pro|e analog to solidworks fill command

[cloughna]

I've been on Pro|e for the past year, but now have a client who insists on solidworks. As I was going through a surfacing tutorial, I came across the Solidworks 'surface-fill'command. Unlike pro|e, this fill command will fill in any closed loop, be it comprised of edges or sketches, in 2D or 3D space. It also lets you set contact, tangent, and curvature conditions. It seems to be a hybrid of proe's fill command and boundary blend. My questions is ultimately: how do you make the surface shown below in pro|e?

A fill wont work because it is in 3d space.

I tried a boundary blend with some curvature continuous datum curves, but I still seem to get a sort of spine right dont the middle.

Thoughts?

 

[kdem]

My guess would be a STYLE surface.

 

[cloughna]

I'm mildly familiar with ISDX, but would not know how to solve this problem?

Anyone who is familiar with ISDX... can you solve it?

 

[dgs]

ISDX will work, but will require some additional curves, I think. ISDX can create 3 or 4 sided surfaces, so you'd need at least one more curve. I'd make that curve in ISDX.

Another alternative is combining edges to make longer chains and then using the boundary blend tool. I'd combine the top 2 tangent round edges into one and the bottom two as well.

Select an edge, then copy, paste, use shift-select to gather a chain then done. Now you've got a composite curve of those edges.

Once you've made a couple of composite curves, you've got 4 boundaries for a boundary blend.

 

[dgs]

Of course, the real answer here is if you're building this in native Pro|E, you won't get yourself in that spot.

 

[cloughna]

ISDX will work, but will require some additional curves, I think. ISDX can create 3 or 4 sided surfaces, so you'd need at least one more curve. I'd make that curve in ISDX.

Another alternative is combining edges to make longer chains and then using the boundary blend tool. I'd combine the top 2 tangent round edges into one and the bottom two as well.

Select an edge, then copy, paste, use shift-select to gather a chain then done. Now you've got a composite curve of those edges.

Once you've made a couple of composite curves, you've got 4 boundaries for a boundary blend.

I tried this, the problem is that the top (and bottom) two edges are not tangent in 3D space, so when I create the boundary blend, I get an edge right down the middle (from top to bottom). It visibly disrupts the curvature

I have tried a datum curve down the center as an influencing curve, but still not getting a smooth transition across the middle.

 

[tobbo]

Like Doug says, offcourse you can do it with ISDX. BUT..."if you can do this with isdx, you can also do it without isdx" .

And yes, you can make 3 sided surfs with style, just like you can do 3 sided surf with boundary blend, no big differense , BUT when you make a 3 sided surf.... you will get a "bad " surface , so...always do 4 sided surfs instead , use trimbacks from 4 part boundaries or any other way to create your "3 side surfs" , no matter if your using isdx or "pro / surface". So, i.o.w you probably need extra curves .

another thought , if your using "approx curves" ("composite curve thats not exact") to make the boundary blend , you might get a "better" surface, but you cant garantuee that you will create a surface that will merge with the rest of your model. (so, if you want to use composit curves, you should make sure its not an approx curve)

Theres is also an old feature called "N-sided surf" , i might work....

but, i would probably still solve this by adding curves (using isdx) and make some 4 part boundary blends.

If possible , Upload a step or iges so we all can try to solve this

//Tobias

Edited by: tobbo

 

[cloughna]

Attached is an IGES of the file. On the left side you will see the hole that I am trying to fill. On the right side (it is a symmetryical part) you will see the final result of a patching feature done in solidworks. I am trying to get the left to look as clean as the right

2009-05-05_165501_Blended_Corner_&.zip

 

[dgs]

another thought , if your using "approx curves" ("composite curve thats not exact") to make the boundary blend , you might get a "better" surface, but you cant garantuee that you will create a surface that will merge with the rest of your model. (so, if you want to use composite curves, you should make sure its not an approx curve)

In my experience, an approximate curve is an exact geometric representation, but is a single entity instead of multiple. So, it's a spline that duplicates the original entities.

I've never ran into a case where an approximate curve deviated from the geometry of the original. The name is unfortunate, in my view.

 

[tobbo]

In my experience, an approximate curve is an exact geometric representation, but is a single entity instead of multiple. So, it's a spline that duplicates the original entities.

I've never ran into a case where an approximate curve deviated from the geometry of the original. The name is unfortunate, in my view.

Ok!! well, a "composite curve" is exact as the curves you copy.


When making a "copy" of several curves, the default curve type is "exact" . But...,if you change the optionto "approximate" , for example if you want to make a VSS and got to have a tangent chain...then the "copied curve" (approximate) MIGHT not be "exact as the curves you copy" . If they arent tangent from the beginning , then pro/E creates a spline...


But, i also want to add that the differense is minimal, but if you zoom in , you can see it.


//Tobias



Edited by: tobbo

 

[tobbo]

Here is a pic of what i mean. The top pic is 2 curves (changed color of them to make it easier to see) , the angle between the curves are about 3 degrees . Then i made a "approx curve" (NOT an composite curve that are exact!) , in the lower pic, i zoomed in at the intersection of the curves, and there you can see the difference. (the blue curve is the approximate curve)


(IF i set the option to "exact", iow default, then there is no differense between the copy and the original)





//Tobias
Edited by: tobbo

 

[dgs]

Interesting, I've never seen that before.

 

[dgs]

BTW - Just out of curiosity, what's the distance between the vertex of the original (or the exact copy) to the approximate copy?

I use approximate curves quite a bit as they clean up the surfaces built off of those curves. Fewer surface 'patches' which makes later features like drafts and rounds more robust. Usually very minor variations like your showing don't matter, but I am curious as to how far apart they are.

Also, we wouldn't use an approximate curve on a curve that wasn't tangent anyway.

 

[tobbo]

it

 

[dgs]

What I mean is that we may create a curve that has several segments. For every vertex in the curve, we get a split in the resulting boundary blend. By first creating an approximate curve copy of the original and using that to build the boundary blend, the vertexes are eliminated and the boundary blend is unbroken.

 

[tobbo]

i see! good tip.


//Tobias

 

[cloughna]

It is a nifty trick, unfortunately for the CAD model I uploaded, the two segments on the top (and bottom) are at too sharp an angle to use an approximate curve (which would get rid of the split in my blend). I also tried a N-sided patch to no avail

 

[dgs]

I'm pretty busy at the moment, but I'll try to download and give it a try later this week.

 

[millmann2me]

Hi Chris -

Check out the attached images...I created a 4 sided boundary by trimming back the base surface...and then did a boundary blend.

The Fill tool in Solidworks would be nice to have in Pro/E...it is like the N-Sided Patch in Pro/E but the results seem to be very smooth with effective tangency constraints as well...

 

[jsantangelo]

I created a 4 sided boundary by trimming back the base surface...and then did a boundary blend.

Did you add some additional sketches to control the shape? What are the edge conditions (Tangent, Curvature, etc)? Was this done with or without ISDX?

Edited by: jsantangelo