Dezignstuff Surfacing Episode Site
The Dezignstuff Surfacing Episode site is a book-length set of web pages loosely constructed like a book with chapters. If it were printed, it would be about 500 pages long, with about 780 mb of download material as of this writing. The text has live links to example models and videos.
The Surfacing Episode is organized in four parts:
- Concepts:
Identifying and defining the basic concepts involved in history-based surface modeling. It’s different enough from solid modeling that we need to lay some ground work. - Tools:
Going through the basic tools that you will use in the course of a surfacing project. Don’t skip the Splines and Boundary vs Loft chapters. - Techniques:
Some commonly used techniques are used to solve common problems. This could also be called an FAQ section for resolving problems with surface models. - Examples:
I work through the thought process and decision making on several models, including an emblem, personal aircraft, sports cars, furniture, building a mold, etc. There is a lot of great info in these chapters that isn’t in the Tools chapters. This is definitely worth checking out. - Best Practice Summary:
Even in the chaotic world of surfacing, there are still best practices. These will help you make decisions until you’re on familiar ground.
This site is about the same price as one of my Surfacing Bibles, but it gets up dated (check the Change Log), and you have direct access to the author in the comments section. You can search the whole thing, and there are links to videos and other stuff. In short, this site is way more valuable than the book. All of the text and examples are new. Some of the ideas from the book carried over, but a lot of it is presented in a new way. A lot happens in 12 years. One manager has bought subscriptions for each of his employees.
The site isn’t just another compilation of the mostly useless stuff you find on Youtube (the videos for this site aren’t hosted on Youtube). These models are adaptations of situations I’ve run into in ~25 years of using SolidWorks for product design. Full of practical advice, and my signature irreverence. All of the models were created by me specifically for this site.
If you have any interest in working with surfaces in SolidWorks, the information in this site and the direct access to the author is probably the best use of your money. I was advised that access to this information should be priced in the hundreds of dollars. And I agree, it’s worth that much. Maybe someday I’ll raise the price.
For now, I wanted to price it like a book instead of like an on-line course.
I see questions every day on the SolidWorks forum that this site answers. Get a monthly subscription, and then upgrade to annual. I think you’ll agree, this is the best information available to SolidWorks users around, and that includes the official SolidWorks training materials.
Matt Lombard