Parts are ultimately what you put on your laser cutter, mill, or 3D printer. Creating 3D parts quickly and without esoteric workflows means you get to production faster.
Part Modeling Overview
Comprehensive parametric part modeling includes:
Great Sketching
Most 3D features start with a 2D sketch. Alibre Design's sketching environment is mature and full of time saving tools.
3D Features
Features result in 3D geometry. Extrusions, fillets, revolves, lofts, and much more round out the feature creation toolset.
Real-time Feedback
Every feature has real-time 3D feedback so you know what will happen when you press OK and can detect failures early.
Time Savers
Reuse geometry and leverage symmetry with mirrors, patterns, and other features that reduce work and make changes easier.
Hollow Parts
Hollow out parts with a Shell to reduce material and weight. Determine wall thickness on a face by face basis, if desired.
Visualization
Realtime draggable section views and center of mass visualization are just some of the tools that give great visual feedback.
Analysis
Interrogate model geometry and measure almost anything including surface area, distance, angles, and volume. Physical properties provide mass, center of mass, moments of inertia, principal axes, and more.
Data-Driven
All features in part modeling are driven by parameters you define. Think dimensions, angles, pattern counts, etc. Changing your model is as easy as modifying these numbers.
A custom SpaceX stereo amp design. Each component is modeled separately and precisely.
Great Sketching
2D and 3D sketches are the inputs for most 3D features and are core to the part modeling experience. Sketching is extensively documented on another page.
3D features are the core of all 3D models. Different features perform different types of modeling operations. Layering features on top of each other results in a finished model.
Extrude Boss
Pulls a 2D sketch out in a direction while adding material along the way.
Extrude Cut
Pulls a 2D sketch out in a direction while removing material along the way.
Revolve Boss
Rotates a 2D sketch around an axis while adding material along the way.
Revolve Cut
Rotates a 2D sketch around an axis while removing material along the way.
Sweep Boss
Pulls a 2D sketch along a wire while adding material long the way.
Sweep Cut
Pulls a 2D sketch along a wire while removing material long the way.
Loft Boss
Adds material with smooth transitions between different sketches or faces.
Loft Cut
Removes material with smooth transitions between different sketches.
Helical Boss
Adds material along a helix with the cross section of a sketch.
Helical Cut
Removes material along a helix with the cross section of a sketch.
Fillet
Rounds hard corners of edges or faces with a constant or variable radius.
Chamfer
Replaces hard corners with a slope at a symmetric or asymmetric angle.
face Color
Set the color of faces to convey information.
Shell
Hollows out a part by removing the selected faces and creating thin walls along the rest of the part.
Linear Pattern
Patterns multiple features or geometry in one or two directions to create an array of copies.
Circular Pattern
Patterns multiple features or geometry around an axis to create an array of copies.
Mirror
Mirror one or more features across a reference plane or planar face.
The base for a swivel mount created using revolves, extrusions, fillets, and mirrors.
Realtime 3D Previews
Visualize the results of every option during feature creation prior to committing the feature. Reduce the editing cycle by ensuring it's right the first time. Implemented product wide.
Analysis & Measurement
Various analysis tools allow you to interrogate a 3D model for its physical properties like center of mass or volume. Get a better look at hard to see areas of the geometry or create sketches of cross sections with the various section view tools.
