4.3.11. Explode operator

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Fig. 4.36 Explode operator example: original plot; exploding cells of a material; exploding materials.

The Explode operator has three primary targets, which are materials, domains, and cells. There are three different origins of explosion—point, plane, and cylinder—all of which have unique results and can be applied to any of the above mentioned targets. While this operator is primarily meant to be used on datasets containing materials or domains, the capability of exploding all cells remains available for datasets that lack either.

4.3.11.1. Using the Explode operator

The Explode operator has three areas for user definition. These are the Origin of explosion, Material Explosion settings, and Cell Explosion settings. You can add as many explosions as you’d like to a single instance of the operator, and you have the ability to Add, Remove, or Update explosions through the Explode attributes window shown below.

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Fig. 4.37 Explode attributes window

4.3.11.2. Explode origin

As mentioned earlier, there are three different choices for an explode Origin. To explode from a Point, click the tab labeled Point in the Origin section of the Explode attributes window. You will then have the opportunity to enter a 3D coordinate defining your point. Similarly, to explode from a Plane, you must click on the Plane tab. You will then have the option to define a plane by a point located on that plane and the plane’s normal. Lastly, to explode from a Cylinder, first click on the Cylinder tab, and then enter two points that lie on a line traveling through the center (lengthwise) of your cylinder. By default, the cylinder has a radius of zero and is treated as a line to explode from. If you do define a positive radius, any data that is located within that radius will not be exploded when executing this explosion.

4.3.11.3. Exploding materials

Exploding a material results in an individual material within a dataset being displaced by a specified Factor from a specified origin. Both the factor with which the material is displaced and the actual material to be acted upon are set within the Material Explosion section of the attributes window. If you refer to the far right image in Figure 4.36, you will find an example of two material explosions. In this example, we see the materials Cord and Steel, shown in blue and green, being exploded from the Tire dataset.

4.3.11.4. Exploding domains

To explode the domains of a dataset, you must first make sure that your dataset has domains that can be plotted using the Subset plot. If this condition is met, all you need to do is apply the Explode operator to a Subset plot of your domains. The domains will then be substituted in for materials and treated as such. You can then refer to the section on exploding materials for usage tips.

4.3.11.5. Exploding cells

Exploding cells results in the separation and displacement of the cells within your dataset. This can either be applied to an individual material or the entire dataset. If you refer to the middle image in Figure 4.36, you will see the cells of the material Rubber, shown in red, being exploded by a plane. As a result, the material is split open and separated to allow us to see the inner contents. As before, you also have control over the explosion Factor that is applied to the cells. Additionally, you have two options for the Explosion Pattern. The first option is to explode through Impact, which results in cells that are closest to the origin being displaced furthest from the origin. The second option is to explode through Scatter, which results in cells furthest from the origin being displaced furthest from the origin.