Tip/Trick Archives - Page 8 of 13

Drawing: Detail View with blank detail circle

**UPDATE Sept 2016**

As with many old tips for SOLIDWORKS, this old tip is now outdated. As of SOLIDWORKS 2017, there is an option for detail and crop views within their PropertyManager called “No outline” that allows you to turn off the view outline. No more need for the fancy workaround below.

**Original post, now outdated**

An interesting drawing question recently came up on the SolidWorks Forum. How does one create a detail view were the detail circle is hidden? Jennifer Reid gets props for coming up with a great solution for newer versions of SolidWorks (I’ve modified her original post for clarity):

Open the document that will have the blank detail circles.
Go to toolbar Tools>Options>Document Properties tab>Line Style.
Click the New button.
In the Line styles field, name the new line style something like “None”.
In the Line length and spacing values field, enter “A,-1,-1”.
If desired, Save the new line. This is not necessary.
Click OK button to apply this new line to this document.
Then goto toolbar Tools>Options>Document Properties tab>View Labels>Detail
Set Circle and Border to the blank line that was just created. (It shows up as a blank line at the bottom of the line style drop down lists.)
Click OK to apply changes.
On the drawing, ignore the dashed line for the detail circle and detail border. This is just a guide that does not appear when the drawing is printed.

The full conversation is found here.

Stump the Chumps submission form

See if you can stump the chumps with your SolidWorks questions at our session in SolidWorks World 2010:

Stump the Chumps question submission form

Also, if you have files to submit as part of your question, please email your question and files to stumpthechumps@gmail.com.

Windows Desktop Search (what to do?) XP instructions

SolidWorks installation may request permission to install the Windows Desktop Search. My advice is to decline this! It is not needed on any workstations. It potentially degrades performance of even the most pimped-out PC. The reason is that it is always busy updating its index. It is recommended by some that the Windows Desktop Search only be installed on servers.

If it is already installed via SolidWorks or even via one of Windows automatic updates on your workstation PC, you’ll have to jump through hoops just to get to a point where you might be able to kinda remove it. It’s like a legal virus. Once its on your PC, you’ll be engaged in a lengthy battle to remove it. I’m not exaggerating when I say it can take days. This is because in many situations even if you “uninstall” it using Add and Remove Programs, it stays on your system. To truly get it off requires some ugly hacks that should only be attempted by experienced PC users.

If it is accidentally installed on a workstation PC, there is hope. It can generally be successfully ignored with a couple of easy steps. Within SolidWorks, goto Tools pulldown>Options…>System Options tab> and under the Search heading, find the Indexing performance area. Make sure “Index only when computer is idle” is selected and choose OK. One other area that might help is also under System Options tab> under the File Locations heading. Choose “Search Paths” from the “Show folders for:” field. In the “Folders:” field, only add folders of note (removing any extra folders that do not need to be indexed).

These steps may not help other programs such as Windows Explorer, but it should help SolidWorks performance.

Standard Views without Zoom-to-fit

When using Standard Views in SolidWorks, the resulting view of the model is normally Zoom to fit. This is regardless to the zoom level of the current view. So, if I’m zoomed in to look at a specific feature a very long part, when I change from Front View to Rear View, the model will be resized to fit to screen. This might be unexpected in some cases, as it requires extra steps to return to the area where I was working on the model.

With newer versions of SolidWorks, there is an alternative. A toggle setting is available under Tools>Options…>System Options>View. Unselect the Zoom to fit when changing to standard views option.

The only draw back is that this toggle is buried deep within the Options window. This makes the task of dynamically using this functionality difficult. Otherwise, this is a great function.

Zoom to fit when changing to standard views

SolidWorks 2010 Deleting Dimensions

This information was previously posted as part of another article, to which Vajrang Parvate (SolidWorks Corp Sr. Manager, Drawings Development) replied with an additional helpful hint. I’m reposting as a separate article to highlight the information.

Deleting Dimensions behavior

SolidWorks has a new user-selectable behavior when a dimension is deleted. If the user deletes a dimension or even just removes text from a dimension, SolidWorks has the ability to automatically realign the spacing of the neighboring dimensions to get rid of gaps caused by that deletion. The user has the option to turn this ability on by going to Tools>Options…>Document Properties>Dimensions to select the Adjust spacing when dimensions are deleted or text is removed checkbox.

Undoing the deletion

From Parvate:

…When the “Adjust spacing when dimensions” checkbox is checked and SolidWorks moves in dimensions after one is deleted, two commands are added to the undo stack : one for the deletion of the dimension and another for the movement of the rest of the dimensions. So hitting Ctrl-Z will undo the deletion in two steps.

SolidWorks 2010: Mouse Gestures

SolidWorks Corp has been working hard to improve the user experience. SolidWorks 2010 has examples have several innovative interface additions. The one addition that is sure to get a lot of attention is Mouse Gestures.

Mouse Gestures is a simple a menu scheme that is controlled by the RMB and a gesture (or short movement) of the mouse. When the RMB is clicked and held briefly in addition to a very slight movement of the mouse, a wheel menu appears around the cursor location.

Simply continue to hold the RMB down and move the cursor over the desired command. Without any further action, that command will execute and the menu wheel will disappear. If the RMB is released before a selection is made, the menu wheel is cancelled without any command executed.

If the traditional RMB is desired instead of the menu wheel, simply give the RMB a quick click (same as it ever was) without a mouse movement.

As with the “S” key shortcut menu scheme, Mouse Gestures menu wheel is customizable and context sensitive. The user is allowed 4 or 8 gestures with four different menus for each of the major modes: Part, Assembly, Drawing and Sketch. These are customized under a new tab in the good ol’ Tools>Customize… window.

Here are the eight gesture choices that can be assigned to particular commands:

Mouse Gestures is suprizingly easy to use. It’s intuitive when it is activated intentionally. However, I have found myself activating it unintentionally once in awhile. This may result in the surprize command being executed before I even know what hit me. So, for now and for me, Mouse Gesturing will be limited to View Modify functions. I certainly won’t be placing the Quit in my menu wheel. That said, the usual result of the accidental activation is just that the user will see the menu wheel briefly ghost in and out before any command is executed.

Mouse Gestures is a great new tool that looks to be a major time saver for frequently used commands. I’m looking forward to having a bit of fun playing with Mouse Gestures and customizing its functions until I find just the right combination of commands for each mode.