Do we need a very fine mesh everywhere just because one bead or radius is tight? That is the question behind local refinement.
We can target a region, but its location and stage matter. A perfectly reasonable refinement curve in the wrong position won’t help the sheet where we need it.
Choose the region first
Work in a copy and identify the feature you want to resolve. For a drawbead, the documentation describes a separate refinement curve related to the bead path.
Think about where that curve will be after positioning. Also consider which material passes through the region. Local initial refinement selects nearby elements; it doesn’t predict every later movement for you.
Set the local definition
Open the blank’s Refinement attribute in the intended stage. Add the target region and define the distance and local initial level.
Check that the target contains the expected geometry and is active in that stage. Read the distance unit. For the level, remember our counting convention: the starting mesh is level 1.
In the usual per-stage route, the local definition must fit within the stage maximum. Global criteria and limits also affect refinement.
There is a documented separate-stage route for going beyond the general maximum locally. It involves the global settings of that special stage, not just typing a larger number in the same field.
Find the refined region in the result
After applying the setup, reopen the attributes—especially if you reapplied the Process Editor afterward.
In the first relevant computed state, turn on mesh edges or Characteristic length. Find the finer patch and see whether it covers the intended sheet region.
Now compare the local behaviour with the baseline while keeping other inputs fixed. We want to understand the effect on the result, not just confirm that the element count increased.
If runtime becomes a concern, the time-step explanation helps explain why a small region can have an effect on the calculation beyond that patch alone.
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