying their vertices. The
meshing may become less harmonious but will provide a
better respect of the shape of the part because the triangles
will be oriented in the direction of the shape, in particular for
sharp edge fillets. This is particularly important for milling
operations that may follow.
This action reorganizes the meshing without modifying the

geometry because the vertices are not recomputed.
The first picture
shows a blunted
edge.
The second picture

shows the same
edge after the
reorientation of the
triangles.
Open the Cloud.CATPart model the from the samples
directory. For a better understanding, use the Cloud Display
Options icon to display the triangles of the polygon.
1. Click the Flip Edges icon

and a polygon. The dialog
box is displayed.
2. Sets the value of Depth, that
determines the amplitude of
the reorganization of the
polygon:
The value of Depth

ranges from 0 to 10.
The default value is
2.
When the value of
Depth is 0, the
action processes a
triangle and its direct
neighbors.
When the value of
Depth is 1, the
action processes a
triangle, its direct
neighbors and their
direct neighbors,
and so on as you
increase the value of
Depth.
This may lead to a
temporary
degradation of the
energy function of
the polygon, but
results in a final
optimal solution.
The computation
time depends on the
value of Depth, and
on the size of the
polygon to process.
3. Click Apply to start the first

reorganization iteration. Click
Apply again to start another
iteration. You may repeat this
step as many times as you
wish.
4. Click OK to validate the result.
A Flip_Edge.x element is
created in the specification
tree. The initial polygon is sent
to the No Show.
The new polygon inherits the graphic properties and

display mode of the initial polygon.
During the process, the polygon is displayed in Flat
Shading mode.
This action should not be used on polygons with non-
manifold edges.
Undo/Redo are available.
You may create several Flip_Edge.x elements in the
specification tree, corresponding to various degrees of
reorganization of a given polygon. You may then delete
any of them, according to your needs.
Smoothing Polygons
This task shows you how to smooth a polygon.
The cloud of points you import in Digitized Shape Editor may be noisy, for various reasons, mainly because of a poor
digitalization accuracy on the edges of parts. This noise is found again on the polygons computed from these clouds of
points or imported in STL format.
The consequences are:
very noisy scans produced with the Planar Sections or Segmentations actions or
the reconstruction of wavy curves or surfaces and/or of very high order.
This can be partly avoided by smoothing the polygon.

Open the SmoothPolygon01.CATPart from the samples directory
1. Click the Smooth Polygon icon and a polygon.

2. The Smoothing dialog box is displayed.
3. Select the type of smoothing:
Choose Single effect if there is no sharp edge on the polygon to process.
Small radii will be erased.

The volume of the part will be reduced (contraction towards the center of gravity of the part).
Choose Dual effect to reduce the distance between outliers and the surface, and reduce the erasing of small
radii.
The reduction of the volume of the part is smaller.

A large displacement of one vertex inwards may cause the neighboring vertices to move outwards.
Coefficient : It balances the effect of the new theoretical position in comparison with the original position. It varies
from 0 (the vertex is not moved) to 1 (the vertex is moved to the computed position).
Max Deviation: Check this option to control the maximum deviation allowed (the displacement will remain under the
value set.)
Original polygon Dual effect Single effect
4. Click Apply: a new polygon is computed. This action is an iterative one: click Apply again to smooth the proposed
polygon.
5. Click OK once you are satisfied. A Smoothing.x element is created in the specification tree, the original polygon is
sent to the No Show.
For a better appreciation of the quality of the intermediate smoothings, the polygons are displayed in Flat Shading
within the action.
Since the volume of the part is reduced, some small facets may be inverted by the smoothing. Therefore we
recommend you alternate Smooth Polygon and Flip Edges actions.
Use the Activate function to process only a portion of a cloud.
Filling Holes on Polygons
This task shows you how to fill holes on polygons with the following
advantages:
You can either select the holes manually or automatically.
The filling can be basic (no point inserted, basic remeshing) or
more sophisticated (points are inserted, and the meshing can
be flat or curved).
Open the Fillhole1.CATPart from the samples directory.
1. Select the Fill Holes icon and polygon .
2. The dialog box is displayed. A first recognition of the holes is

done:
X means the hole is not selected,

V means the hole is selected,
The biggest hole found is considered as "exterior".

Since you usually do not want to fill the outside of the
part, this hole is not selected, but you can change its
status.
3. Click on the label to select or de-select a given hole or right-

click on a label to call the contextual menu:
Use Selected/Not selected as a toggle on a single hole,

and Select all/De-Select all as a toggle on all holes.
4. If you want to select the holes to fill automatically, check the

Hole size option. A sphere is displayed. You can change its
diameter in the box on the right:
either enter a value,

or right-click to call the contextual menu:
All the holes smaller than this sphere are selected.

5. Click Apply. A basic meshing is computed to fill the hole:
6. Check the Points insertion option and click Apply. A new

meshing is computed, with more meshing points:
With this option, you can set a Sag and a Step (i.e. the
maximum length of the mesh edges) value, either directly
or with the contextual menu.
7. By default, the filling is flat:

Check the Shape option for a curved filling. The filling is

computed on a virtual surface, the curvature coefficient of
which is controlled by the slider on the right: increase this
coefficient to increase the curvature of the filling.
1. Click Apply to visualize the filling with given parameters. If you

are not satisfied, click Undo, modify the parameters and click
Apply to refresh the filling. Once you are satisfied, click OK to
validate and exit the action
Undo is available within the action, not after you have exited
the action.
The holes to fill must be closed.
When no coherent result can be computed, an error message
is displayed.
Decimating Polygons
This task will show you how to decimate a polygon.
Decimation is a command reducing the triangle count of a polygon for a

quicker execution of commands. It also reduces the memory requirements
for the model. Many large polygons can be represented accurately with less
triangles.
Decimation reduces the triangle count by collapsing iteratively edges. The

action collapses by preference the edges having the less impact on the
shape of the model. For instance, edges in flat areas are collapsed prior to
edges in high-curvature areas to prevent any loss of geometry accuracy.
Initial polygon with 207561 triangles Decimation with Target Triangle

Count= 5000 triangles
Decimation with Chordal

Decimation with Percentage=90 % Deviation=0.2

Open the SmoothPolygon01.CATPart from the samples directory
1. Click the Decimation icon and select a polygon. The dialog box is
displayed:
2. Check the type of decimation you want to apply:
by Chordal Deviation or
by Percentage.
Chordal Deviation:
Enter the Chordal Deviation that should not be exceeded. The edges of the
triangles are collapsed until further collapse will exceed this chordal
deviation. Decimation stops when this limit is reached.
By Percentage:
You can enter either:
the Percentage, i.e. the percentage of the initial count of triangles that
should remain after the decimation, or
the Target Triangle Count, i.e. the count of triangles that should remain
after the decimation.
Both fields are updated simultaneously.

3. Click Apply. The decimation is computed. The counts of triangles are
updated.
4. Either press OK to validate the decimation and exit the action,
or press Apply to start continue the decimation with the same values or
new ones,
or press Cancel to exit the action and revert to the initial model.
Operations
This chapter deals with the tessellation of clouds of points.
Merge: select polygons to merge

Split a Mesh: select a polygon or a cloud of points
Merging Polygons
This task shows how to merge two polygons. This action is

useful especially for polygons resulting from a constrained
tessellation: it removes the seam created by the constrained
tessellation.
This action does not modify the triangles of the polygons
(holes are not filled, no management of overlaps, ...). For a
good result, repair the polygons first, using constrained
tessellation, fill hole action, ....
Open the MergePolygons1.CATPart model the from the
samples directory. It consists of two polygons, the smallest
resulting from a constrained tessellation.
1. Select the Merge Polygons icon . The Polygons

Merge dialog box is displayed.
2. Select the polygons you want to merge. The list in the
dialog box is updated.
3. To remove a polygon from the list of polygons to merge,
make its name active in the list and check Remove.
4. To replace a polygon in the list of polygons to merge,
remove it, then select a new polygon.
5. Once you have selected all polygons to be merged, click
OK. A new single-cell polygon is created in the
specification tree under the name Tessellations
Merge.x.
Splitting Polygons
This task shows how to split a polygon or a cloud.

Open the Cloud.CATPart model the from the samples directory.
1. Select the Split a Polygon or a Cloud icon . The

Split Polygon dialog box is displayed.
2. Select the polygon or the cloud to split.
3. Select a portion of the element according to the Activation
operating mode.
4. Once the selection is done, click OK to validate.
5. The input element is hidden. Two elements are created in the
specification tree:
SplitCloud.1 and SplitCloud.2 if you the input

element was a cloud. SplitCloud.1 corresponds to
the remaining portion of the original cloud,
SplitCloud.2 is the split cloud (portion selected).
SplitPolygon.1 and SplitPolygon.2 if you the
input element was a polygon SplitCloud.1
corresponds to the remaining portion of the original
polygon, SplitCloud.2 is the split polygon (portion
selected).
The output element indexes are increased if further
splits occur.
If the selection is empty, or if the whole input element is

selected, no split element is created.
To retrieve the original input element, recall it from the No Show,
or merge the two split elements.
When you split a polygon using the Trap option, the triangles
are smoothly cut by the trap line.
Display Options and Graphic

Properties
This task shows how to change the display option of clouds of points.
Open the Visu1.CATPart model the from the samples directory. It
consists of four clouds of points:
a polygon,
a cloud of points,
a set of scans,
a set of grids.
Their default colors are respectively:
orange,
green,
cyan,
cyan.
The display options are available from the Cloud Display Options
box. Further graphic properties are available from the
Edit/Properties menu, in the Graphic tab.
From the Cloud Display Options box, you can:
Choose the sampling of clouds of points (N of 100 points are

displayed).
Choose to display scans or grids as polylines, points, or both.
Choose to display triangles, free edges, non-manifold edges of
tessellations. You can also choose their display mode: flat or
smooth.
From the Edit/Properties menu, you can:
Choose the fill color of the polygon and its transparency level,
Choose the color and symbol of the points of a cloud,
Choose the color, type and thickness of scans and grids,
Choose to elements pickable or not.

Cloud Display Options box
The images below are only examples.
1. Click the Cloud icon

at the bottom of the screen.
The Cloud Display
Option dialog box is
displayed.
2. Select the cloud to modify.
Display options are
proposed according to the
type of the cloud selected:
Following options are not yet

available:
Protected,
Orientation,
Vertex,
Shrink,
Normal.
3. For the cloud of points, you can choose to display only a

percentage of the points making the cloud, using the Sampling
option. By default, 100% of the points are displayed. You can
change this value with the associated spinner.
Sampling=100 Sampling=25
The Symbol options are no longer available in that box, but in the
Graphic Properties menu.
For the sets of scans or grids, you can display them as line
of points or points or both:
For the polygon, you can:

display the triangles,
the free edges in yellow,

the non-manifold facets and their vertices in bold white
lines.
If you choose the display of triangles, the triangles

accepting a non-manifold edge have their edges
displayed as regular white lines.
display the polygon as a smooth or a flat tessellation tessellation.
or
The free edges displayed are those of the complete cloud of points:
if you activate only a portion of a cloud of points, the free edges
of that portion are not displayed.
if you remove a portion of a cloud of points, the free edges of the

remaining portion are displayed.
If you move a cloud of points or a polygon, its graphic display

options (not the graphic properties) are lost.
The display options are not saved in the CATPart while the
graphic properties are.
Edit/Properties menu (Graphic tab)
For more information about this menu, please refer to the Displaying
and Editing Graphic Properties chapter in the CATIA Infrastructure
user's guide.
The images below are only examples.

You can access this menu through Edit/Properties, or through the
pop-up menu of the element, or display the Graphic Properties
toolbar (View/Toolbars/Graphic Properties).
or
The color displayed in the Graphic Properties toolbar

applies to polygons only.
The graphic properties are saved in the CATPart.
Use Fill/Color and Transparency to modify the color and

transparency of polygons:
Please note that :

the color of polygon free edges is yellow, and is not editable,
the color of non-manifold edges is white, and is not editable,
the default color of scans has changed to cyan.
For a higher transparency quality, go to

Tools/Options/Display/Performances and check the High
(Alpha blending) option.
Use Edges/Color, Line type and Thickness to modify the
display of scans and grids or of the triangles of a polygon :
Use Points/Color and Symbol to modify the display of clouds

of points:
Use the Pickable check box to make an element pickable or

not, and choose the pick option in the list below.
Information
This task shows you how to get information on a cloud of points.
Open Info1.CATPart from the samples directory.
1. Click the Information icon and select a cloud of points.

2. An information box is displayed, with the statistics about the
selected cloud:
Bounding box ,and active bounding box,
Number of points, of active points, of selected points, of
filtered points,
Total number of triangles and of active triangles.
3. If you select another cloud, the information box is updated with the
statistics of that cloud.
4. Push the Close button when you are finished to exit the action.
Interoperability
STL Rapid Prototyping complies with the following CATIA V5
standards:
an Update function is available from the Tools toolbar,

the Historical Graph is available,
the Create Datum mode is available,
the icon of clouds of points in the specification tree are
dimmed when the clouds of points are in the No Show,
Generative Shape Design elements can be created on points
from a cloud of points.
Updating Your Design

This task explains how and when you should update your
design.
The point of updating your design is to make the application

take your last operation into account. Indeed some changes to
geometry or a constraint may require rebuilding the part. To
warn you that an update is needed, CATIA displays the update
symbol next to the part name and displays the corresponding
geometry in bright red.
To update a part, the application provides two update modes:
automatic update, available in Tools -> Options ->
Shape, General tab. If checked, this option lets the
application update the part when needed.
manual update, available in Tools -> Options ->
Shape, General tab, it lets you control the updates of
your part. You simply need to click the Update icon
whenever you wish to integrate modifications.
Non-updated wireframe and surface elements are displayed in

red.
1. To update the part, click the Update icon .
A progression bar indicates the evolution of the

operation.
You can cancel the undergoing update by clicking the Cancel

button available in the Updating... dialog box.
Keep in mind that some operations such as confirming
the creation of features (clicking OK) do not require you to
use the update command. By default, the application
automatically updates the operation.
The Update capability is also available via Edit ->

Update and the Update contextual command.
To update the feature of your choice, just select that

feature and use the Local Update contextual
command.
Besides the update modes, you can also choose to

visualize the update on the geometry as it is happening
by checking the Activate Local Visualization
option from the Tools -> Options -> Shape,
General tab.
In this case, as soon as you have clicked the Update
icon :
1. the geometry disappears from the screen

2. each element is displayed as it is updated,
including elements in No Show mode. Once
they have been updated, they remain in No
Show mode.
Interrupting Updates
This tasks explains how to update a part and interrupt the

update operation on a given feature by means of a useful
message you previously defined.
Open any document containing geometric elements.
1. Right-click an element from the specification tree and

choose the Properties contextual menu item.
The Properties dialog box is displayed.
2. From the Mechanical tab, check the Associate stop

update option.
3. Enter the text to be displayed when the updating process

will stop when reaching this element.
4. Click OK to confirm and close the dialog box.
The Stop Update.1 feature is

displayed in the specification tree,
below the element for which it was
defined.
5. Whenever it is needed, click the Update icon to

update the whole part.
The updating process stops after having updated the

element selected above, and issues the message as
has been defined earlier:
6. Click Yes or No, depending on what you intend to do with

the geometry created based on the selected element.
Would you no longer need this capability, you can:

right-click the element for which the stop was defined,
choose the Properties contextual command and check
the Deactivate stop update option from the
Mechanical tab: the update will no longer at this
element.
You notice that when the capability is deactivated, the
Stop Update icon changes to: in the specification tree.
right-click Stop Update.1 from the specification tree, and

choose the Delete contextual command.
Using the Historical Graph

This command is only available with the Generative Shape Design
product.
This task shows how to use the Historical Graph.
1. Select the
element for
which you want
to display the
historical graph.
2. Click the Show
Historical
Graph icon .
The
Historical
Graph
dialog box
appears.
The following icon commands are available.

Add graph
Remove graph
Reframe graph
Surface or Part graph representation
Parameters filter
Constraints filter.
3. Just close the dialog box to exit this mode.

Creating Datums
This task shows how to create geometry with the History mode
deactivated.
In this case, when you create an element, there are no links to
the other entities that were used to create that element.
1. Click the Create Datum icon to deactivate the
History mode.
It will remain deactivated until you click on the icon

again.
If you double-click this icon, the Datum mode is

permanent. You only have to click again the icon to
deactivate the mode.
A click on the icon activates the Datum mode for the

current or the next command.
The History mode (active or inactive) will remain fixed from one
session to another: it is in fact a setting.
Points in Generative Shape Design

This task shows you how to use points from a cloud of points in Generative
Shape Design.
Open the Cloud1.CATPart from the samples directory. We used the Line
Definition for our example, but the operating mode is the same for all creation
action requiring points.
1. Select the type
of creation from
the combo list of
the dialog box.
2. Go to the next
Point field and
choose Create
Point from the
contextual menu.
3. The Point
Definition
dialog box is
displayed.
4. Click a point on
the cloud. Its
coordinates are
displayed in the
Point
Definition
dialog box. Click
OK to confirm the
creation of this
point.
5. In the main
dialog box, go to
the next Point
field and repeat
the above steps
as many times
as necessary.
6. If necessary,
push the Point
icon on the right
of the Point field
to modify the
point you have
created: the
Point
Definition
dialog box is
displayed and
updated
according to
your pick on the
cloud.
Advanced Tasks
Advanced Tasks in STL Rapid Prototyping are related to :
OpenBodies
Managing Open Bodies

This task shows how to manage the specification tree. This
involves:
inserting open body entities
removing open body entities
activating/deactivating an open body
changing body
sorting the contents of an open body
reordering components
hiding/showing open bodies entities
You will find other useful information in the Managing Groups

section.
An open body enables to reorganize the specification tree
when it becomes too complex or too long. You can put any
element you wish in the open body, it does not have to be
structured in a logical way.
You can insert and manipulate open bodies in the
specification tree in much the same way as you manage
files in folders.
These management functions have no impact on the part
geometry.
You should refer to the Copying and Pasting section for
information about how open bodies can be used in a part
edition context.
When loading the Generative Shape Design workbench,

an Open Body automatically becomes the current body.
This also means that only the results of the Part Body, i.e.
the result of all the operations performed on geometry, is
visible and not any intermediate state of the Part Body.
You can define the Generative Shape Design feature that

is to be seen when working with another application, such
as Generative Structural Analysis for example.
To do this, while in the
Generative Shape
Design workbench:
1. Choose the Tools -

> External
View... menu
item
The External View
dialog box is
displayed.
2. Select the element
belonging to an
Open Body that
should always been
seen as the current
element when
working with an
external application.
3. Click OK in the
dialog box.
The selected element will be the visible element in

other applications, even if other elements are
created later in the .CATPart document,
chronologically speaking.
To check whether an external view element has

already been specified, choose the Tools ->
External View... menu item again. The dialog
box will display the name of the currently selected
element. This also allows you to change elements
through the selection of another element. Note that
you cannot deselect an external view element and
that only one element can be selected at the same
time.
Open any .CATPart document containing OpenBodies.

You can also open the OpenBodies2.CATPart document.
Inserting an Open Body
1. In the specification tree, select an element as the location

of the new open body.
This element will be considered as a child of the new
open body and can be an open body or a feature.
2. Select the Insert -> Open

Body menu command.
The Insert Open Body dialog

box is displayed.
The Features list displays the
elements to be contained in
the new open body.
3. Enter the name of the new

open body.
4. Select additional entities that

are to be included in the new
open body.
If all selected entities belong to the

same open body, the father of the
new open body is automatically set
to the father of these entities.
5. Click OK to create the open
body at the desired location.
The result is immediate.

CATIA displays this new
Open_body.x,
incrementing its name in
relation to the pre-
existing bodies, in the
specification tree. It is
created after the last
current open body and is
underlined, indicating
that it is the active open
body.
Use the Father combo list to choose the body where the new
open body is to be inserted. All destinations present in the
document are listed allowing you to select one to be the father
without scanning the specification tree. They can be:
bodies
open bodies
parts
parts bodies
This Insert Open Body dialog box is only available with the
Generative Shape Design product.
Removing an Open Body
Two methods are available:

If you want to delete the open body and all its contents:
1. Right-click the open body then select the Delete

contextual command.
If you want to delete the open body but keep its contents:
This is only possible when the father location of the open
body is another open body. This is not possible when the
father location is a root open body.
1. Right-click the desired open body then select the

Open_Body.x object -> Remove Open Body
contextual command.
The open body is removed and its constituent

entities are included in the father open body.
Moving an Open Body to a New Body

1. Right-click the desired open

body in the specification tree
and select the Open_Body.x
object -> Change Body
command from the contextual
menu.
The Change Body dialog

box appears.
The list of destinations is
alphabetically sorted.
2. Select the new body where

the open body is to be
located.
By default, if you select a body, the open body is

positioned last within the new body. However, you
can select any element in the new body, before
which the moved open body will be located.
See also Moving Elements From an Open Body.
3. Click OK to move the open body to the new body.
This option is only available with the Generative Shape Design

product.
Sorting the Contents of an Open Body
You may need to sort the contents of an Open Body, when the
geometric elements no longer appear in the logical creation
order. In that case, use the Auto-sort capability to reorder the
OpenBody contents in the specification tree (geometry itself is
not affected).
The Open_body.1 contains two

extruded surfaces based on point-
point lines. The specification tree
looks like this:
1. Right-click the OpenBody.1

from the specification and
choose the Open_Body.1
object -> AutoSort
Open Body command.
Instantly, the contents of

the OpenBody are
reorganized to show the
logical creation process.
The geometry remains
unchanged.
Reordering Components within an Open Body
This capability enables you to reorder elements inside the

same open body.
1. Right-click the OpenBody.1

from the specification and
choose the Open_Body.1
object -> Reorder
Children command.
The Reorder Children dialog
box is displayed.
2. Select an element.
3. Use the arrows to:
move the element

up
move the element
down
sort the list in a
ascending order
sort the list in a
descending order
Workbench Description
This chapter describes the menus, sub-menus, items and toolbars of the workbench.
Menu Bar
Creation Toolbars
Analysis Toolbars
Specification Tree
Menu Bar
This chapter describes the menus available in the workbench.
Other menus are documented in the Infrastructure User's Guide.
View
Insert
View
The View menu lets you view document contents and toolbars.
Toolbars
For See
STL Analysis Information
Display Options
STL Display
and Graphic
Options
Properties
STL Edition Editing Polygons
STL Files Importing Files
STL Operations Operations
STL Tessellation Tessellation
For the other menu items, please refer to the Infrastructure User's
Guide.
Insert
This menu is used to insert STL Rapid Prototyping commands
For See
STL Import Importing Files
Exporting Polygons to
STL Export
STL
Edition: Defining a Mesh Area
Removing Triangles
from a Polygon
Tessellation: Re-Tessellating a
Polygon
Tessellating an Object
Offsetting a Polygon
Flipping Edges
Smoothing Polygons
Filling Holes on
Polygons
Decimation
Operation: Merging Polygons
Splitting Polygons or
Clouds
Analysis Information
For the other menu items, please refer to the Infrastructure User's
Guide.
Creation Toolbars
They are the following:
Import and Export

STL Edition
STL Tessellation
Operations
Operations
Import and Export

For See
Import Importing Files
Export Exporting Polygons to STL
STL Edition
For See
Activation Defining a Mesh Area
Remove Removing Triangles from a Polygon
Tessellation
For See
Tessellation Re-Tessellating a Polygon
Surface Tessellation Tessellating an Object
Offset Offsetting a Polygon
Flip Edges Flipping Edges
Smooth Polygon Smoothing Polygons
Filling Holes Filling Holes on Polygons
Decimation Decimation
Operations
For See
Meshes Merge Merging Polygons
Split Splitting Polygons
Analysis
For See
Information Information
STL Display Options Toolbar

It contains the following tool:
Display Options and Graphic Properties

Specification Tree
The specification tree portion specific to STL Rapid Prototyping
looks like this:
Open Bodies
Groups
Output of Import
Output of Tessellation
Output of Surface Tessellation
Output of Offset
Output of Polygon Smoothing
Output of Meshes Merges
Output of Split
Index
A
Activate
Command
Activation
AutoSort Open Body
command
B
Bounding box
Import
C
Change Body
command
Cloud Display
Command
Cloud Display Options
Display
Command
Activate
Cloud Display
Fill Holes
Import
Information
Merge
Offset
Properties
Remove
Re-Tessellate
Split a Mesh
Tessellate
Tessellate an Object
command
AutoSort Open Body
Change Body
Hide Body
Insert Open Body
Remove Open Body
Reorder Body
Show Historical Graph
Update
Constrained
Tessellation
creating
datum
Creating a shell
Offsetting the polygon
D
datum
creating
Delimitors
Import
Depth
Flip Edges
Direction
Import
Display
Cloud Display Options
Graphic properties
Polyline and Point
Sampling
Triangles
elements
F
Facets
Import
Fill Holes
Command
Hole size
Points insertion
Sag
Selection of holes
Shape
Step
Flip Edges
Depth
Formats
Import
Free edges
Import
G
Graphic properties
Display
Grouped
Import
H
Hide Body
command
hiding
open bodies
history
Hole size
Fill Holes
I
Import
Bounding box
Command
Delimitors
Direction
Facets
Formats
Free edges
Grouped
Minimal point quality
Statistics
System
Update
Information
Command
Insert Open Body
command
inserting
open bodies
Interoperability
M
managing
open bodies
Max Deviation
Smooth Polygon
Merge
Command
Minimal point quality
Import
Mode
Tessellation
moving
open bodies
N
Neighborhood
Tessellation
non-updated
O
Offset
Command
Creating a shell
open bodies
hiding
inserting
managing
moving
removing
reordering
sorting
P
Pick
Remove
Points insertion
Fill Holes
Polygonal
Trap
Polyline and Point
Display
Properties
Command
R
Rectangular
Trap
Remove
Command
Pick
Trap
Remove Open Body
command
removing
open bodies
Reorder Body
command
reordering
open bodies
Re-Tessellate
Command
S
Sag
Fill Holes
Sampling
Display
Selection of holes
Fill Holes
Shape
Fill Holes
Show Historical Graph
command
Smooth Polygon
Max Deviation
sorting
open bodies
Sphere
Tessellation
Spline
Trap
Split a Mesh
Command
Statistics
Import
Step
Fill Holes
System
Import
T
Tessellate
Command
Command
Sag
Step
Tessellation
Constrained
Mode
Neighborhood
Sphere
Trap
Polygonal
Rectangular
Remove
Spline
Triangles
Display
U
Update
command
Import
updating

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STL Rapid Prototyping Version 5 Release 11 Page 1

STL Rapid Prototyping

Preferred Road Maps

Using this Guide

To make the most out of this book, we suggest that a beginning

Where to Find More Information

The main tasks proposed in the chapter are:

Basic Surface Tessellation

All together this scenario should take 15 minutes to

Creating a Basic Surface Tessellation

1. Choose STL Rapid Prototyping from the Start/NC

The STL Rapid Prototyping workbench is displayed and ready to

2. Open the GettingStartedSTL.CATPart from the samples directory. It is

3. Click the Surface Tessellate icon and select the hairdryer.

Repairing the Tessellation

Use the tessellation you have created in the previous task.

1. Click the Fill Holes icon and select the tessellation.

3. Click Apply and OK. The hole is filled:

Repairing the gap:

1. Click the Activation icon and select the tessellation (Tessellation.1).

Click Apply and OK. A portion of the tessellation is activated:

5. Click the Merge icon and select the two tessellations:

Checking the Tessellation Quality

1. Click the Display icon and select the Polygons

The default option is Smooth. You can check :

the Free Edges option:

the Non-manifold Edges option: (none in

You can combine all of them too.

Starting the STL Rapid Prototyping Workbench

Opening the STL Rapid Prototyping

1. Choose STL Rapid Prototyping from the Start/NC

The STL Rapid Prototyping workbench is displayed

2. You can then either import an STL file, or open a CAD

Available formats depend on the workbench you are working in.

Digitized Shape Editor accepts:

2. In the Format field, select the file format.

5. In the Options field:

Enter the Sampling percentage to apply;

Sampling is not available for STL Rapid Prototyping.

Minimal Point Quality value is 125:

Minimal Point Quality value is 75:

Facets is used to create or not the facets of the imported polygon:

7. Click Apply to display the cloud of points or polygon:

Importing a Set of Files

The files to import must:

The Selected File field looks like this:

The three digit files have been imported separately, resulting in

This chapter deals with the edition of polygons, i.e.

select a polygon and define a portion to

Activating a Portion of a Cloud of

1. Click the Activate icon and the cloud of points or

The Apply button has been replaced by the Valid

To activate an area by picking elements, select

To create several activation areas by traps,

You can define :

Trap: the points are selected using a graphic

As long as you have not double-clicked to end the polygonal

The activated points are those that appear in red during

You can create as many areas as you wish by clicking