Freeform surface tool in SOLIDWORKS

Karajko CAD

7 Apr, 2018 11:35 AM

Freeform is a command for manipulating surface in SOLIDWORKS, in this tutorial I will show you how that works.

1. Step 1:

   

   I am going to show you what this command does with a simple flat surface.

   As usual like with every other SolidWorks surface tool you can find it in Insert-surface or you can type Freeform at the command bar.

   
   

2. Step 2:

   

   First thing you need to do when you activate Freeform command is to select the surface you want to deform, just be aware that you will get an error with some shapes of your surfaces like a sphere for example, it wont work for every shape.

   You will have no problems manipulating flat surfaces like this.

   
   

3. Step 3:

   

   With surface selected now we need to add some curves to the surface, click add curves and then click on the surface to add few curves, as soon as you click green lines will appear, those are our curves.We need them to specify a place on our surface from which we will control it.

   
   

4. Step 4:

   

   After you done that click at add points and add a few points to your lines where you want.After you finish click again on add points to end the step.

   Now we can use those green points and arrows to move our surface from the point we choose.

   
   

5. Step 5:

   

   If you select a point now coordinate system will show up, you can use the Z, Y or X axis to move the surface too.

   
   

6. Step 6:

   

   You probably already tried but here on the picture you can see what happens when you click on a point and drag him downwards, it pushes a surface down on that area where the point is.

   
   

7. Step 7:

   

   As I mentioned you can use arrows to move a surface as well.

   
   

8. Step 8:

   

   So here it is, I did not go completely in detail but I hope you understand what this is for.

   I hope you will find a use of this tool.

   :)

   
   

   
   

   Karajko CAD