I am sure that more than one person here has purchased Mr Matt Lombard's Solidworks 2007 Bible. Without ever having seen it, I would almost bet that he covers the subject of Surface Geometry it's fair portion. I would appreciate it if someone here who has purchased it would tell me if it is written more for the beginner to surfaces, or to the intermediate user. I like to think that after having used Solidworks for several years, that I have a fair amount of experience in Solidworks Solid Geometry, and yet I am not proud to say that the few presentations on Curvy Stuff and Surfaces in general, that are on the Internet right now, obviously presented by a brilliant individual, are simply beyond my skills. I don't even begin to understand much from them and it is more than plain that I personally would need some presentations or tutorials geared more towards the fundamentals of it all and the novice user, If anyone here knows of any books, videos or presentations covering the rudiments of Surfaces, for us neophytes, I am sure that more than several of us would at least start at the ABC's of the subject, and hopefully get to the next level where the information and literature that is available right now would be understandable. Thanking you all is, Jeremy Marcotte
Yes, the bible has a chapter which deals with surface features. Yes, it starts from what I consider "the beginning", and helps you get your feet wet with simple surfaced models and builds to the more complex. It has a section which deals with the terminology which sometimes people writing about surfacing tend to forget that other SolidWorks users are not familiar with.
This chapter does not assume that "surfacing" and "complex shapes" are the same. In fact, it treats "surfacing" as simply a set of surface feature tools which include the simplest types like Extruded and Planar, as well as the more complex types, and explains how they work and how to use them. The chapter is 35 printed pages with 3 tutorials (one easy, one intermediate and one advanced) along with several examples (including SW part files on the CD).
This chapter does not get into how to create complete organic models and all of the intricacies involved. I only had one chapter for the topic, and I don't pretend it to be more than it is. Another book of 1000 pages could be written on the tools and techniques and considerations at play in complex modeling.
Below I have excerpted some of the material (pre-edited state) from the beginning of the surfacing chapter to give you a flavor for where it is going. Throughout the book are scattered references to surface techniques, but most of the "how to" info is concentrated in this one chapter.
I go on to talk about terminology, and then to identify and give examples of each tool.
matt
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Working With Surfaces
From a CAD point of view, a ?solid? is defined as the volume enclosed by a surface boundary. To enclose a volume, the boundary must have no gaps or overlaps. The skin or surface of the boundary itself is infinitely thin, and has no volume, but only the property of area. In this way, surfaces are one of the building blocks of solids.
In many respects, there are no real differences between a solid model and a surface model. If you export a SolidWorks part to IGES format and read it into another capable modeler, or even back into SolidWorks, that file can be read in as either a solid or a surface. There is no way to distinguish which it was when it left the originating modeler. The real difference between the two is how the modeler handles the data internally.
It is possible to drive a car without knowing how the engine works, but you can not get the most power possible out of the car by only pressing harder on the gas pedal, you have to get under the hood and tinker a little. In a way, that is what working in surfaces is really all about. With surfaces, you deconstruct the solid, put it together face by face, and build a new solid.
Surface modeling can start from a blank screen, native SolidWorks solid and surface features which have been built side by side, or from a native or imported solid which has been deconstructed into surfaces
The goal of most surface modeling is to finish with a solid. In the same way in which we learned to refer to solids as ?solid bodies?, surface features can also be knit together into a single contiguous body. This does not happen by default, however. Solid features, by default, if they touch one another and can form a single body are automatically merged into a single body. Surface features do not do this automatically, in fact, most surface features do not even have the option to be knit (the surface equivalent of the solid ?merge?) together, but require an additional Knit feature to do this.
Why Do You Need Surfaces?
In the end, you may never really need surfaces. It is possible to perform workarounds using solids to do most of the things most users need to do. On the other hand, many of these workarounds are highly inefficient and very cumbersome. You may not now look at some typical things that you do as being inefficient and cumbersome, but once you see the alternatives, you may change your mind. The goal for this chapter is to introduce surfacing functions for people who do not typically use surfaces, and for every day modeling. Here I am not trying to show how surfaces are used in the context of creating complex shapes, although the same techniques can be used regardless of the complexity of the shape.
The word ?surfacing? has often been used (and confused) synonymously with the creation of complex shapes. Not all surface work is done to create complex shapes, and many complex shapes can be made directly from solids. Many users think that because they do not make complex shapes, they never have a need to use surface features. This chapter shows mainly examples which are not complex shapes, in situations where surfaces make it easier, more efficient, or simply possible to do the necessary tasks.
While some of the uses of surfaces may not be immediately obvious, by the end of this chapter, you should have enough information and applications that you can start experimenting to increase your confidence.
I received my copy last week. It's written for all levels IMO. I've actually started reading it from front to back because I've found that there are little things that I didn't know about, or have simply forgotten about. Some things are new to me entirely on the other hand, and are well explained. It's priced very well for what it offers to the end user, SolidWorks should really consider hiring Matt and paying him to do their literature instead! :-)
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