Dictionary of Terms
DMM Object - A tetrahedral mesh plus defined DMM Passive nodes plus material properties; also includes an optional Prepared Surface Mesh
Passive Node - Vertex of a DMM Object's Tet Mesh that is not simulated but fixed or kinetically moved
Passive Region - Convex volume of space where all Tet Mesh vertices are considered as passive nodes
Glue Region - Convex volume of space where all instersecting Tets from different DMM Objects will be seen as glued by the simulator
Inner Faces - Polygons of a Prepared Mesh that are not part of the surface in the un-fractured state
Physical Materials - Parameters of an object or part of an object that describe how the object or part of an object responds to forces
Tet Cage - Polygonal mesh that defines exactly the outer boundary for a tetrahedral mesh
Tetrahedron - A solid contained by four triangular faces; a triangular pyramid
Tetrahedral Mesh (or Tet Mesh) - A set of tetrahedrons that may share faces and/or edges and/or vertices
Driven Tet Mesh - A Tetrahedral Mesh with the information of which node is controlled by Maya or DMM
Surface Mesh (or Input Surface Mesh) - A watertight polygonal mesh used by the DMM plugin to display the geometry of a DMM Object
Prepared Surface Mesh (or Output Surface Mesh) - Surface Mesh ready for deformation and fracture
Splinter Cage - A polygonal mesh that defines a three dimensional fracture pattern
Splinterize - Mutually clip a polygonal surface mesh with a defined fracture pattern and the fracture pattern with the surface mesh retaining the resulting surface and faces inside the original surface
Here is how they relate together:
(the DMM Object includes the mesh preparation and splinterizer algorithms)