Cylinder

The Cylinder command creates a cylindrical structure.

To access this command, go to Draw > Wire Grid / Solid Surface > Cylinder in the main menu, which opens the Draw dialog box for the Cylinder. The dialog box comprises three pages: Cylinder, Attributes, and Materials, as detailed in Fig. 1.

The Cylinder page

On the Cylinder page, you can set the geometrical parameters for the Cylinder. You’ll find a combo-box with two options: Curved segments and Straight segments. Choose Curved segments for an exact representation of the cylinder’s curvature, while the Straight segments option provides an approximation using linear wires.

The Cylinder is defined by specifying the Base Point coordinates, Length, Radius, and orientation angles, Theta and Phi. These parameters uniquely define the cylinder’s surface, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

After setting the geometrical parameters on the Cylinder page, you can move on to the Attributes page. Here, you can specify the number of facets for the Cylinder and choose whether it should be a wire grid or a solid surface. See Grid/Surface Attributes for additional parameters in the Attributes page and Wire Materials for parameters in the Materials page.