Solids modeling is defining an object with geometric mass. Solids modeling programs usually create models by creating a base solid and adding or subtracting from it with subsequent features. Features such as extrudes, extrude cuts, revolves, radii, chamfers, etc. Examples of solids modeling programs are Solidworks, CATIA, and ProEngineer. It was originally developed for machine design, and is used heavily for engineering with large part assemblies, digital testing and rapid prototyping.
Solids modeling is defining an object with geometric mass. Solids modeling programs usually create models by creating a base solid and adding or subtracting from it with subsequent features. Features such as extrudes, extrude cuts, revolves, radii, chamfers, etc. Examples of solids modeling programs are Solidworks, CATIA, and ProEngineer. It was originally developed for machine design, and is used heavily for engineering with large part assemblies, digital testing and rapid prototyping.
Solids modeling is defining an object with geometric mass. Solids modeling programs usually create models by creating a base solid and adding or subtracting from it with subsequent features. Features such as extrudes, extrude cuts, revolves, radii, chamfers, etc. Examples of solids modeling programs are Solidworks, CATIA, and ProEngineer. It was originally developed for machine design, and is used heavily for engineering with large part assemblies, digital testing and rapid prototyping.
Solids modeling is defining an object with geometric mass. Solids modeling programs usually create models by creating a base solid and adding or subtracting from it with subsequent features. Features such as extrudes, extrude cuts, revolves, radii, chamfers, etc. Examples of solids modeling programs are Solidworks, CATIA, and ProEngineer. It was originally developed for machine design, and is used heavily for engineering with large part assemblies, digital testing and rapid prototyping.
To make thing more complicated, most solids modeling programs incorporate surface modeling. A solid is created by creating a surface, and then filling that surface, much like the previous water balloon example. In true hybrid modelers, the surfaces and solids faces must be able to interact with each other, such as the dimensions of the curves that define a surface referencing the dimensions of solid feature. My experience is that the surface modeling in solids modeling packages is very temperamental; it creates geometries that are subject to failure and collapse easily. The problem is that changing one dimension ends up changing many dimensions. For example, modeling the organic legs of an airport seating system I designed in Solidworks was 25% of the time to model the whole thing. I had to approach the surface 5 different ways before finding a way that worked. When I went to add the feet, the surface collapsed. A superior hybrid modeler would allow you to create free form surfaces as well as sketch driven, parametric surfaces. I don’t know if we are there… yet. You can also create a complex surface in a surface modeler, and then import it into a solids modeler. This is the workflow in automotive design.