.. _cut_mesh_by_plane_page:

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Cut a tetrahedron mesh by a plane
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MeshCut works only with MED files and produces MED files, and is a standalone program. It can be used either directly from a command shell outside SALOME, or with a GUI interface in SMESH, provided in a python plugin that needs to be installed in your SALOME application.

MeshCut allows to cut a mesh constituted of linear tetrahedrons by a plane.
The tetrahedrons intersected by the plane are cut and replaced by elements of various types, (tetrahedron, pyramid, pentahedron).


.. _meshcut_standalone:

Using MeshCut as a standalone program, outside SALOME
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MeshCut is a standalone program, reading and producing med files.                

Syntax::

	MeshCut input.med output.med resuMeshName aboveGroup belowGroup nx ny nz px py pz T

where:

* **input.med** = name of the original mesh file in med format
* **output.med** = name of the result mesh file in med format 
* **resuMeshName** = name of the result mesh                    
* **aboveGroup** = name of the group of volumes above the cut plane 
* **belowGroups** = name of the group of volumes below the cut plane 
* **nx ny nz** = vector normal to the cut plane                       
* **px py pz** = a point of the cut plane                              
* **T** = 0 < T < 1 : vertices of a tetrahedron are considered as belonging to the cut plane if their distance from the plane is inferior to L*T, where L is the mean edge size of the tetrahedron   


.. _meshcut_plugin:

Using MeshCut inside SALOME
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When the MeshCut plugin is installed, it can be found in the Mesh menu, sub-menu SMESH_plugins.
If the plugin is not installed, the file meshcut_plugin.py is in SMESH installation in  subdirectory 
*bin/salome/meshcut_plugin.py*.

If there are already plugins defined in a smesh_plugins.py file, this file should be added at the end. If not, copied as 
*${HOME}/Plugins/smesh_plugins.py* or *${APPLI}/Plugins/smesh_plugins.py* or in *${PLUGINPATH}* directory.
 
From the Mesh menu, sub-menu SMESH_plugins, choose **"MeshCut"** item
The following dialog box will appear:

.. image:: ../images/meshcut_plugin.png 
	:align: center

.. centered::
	MeshCut Plugin dialog box

See above for the meaning of the parameters. 

