In general, a standard rebuild with the toolbar button or a complete rebuild by pressing CTRL-Q will update the model with the changes you’ve made. But you may want to add an extra step if you’re working with complex models or surfaces.
By default, rebuilds check every new or changed feature against only adjacent faces and edges. This allows for a faster rebuild times and will locate issues in the majority of models.
When you are working with complex models and surfaces, it’s a good idea to do a thorough error-check every once and a while to ensure all features are error-free. There is a setting under Tools > Options > System Options tab > Performance.
Enabling “Verification on Rebuild” will force the model to check new or changed features against all faces and edges of the model. This will decrease performance, so you should disable this option after the complete rebuild. Any errors should be corrected as soon as they are found to ensure future features will not be adversely affected. If this check is not performed, typically any problems in the geometry will not show up until the model is exported to another format for use by another CAD or CAM application.
As SolidWorks users, sometimes we have to create a 3D part from a sketch provided by a creative professional, such as an industrial designer. Quickly adjusting the images in Adobe Photoshop can provide more accurate results when the images are used as modelling aids in SolidWorks.
Remote Control Sketched Elevations
The above images are used in the SolidWorks Surfacing Class offered by Javelin Technologies. They are representative of a hand drawn sketch made by an Industrial Designer. Read More »
This post originates from a discussion I had with the students in my SolidWorks Essentials class a few months ago. Sometime, in the third day of the course, we decided to take the lunch together so I could to answer all questions in regards to their further training paths.
One particular recommendation provoked quite a stir: I stated that the Surface Modeling course should be taken by any SolidWorks user, not only by industrial designers and “artists”. I mentioned the standard benefits: ability to repair imported solids, gain more control over the design intent and find unique modeling solutions. I also said that in a lot of cases they will save a lot of time using surfaces to modify solids.
At this point, the discussion became a heated debate. Apparently “everybody knows” that surfacing is “very complicated, cumbersome to use and slow”. Students who previously used other CAD software told us how hard it was for them in the past to even understand the surfacing tools found there.
Instead of arguing, I showed them a few quick examples of hybrid modeling (surfaces affecting solids). I just wanted them to remember what they saw if they ever found themselves in situations where standard solid modeling workflows were not good enough or fast enough.
Last week I received a phone call from one of these students, who remembered the demonstration. He wanted to emboss a text to his curved face in such a way that the letters would seem to radiate from the original face; something similar to the model shown in fig. 1.
Alin Vargatu, a distinguished AE for Javelin, asked me to write a guest blogger article for Javelin’s blog. I’ve seen some of Alin’s very helpful comments to complex users questions in the SolidWorks Forum, and I’ve come to know him as one of the good guys when it comes to reseller technical folks. I’m a bit flattered to have a reseller ask me to contribute to their blog, especially one of the stature of Javelin.
Alin suggested a surfacing topic most relevant to the biggest number of SolidWorks users out there: How do you convince surfacing skeptics about the benefits that SolidWorks surfacing could bring to them?
Dan Johnson asks this question in the SolidWorks Forum:
I am trying to create a handle that is part of a scanner body and I made my curves using a 3D sketch. When I try and make either a loft or boundary surface, I try to grab just one curve in my 3DSketch, but it wants to grab the entire 3DSketch. How do I select just 1 curve for my profile? I tried the right mouse click, selection filter, but it grabs the entire 3d sketch too. Can anyone help?
As a former Tool and Die designer I came to appreciate the power of SolidWorks when designing Embossing Dies. Most of the times, I would use the face of the part sent by my customer for either “Extrude to Surface” or “Cut with Surface” commands as a reference in designing my embossing punches and die sections.
There are situations when this approach does not work. One workaround, involving the “Thicken Cut” command is presented in this video (no audio provided):
