The back of an iPad is a perfect example of the classic “crowned surface” frequently used in industrial design. We’ve seen it done in Rhino, so here I’ll demonstrate a method for creating a good-quality class-a surface in SolidWorks.
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Adam O'Hern is an industrial design consultant specializing in visual brand languages, and has designed products ranging from laptops to power tools, classroom toys to bathroom fixtures, and robots to lint rollers. He has published with 3DWorld Magazine, CGTuts+, and Luxology, and works with Josh Mings of SolidSmack.com on EngineerVsDesigner.com. |
Nice tutorial! im just starting to learn solidworks and this helps alot, really like your site and vids.
I achieved a better result by doing a similar fit spline operation for the guide curves for the surface loft as you did for the fillets corners.
That way i get smooth zebra stripes over the surface transition
Great work, Tim! This one’s ripe for a redo. As soon as I can get around to it…
Great tutorial!
But this surface is not comparable to the back of an Ipad. There is no flat surface on the Ipad like this model in the tutorial has. Is there maybe a solution for making the whole crowned surface in constant curvature? I have tried several solutions and come to the conclusion that maybe solidworks can´t do it. Any ideas?
Cheers
Hi Per:
I’ve had lots of comments on this topic, and I’m hoping to do a follow-up sometime soon. A few thoughts for you in the mean-time:
1) According to the drawings from the Apple Developer website, there is something very (very) close to flat in the middle of the iPad. For the sake of expediency in the demo I went ahead and made it completely flat, but you are correct: in all likelihood, that “flat” area is probably very slightly crowned. The same basic method applies, just starting with a crowned surface rather than a flat one.
2) The ideal solution would be to use a degree-5 NURBS surface with co-located points at the center of the iPad. While this would be simple in NX (the software that Apple uses), it is unfortunately not an option in SolidWorks, so we have to resort to trickery.
3) I too have tried two-dozen methods, and can’t find one that yields a perfect “class-A” quality result. SolidWorks is (unfortunately) not a class-a surfacing tool as yet, and probably will never become one, because Dassault would never want SW to cannibalize its Catia market.
All that said, I’ll try to do a new video to address some of your very valid questions.
Best,
Adam
Nice Work. Helped a lot.
thanks Adam !
I like your method