# Is there a way to get the surface area of the face?

**URL:** <https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838>\
**Category:** HOOPS Visualize Web\
**Tags:** how-to\
**Created:** [July 5, 2024, 3:07am UTC](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838 "2024-07-05T03:07:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kabochow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@kabochow](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/u/kabochow)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 3:07am UTC](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838/1 "2024-07-05T03:07:42Z")

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I tried using hwv.model.getFaceProperty and hwv.model.getNodeProperties but can’t get the surface area of the face, can someone give me a little advice

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**Author:** ![tino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@tino](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/u/tino)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838/2 "2024-07-06T13:06:07Z")

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Hello @kabochow,

In the Web Viewer, the function [Model.getNodeProperties](https://docs.techsoft3d.com/communicator/latest/api_ref/viewing/classes/Communicator.Model.html#Communicator.Model.getNodeProperties) can retrieve physical properties (including surface area) at the **node** level but not at the face level. So unless a face is actually a separate node, you cannot retrieve the surface area.

Also, in Converter, you will need to have the [option](https://docs.techsoft3d.com/communicator/latest/api_ref/data_import/converter-command-line-options.html) `--sc_export_physical_properties` set to `true` (which it is by default).

Thanks,  
Tino

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kabochow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@kabochow](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/u/kabochow)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838/3 "2024-07-07T15:28:05Z")

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Thanks @tino , can I use other methods such as calculations to get the surface area of the surface, it is important data in my project, is there any other way to do this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@tino](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/u/tino)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.techsoft3d.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-get-the-surface-area-of-the-face/3838/4 "2024-07-07T17:09:46Z")

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@kabochow,

Well it’s possible to get the **raw mesh data** of a given node. With this retrieved mesh data, you can try to further distill it down to a face/edge/point. At which point, you can do your own manual calculation to **approximate** the surface area.

An example called “Geometry Retrieval” for getting the mesh data is included with the Communicator package. Below are the steps:

1. Launch the server in the [quickstart](https://docs.techsoft3d.com/communicator/latest/overview/quickstart.html#quickstart) module by double-clicking _HOOPS\_Communicator\_2024.4.0\quick\_start\start\_server.bat_
2. Once the server.exe launches, click the following URL to view the example:  
[http://localhost:11180/geometry\_retrieval.html?viewer=csr](http://localhost:11180/geometry_retrieval.html?viewer=csr)

To get back to main menu while the server is still running, navigate to:  
[http://localhost:11180/index.html](http://localhost:11180/index.html)