Detect Holes in a Mesh Automatically
Paramesh AI's feature recognition pipeline detects through-holes and blind holes automatically. It segments cylindrical regions, measures their angular span (full 360 degrees = hole, partial arc = fillet), computes radius and depth, and classifies them as through or blind based on the part's extent along the hole axis.
Why hole detection matters
Holes are the most common feature in mechanical parts — bolt holes, mounting holes, clearance holes, threaded holes. Detecting them from a mesh is essential for reverse engineering because they need to be recreated as proper cylindrical cuts in the CAD model.
How Paramesh AI detects holes
- Surface segmentation — clusters mesh faces into regions. Cylindrical regions are identified by fitting a cylinder primitive.
- Angular span check — measures how much of the 360-degree arc the cylinder covers. Full cylinders are holes; partial arcs are fillets.
- Through vs. blind — compares the hole's height to the part's extent along the hole axis. If height > 80% of the part thickness, it's a through-hole.
- Radius and position — extracted from the fitted cylinder parameters for the CadQuery construction.