Every lattice begins with a mesh, which is the underlying 3-dimensional scaffold upon which your lattice is built. The mesh is comprised of unit cells upon which the strut lattice is applied.

Design Engine offers two mesh types: Hexahedron Mesh (Hex) and Tetrahedron Mesh (Tet).

A hex mesh is composed of polyhedrons with 6 faces and is best used when a regular pattern and aesthetics of the lattice are most important. This lesson walks through all the options to create a hexahedron mesh (hex) for the lattice's 3-dimensional scaffold.

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Both mesh types require use of the Strut Lattice operation to populate the unit cell with struts. The difference between using tet vs hex mesh in Design Engine is in the steps needed to generate the strut lattice.

There are two methods for generating a hex mesh:

A general rule of thumb is to select the population type that most closely matches your geometry, but any method can be used to obtain desired results.



Hex gridded is the simplest mesh structure that uses a cube, or rectangular cuboid, tiled to fully overlap the design space.

All hexahedrons on the boundary of the design are cropped to the intersecting shape, meaning that all boundary unit cells are a different size and shape than any full unit cells in the interior.

Alignment Tip - Best results divide the design space as evenly as possible. Hexahedrons that are cropped to less than half their original size will require shortened connections to conform to the design space, which can create an irregular pattern in those areas.

There are four types of loft hexahedral meshes, but the core concept behind them is the same. Lofted hex meshes are constructed by filling the design space between two parallel surfaces on the boundary of the input model. All hexahedrons throughout the mesh are morphed to fit into the design space. This creates a very regular pattern but results in unit cells that vary in size and shape throughout the design space.

Loft Workflow Shown with the triangular pattern, but all methods follow these basic steps.

The loft methods are distinguished by their options, which are driven by their underlying shapes.

Design Engine provides seven pre-defined hex lattice types. Reference Lattice Type Guidelines for more information.

Design Engine allows you to define your own unique lattice type for hex meshes via an imported csv file.

Surface patterns on custom unit cells will primarily follow how the struts interface with the faces of the hexahedron. Variations will occur at curves and other non-orthogonal geometries.