Mesh Modeling in SOLIDWORKS Part 2

Part 2 of the Mesh Modeling in SOLIDWORKS series. This video focuses on working with mesh brep bodies and hybrid mesh bodies . Mesh brep and Hybrid mesh help SOLIDWORKS users move away from the need for reverse engineering mesh geometry to accelerating a SOLIDWORKS user's workflow through what we call "continuing engineering".
It is recommended that you view part 1 of the Mesh Modeling in SOLIDWORKS series of videos. Part 1 can be found here: • Mesh Modeling in SOLID...
Topics covered include:
Pre SOLIDWORKS 2022 mesh brep workflow
Mesh brep segmenting
Hybrid Mesh (new in SOLIDWORKS 2022)
3D Textures
Slicing
3D Print Preview

[@camfazz9763]

This is fantastic stuff thanks! Is it possible to run FEA simulation through solidworks on mesh brep and hybrid mesh models?

[@mbanta]

Thanks for watching my video and thank you for your comment.
Currently, it is not possible to run a simulation using SOLIDWORKS Simulation on a mesh brep model. Mesh brep models have a mesh optimized for defining geometry. This type of mesh can tolerate extreme element aspect ratios that are not viable in a simulation mesh. These models also may or may not be segmented into faces. Users apply loads and boundary conditions to faces, edges and vertices.

[@camfazz9763]

@@mbanta Ah I see! So the best way to reverse engineer from scans seems be the slicing tool then. Which can then be analysed with solidowrks simulation?

[@BrunoSisler]

First I want to thank you for your competent and clear illustration and explanation in your video. One question though: in creating the reference plane 1 using points on the belt, the plane would not necessarily be parallel to one of the 3 planes of Solidworks. could an existing plane, say top plane, be used instead? And from that create plane 1 refered to a point on the belt. I would really appreciate your comment. Thanks

[@mbanta]

you bring up an excellent point. Perhaps in future versions of this video I will talk about the age old problem of having scanned geometry that does not align with the origin and the three reference planes. One of the first features that was implemented for graphics bodies (and of course mesh brep bodies) was the move/copy body feature ( help.solidworks.com/2022/english/solidworks/sldworks/t_Move_Copy_Body_PM_features.htm ) . You are not able to move with constraints (unfortunately) but you do have the ability to translate and rotate a graphics body or mesh body numerically, It is a bit of a task but this is how you would currently get a model to line up with the origin and the three reference planes. It involves using the measure tool (another feature that early on supported graphics and mesh brep bodies) and entering translate and rotate values to move the body based on your measurements.

[@mbanta]

PS thanks for watching my video

[@BrunoSisler]

@@mbanta Thank you for replying. Some designers do align their models, specially technical models originated in cad designs and turned into mesh for 3D printing. I understand your point and hope Solidworks will in future consider to include alignment for mesh bodies. In the meantime Geomagic design or Geomagic Wrap could do the job and resave aligned mesh bodies for Solidworks. Thanks again and waiting for your helpful tutorials.

[@suhaibbinmujahid4019]

Both of those parts were very informative, Thank you for these.
I am learning the workflow of reverse engineering from scanned data, but I have a confusion regarding the work flow. I'll be grateful if you could help me with that.
Question is, why does a mesh file obtained from scanning needs to be converted into native cad format in reverse engineering workflow? Why cant the mesh files directly be used for manufacturing. As we know we need an stl file for 3d printing. Does this means that we can directly use the scanned stl file for that? Why converting into native cad surfaces or solid bodies etc?

[@mbanta]

Suhaib,
Thank you for watching my video and thank you for your comments.
Whether or not you convert the scanned geometry from a graphics body to a mesh brep or hybrid mesh body depends on the quality of the scanned data and your intended use of the scanned data.
If the scanned data is of sufficient quality that you can export to STL and manufacture from that STL then you are done. No need to move forward with any of the reverse engineering steps (no need to import into SOLIDWORKS actually). In my limited experience I have found that scanner output is almost never of sufficient quality to go straight to manufacturing.
The second consideration is what you would like to do with the scanned data. Users commonly import scanned data into SOLIDWORKS because they want to work with it in SOLIDWORKS. i.e. they want to add or remove geometry, include the scanned data in an assembly, build geometry based on the scanned data etc... If you don't want to do any of these things then you don't need to open the scanned data in SOLIDWORKS. However, again, in my limited experience with scanned data, this is almost never the case and you want to make at least some small modifications to the scanned data that require SOLIDWORKS. For this common scenario, we have developed the continuing engineering workflow to extend beyond reverse engineering and allow users to integrate scanned data into their workflows.

[@suhaibbinmujahid4019]

@@mbanta
Thank you so much Marlon for your attention to the comment and your time to respond to that. I think the reason is pretty clear to me now.
Thanks again for both of these videos, helped me a lot.

[@mbanta]

@@suhaibbinmujahid4019 I am glad it helped. Thanks for watching my videos.

[@__--JY-Moe--__]

🥳👍

[@mbanta]

Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching my video.

[@manishkumarjha2198]

Hello sir
Is there any method we can use to decrease the number of traingle mesh in a solidwork body

[@mbanta]

Manish,
Thank you for watching my video.
There are two ways to do this:

1. When you convert a SOLIDWORKS Classic brep body to mesh brep you have controls for the mesh refinement. See: th-cam.com/video/BEViSsD6zso/w-d-xo.html .
2. When you import a mesh file as a graphix body you can use the decimation tool to reduce the number of triangles. I show the decimate tool in part 1 of this series; see: th-cam.com/video/Q4x7lRHnvss/w-d-xo.html . A decimated graphics body can be converted to mesh brep. From there you can use hybrid mesh modeling in a continuing engineering workflow to further develop your model.

[@jds7758]

I'm using solidworks 2020 and I'm splitting my mesh brep bodies by a plane but the plane intersection does not convert to a brep thus I cannot use mate on the split parts. Is this due to the solidworks version i'm using? Thanks in advance.

[@mbanta]

For an assembly mate, you would need a classic brep face for a mate reference (or a reference plane). One solution is to create a reference plane that is coplanar with the split face. That should work in SW2020. In SW2022 when you split the body (or cut with surface and use a reference plane) the face generated at the split or cut will be a classic brep face (not mesh brep). You will be able to select that face for a mate. This is the power of hybrid mesh. You can have both classic brep and mesh brep geometry in the same body.

[@mbanta]

PS thanks for watching my video.

[@jds7758]

@@mbanta Thanks for this suggestion! I will try this one and let you know. Also Thank you for putting up this tutorial videos. I learned at least the basic manipulations on mesh bodies. Hope you continue to make videos like this. :)
Edit: The reference plane solution worked! I will use this technique until I get the 2022 version. :)

[@hananabdo3216]

Hello sir,
When i decimate graphic body and convert it to mesh an error happen
It convert to gray color but with mistakes
and Warning message
,,A facet normal problem was found with one of the facets in the file .please check the stl file,,
Is that happen because of large number of facets 800000?
Thanks in advance.

[@mbanta]

This is one of those cases where your reseller would be best to address this by reviewing the model. That being said, 800,000 facets is not such a large number of facets. Also consider decimating in steps. i.e. if you want to get down to 400,000 facets consider multiple decimation steps where you reduce the facet count by a number less than your target reduction amount. i.e. perhaps consider two steps of 200k facet reduction or three steps of 133k facet reduction.

[@hananabdo3216]

Thank you so much for your replying
I really learned a lot from your videos ,thanks for your help

[@manishkumarjha2198]

Is there any method to convert solidworks traingle mesh to quad mesh.
Please help me with this .

[@mbanta]

Can you explain why you need a quad mesh?
Note that for advanced sculpting and surfacing you should look into our exciting web based applications. In particular you should look at xShape in the 3D Sculptor role ( www.solidworks.com/media/3d-sculptor-getting-started-xshape ). xShape uses quad mesh.

[@manishkumarjha2198]

@@mbanta actually i need to export it in maya for furthur texturing and substance painting

[@mbanta]

@@manishkumarjha2198 For rendering I would always recommend to use SOLIDWORKS Visualize ( www.solidworks.com/product/solidworks-visualize ) or SOLIDWORKS PhotoView 360. PhotoView 360 is integrated into the CAD product and Visualize is a latest generation rendering application. Both are available with a license of SOLIDWORKS Professional or higher.

[@manishkumarjha2198]

@@mbanta can I will be able to get 4K rendered images from Solidworks visualise and if yes please teach me .

[@mbanta]

@@manishkumarjha2198 you can get very high resolution images out of Visualize. There are a large number of tutorial videos on youtube related to SOLIDWORKS Visualize that can show you how to use the product and how to generate high resolution output. I would recommend to pay attention to look for videos from our Value Added Resellers (VAR).