Elephant in SolidWorks

    For this post I decided to share one of my more creative models that I made recently.  This elephant took some time in order to get it to work out how I wanted.  I used pictures of an elephant as references when I was creating the model.  I started by using 3D sketches to outline the legs of the elephant.  Once those were shaped I used boundary surfaces to fill in between the lines.  I then went about a similar process of creating sketches and 3D sketches to create the rest of the body.  Once the main body was surfaced using boundary surfaces and lofts, I thicken it to create a solid body.  From here I added ears and other details such as the tusks.  I had to keep modify different parts along the way to get the look that I wanted.  For the skin of the elephant, I created my own image that had the colors and texture that I was looking for.  I then brought that into SolidWorks as a decal which can be found under appearances.  It was then wrapped around the entire elephant giving it the look of a realistic elephant.  To get simulate the grass I created a planer surface underneath the elephant and gave it the appearance of grass which is under organic and miscellaneous in appearances.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did creating it.

Ian Jutras