Don’t forget the Mirror command as well, as it can save you a lot of time on symmetrical features, like eyes, ears, and even limbs. For instance, if it’s an animal, things like the mouth, nose, and other small features can really make your model look complete. The smoothing of harsh lines will add softness and help blend the main bodies.įrom there, you can add some final details to your model. Once you have a single solid body, you can start to add details such as main fillets and smooth out the areas where different bodies come in contact. Your end goal is to have a single solid body. Some tools like the Thicken and Fill Surface command have an option to “ Try to Form a Solid.” You can also combine bodies with the appropriately named, Combine command. Once you have your surface bodies or a combination of surfaces and solid bodies, you can start using different techniques to merge or combine them together. Starting with the main body, a series of solid and surface bodies were used to create the general sections of the model. The cat was similar to the dog, and the same procedure was used. For the dog model, I started with the main body, surface bodies were built up & combined to create the overall form. Usually, a combination of techniques is required, and it’s best to just experiment with what works well for your design. I often try several approaches to see which method is the most successful and creates the best geometry for that specific application. Knowing which one to use in which situations can be helpful. I recommend exploring multiple tools, as they each have their own strengths. Sometimes, however, a technique might not give you the result you were going for, and that’s okay! If this happens, deep breath, you might have to try another approach. It lets you create surfaces that can be tangent or curvature continuous in both directions (all sides of the surface). The boundary tool feature is one of my favorites. There are lofts, sweeps, and a variety of surfacing tools. Once you have the basic wireframe of the form, you can use a combination of surfacing tools to start building up your surfaces. Various planes and sketches make up the wireframe of the dog & cat models. You can use a sketch plane that is perpendicular to the one that the main shape is built upon, to start building a wireframe sketch of the 3D form of the body. Let’s say the large area that makes up the main (chest) area of the animal. Think about a specific portion of your model, and think about what the 3D shape looks like from different angles. If you want a few pointers on taming splines, check out this post from a co-worker of mine. They can be controlled and modified with various controls but can be unruly at times as well. SOLIDWORKS supports B-Splines and Style Splines. You can use splines to create complex curves, which is a common occurrence in organic modeling. The spline tool will most likely be your friend. It is a good idea to strategically use your default planes as well as custom ones, to sketch these basic forms into your model. The overall idea is that you want to recreate these main shapes in SOLIDWORKS. By scaling that image first, I could use the scale tool and scale the rest of the sketch pictures appropriately. I held up a ruler to her head and measured the approximate size. This helps with proportions and allows you to scale your model and get the basic overall form of the model. A basic side view, top view, front and back to start. I started by taking some profile pictures of my dog. The first thing I considered was my sketch layout and necessary planes. Whether you’re taking on a simple project or a more complex one, it’s important to consider your design intent before you dive in. Where to start?Ī while back I decided to attempt to model my dog Piper in SOLIDWORKS, with the end goal being able to 3D print it, paint it, and make it into an ornament. For instance, a model of a cat and a dog. You can even use surfaces to create more organic forms that would typically be difficult to create with standard solid modeling. You can use it to add to, repair, and modify imported existing models. Surfacing can be used to make complex geometry that would be very difficult with standard extrusions, lofts, and sweeps. These tools are sometimes underrated, as they open up a lot of flexibility to your design. Many people rarely venture to the Surfaces tab on the CommandManager, or commonly use splines in their sketches. It’s great at making geometric models, but did you know there is also an organic side to SOLIDWORKS with surfacing? If you have found this page, I am sure you are aware that the majority of SOLIDWORKS users mostly use the program for its mechanical design aspect.
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