The Magic 8-Ball in SolidWorks

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After hearing on the radio the other morning that economists are again predicting a recession, I decided that in an effort to save money, I would make my own economist. For those of you unfamiliar with a magic 8-ball, it is a plastic ball with a window on the bottom. Inside, floating in liquid, is a 20-sided shape with various fortunes written on each face (such as “Signs point to yes” or “Ask again later” and so on). As if modelling up this 20-sided shape called an “Icosahedron” wasn’t challenging enough, you’ll soon see the fun I had trying to populate all the faces with text!

 

Okay, I know what you’re saying. What if I wanted a glimmer of hope? What if I wanted my economist 8-ball to give a different answer? What if I wanted to change the text on ONE face to say something different? Using the method described above it can’t be done, because I’ve dissolved the text. I would have to create a new feature. But, there is a better way: Library Features (stay tuned). This better way also will ensure that my text is positioned every time and also means the text will be consistently oriented (with the triangle pointing down).

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Jim Peltier is a CSWE at Javelin Technologies, a SolidWorks Value Added Reseller with locations in Ontario and Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a regular contributor to the Javelin blog.

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