Direct Editing of Imported Geometries using SolidWorks 2008 - Choices for the User

SolidWorks has been a peacefully co-existent, co-operative, neighbour for almost all contemporary 3D CAD platforms. Its ease-of-use combined with the ability to import, edit, update and possibly re-hash complete designs, has made it more popular among the design community. How effective is SolidWorks in terms of direct editing of imported history-free geometries while preserving history data in edit-mode? This article sets out to explore the new features in SolidWorks 2008 , that enables an Engineer to work with non-native geometry providing rich functional tools to help get the job done. As shown, 3D CAD model of a plastic telephone part, in Parasolid Format, was taken as an example to explore the functionalities available in SolidWorks 2008 to perform Direct Editing functions on non-SolidWorks geometries. The Parasolid Geometry came in fine without any errors. By just picking on the filleted surface (as shown), Instant3D functionality immediately recognized the multiple-radii ...