Crystal Surface 1

[EngineerErrant]

I was wondering if anyone had any bright ideas for rendering a crystalline surface on a part. My company is making some cradles for amethyst rocks, and I'd like the SW models in the cutsheets to have something more resembling the actual item than "an extruded spline loop with one purple face." Simple solutions (i.e. not a 3D sketch with fifty vertices) would be appreciated.

-Josh

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -Scott Adams

 

[JMarv]

Perhaps you could save it as a .stl file, then import it back into SolidWorks. The .stl file will be facetted instead of a smooth surface.

Joe
SW Premium 2012 SP1.0
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[Eltron]

I'm confused at what you're asking. Are you asking for rendering advice or modelling advice?

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[ctopher]

Take a photo of your material, then save it in your appearances folder. Have SW link to it.

http://help.solidworks.com/2011/Eng...PhotoWorks/HIDD_DVE_MATERIALS_COLOR_IMAGE.htm

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[EngineerErrant]

Sorry, to clarify: I want to fake-model a complex, crystalline surface. I'm going to be using a front/side view in the cutsheet for the part, so a decal (while better than what I have now) isn't quite what I'm looking for.

-Josh

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -Scott Adams

 

[Eltron]

Something like this?

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[EngineerErrant]

More like this.

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -Scott Adams

 

[Eltron]

Yuck.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[MadMango]

I would try using a Polygon sketch (8-sided), extrude that with a draft to create a point, then Fill Pattern. You could probably do various sizes and heights to get a quasi-irregular look.


"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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[EngineerErrant]

Succinct summary of the situation. I've thought of faking a row of crystal-looking profiles, then screwing around with linear/circular patterns bounded by the wall of the piece, but that seems like a nightmare waiting to happen. I was hoping someone could think of something brilliant that I wasn't seeing.

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -Scott Adams

 

[EngineerErrant]

That's good enough for me. Thank you, MadMango!

"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." -Scott Adams