Category: sketch

Year of the Angle Dimension – Part 1 – Imaginary Rays

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series SOLIDWORKS 2015 - Year of the Angle Dimension

There was a heavy focus on expanding functionality of angle dimensions using the Smart Dimension tool in SOLIDWORKS 2015.  These enhancements streamline drawing detailing and sketch creation tasks.  Here’s the first of such enhancements.

There is a long standing request for the ability to apply angle dimensions where one ray is aligned to geometry (model edge or sketch line) and the other ray is along an imaginary vertical or horizontal direction.  In SOLIDWORKS 2015, there is a new capability with Smart Dimension tool that enables you to create this type of angle dimension.

  1. Start the Smart Dimension tool.
  2. In a drawing view, select a model edge.
    Select edge
  3. Select a collinear and adjacent point (vertex or sketch point).Select vertex
  4. A crosshair appears over the selected point.  Select one of the crosshair’s segments.
    Select crosshair segment
  5. A preview of the angle dimension appears.
    Preview of angle dim
  6. Click to place the dimension.
    New Angle Dimension type

 

Rob Jost gives details of the new Style Spline tool in SolidWorks 2014

This entry is part 4 of 13 in the series New in SOLIDWORKS 2014

Rob Jost, of SolidWorks Product Definition team, goes into deep detail about the new Style Spline sketch tool now available in SolidWorks 2014, in a recent article posted on the SolidWorks website.

The new Style Spline actually isn’t something new in the world of CAD. It’s an entity that’s been around for a long time, but is sometimes overlooked. It’s called a Bézier curve.

His very detailed article with a tutorial is found here:  Style Spline: What is it and why is it useful?

New Section View Assist tool in SolidWorks used as example of teamwork

I was recently interviewed by Entertainment Engineering, an online magazine that covers technologies used in many types of entertainment devices and events such as movies, concerts, theme and amusement parks, electronic games, etc.  The November 2012 issue focuses on the value of individual contributors and also of teamwork in the design process.  Here’s the kicker, I’m quoted in the issue’s editorial article along side the great Steve Wozniak.  Kinda cool.

The article for which I was specifically interviewed is called Teamwork Improves Section-View Options in SolidWorks 2013, which leads-off a series of interviews with various individuals from all over the engineering discipline.  In my interview, I talk about the new SolidWorks section view functionality (now called Section View Assist) that has a whole new user interface that changes the way section views are created on drawings in CAD.  This includes how I originally developed the concept which was then improved and refined via teamwork within the SolidWorks organization.

Section View Assist replaces the need to first create sketches before being able to create a section view.  Instead, you can directly place cutting line on the original view and have the section view generated automatically.  If you want to use aligned section view, you can add offsets to the cutting line directly in the Section View Assist interface (without the need to draw lines or edit sketches).  Same goes to notch and single offsets.  The new user interface saves time and steps.  The improvement is nearly exponential.  The more complex your cutting line, the quicker you can create it versus old methods using sketches.