The Ultimate Guide to SOLIDWORKS Training - Surface Modeling

SOLIDWORKS Training - Surface Modeling

The goal of this course is to teach you how to use surface features to build parts using SOLIDWORKS software. Most of the case studies and exercises in this course are taken from consumer product design applications, and the lessons center around the combined use of solids and surfaces, with the goal always being to create a good solid. 

During this course you will learn industry standard surfacing terminology necessary to understand a ground-up surface modeling approach, as well as answer some of the "when" and "why" questions which are inevitable with the solids to surfaces paradigm shift. If your modeling experience to date has been completely in the solids realm, you may find that working in surfaces requires a different approach. 

This course has several examples showing functions that do not ultimately create the intended geometry, necessitating an alternative approach. This is not to highlight shortcomings of the software, but rather to help you identify situations in which you need to try more than one method. Working with more complex models and shapes means you will run into more situations when you need to have at your disposal alternate methods for achieving particular shapes.  

COURSE BREAKDOWN

Prerequisites

Students attending this course are expected to have the following:

• Completed the course Advanced Part Modeling
  
  

Course Design Philosophy

This course is designed around a process or task-based approach to training. Rather than focus on individual features and functions, a process-based training course emphasizes the processes and procedures you follow to complete a particular task. By utilizing case studies to illustrate these processes, you learn the necessary commands, options and menus in the context of completing a design task. 

Laboratory Exercises

Laboratory exercises give you the opportunity to apply and practice the material covered during the lecture/demonstration portion of the course. They are designed to represent typical design and modeling situations while being modest enough to be completed during class time. You should note that many students work at different paces. Therefore, we have included more lab exercises than you reasonably expect to complete during the course. This ensures that even the fastest student will not run out of exercises. 

So What Will You Learn?

Lesson 1: Understanding Surfaces
Lesson 2: Introduction to Surfacing
Lesson 3: Solid-Surface Hybrid Modeling
Lesson 4: Repairing and Editing Imported Geometry
Lesson 5: Advanced Surface Modeling
Lesson 6: Blends and Patches
Lesson 7: Master Model Techniques

Lesson Breakdown 

Lesson 1: Understanding Surfaces

This lesson will teach you how to: 

• Understand the differences and similarities between solid bodies and surface bodies.
• Create extruded and planar surfaces.
• Trim and untrim surfaces.
• Knit surfaces.
• Create solid bodies from surfaces.
• Delete faces of surface or solid bodies.
• Understand the properties of NURBS surfaces and iso-parameter (U-V) curves.
• Be familiar with common surface types.
• Understand typical surface modeling workflow scenarios. 

Lesson 2: Introduction to Surfacing

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Create revolved surfaces.
• Create swept surfaces.
• Fillet surfaces.
• Create radiated surfaces.

Lesson 3: Solid-Surface Hybrid Modeling

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Modify a solid using surface bodies.
• Interchange between solids and surfaces.
• Use surfaces as construction geometry.
• Make copies of faces of a solid model for use in surface modeling operations. 
  
  

Lesson 4: Repairing and Editing Imported Geometry

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Have a basic understanding of the issues and factors that affect the transfer of CAD data between systems.
• Import solid and surface geometry from other sources.
• Diagnose and repair problems with imported geometry using Import Diagnostics.
• Repair and edit imported geometry using manual, surface modeling techniques. 

Lesson 5: Advanced Surface Modeling

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Use sketch pictures to capture the design intent of a surface model.
• Create extruded, ruled, lofted, swept, and planar surfaces.
• Modify surfaces by trimming.
• Create filled surfaces for blending.
• Convert surfaces into solids.
• Dynamically edit a model using Instant3D.
• Replace a face of a solid using the Filled Surface command.
  
  

Lesson 6: Blends and Patches

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Blend smoothly between shapes.
• Use curvature continuity on Fill, Loft and Boundary surfaces.
• Repair areas of the model by trimming and recreating geometry.
• Use tangency weighted effectively.
• Use the Freeform feature.

Lesson 7: Master Model Techniques

This lesson will teach you how to:

• Create and propagate changes from a surface master model.
• Create and propagate changes from a solid master model.
• Add various features commonly associated with plastic consumer products.
  
  

Conclusion

So there you have it. If you are interested in reserving a seat for the next SOLIDWORKS Surface Modeling Course offered at Alignex, check out our training calendar for dates and locations. For any questions, feel free to reach out to our Training Coordinator by phone at (952) 288-2627 or by email at training@alignex.com 

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