surfacing questions

[thixoguy]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to V5 (about 3 months into it, with about 3 years prior UG experience)and I am experimenting more with the surfacing side of things and have a few questions.

1. It seems that you can create surfaces in several of the V5 workbenches. Among them, there is Freestyle,Wireframe/Surfaces and and GSD, to name a few. Now the BLEND and FILL features are available in all 3 workbenches. Are they essentially the same feature in all 3 workbenches or does say, the BLEND in GSD, achieve a different result then the BLEND in FREESTYLE etc?

2. How do you create a mesh surface ( I think in catia it is known as "net") in catia? From what I understand it is available in the Freestyle workbench but apparently you need a special license to acces it. Is there any other way to create a mesh/net surface without the special license?
I do mould desgn and mesh surfaces are quite useful for creating complex parting surfaces, I used quite it extensively in UG.

3.This question goes out to any mould designers. Which surfacing features do you find that you use the most in your designs?

4. And finally I am wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks they use when surfacing, that they would like to share.

Thanks in advance for all who take the time to respond, it is much appreciated.

thixoguy

 

[DBezaire]

Thixoguy -

1) Blend and fill are very similar in GSD and FSS - in Freestyle you have more control over the internal flow lines.

2) There is a net surface in Freestyle - GSD - Multi Section - Part Design - has same for a solid.

3) Take the time and go through the examples of Sweep Surface.

4) Tips and tricks - TANGENCY - make your partinglines as smooth as possible, this will save you frustrations with fillets. You can use the smooth curve option in GSD for this. Like most other packages clean intersections help. When joining data use a fairly tight tolerance .0005 or less. You can go higher, but clean data will make the solid end of catia more stable.

Regards,
Derek

 

[solid7]

2) There is a net surface in Freestyle - GSD - Multi Section - Part Design - has same for a solid.

Derek - I'm with you on the first part - net surface in FSP creates a "mesh" surface. But for the GSD and Part Design, you lost me.

Multi-Sections surfaces in GSD (formerly known as "loft") do not do anything close to a net, best I can tell - since they require a profile normal to the spine, and intersecting with the limit curves.

Part Design - where can you do the equivalent of a mesh surface in Part Design?

Thanks.

---
CAD design engineering services - Catia V4, Catia V5, and CAD Translation. Catia V5 resources - CATBlog.

 

[catiajim]

You are right, the only "mesh surface" is in FSP. Multi-section Surface and Multi-Section Solid are closer to V4's Surf2 Curve Curve-Curve.

In V4, you had to have a special license to get to the Mesh Surfaces as well.

 

[DBezaire]

Solid7 - the net surface with profiles and guides, similar to GSD Sections and Guides. The part design multi section - works very much like the GSD version. As for mold design - not a huge difference.

Regards,
Derek

 

[thixoguy]

DBezaire,

Thank You, GSD Multi Section produces the results I am seeking!

As far as your Tangency tip goes you are, as usual, right on the money. Tangent surfaces are a definite must if you've any hope of filleting your parting surfaces.

I'm also going to take your advice and spend some time reading the docs on swept surfaces ( I hope to be getting some formal training in that area in the near future)

Thanks also to catiajim and Solid7 for taking the time to offer input!

thixoguy