Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 1 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial
Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
1. Introduction The Warp feature is a powerful and flexible way of distorting models inside Pro/ENGINEER.
It is made up of 7 different tools that can be used individually or combined to provide very
complex distortions.
This tutorial will show you the basic principles of each tool and some of the key controls.
This is not intended to teach you all the controls and every nuance, but does provide a good
overview for getting started with Warp.
Many of the controls are similar between each warp tool, so we will not repeat these in the
following sections – it will be assumed that once you have seen a certain control in one
section you will be able to apply it in the following sections, if appropriate. For this reason,
you should read each section in turn.
This is the first of a number of tutorials covering the Warp feature. This tutorial covers how
each tool works and can be controlled, while all of the related tutorials will show examples of
how the various tools of this feature can be applied together.
2. Getting into the Warp Feature
Choose Insert > Warp to start the feature.
On your way into the Warp feature you will be prompted for 2 selections – the geometry
you wish to warp and the reference to warp from.
Geometry:
You can warp any geometry in the current model, both native and imported, including
solids, surfaces, facets and curves.
Reference:
This is mainly used to orient the marquee. You can select either a datum plane or CSYS.
All Warp operations are performed on the marquee – a bounding box around the geometry.
This box is oriented to be aligned with the reference datum and provides different types of
handles and controls to distort the geometry.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 2 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 1: Example of Warp marquee
3. Multiple Warp Operations There are 7 different Warp operations that you can use to distort the model. Click the
relevant icon to complete the previous operation and start a new one.
Fig 2: Warp Dashboard and Toolbar
Warp is a ‘super-feature’ meaning that it can contain many sub-features (operations) and
these are stacked in order. Use the List tab on the dashboard to see the list of operations,
redefine or delete individual operations and move the ‘insert here’ up or down the list.
Fig 3: List Tab
Transform
Warp
Spine
Stretch
Bend
Twist
Sculpt
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 3 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
4. Transform There are 3 basic transform options – move, rotate and scale.
Move (translate):
Drag on the background (not on the marquee) to move the geometry.
• Hold <Shift> to move normal to the reference plane (or along Z axis if reference
is a CSYS)
• Hold <Alt> to move horizontal/vertical in the reference plane (or X/Y if reference
is a CSYS)
Fig 4: Transform Marquee
You can also move your geometry numerically using the Options tab. This tab will not
populate until you start a certain transformation, so start with a dynamic drag on screen
and then use the numeric option if required.
Fig 5: Options tab only populates once a transformation is started dynamically
Rotate:
Rotation is performed by dragging on the ends of the Jack (the blue cross at the center
of the marquee). The initial direction of your drag governs whether the rotation will be
around the local X, Y or Z axis.
• To move the Jack to another location, drag on the bars of the Jack.
• To re-center the Jack, right-click on it and choose Center Jack, or click the
Center Jack icon on the dashboard.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 4 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 5: Center Jack icon
Fig 6: Drag ends of Jack to Rotate
Fig 7: Drag Jack bars to relocate Jack
Scale:
1D, 2D and 3D scaling is enabled, depending on which handle on the marquee you drag.
All scaling is performed either from the opposite edge/corner or from the center of the
marquee, but is not centered on the jack.
1D Scale:
Place your cursor over an edge handle to expose 2 arrows. Drag on one of these to
scale in this single dimension
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 5 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 8: 1D scale
2D scale:
Drag on an edge handle to scale 2 dimensionally
Fig 9: 2D scale
3D scale:
Drag a corner of the marquee to scale 3 dimensionally
Fig 10: 3D scale
Scaling is performed from the opposite edge/corner by default. Hold <Alt+Shift>, or
change the dashboard option to scale from the center of the marquee.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 6 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 11: scale from center
As with Move and Rotate, you can control Scale numerically in the Options tab. The
Options tab will populate once you have started a Scale operation.
Fig 12: Options tab for scale
Certain numeric parameters can be optionally exposed (exported) outside of the Warp
feature to allow driving parameters by a relationship or family table. Use the check box by
these values to expose the parameter.
Fig 13: Options tab with scale parameter exported
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 7 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
5. Warp Warp has 2 basic functions – to taper or distort by pulling an edge/corner of the marquee
and also to adjust the weighting or bias inside the marquee.
The taper handles are very similar to those of Scale, but only the edge/corner moves in this
case. Place your cursor over an edge handle or corner to expose the related arrows. Drag
one arrow to distort in that direction.
Fig 14: Warp examples
The handles for warping the corner of the marquee may look confusing to begin with, but
there are only really 2 options. The corner point can be dragged either along an edge vector
(yellow arrows) or parallel to a face (purple arrows).
Fig 15: Warp corner arrows
By default, warping a corner point will warp all 4 corners of a face. Holding the <Alt> key
will free the corner to move independently.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 8 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 16: locked and free corner warping
As with Scale, the deformation can either be towards the opposite edge/corner, or from the
center of the marquee.
• Hold <Alt + Shift> to Warp from the center of the marquee
• Hold <Alt> for free warping
Fig 17: Warp constraint options in dashboard
Fig 18: opposite and centered warping
The weight handles on the edges of the marquee can be dragged along the edge vector to
change the bias or weighting of the model inside the marquee.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 9 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 19: Warp weight
6. Stretch Before you perform a Stretch you can shrink the marquee to limit the zone of the stretch
influence. Think of the marquee as a slice through the model – you can control the distance
between the front and back ‘planes’ of the marquee, but the zone is not limited inside the 4
‘sides’. Everything behind the marquee will not stretch, while everything in front of the
marquee will simply move to allow for the stretch.
Fig 20: controlling the stretch zone
Once you have limited the zone drag the Stretch handle to stretch, or enter a numeric value
in the dashboard. You can continue to resize the zone after you have stretched the model.
Drag front and
back planes of marquee to resize
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 10 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 21: dynamic stretch
Fig 22: Stretch dashboard
7. Bend Before you perform a bend you can shrink the marquee to limit the zone of the bend
influence. Think of the marquee as a slice through the model – you can control the distance
between the front and back ‘planes’ of the marquee, but the zone is not limited inside the 4
‘sides’. Everything outside of the marquee will simply move to allow for the bend.
Fig 23: drag front and back planes of marquee to resize
Once you have limited the zone you can start to bend your model. Click the Tilt 90o icon to
rotate the pivot around the axis. Drag the pivot along the axis. You can continue to resize
the zone after you have bent the model.
Fig 24: Bend dashboard, showing ‘Next Axis’, ‘Reverse Axis’ and ‘Tilt 90o’ icons
Drag handle to stretch model
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 11 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 25: Bend handles
The bend tool has a further control to damp or fade out the bend effect from one side of the
marquee to the other. Turn this on by toggling the checkbox Depth on the dashboard and
drag the end plane of the marquee to adjust the region of this damping.
Fig 26: Bend without damping (depth)
Fig 27: Bend with damping. Drag end plane of marquee to adjust depth of damping region
Drag green
square to move
pivot along axis
Drag green vector
to rotate pivot
freely around axis
Drag handle to bend
Double-click
for numeric
input
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 12 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
8. Twist Before you perform a twist you can shrink the marquee to limit the zone of the twist
influence. Think of the marquee as a slice through the model – you can control the distance
between the front and back ‘planes’ of the marquee, but the zone is not limited inside the 4
‘sides’. Everything behind the marquee will not twist, while everything in front of the
marquee will simply rotate to allow for the stretch.
Once you have limited the zone drag the Bend handle to twist, or enter numeric values in
the dashboard. You can continue to resize the zone after you have stretched the model.
Fig 28: Twist
Fig 29: Twist dashboard
9. Spine Spine and sculpt are perhaps the most flexible and complex tools of the Warp toolbox. We
will cover the basics here, but look for further tutorials for examples on how they can be
applied.
The ‘handle’ for this Spine warp is a curve or edge. As you deform the curve its influence is
projected onto the geometry in one of three directions: rectangular, radial from center
and radial from axis.
Rectangular
The deformation is applied close to the spine curve and fades out towards the
opposite sides of the marquee. Drag end plane of the marquee to increase or reduce
the effect of this damping.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 13 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 30: rectangular Spine example, including reduced damping effect
Radial from center
The deformation is applied normal to the axis of a cylindrical marquee, radially from
the center. Drag the end plane of the marquee to alter the damping effect.
Fig 31: radial from center Spine example, including depth damping effect
Radial from axis
The deformation is applied around the cylindrical marquee, radiating out from the
axis. Drag the inner cylinder of the marquee to alter the radial damping effect.
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 14 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 32: radial from axis Spine example, including radial damping effect
Fig 33: Spine dashboard showing three type icons (rectangular, radial from center, radial from axis)
10. Sculpt Spine and sculpt are perhaps the most flexible and complex tools of the Warp toolbox. We
will cover the basics here, but look for further tutorials for examples on how they can be
applied.
Sculpt is a mesh-based warp – the mesh being applied on any of the 6 faces of the marquee.
The density and the size of the mesh can also be adjusted.
Sculpt Principles:
First set the size of the mesh by dragging on faces of the marquee. If you leave the
mesh at its maximum size then you will be able to pull on all of the mesh points, but
if you resize the mesh then the 1st row of points on each edge will be locked to
maintain contact with the surrounding geometry.
Fig 34: drag faces of marquee to resize mesh
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 15 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Next decide on the density of the mesh. This is partly down to the level of detail you
need for the warp you wish to make and partly the level of continuity you need with
surrounding geometry.
• The 1st row of points controls both positional and tangential continuity to any
surrounding geometry
• The 2nd and 3rd rows of points allow for a softer transition to any surrounding
geometry
For example, to maintain a soft blend to surrounding geometry you may wish to leave
the first 2 rows of points on each side of the mesh untouched.
Fig 35: to maintain a softer blend with surrounding
geometry leave the outer rows untouched
Moving Points:
Selection – points can be selected in 2 ways:
• individually
• select a row/column by picking on the bar instead of the point
• hold <Ctrl> to select multiple points/rows
Fig 36: selection options
Motion – points can move in 3 directions
• Normal to the face of the marquee (this is the default direction)
• Parallel to the face of the marquee (set the Drag option to Free in the
Options tab or hold <Alt>)
• Along the direction of the bar connecting the point to its neighbor (set the
Drag option to Along Bar in the Options tab or hold <Shift + Alt>)
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 16 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Fig 37: point movement options
When moving multiple points they will all move together in one of 3 ways. Set the
Filter in the Options tab before moving the points.
• Constant – all points move together
• Linear – the point under the cursor moves with the cursor and the furthest
point(s) do not move. Intermediate points fall off linearly.
• Smooth – same as linear, but the fall-off is quadratic
Fig 38: constant point motion
Fig 39: linear point motion
Fig 40: smooth point motion
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 17 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
Symmetry – 3 planes of symmetry can be established so that any deformation can
be mirrored horizontally/vertically in the plane of the mesh as well as normal to the
plane (i.e. through the body of the marquee). Symmetry in the plane of the mesh is
set in the Options tab.
Fig 41: horizontal and vertical symmetry
There are 3 options of how a Sculpt fades away (damping) through the depth the
marquee:
• One side
• Both sides constantly
• Both sides symmetrically (this is the 3rd direction of symmetry)
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Fig 42: one sided depth damping
Fig 43: constant depth damping
Fig 44: symmetrical depth damping
Fundamentals of Warp Tutorial Page 19 of 19 Copyright © 2006 PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0
11. Conclusion
This tutorial has shown you the basic principles of each Warp tool and you should now have
a good understanding of the key controls. This was not intended to teach you all the
controls and every nuance, but does provide a good overview for getting started with Warp.
This is the first of a number of tutorials covering the Warp feature. Look for the related
tutorials which show examples of how the various tools of this feature can be applied
together.