Parametric 2D sketching available in PolyWorks^(R) V12

InnovMetric's development team is working hard on the next major release of PolyWorks. As the PolyWorks V12 launch date approaches, key functionalities of the new version are being unveiled. In October, InnovMetric announced that the version 12 of PolyWorks/Modeler(TM) will offer new parametric 2D sketching capabilities. The focus of InnovMetric's development is to optimize the creation of 2D sketches, containing arcs, lines, circles, and spline entities, on digitized models, and transfer this geometric information to the customer's corporate solid modeling software as quickly as possible. This modeling workflow has proven to be the only one capable of producing fully editable solid models under all circumstances.

The following example demonstrates a modeling workflow that combines PolyWorks V12 (images 1 to 4) and SolidWorks 2010 (images 5 to 7). In image 1, a 3D box is defined and used to compute the part's outline. Image 2 shows the final sketch in which some fillets have been converted to construction entities and replaced by corners. Image 3 shows a sketch outline computed by averaging multiple cross-sections. Image 4 shows the final sketch, ready for a Cut-Extrude operation in SolidWorks.

Image 5 represents the partial SolidWorks model directly created from PolyWorks sketches. Starting from this point, the information supplied by PolyWorks is no longer needed. Image 6 shows the final reverse-engineered model, after mirroring the part and using the SolidWorks filleting wizards. Finally, image 7 clearly demonstrates the benefit of building a fully parametric and associative CAD model in a professional CAD solution. Compared to image 6, the thickness has been changed, a bore position has been translated, and a key sketch dimension has been modified to globally modify the shape. These shape-editing operations were performed in a wink using the standard SolidWorks toolset.

Visit the Innovmetric Website and follow them on Twitter for all the news about the upcoming PolyWorks V12!