Solids question

[trevorhinze]

I have been playing with 20.4 for about a month now and I have started to wonder if the neat looking 3D parts like those found on the Bobcad website can actually be created in the program, or if they were imported from another program. I have been using the 3d menu as much as I could and I just dont seem to be having much luck making any thing usable. I would just like to be able to draw and cut a part no more complicated than the example drawing that pops up when you select generate toolpath. I mean the one that appears when it asks you what kind of cutting profile you would like to use and asks for cutter dia etc. Could you let me know if you have had luck creating and generating the code for any complex 3D parts entirely in bobcad, or if I should give up and look elsewhere. Pictures would be great too. Thanks!

[Parameter]

I would recommend you take a look at the basic tutorials. You may be more confortable drawing with other CAD and that could be understandable... drawing is one big part, then CAM another. Not all products are equal especially in packages. A good cad on wich you're comfortable is quite important.

Para

[Jim Estes]

I have created some unusual shapes, and I haven't seen amything much more complex on any website. I have used other CAD programs (Autocad, Designcad, Intellicad) and creating 3D solids or even 3D geometry is not any easier with other programs. It's all got to do with the math and how you create the shapes. If you break the parts down to simpler shapes and then merge them together you get some complex shapes. I have learned to create shapes by first creating a "tool" shape that I use to cut away portions of the other shapes. Imagine drawing a star and then turning that star into a solid, then using that star to punch a hole into a round ball, then rotate the ball and punch another hole, and so on until you get a ball with a star on six sides, or a star on one side and a rectangle on another and a triangle on another, and so on. You have to create solids in simpler forms and figure out ways to join them or take away parts. Just like if you were working with real solid material.

Jim