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Surfaces · Lesson 1: Understanding surfaces

Surface body or solid body, C0, C1, C2 continuity and curvature analysis.

Lesson goal

Know when surfaces are the right tool and judge the quality of a blend between two faces.

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3 videos

✎

1 exercise

Intermediate

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Prerequisite: Sketching learning path

1. Watch the videos

Dassault Systèmes videos hosted on MySolidWorks: they open in a new tab and a free account is enough. Watch them in order.

Introduction to SurfacingVideo 1▶Introduction to SurfacingThe difference between surface bodies and solid bodies, and why to switch to surfaces.↗ Curvature : Explanation of ContinuityVideo 2▶Curvature : Explanation of ContinuityContact, tangency and curvature: the three levels of continuity in CAD.↗ Curvature: Analyze and Assess the Quality of Curves and SurfacesVideo 3▶Curvature: Analyze and Assess the Quality of Curves and SurfacesCurvature colors and combs to evaluate curves and surfaces.↗

2. Key takeaways

1

A surface has no thickness: you edit it face by face, with much more freedom than a solid.

2

You return to a solid at the end: Knit Surface to close a body, Thicken for a shell.

3

C0: the faces touch. C1: they are tangent. C2: curvature is continuous, and the reflection no longer breaks.

4

Zebra Stripes and curvature combs reveal what the eye cannot see on a shaded render.

Tip

For a cosmetic part (cover, handle, housing), aim for curvature continuity on visible faces: that is what makes the difference on a painted or chrome-plated part.

3. Do the exercise

On an existing solid part with fillets:

  • display Zebra Stripes
  • compare a circular fillet and a curvature continuous fillet
  • note where the stripes break
✓To check: With the curvature continuous fillet, the zebra stripes flow from one face to the next without breaking.

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