Direct Edit is your ideal tool to flexibly post-edit model data. Instead of searching and editing the features in the lengthy history tree, you can directly modify geometric data. Click here to know how Direct Edit in ZW3D accelerates your post-editing work.
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In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to modify a pedestal with Direct Edit quickly. Are you ready to grasp the tricks of this tool? Download the model and follow me!
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Figure 1. The Pedestal before (left) and after (right) Direct Editing
STEP 1: Use Dim Move Face to modify the distance between entities
With Dim Move Face, you can move specified faces according to stationary reference faces. First, click Dim Move Face and select “Linear” in the dialog. Choose the blue face as the motion face and the pink one as the stationary face. Pick the orange faces as a motion group and set the distance as 50mm. Then the upper part of the pedestal will be higher.
Figure 2. Dim Move Face
STEP 2: Use DE Move to move entities along a direction
Click DE Move and select the 3rd move type, which can help move objects along a specified direction. Then pick the left face and the hole marked yellow below as “Faces”, and set the direction and distance as figure 3 shown.
Figure 3. DE Move
STEP 3: Use Align Move Face to move entities symmetrically
Click Align Move Face and select “Symmetric”. Pick the left face as the stationary face, the right face as the motion face and the hole as a motion group. Set the YZ plane as the symmetry plane.
Figure 4. Align Move Face
STEP 4: Use DE Move to move entities along a direction
Click DE Move command and select the 4th move type. Pick the small hole as “Faces” and set the center of the orange edge as the direction of the rotation axis. Set the angle as 30 degrees to move the small hole to the top of the model.
Figure 5. DE Move
STEP 5: Use Modify Fillets to adjust the radius of the fillets
Click Modify Fillets, pick the fillets at the four corners of the pedestal, and set the radius as 12mm.
Figure 6. Modify Fillets
STEP 6: Use Modify Holes to adjust the holes
Select Modify Holes in the Shape ribbon tab, pick the two holes on the base and set the parameters to get the desired result.
Figure 7. Modify Holes
So far, the overall adjustments of the pedestal have been completed. Have you got the tricks of Direct Edit? With Direct Edit, you can directly modify and reuse the existing features and parameters of internal or external models. Please let me know your ideas via comments
You can see more on ZW3D modeling techniques here.
3D Modeling Techniques Defined
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Joe Brouwer
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