\page merging_nodes_page Merging nodes
-\n This functionality allows user to detect groups of coincident nodes
-with desirable tolerance, edit these groups and merge.
+This functionality allows user to detect groups of coincident nodes
+with specified tolerance; each group of the coincident nodes can be
+then converted to the single node.
+
+\image html mergenodes_ico.png "Merge nodes menu button"
<em>To merge nodes of your mesh:</em>
<ol>
-<li>From the \b Modification choose \b Transformation and from its
-sub-menu select the <b>Merge nodes</b> item. The following dialog box
-shall appear:
-
-\image html mergenodes.png
-
+<li>Choose \b Modification -> \b Transformation -> <b>Merge nodes</b>
+ menu item. The following dialog box shall appear:</li>
+<br>
+\image html mergenodes_auto.png
+<br>
<ul>
<li>\b Name is the name of the mesh whose nodes will be merged.</li>
+<li>\b Automatic or \b Manual mode allows choosing how the nodes are
+ processed. In \b Manual mode you can adjust groups of coincident nodes
+ detected by the program and/or select any nodes to be merged.</li>
<li>\b Tolerance is a maximum distance between nodes sufficient for
-merging.
+merging.</li>
+<li>Activation of <b>No merge of corner and medium nodes of quadratic
+ cells</b> check-box prevents merging medium nodes of quadratic
+ elements with corner nodes. This check-box is enabled provided
+ that the selected mesh includes quadratic elements.</li>
+<li><b>Exclude groups from detection</b> group allows to ignore the
+ nodes which belong to the specified mesh groups. This control is
+ active provided that the mesh includes groups.</li>
+<li><b>Nodes to keep during the merge</b> group allows to specify
+ nodes to keep in the mesh. (By default a node being the first in a
+ group of coincident nodes is kept.) It is possible to either select
+ nodes in the Viewer or select groups of any element type whose nodes
+ will be kept.
+ <ul>
+ <li>\a Selection button activates selection of nodes to keep.</li>
+ <li><b>Nodes</b> button activates selection of nodes in the
+ Viewer.</li>
+ <li><b>Groups and sub-meshes</b> button activates selection of
+ groups and sub-meshes.</li>
+ <li>\b Add button adds selected nodes or groups to the list.</li>
+ <li> Nodes or groups selected in the list can be removed using \b
+ Remove button.</li>
+ </ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<li><b>Automatic mode:</b>
+<br>
<ul>
-<li>\b Detect button generates the list of coincident nodes for the given
-\b Tolerance.</li>
+<li>In the \b Automatic Mode all nodes within the indicated tolerance
+will be merged. The nodes which belong to the groups specified in
+<b>Exclude groups from detection</b> will NOT be taken into account.</li>
</ul>
-</li>
-<li><b>Coincident nodes</b> is a list of groupes of nodes for
-merging. All nodes of each group will form one after the
-operation.
+</li><br>
+<li> The \b Manual mode gives you full control of what the operation will do.
+In this mode additional controls are available:
+<ul>
+ <li>\b Detect button generates the list of coincident nodes for the given
+ \b Tolerance.</li>
+ <li><b>Coincident nodes</b> is a list of groups of nodes for
+ merging. Upon \b Apply all nodes of each group will
+ be united into one node. The first node of a group is kept and
+ the others are removed. By default the first node has a lowest ID
+ within the group.
<ul>
<li>\b Remove button deletes the selected group from the list.</li>
<li>\b Add button adds to the list a group of nodes selected in the
-viewer with pressed "Shift" key.</li>
-<li><b>Select all</b> checkbox selects all groups.</li>
+viewer.</li>
+<li><b>Select all</b> check-box selects all groups.</li>
+<li><b>Show double nodes IDs</b> check-box shows/hides identifiers of
+nodes of selected groups in the 3D viewer.</li>
</ul>
-</li>
-<li><b>Edit selected group</b> list allows editing the selected
-group:
-<br><br>
-\image html add.gif
-<center>adds to the group the node selected in the viewer.</center>
+
<br>
-\image html remove.gif
-<center>removes from the group the selected node.</center>
+\image html mergenodes.png
<br>
-\image html sort.gif
-<center>moves the selected node to the first position in the
-group. This means that all other nodes will be merged into this
-one.</center><br>
</li>
+ <li><b>Edit selected group of coincident nodes</b> list allows
+ editing the selected group:
+ <br><br>
+ \image html add.png
+ <center>adds to the group the nodes selected in the viewer.</center>
+ <br>
+ \image html remove.png
+ <center>removes from the group the selected nodes.</center>
+ <br>
+ \image html sort.png
+ <center>moves the selected node to the first position in the
+ group in order to keep it in the mesh.</center><br>
+ </li>
</ul>
</li>
-<li>To confirm your choice click \b OK or \b Apply button.</li>
+<li>To confirm your choice click \b Apply or <b>Apply and Close</b> button.</li>
</ol>
-\image html merging_nodes1.png
-
+\image html merging_nodes1.png
+<center> The initial object. Nodes 25, 26 and 5 are added to <b>Nodes
+ to keep during the merge</b> group.
+</center>
+<br>
\image html merging_nodes2.png
+<center> The object has been merged
+</center>
<br><b>See Also</b> a sample TUI Script of a
\ref tui_merging_nodes "Merge Nodes" operation.
-*/
\ No newline at end of file
+*/
