Part VI: Using Advanced Techniques
The Perpendicular to Vector setting is a better option than the Normal to Surface setting when the
surface has been created with some sort of built-in draft angle. This is also the setting that looks
most like the Radiate Surface feature, although it works much better than Radiate Surface.The Sweep setting makes a face that is perpendicular to the surface created by Perpendicular to
Vector. It is as if a straight line were swept around the edge. This is actually a great way to offset an
edge or 3D sketch: using the edge of the surface as the offset of the original.Using Surfacing Techniques
This section serves as a brief overview of some of the techniques commonly used among people
who model using surfaces. This section could be the topic for an entire book on its own. In fact, it
is the topic of an entire book that goes into far greater detail. You may want to use the SolidWorks
Surfacing and Complex Shape Modeling Bible (Wiley, 2008) to continue your SolidWorks education
in far greater detail and depth.Up To Surface/Up To Body
Cross-Reference
Chapter 7 contains more information on end conditions such as Up To Surface and Up To Body. n
Some modeling situations seem to require elaborate workarounds until you think of doing them
with a combination of solid and surface features, such as the part shown in Figure 27.15. This
geometry could be made completely with solids, but it would be more difficult. In this case, a sur-
face is revolved, representing the shape at the bottom of the hole, and the cut is extruded up to it.
You can follow along with the part from the CD-ROM at Chapter 27 - square hole.sldprt.Another familiar situation is when you have a feature to place and you want to use an Offset from
Surface end condition, but the feature spans two faces. In that situation, you can knit the necessary
faces together (or use offset), and then extrude offset from that surface body.Tip
Using Up To or Offset From Body rather than Face often avoids the common error message, “The end face
cannot terminate the extruded feature,” especially if the feature that is extruded spans more than one face. n
Figure 27.16 shows a part using an Offset Surface to extrude text up to where the text spans more
than a single surface. This is a very common application, even if it is not text that is being
extruded. The part that was used in Figure 27.15 is on the CD-ROM in the materials for Chapter
26, and is called Chapter 26 – Up To Body.SLDPRT.