Modeling chequer plate surface patterns

[88-incher]

Hello there,


Well this is my first post, so here we go....


Wewant to be able to model sheet metal components with a chequer plate surface finish. IS this possible in SWX? Can we produce a 3D soild and pattern/wrap it around the sheet component or would it be better to use somehting like photoworks?


Any help, much appreciated.


James

 

[jimshaw]

It may be possible, but I don't think it would be that easy... I'm not sure it is worth the time/effort.


I imagine you would bend the part first, then use a form tool to create the chequer plate geometry on all the flats. Is this excercise just to create the engineering drawing or a pretty picture or are there other goals with creating such a detailed model?

 

[88-incher]

Hi there,


Thanks for the reply... Sorry I should have said what this is for.... Basicalywe're trying to knock up some 'product shots' prior to manufacture. They don't have to be photo perfect but need to show that the surface is chequer plate and not just flatsheet. A simple 2D image map isn't really sufficient.


Itseems a little made that there is no facility built in to propogate a pattern over a surface?


Again, thanks for the reply & any help would be massivley appreciated....


James

 

[jimshaw]

SW does have a pattern option, but not sure how well it works in conjunction with the sheetmetal features. Got a picture of an example part? Let's give this a try...

 

[88-incher]

Hi there,


Thanks again for the promt reply..... Are you after a photo of the type product? If so here's the kind of thing we make. If it's a SWX model file let me know and I'll upload one.





Thanks, James

 

[jimshaw]

Yep... Like I mentioned above, you can create the pattern using a form tool, and patterning it/them. Have you tried this yet?


The problem comes when you try to bend it though, as SW won't let you bend the sheet if there is existing geometry where the bend is going, does this make sense?


Jim

 

[88-incher]

Hi Jim,


Yes, I know... That is the problem that I'm trying to overcome. You can probably appreciate that I'm trying to produce the pattern over the bends as well as the flat areas. To be honest it wouldn'tbe required tobe a sheet metal part, but could be a shell with filleted corners if that would make a difference to how SWX acts?


James

 

[cadharts]

I think this can be done in photoworks. There are default images that can be used for texturing the model and add bumps to have some realistic protrusion on the surfaces. You can also crop from the original picture and use it. Other option is to create the pattern.

 

[Dynamica]

Most engineering drawings would have a callout for chequer plate. The only reason I would incorporate this feature is for CFD or stress analysis. As you are looking for the appearance, Photoworks or other rendering software would be your best option(speed & ease).

Here is a great website for texture maps:
http://www.cgtextures.com

They call chequer plate "threadplate". follow this;textures>metal>threadplate

We use Bunkspeed's Hypershot for our rendering so I