Page 335 - Mastering SolidWorks

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coSMetic PAtternS 307

In the end, I was not able to get this to work 100 percent on complex geometry, and the matter
has been forwarded to SolidWorks as a technical support issue. I got one row to go around the
part all the way, but other rows would project the back side features onto the front, so there were
no back features and double the front features. This is shown in Figure 9.29, and you can look at
the file named Variable Pattern Bottle4.sldprt. I have a feeling this has to do with the
overall propensity in SolidWorks to flip planes as they rotate.
Figure 9.29
Variable Pattern flips
when driving a
sketch plane.

The reason all of the Internet examples of this function are simplistic seems to be that it is not
really capable of full 3D function, and this appears to expose underlying weaknesses in the
SolidWorks parametric function that have been there all along. If you need to do more complex
patterning, you will need to make copies of your features manually or use mirroring or more
conventional patterning.

Cosmetic Patterns

Cosmetic Patterns are not patterns in the same sense as all the other pattern types in SolidWorks.
The Cosmetic Patterns feature does not actually create any geometry, just the appearance of
geometry. Cosmetic Pattern features are applied using RealView functionality, which may or may
not be available to you depending on your hardware, in particular your video card.
NOTE More information is available on realView-capable video cards from the SolidWorks corporate
website at: www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html.
Cosmetic Patterns are appropriate if your manufacturing method does not require actual
geometry. For example, rapid prototyping requires explicit geometry in order to build a part, but
a perforated sheet metal panel or a knurled cylindrical handle may require only a note on a
drawing for the shop to set up a manufacturing process to create the geometry.