#SOLIDWORKS #MeshModeling
Graphical Mesh Enhancements
Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2018, we've been introduced to new ways you can utilize mesh data offering more possibilities than ever before for a variety of formats such as STL, OBJ and Additive Manufacturing files.
First off, graphical mesh geometry now supports material textures and RealView appearances. Likewise, you can now perform sections on graphical mesh data as well. As a result, you can now better visualize and fully understand your mesh geometry right inside of SOLIDWORKS.
Create Surface from Mesh
However, we can do much more with mesh geometry, starting with the new Surface from Mesh Feature. This tool enables you to turn mesh data into SOLIDWORKS surfaces quickly utilizing a simple workflow. Just choose the type of surface you wish to create, then, using the purpose build Paint Selected Facets tool, you can easily swipe to select a handful of faces for the desired surface. Notice that not every surface needs to be selected. By simply choosing Calculate, SOLIDWORKS will automatically gather the remaining faces for you, and create the appropriate surface. Once any number of surfaces have been created in this manner, they will benefit from all of the Surfacing capabilities found in SOLIDWORKS, allowing you to take full advantage of those familiar tools.
Mesh Body
SolidWorks 2018 also introduces the new Mesh Body type. Any graphical mesh can be converted into a Mesh Body quickly from the right mouse menu. Mesh Bodies are similar to solid bodies in that they are water tight, have mass properties associated with them, and can be sectioned normally; but they do have some differences, which we will take a look at in a moment.
Boolean Workflows
You can take your mesh data much further with some powerful new workflows specific to mesh geometry.
For instance, you can add any geometry to mesh files using all of the familiar tools you’re used to in SOLIDWORKS. You can even reference the underlying mesh geometry when adding sketch relationships. The only difference however, is these features aren’t automatically merged with the mesh geometry. To do that, you can now also convert traditional solid bodies into Mesh Bodies as well just like we showed before for graphical mesh. This ultimately allows you to take any geometry you’ve created and perform a variety of Boolean style features to further manipulate your mesh geometry. A full list of these features can be seen on the previous slides.
Assemblies
Finally, like any other SOLIDWORKS file, these can be inserted into your assemblies and mated into position like any other component. This means you can now directly use your mesh data within all of your SOLIDWORKS designs.
