Hi guys,

I have created a solid where the cross section changed from circular to rectangular (in part file). However, I can't figure out how to produce a surface development for this solid. Just wonder if Solid edge is capable of doing the surface development stuff.... Can anyone please shed some light for me?

Thank you, cindy

No one is using Solid Edge? Please kindly help. Thanks.

I do not use Solid Edge, or any other CAD program for that matter. So I cannot help you with the mouse click procedure for your task in Solid Edge.

However, it is that time of night when I feel impelled to add my two cents worth of unsolicited verbosity. So here goes.

When you say "surface development" for the solid, do you mean "shelling"? Shelling, from my vague understanding of it, is merely the extraction of the bounding surface of a solid as a separate surface object. Especially if the solid has a BREP (boundary representation), this should be a simple operation. There should be a menu item or a tool icon for doing this with a single click once you have selected the solid. Beware that the result will also include the two end planes of your solid. The result would be a surface object embedded in three dimensions, that coincides with the boundary of your solid.

Or did you mean you wanted a surface development in the sense of laying the surface of the solid out on a plane by bending the surface without stretching/shrinking in the process? If this is what you meant, you should bear in mind that the surface cannot be developed unless it is a ruled surface. The only type of ruled surface I can think of for your case is obtained as follows. First create the [a] circular and [b] rectangular cross-sectional surfaces with the desired spatial separation between them. Then create [c] a surface by linearly blending from the bounding curve (circle) of surface [a] to the bounding curve (rectangle) of surface [b]. Basically, points on the circle should be continuously (and invertibly) mapped to points on the rectangle by a map "f". The map f will be selected by you or will be some default in the software. Then join corresponding (via f) points of the circle and rectangle with a straight line (termed a "rule"). This specifies a "ruled" surface connecting the cirle with the rectangle. This surface can be developed by "unrolling" it onto a plane. The straight lines or rules of the surface are the lines of contact with the plane during the unrolling process. If all you are interested in is this surface, you do not even have to create the surfaces [a] and [b], but merely their bounding circular and rectangular curves.

If the blending from circle to rectangle is done differently from the way I described, with some sort of nonlinear blending between the cross-sections, then the surface is not in general developable. Perhaps this is what is preventing Solid Edge from giving you the surface development. If on the other hand, you do have the kind of ruled bounding surface I described, for your solid, then you probably must first extract the bounding surface of your solid to a surface object, and then apply the surface development function to it. Sorry I could not be of more help.

I'm a Solid Edge user, but I have no clue what you are really asking. If you are more clear on what you are starting with and what you are trying to do, I may be able to offer suggestions. Your best bet, though, is EDS help desk.