What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2019 – New Design Capabilities with Mesh and Scanned Data

New Design Capabilities with Mesh and Scanned Data

SOLIDWORKS 2019 introduces new tools like Slicing and 3D Texture, while updated enhancements to Projected Curve and Partial Chamfer all work to streamline your part modeling workflows.

Simplify Your Part Design Workflow with Mesh and Scanned Data

The complex shapes we see everywhere are often produced using Industrial Design tools or carved to make physical models, but still need to be manufactured.  A common workflow to complete the engineering process is to leverage mesh or scanned data to create these designs.  SOLIDWORKS 2019 provides several new tools to help leverage this data to create production parts, and some handy new part modeling tools that are sure to delight.

SOLIDWORKS can open a wide variety of mesh data, including a 3MF file.  To leverage a mesh body to build a solid model, a new Slicing Tool is available to create intersection sketches through the mesh body.  Pick a starting plane and then define the number of planes and offset.  The slicing planes and sketches are organized in a folder and can be edited to position the sketches in the desired locations.  Once positioned to your specifications, the mesh body can be hidden.  These sketches can be used like any other sketch to create a solid body. For example, a surface loft can be created to define the shape of the handle.  The new Slicing tool allows users to easily repurpose mesh data to create solid models.

Enhancing your productivity even further, projected curves now support multiple open or closed contours, which can be projected onto multiple bodies, and a new bi-directional option is available to project in both directions.

SOLIDWORKS 2019 offers even greater flexibly when designing parts. Now the length of fillets and chamfers can be controlled.  There are various options available to control the start and end offset, or the on-screen handles can be dragged to locate the ends of the chamfer.  Asymmetric fillets and chamfers are supported as well.  This new capability will save time and reduce the number of features required to achieve your designs.

Users often need to create complex or repeating features, but these features can be time-consuming to create, especially on complex models. Some designs, such as a grip, require textures or bumps which can be functional or just for aesthetic purposes. SOLIDWORKS 2019 introduces a new 3D Texture Tool that leverages an image file, turning its appearance directly into a 3D mesh body that is ready for downstream processing or 3D printing.

These are just a few of the enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2019 that will help to streamline the workflow when working with mesh data, and save steps when working with part models.

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