Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

With the introduction of better tools to create and describe surfaces with
R6, I'm interested in hearing when or where a surface feature might be used.
The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is for part
separation.

Anyone care to chime in when or under what conditions surfaces might be
used?

Thank you in advance for any tips, suggestions, examples or errata on
surface creation or usage.

[#2]

I'm certainly not a surfacing expert but surfaces are useful for the
generation of complex geometry. A good example might be the case for a cell
phone where swoopy curves and lines are required. To take it a step further
automotive designers user surfaces a lot to generate the patterns for body
panels and interior dashes and such.

My experience is in machine design so I tend to think in plates and
cylinders and straight lines but there have been time when a thickened
surface is easier to create than by chiseling away at a block (especially
lately when I have been doing a lot of plastic injection molding work)

In CF there are a bunch of examples of surfaces (propellers, boat hulls
etc..) In your C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 6\Samples\Parts\Surfaces
directory there is an example part that would be very difficult to construct
without surfaces.

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
http://www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------
"Jim Strenk" wrote in message
news:00B9029FC88CAB8AAF65F9A6828E195F@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> With the introduction of better tools to create and describe surfaces with
> R6, I'm interested in hearing when or where a surface feature might be
used.
> The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is for part
> separation.
>
> Anyone care to chime in when or under what conditions surfaces might be
> used?
>
> Thank you in advance for any tips, suggestions, examples or errata on
> surface creation or usage.
>
>

[#3]

Surfaces can be used for "sculpting" a solid with the part split tool.
For an example go to 3dmodelsharing.com
and search for:
Sculpted car body in Inventor

There is also a very impressive demo on the Autodesk site at
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/index/0,,2280564-123112,00.html

J.D.

[#4]

Most of the customer files we receive are iges files. I need to "add-to"
the surfaces (using more surfaces) in order to make my form tools. Now most
of my customers are running ProE, but it's like pulling teeth to get them to
send us 'step' files. I'm still learning the surface capability in
Inventor. I really liked the surfacing capability in Desktop, and haven't
found the same in Inventor. However I'm still learning, and as has been
said many times in this forum, "You have to throw the old ways of doing
things away when you start using Inventor". I guess old habits die hard.

Kevin


"Jim Strenk" wrote in message
news:00B9029FC88CAB8AAF65F9A6828E195F@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> With the introduction of better tools to create and describe surfaces with
> R6, I'm interested in hearing when or where a surface feature might be
used.
> The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is for part
> separation.
>
> Anyone care to chime in when or under what conditions surfaces might be
> used?
>
> Thank you in advance for any tips, suggestions, examples or errata on
> surface creation or usage.
>
>

[#5]

An example:

You have a piece of 1/4 x3" flatbar that's bent in several places to form a
more complex shape. Using solids, you might sketch the end profile of the
flatbar by sketching one side, offsetting by 1/4", and completing the
profile by sketching in both ends. With surfacing you only have to sketch a
line representing one side of the profile. Extrude the line 3" as a
surface, then thicken to 1/4". It saves a few steps, and makes the part
very easy to modify; you only have one set of lines to change.

There are lots of interesting variations on this idea, but keep in mind this
little gotcha: you can't mirror or array a feature created this way.

Cheers,
Walt

"Jim Strenk" wrote in message
news:00B9029FC88CAB8AAF65F9A6828E195F@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> With the introduction of better tools to create and describe surfaces with
> R6, I'm interested in hearing when or where a surface feature might be
used.
> The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is for part
> separation.
>
> Anyone care to chime in when or under what conditions surfaces might be
> used?
>
> Thank you in advance for any tips, suggestions, examples or errata on
> surface creation or usage.
>
>