Draft Angle

Draft Angle tool(5)

The most recent addition, and very popular request, has been a means of adding draft during the modeling process for objects that require mold-type manufacturing. A color-keyed display is combined with extra sensitive transforms to adjust draft as needed.

To use:

  1. Select the direction of pull plane from viewport list tree
  2. In the Power Surfacing tab, far right, select Draft Angle
  3. The dialog box opens- tip: if you want to choose a different plane, close and re-open Draft Angle to update to a new plane.
  4. Set hte draft angle in hte dialog box
  5. Flip the pull direction if you need to
  6. Note the default color map
  7. Determine where the split line will be, add a loop if necessary
  8. Tip: Feel free to use with Mirror
  9. Set the loop to hard or fully weighted (it will now be purple when deselected)
  10. Now adjust the draft by moving and or scaling the edges to eliminate the yellow band of no draft
  11. Work on face, edge or vertex level to create draft
  12. Check angle by hovering areas


Advanced techniques for more accuracy:

  1. Turn on Multi-Color and double hte draft angle- now your target is hte boarder between yellow and cyan, which will be hte original 3 degrees
  2. Get angle to target at each vertex
  3. If there are areas requireing adjustment between good vertices, use level of detail to target midpoint areas
  4. Also try moving bounding vertices sideways instead of outward to affect interior areas
  5. Check the numbers regularly
  6. When all looks good, convert and confirm with SolidWorks draft checker -remember, SubDs are only approximation of the converted result

re-enter edit mode and make adjustments as required or desired

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