Fill Pattern is great for this type of thing, but only on flat surfaces. Since yours is curved, you need to use a sketch driven pattern, using a 3D sketch as your Reference sketch (see my following post)

Fill Patterns

The Fill Pattern feature lets you select an area defined by co-planar faces or a sketch that lies on co-planar faces. The command fills the defined region with a pattern of features or a predefined cut shape.

If you use a sketch for the boundary, you may need to select the pattern direction.

 

To create a fill pattern, click Fill Pattern (Features toolbar) or Insert > Pattern/Mirror > Fill Pattern, set the PropertyManager options, and click .

Parameters control the pattern layout. You can create a sheet metal perforation-style pattern, or a pattern of concentric shapes typically used to enhance aesthetics.

Typical uses include:

• Weight reduction
• Ventilation holes
• Grip surfaces

Types of Fill Patterns

 

Perforation

Designed for sheet metal perforation patterns. No vertex selected. Pattern is centered on face. Vertex selected. Pattern starts from vertex.

Circular Square Polygon

Designed for filling arbitrary areas with a pattern that repeats on a concentric grid. These patterns have similar PropertyManager options: Set the spacing between concentric loops or rows (using instance centers), starting from the seed feature. Define the pattern based on: Spacing between instances within a loop or row (target spacing). Actual spacing can vary within each loop or row so the instances fit evenly. The number of instances per loop or row. Margins. Pattern direction.   Circular pattern of a feature using target spacing between instances. Circular pattern using number of instances per loop. Polygon pattern using a sketch for fill boundary. Target spacing used. No vertex selected.

Predefined Cut Shapes

The predefined cut shapes available are circles , squares , diamonds , and polygons . You can control the parameters for each shape.

If you select a vertex, the shape seed feature is located at the vertex. Otherwise, the seed feature is located at the center of the fill boundary.

Diamond cut shape. Square pattern using 4 instances per side. No vertex selected.	Same parameters except vertex is selected.

Contents

• Fill Pattern PropertyManager
  The Fill Pattern PropertyManager appears when you create a fill pattern.

Sketch Driven Patterns

Using sketch points within a sketch, you can specify a feature pattern. The seed feature propagates throughout the pattern to each point in the sketch. You can use sketch driven patterns for holes or other feature instances.

To build a sketch driven pattern:

1. Open a sketch on the face of a part.
2. Create a seed feature on the model.
3. Click Point or Tools > Sketch Entity > Point, and add multiple sketch points to represent the pattern you want to create, based on the seed feature.
4. Close the sketch.
5. Click Sketch Driven Pattern (Features toolbar) or Insert > Pattern/Mirror > Sketch Driven Pattern.
6. Under Selections, do the following:
   • If necessary, use the flyout FeatureManager design tree to select a Reference Sketch to use as the pattern.
   • Click either Centroid to use the centroid of the seed feature, or Selected point to use another point as the reference point.

     Depending on what you select as your Reference point, the position of the features you propagate will change.

     Origin used as the Reference point

     Selected Vertex used as the Reference point

     You can also alter the relative position of the features you propagate when using a table driven pattern.

      

   • If you chose Selected point as the reference point, select a Reference Vertex in the graphics area.
   • You can use the centroid of the seed feature, the sketch origin, a vertex, or another sketch point as a reference point in a sketch driven pattern.
7. Do one of the following:
   • To create the pattern based on the feature, under Features to Pattern , select the feature in the graphics area.
   • If the feature to pattern includes fillets or other additions, use the flyout FeatureManager design tree to select these features.
   • To create the pattern based on the faces that make up the feature, under Faces to Pattern , select all the faces in the graphics area. This is useful with models that import only the faces that make up the feature, and not the feature itself.
   • When using Faces to Pattern, the pattern must remain within the same face or boundary. It cannot cross boundaries . For example, a cut across the
   • entire face or different levels (such as a raised edge) would create a boundary and separate faces, preventing the pattern from propagating.
   • To create a pattern based on multibody parts, under Bodies to Pattern , select the body to pattern in the graphics area.

     Multibody part with Body to Pattern and sketch points	Sketch driven pattern applied

8. Under Options, set these options:

   Geometry pattern	Creates the pattern using only the geometry (faces and edges) of the features, rather than patterning and solving each instance of the features. The Geometry Pattern option speeds up the creation and rebuilding of the pattern. You cannot create geometry patterns of features that have faces merged with the rest of the part. Geometry pattern is not available with Bodies to Pattern.
   Propagate Visual Properties	Propagates SolidWorks colors, textures, and cosmetic thread data to all pattern instances.

9. Click .

   Sketch pattern with Centroid as the reference point	Sketch pattern with Selected point as the reference point