The major topics covered in this chapter are:
- Introduction to Surface Design
- Surfacing Tools
- Freeform Designing Tools
- Practical and Practice on Surface Design
Introduction to Surface Design
Surface design is a very important aspect of CAD software. Surface designing gives the power to design any shape of object which is possible in real-world. There can be many modeling problems which can not be solved by solid modeling. In such situations, the surface modeling comes for rescue. Check the model shown in Figure-1 and ask yourself how much effort will it take to create in solid modeling.
In this chapter, we will learn about the tools related to surface design and Freeform modeling. The tools for surface design and freeform modeling are available in the Part environment so you need to start a new part file now.
Some of the tools discussed in solid modeling can also be used for surface designing. So, we will start discussing these tools and then we will discuss the tools in Surface panel.
Extruded Surface
An extruded surface can be created by using the same Extrude tool that we have discussed for solid modeling. The procedure to do so is given next.
- Click on the Extrude tool from the Create panel in the 3D Model tab of the Ribbon. If there is no sketch in the drawing area then you will be asked to select a sketching plane to create the sketch.
- Select the sketching plane and create an open or close loop sketch.
- Click on the Finish Sketch button from the Exit panel in the Sketch tab of the Ribbon. The Extrude dialog box will be displayed along with the sketch extruded as solid model; refer to Figure-2.
- Click on the button in the upper right side of the dialog box to toggle for surface mode; refer to Figure-3.
- Set the other parameters as required and then click on the OK button.
In the same way, you can use the Revolve, Sweep, Loft, and Coil tools to create surfaces.
Surfacing Tools
The tools to perform surfacing operations are available in the Surface panel in the 3D Model tab of the Ribbon; refer to Figure-4.
The applications of these tools are discussed next.
