SOLIDWORKS 2020 Offset Surface now much easier to use!

Remember that time you tried to offset faces as new surfaces, only to receive an error message that it failed?  This can be frustrating, especially when many faces are involved and it is unclear which ones are the culprit.  Troubleshooting can become time-consuming as you try different subsets of the faces, hoping for partial success.

In year versions prior to 2020, there is a method using Shell that may help you to find the culprits.

Now, voted a Top Enhancement in SOLIDWORKS 2020, there is an easy way to get Offset Surface to succeed as much as possible!  Offset Surfaces will now let you know which faces failed to offset, if any, and give you a chance to delete them in order to ensure that the feature succeeds.

Failed offset faces clearly indicated

Better yet, you can now strike all failing faces from the list with a single click on the new button: “Remove All Failing Faces”.  This button will appear if there are any failing faces.

Failed faces removed

…and just like that, your Offset Surface is good to go.

Explore this and other surfacing tools in our instructor-led Surfacing course!