One of the most requested tips people ask for in SOLIDWORKS is how to emboss or deboss text onto a complex surface. Today, we’ll take a look at how easy that is to do with the Wrap feature.

The Wrap feature allows you to very quickly and easily take any shape and “wrap” it on a surface – whether it’s text or any other type of sketch. The best way to approach this is to offset a plane (ctrl+drag is a nice shortcut to accomplish this), and then sketch what you need on that plane. When you’re talking about sketch text, you can easily create a curve for the text to follow using construction geometry. You can then add and control text fonts in the tool.

Once you’ve got the sketch created, you can use the Wrap feature to emboss, deboss or create a split on the surface using the “Scribe” command. You can then choose how to sketch projects onto the surface, whether it’s a conical or cylindrical wrap, or if you want to have it follow the contour of a complex freeform surface, something that is new in SW 2017.

For more SOLIDWORKS tips and tricks, watch our on-demand webinar or subscribe to our Video Tech Tips.