Equation-driven surface?

[88nwilson]

I'm looking for a way to make a simple 3-D, equation driven surface. z=sin(x)+sin(y), basically.

Is this possible? If there's not an explicit tool, can anyone conceive a workaround?

[rdyson]

This might give you a start.

[glenn-chun · Accepted solution]

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@88nwilson wrote:

I'm looking for a way to make a simple 3-D, equation driven surface. z=sin(x)+sin(y), basically.

Is this possible? If there's not an explicit tool, can anyone conceive a workaround?

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Sweep a sine wave along another sine wave, using the Parallel orientation.

When you create an equation curve on a 2D sketch, it is important to make the 2D sketch fully constrained.  I added a coincident constraint between the projected origin and the sine wave, and a couple of tangent constraints between the sine wave and horizontal lines.  There are two user parameters that I added: length_hori and length_verti.

You should not use the default orientation for sweep since it would produce a wrong shape in this case.  The parallel sweep (aka rigid sweep) will create a "summation surface" of the profile and path curves.

Changing the user parameters will update the sweep surface.  Unlike the previous example, the parameter length_hori is not a multiple of PI this time.

Attached is an Inventor 2013 model.

Hope this helps,

Glenn

ASM Development

[88nwilson]

RDyson, I wasn't able to open the file- it said your database system was newer.

Glenn, great workaround. I had tried similar, but with a solid sweep and path-driven, and it just didn't quite work the same. Very cool how the surface sweep behaves.

Thanks both. RDyson, I wouldn't mind a screenshot or two if yours was a different method.

[rdyson]

Nope, same as Glenn.
It helps to include your IV version to avoid getting help you can't open.