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Surface Workbench

Introduction​

The image Surface Workbench provides tools to create and modify simple NURBS surfaces. These tools have similar functionality to the image Part Builder tool when the Face from edges option is used. However, unlike that tool, the tools of the Surface Workbench are parametric and provide additional options. In this respect, the tools in this workbench are similar to image PartDesign AdditiveLoft and image PartDesign AdditivePipe.

Some of the features provided are:

  • Creation of surfaces from boundary edges.
  • Alignment of the curvature from neighboring faces.
  • Constraining of surfaces to additional curves and vertices.
  • Extension of faces.
  • A mesh can be used as a template to create spline curves on its surface.

Surface workbench icon
Surface workbench icon

image

Usage​

The Surface Workbench intends to create faces with shapes, which is not possible to do with the standard tools in other workbenches.

image
Surface created with sketches placed in datum planes with the tools of the PartDesign Workbench

The Surface Workbench integrates with other workbenches of FreeCAD. The above example was created from image Sketches placed on image PartDesign Datum planes in the image PartDesign Workbench. The design can be fully parametric if all datum planes and sketches are defined accordingly. In most cases it is sufficient to draw a closed sketch to define the boundary of a face, and then use different options to further modify its shape.

The generated surface cannot be placed inside a image PartDesign Body. However, the generated surface can be contained inside a image Std Part together with the associated image PartDesign Body that holds the datum planes and sketches. The non-parametric image Part Builder tool can then be used in order to create a shell and finally a solid.

Tools​

  • image Filling: fills a series of boundary curves with a surface.
  • image Fill boundary curves: creates a surface from two, three or four boundary edges.
  • image Sections: creates a surface from edges that represent transversal sections of surface.
  • image Extend face: extrapolates the surface at the boundaries with its local U parameter and V parameter.
  • image Curve on mesh: creates approximated spline segments on top of a selected mesh.
  • image Blend Curve: creates a Bezier curve between two edges, with desired continuity.