:orphan:
# DMPlexCreateBoxMesh
Creates a mesh on the tensor product of unit intervals (box) using simplices or tensor cells (hexahedra).
## Synopsis
```
#include "petscdmplex.h"
#include "petscdmplex.h"
PetscErrorCode DMPlexCreateBoxMesh(MPI_Comm comm, PetscInt dim, PetscBool simplex, const PetscInt faces[], const PetscReal lower[], const PetscReal upper[], const DMBoundaryType periodicity[], PetscBool interpolate, DM *dm)
```
Collective
## Input Parameters
- ***comm -*** The communicator for the `DM` object
- ***dim -*** The spatial dimension
- ***simplex -*** `PETSC_TRUE` for simplices, `PETSC_FALSE` for tensor cells
- ***faces -*** Number of faces per dimension, or `NULL` for (1,) in 1D and (2, 2) in 2D and (1, 1, 1) in 3D
- ***lower -*** The lower left corner, or `NULL` for (0, 0, 0)
- ***upper -*** The upper right corner, or `NULL` for (1, 1, 1)
- ***periodicity -*** The boundary type for the X,Y,Z direction, or `NULL` for `DM_BOUNDARY_NONE`
- ***interpolate -*** Flag to create intermediate mesh pieces (edges, faces)
## Output Parameter
- ***dm -*** The `DM` object
## Note
To customize this mesh using options, use
```none
DMCreate(comm, &dm);
DMSetType(dm, DMPLEX);
DMSetFromOptions(dm);
```
and use the options in `DMSetFromOptions()`.
## Here is the numbering returned for 2 faces in each direction for tensor cells
```none
10---17---11---18----12
| | |
| | |
20 2 22 3 24
| | |
| | |
7---15----8---16----9
| | |
| | |
19 0 21 1 23
| | |
| | |
4---13----5---14----6
```
and for simplicial cells
```none
14----8---15----9----16
|\ 5 |\ 7 |
| \ | \ |
13 2 14 3 15
| 4 \ | 6 \ |
| \ | \ |
11----6---12----7----13
|\ |\ |
| \ 1 | \ 3 |
10 0 11 1 12
| 0 \ | 2 \ |
| \ | \ |
8----4----9----5----10
```
## See Also
[](ch_unstructured), `DM`, `DMPLEX`, `DMSetFromOptions()`, `DMPlexCreateFromFile()`, `DMPlexCreateHexCylinderMesh()`, `DMSetType()`, `DMCreate()`
## Level
beginner
## Location
src/dm/impls/plex/plexcreate.c
## Examples
src/dm/dt/dualspace/impls/lagrange/tutorials/ex2.c
src/dm/field/tutorials/ex1.c
src/dm/tutorials/ex20.c
src/dm/tutorials/ex21.c
src/snes/tutorials/ex75.c
## Implementations
DMPlexCreateBoxMesh_Internal in src/dm/impls/plex/plexcreate.c
---
[Edit on GitLab](https://gitlab.com/petsc/petsc/-/edit/release/src/dm/impls/plex/plexcreate.c)
[Index of all DMPlex routines](index.md)
[Table of Contents for all manual pages](/manualpages/index.md)
[Index of all manual pages](/manualpages/singleindex.md)