CAD Forum

I have an assembly made up of tubes and plates. I need to calculate the surface area only for the external surfaces of the assembly so as to calculate how much Paint I need.
So far I have not been able to find a solution as SW general gives the overall surface area which includes inner surfaces as well.

Thanks

One way I can think of, depending on the complexity of the assembly. Create a new part in the assembly, edit that part and do a zero offset of the major exterior surfaces. This part can be analyzed to give you the total surface area.

Wouln't selecting the faces manually and then using the measure tool give you the surface area you require..?

Save the assembly as a part.

Use this option: Then open the part and check surface area.

We've looked for this a fair bit as well. Attempting to estimate paint usage so internal areas, shaded areas, laminated areas must all be excluded. We didn't find anything that automates it so still doing manually part by part (weldment).

IF our welded assembly models were perfect, ie watertight with no large partially covered faces and no laminated faces with gap then maybe it could be automated with the use of existing tools but we don't have any models like that.

After investigating this off and on over several years I've thought that maybe a solution might be in graphics/OpenGL side, which I know nothing about and is way over my head. But, it seems there might be a possibility to get the polygonal model then use a light source to illuminate it and somehow track the polys that the light could hit while rotating the part. Sort of using graphics API to "paint" a part with a single light source. Probably a bunch of twaddle; I said I don't know anything about graphics programming.

AlexLachance wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:56 am Wouln't selecting the faces manually and then using the measure tool give you the surface area you require..?

I tried doing that. It still gives me the overall surface area. Only when I open one of the parts individually does it allow me to select different sections and give its value.

DanPihlaja wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:36 am Save the assembly as a part.

Use this option:
image.png

Then open the part and check surface area.

I did this. Still giving me the overall value. It does not even let me stitch it together.

rtalukdar wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:06 am I tried doing that. It still gives me the overall surface area. Only when I open one of the parts individually does it allow me to select different sections and give its value.

Works for me:

Where's @zxys001 on this? This seems like a surfacing problem.
Someone else who may have a suggestion is @Alin.

rtalukdar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:20 pm I have an assembly made up of tubes and plates. I need to calculate the surface area only for the external surfaces of the assembly so as to calculate how much Paint I need.
So far I have not been able to find a solution as SW general gives the overall surface area which includes inner surfaces as well.

Thanks

I am working with Artem Taturevych (actually he is doing all the work) to add this functionality to CAD+. I suggest reaching out to him directly, because his solution is simple and effective!

rtalukdar wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:07 am I did this. Still giving me the overall value. It does not even let me stitch it together.

Maybe a simple config (Painted Faces Only) where you "Delete" the masked faces from your solid body (the back plate surfaces or the perimeter which divides the front painted surfaces) and then select/calculate only what faces remain.

Check this macro https://www.3dcontentcentral.com/macros ... ?id=341816

The 3d content central does not work for newer Solidworks versions. Is there a newer macro for the updated releases?

The problem here is pipes or closed profiles. When I had to count the surface of profiles for powder coating or anodizing, I dealt with it by changing the internal contours of the profile to a construction line. This way you can deal with this problem relatively quickly

jasonwilger wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 5:47 pm The 3d content central does not work for newer Solidworks versions. Is there a newer macro for the updated releases?

I tested it on 2022, and it worked as expected. So, would like to ask if you are getting any errors?