dimension palette Archives - SolidWorks Legion

SolidWorks 2011: Auto Arrange Dimensions tool

There is a a set of new drawing functions in SolidWorks 2011 that’s catching a lot of attention. These are the Auto Arrange Dimensions tools which are built into the Dimension Palette. Using a thumb wheel and available options, the user may automatically space dimensions from smallest to largest, aligned and centered (where possible), spaced with the pre-set offset distances, adjusted to avoid overlapping, and staggered (where necessary). In short, these tools automatically space and align selected dimensions with very little effort.

Currently, SolidWorks 2010 does have auto spacing for dimensions, but this can sometimes be more of a hassle than a benefit. There’s a lot of potential with these new Auto Arrange Dimension tools. They may allow the user to save time while giving them direct control over dimension placement.

Auto Arrange Dimensions is reportedly so easy to use, if dimensions of an entire drawing are selected, they can be spaced and aligned at once using this tool.

If these tools work as well as promised, they can potentially save a lot of time when inserting or adding dimensions to drawings. I guess the only addition I’d ask for is an option to automatically select every dimension on the drawing with the click of the mouse button to allow an entire drawing to be aligned and spaced in one quick action.

News: Dimension Palette improves in SolidWorks 2010 SP3

The people (i.e., SolidWorks users) have spoken and SolidWorks Corp listened. The infamous Dimension Palette now functions differently. The controversy surrounding the Dimension Palette started almost immediately after SolidWorks 2010 SP0 was released. People started posting heated complaints in the SolidWorks forums. I addressed many of those complaints in a previous article.

How has Dimension Palette changed? It no longer comes up automatically when the user accesses a dimension on a drawing. Instead, when one or more dimensions are selected, a Dimension Palette button appears above and to the right of the mouse pointer’s location. This is similar to other pop up toolbars, such as the Shortcut Menu.

dim-palette01

To active the Dimension Palette, simply move the mouse cursor over the Dimension Palette button. This will pop up the Dimension Palette. From there, use of the Dimension Palette is the same as before.

dim-palette04 Some minor visual tweaks were also added to improve the look and control of the Dimension Palette. The corners are now rounded. There is also the addition of a Move tab that allows the Dimension Palette to be moved around the view pane by the user.

dim-palette05

New behavioral improvements allow the Dimension Palette to be more predictable. If the user interacts with the Dimension Palette, it will remain on screen for as long as the dimension selection is active and the mouse cursor remains in the view pane. If the Dimension Palette is brought up by the user but the user does not interact with it, the Dimension Palette will disappear when the mouse pointer moves away from it. If this happens, simply press the CTRL key to bring the Dimension Palette button back, if desired. Also, if the Dimension Palette pops up and it is not wanted, it may be banished by pressing the ESC key.

I’ve had a chance to use this new functionality already. The changes to Dimension Palette represent serious improvement! I’m not going to say the solution is complete. I believe development of the Dimension Palette needs to mature before it becomes a classic like the Shortcut Bar. These improvements do make it more user friendly. If there are no other reasons to upgrade to SolidWorks 2010 SP3, the improvements to the Dimension Palette are reason enough.

SolidWorks 2010: Dimension Palette and Styles

Dimension Palette is a great new function in SolidWorks 2010 that allows the user to edit most commonly accessed aspects of a dimension, right from the main drawing view pane.

Simply highlight or LMB click on a dimension. A ghost image of its Dimension Palette will appear nearby. Move your mouse cursor over the ghost. This forces it to fully materialize. (I’m reminded of Ghostbusters for some reason.)

Dimension Palette

From that point, many of the dimension’s attributes may be directly edited, such as tolerance style and range, dimension accuracy, and tolerance accuracy. Also editable is text above, right, left and below the dimension. Additionally, formatting is editable, including dimension position and justification, reference parenthesis, and inspection obround outline. To aid in use of these new functions, small pop-up hint fields appear as the mouse cursor moves over each element.

Finally, the user can also quickly apply saved Dimension Styles (formerly known as dimension favorites) to the dimension. This can be accessed by clicking on the gold star icon in the upper right of the Dimension Palette. Dimension Styles are much more automated than the old dimension favorites. Not only does the user have access to any saved Styles, SolidWorks will also restore recently used formatting changes as Dimension Styles.

Dimension Styles

This means, when the user makes a change to a dimension, SolidWoks will automatically save the user’s change as a Dimension Style. Automatically saved Dimension Styles will show up in the Recent tab of the Styles window. These Styles only reside in the current drawing. (In order to use these Styles in another drawing, the user will still have to save the Style in the same way dimension favorites have been saved in previous SolidWorks releases.)

To replicate the same changes to multiple dimensions, the user simply has to edit one dimension (preferably through the Dimension Palette). From that point on, to apply those same changes to other dimensions, the user need only select the Dimension Styles button for affected dimension and select their previous change from the Dimension Styles window.

Basically, the user can paint any various dimension formats as Styles to any following dimension. This is a very cleaver execution of a long standing Enhancement Request to allow dimension formatting to be quickly copied from one dimension to another.

Don’t quote me on this, but if I remember correctly, the current limit on the number Dimension Styles stored in the Recent tab is ten. This may change at some point. One added function I’d like to see within the Styles window is the ability to delete Dimension Styles from the Recent tab. As always, with any great new functionality comes even a greater number of new requests for improvement.