Master Modeling in 3DEXPERIENCE

Recently, I started to do some surfacing in SOLIDWORKS in order to demonstrate master modeling techniques. As I started to create a series of sketches that I planned on carrying out all my operations with, I realized that I have some great tools that could do this a lot faster.

I closed my model, opened up xShape in the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, and got to work. Check out the results in the video below:

Master Modeling Technique

I wanted to reverse engineer my headphones case using master modeling. This would be a pull configuration of the technique, meaning I’ll insert my master model into a new part file and my xShape file will create the overall size of these components. The boundary and surface lofts with all the underlying sketches would’ve taken a bit, but in xShape, I was able to just insert three primitives, do some minor pushing and pulling to adjust the curvature and positions, and it was ready to go, all in only a few minutes.

3DEXPERIENCE Master Model

In xShape, I sculpted the overall enclosure, the cavities that make room for the headphones, and created an offset surface for the top. To ensure things were at the scale I wanted, I set the dimensions of the bounding box for the exterior, and changed the transparency of the outer enclosure to ensure my internal features were within its bounds.

Headphone case master model

After saving this file, I then just dragged the model from bookmark editor into SOLIDWORKS. This downloads my xShape model locally and displays it in the SOLIDWORKS interface, where I can modify it and add parametric features to it.

Download xShape model and display in SOLIDWORKS

I made my modifications to create the top and bottom half using the bodies and surfaces I created in xShape, and then selected the option Save As New from the 3DEXPERIENCE panel in Task Pane. Like it sounds, this would allow me to save out my top component as a new part, and then I would repeat this process for the bottom as well.

Save as new

Master Modeling Conclusion

This is the same as master modeling techniques that don’t use the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform as well, so since our parts were created in the same model, they will automatically be dropped into an assembly with a common origin and will already be in the position we want them to be when our design is complete, which is perfect if we need to create in context features like a hinge or clasp. Also, any changes made in xShape will trickle down to our parts since our master model is the parent part.