Interactive Collision Detection

Introduction

Snap-To may be controlled interactively by dragging individual component parameters using “Alt/Opt + Drag”. This is a quick way of manipulating component placement and design to reach your target minimum distance. However, you may notice that the reliability of Snap-To using this method is dependent on certain settings.

First, even though you are using Snap-To outside of the feature window, the settings chosen in Snap-To still apply. For example, if you are trying to snap a component to the surface of another with all other geometries hidden but the Snap-To Set is “All”, then the component will snap to the nearest geometry in the entire model. The target minimum distance is also enforced.

Secondly, the update speed of the GUI will affect how easily Snap-To can find a solution. Recall that the parameter sliders in OpenVSP have variable ranges where much larger or smaller steps are taken with each “update” as the component changes depending on the range. With very large steps, Snap-To may skip over a solution to the next available. This can be corrected by re-dragging the slider in the proper direction until you find the placement you needed. Alternatively, you can decrease the slider range using the left and right collapse range buttons (>|<) and Snap-To will have an easier time of catching the solution.