How to Adjust the Zebra Analysis in Rhinoceros 3D

Zebra analysis is a visualization tool in Rhinoceros 3D that helps to evaluate the continuity and smoothness of a surface or a set of joined surfaces. It displays a series of alternating black and white stripes on the surface, which show how the surface is curving in different directions. The stripes are oriented perpendicular to the direction of the surface curvature and change direction at points where the curvature changes.

If the Zebra stripes in Rhino appear jagged, it may be due to the mesh settings not being set to a high enough resolution. Here are some steps you can take to address this issue.

Select the Adjust Mesh option in Zebra Analysis.

1. Density: controls the number of mesh polygons used to generate the Zebra stripes. Higher values result in smoother stripes, but can also slow down performance.
2. Refine: subdivides the mesh polygons to improve accuracy of the stripes, but can also increase the mesh complexity and slow down performance.
3. Max Angle: controls the maximum angle between adjacent faces in the mesh. Smaller angles result in smoother surfaces but can also increase mesh complexity and slow down performance.
4. Maximum Edge Length: sets the maximum edge length of each mesh face. A lower number will create an accurate dense mesh but can also increase mesh complexity and slow down performance.

Once you have finalized the mesh setting, you can see high quality Zebra analysis.

Bug: Sometimes the Zebra mesh preview will show you an accurate results but the effect disappears once the options are confirmed. To resolve this, try exploding and joining the surfaces again. This will generally trigger the analysis to recalculate mesh.