What are the advantages of solid modeling over 2D CAD work?
Working from a single, common 3D geometry database. You don’t have to recreate geometry multiple times for: 3D visualization, 2D detail design & drafting, 2D or 3D Finite element analysis, 3D NC manufacturing, and creating visualization diagrams for advertising, marketing, or a manual. It’s also much easier and faster to make changes to the model. Change is a fact of life for any design project so it’s better to have tools that are powerful enough to easily cope with the inevitable changes. It’s also normally very easy to port the 3D solid geometry to an FEA software tool. This is an enormous time saver, easily paying for the entire cost of converting from 2D/3D CAD to a parametric, feature based solid modeler all by itself. The end result is a virtually seamless “end to end” set of software tools for mechanical engineering. Everything from 3D solid design and visualization to 3D FEA, to detailed 2D drawings, to 3D NC CAM is handled by a single geometry database.
