Category: How-To

SolidWorks how-to guides

Using Empty Views (Part 2: How to use them)

My articles on Empty Views in SolidWorks have been long in coming.  This is not due to the topic being complex or anything.  It’s just taken me that long to get around to this series.  (There’s been a lot of other stuff to talk about in the meantime, such as SolidWorks World 2009, something called a 3D mouse, and rants about this or that.) The Part 1 article in this series discussed how to make, place and size Empty Views.  Part 2 now discusses how to use them once they are created.

Use Empty Views as quick Zoom to selection locations

OK, let’s say that one empty view each represents the title block, revision block and drawing notes.  How does one quickly move about the drawing to view these areas?  There are several methods available in SolidWorks.  The following method is likely less common, but is perhaps quicker can more common methods.

First, assign a shortcut to Zoom to selection function.  Zoom to selection is found under View pulldown>Modify>Zoom to selection.

Zoom to selection location

To add the shortcut (for much quicker access to this function), goto Tools pulldown>Customize…>Keyboard tab> and then search for “zoom to selection”.  From there, simply add a keystroke as the shortcut for Zoom to selection and choose OK to save.

Now here is how to use this shortcut with Empty Views.  With the drawing open and with no views selected, look over in the FeatureManager.  Select any one of the Empty Views (or any view for that matter).

FeatureManager display of views

As this point, simply hit your shortcut keystroke for Zoom to selection.  The viewport will immediately zoom to the area identified by the Empty View.

Zoom to selection of empty view

Choose another view from the FeatureManager and hit your shortcut for Zoom to section again.  Each time, the viewport will immediately zoom to the area defined by the selected view.

Using Empty Views for PDF bookmarking

As an added bonus, any views created on the drawing (including Empty Views) will become bookmarks if you save that drawing as a PDF.  This adds greatly to the navigability of PDF files for everyone who uses them.  Within PDF Reader, the bookmarks will appear to the left (similar to the FeatureManager in SolidWorks).  Simply LMB click on the desired view, and PDF Reader will jump to that location.

There are some pitfalls with saving a drawing as PDF, so if your company is experiencing those, then it is not recommended that drawings be saved as PDF.  In those cases, print to PDF works better.  Unfortunately, bookmarks are not created when printing a drawing to PDF.

Conclusion

The one thing that frustrates me about SolidWorks Empty Views is that SolidWorks Corp reduced their functionality (as discussed in Part 2).  However, with a simple hack, they can be used as drawing bookmarks, to contain drawing notes,  and to add functionality to PDF files.  Additionally, they are always useful for containing sketches, as noted in Part 1 of this series.

SolidWorks Spelling Check (who’s using it?)

I recently conducted a small poll on SolidWorks Yahoo! Group asking who was using SolidWorks Spelling Check.  To my surprize, almost half (so far) have never even hear of Spelling Check.

Spelling Check Poll

Only 21% of respondents use Spelling Check regularly.  I guess the next question is, “Why aren’t more people using this seemingly obvious tool in SolidWorks?”  Is there a good answer for that?  From my own experience, I use Lenny’s CommonNotes, which means most of my general notes are pre-fabbed.  Since the bulk of the text appears in the general notes, there isn’t much text left in the body of the drawing where misspellings can hide.  So, out of a lack for necessity, I’m in the “Yes, sometimes” category.

Here’s the kicker.  For the Spelling Check to work, Microsoft Word has to be installed since SolidWorks piggybacks the Microsoft spell checker.

This brings me to another point.  Why does this tool have a weird name?  We all know this function is a spell checker.  So, why is it referred to as “Spelling Check” in SolidWorks?  This seems to be a rather odd quirk.

(To access Spelling Check, open a drawing and goto Tools pulldown>Spelling….)

Using Empty Views (Part 2: Creation)

In this article I’m going to cover how to create an Empty View, and the ugly hack for making it a desired size.  In Part 2, I will cover how to use Empty Views for quick zooming and bookmarks in PDFs.

Creating Empty Views

Creating Empty Views is easy.  With a drawing open, goto Insert pulldown>Drawing View>Empty.

Add empty view to drawing

SolidWorks will then ask for a location on the drawing for the Empty View. Simply LMB click at the desired location.  In the example below, I’ve placed the Empty View in what might seem to be an very unusual location (covering the Revision Block table).  I’ll cover why in Part 2 of this article.

Pick location on drawing

Ugly Hack

To get the Empty View to stretch across the full length of the Revision Block table, we’ll need to employ an ugly hack.  Within the new Empty View, draw a line that starts from the corner of the border. Terminate the other end at the vertex of the table at other end.  The endpoints of this line will not attach to these two vertices, but will drop on top of them when the line is created.

Pick location on drawing

The result is an Empty View sized as required. The way to hide the line in this hack is to place it directly over another line (in this case, the Drawing Border).  (A RMB click on the line and choosing the Hide function will not work.  The view will resize back to its default shape.)

Pick location on drawing

Now RMB click on the view and choose the Lock View option.  This will keep the view in place (preventing it from accidentally shifting around).

Making the Empty View useful

To make this new Empty View useful, rename it in the FeatureManager.Renaming the Empty ViewRenamed Empty View

This will allow for easier identification when it comes time to use this (and any other Empty Views).  Part 2 will explain more about this and the reason for these additional steps.

View two drawing sheets at same time

Here’s a quick tip to view both sheets of two-sheet drawing at the same time.  (This works best if no other documents are open.)

  1. Open the multi-sheet drawing and have it active. 
  2. Goto Window pulldown>New Window.  A second window of the same drawing will pop up on screen.
  3. Goto Window pulldown again, and select Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically.  Both windows of the drawing will tile.
  4. Within each window, select the desired sheet tab.

This will allow for the viewing of multiple sheets of the same drawing at the same time.  (Unfortunately, this tip does not allow for the viewing of different configurations for parts or assemblies at the same time.)

3DConnexion SpacePilot PRO (Tinkering with buttons and views)

I’ve been tinkering with the SpacePilot PRO.  I love customization.  The SpacePilot PRO offers a high level of customization.  I will discuss different facets of the device in future articles.  This time I am writing about the programmable buttons.

SpacePilot PROThe SpacePilot PRO has 21 programmable buttons.  Additionally, 10 of those buttons have dual mappings for a total of 31 mapped commands.  That is a lot!  On top of that, each of the buttons are mapped differently for each program or mode supported by the device.  Within SolidWorks itself, there are three different mappings: Drawing, Part and Assembly modes.  (There is no mapping just for sketches, but there should be.)

Many of the buttons are directly related to functionality of the device or specific commands that are defined by intuitive icons.  Ultimately, I only recommend changing the mapping for the five buttons.  These are the dual mapped buttons labelled 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9, and 5/10.  When holding the left hand over the navigation knob, these buttons fall under the pinky finger. Giving the dual mapped button a single quick press initiates the first command.  To choose the second command instead, press and hold the button down for a second.  These buttons are a little awkward at first (being under the pinky), but I got used to it pretty quickly.

The 5 dual mapped buttons to the right of the knob (accessed with the thumb or index finger) provide quick access to standard model views.  For example, one button jumps to the front or back views of the model.  Most of the standard model views are covered by this set of buttons.  However, one thing that is missing is the ability to save a named view and to return to it at any time.  Given the level of detail that has gone into the SpacePilot PRO, it surprizes me that this ability is missing.  I think this is one of the points I mentioned to 3Dconnexion back in February.

So, you know what I did?  I made up for this missing functionality by writing a pair of macros that do just that.  One saves the current model view as a named view.  The other returns to that named view.  I then programmed these two functions to button 1/6.  (I’ve already uploaded these to my resources site here: Quick View Save and Restore.  These macros can actually be used with any device with programmable functions, or even just as icons on a toolbar.) Let’s hope that 3Dconnexion covers this basic function in future iterations of their 3D mice.

Hint: for users of SolidWorks 2008 and 2009, I would recommend programming one of the buttons to the letter “S” for the shortcut toolbar.  This would practically eliminate the need to touch the keyboard except for typing notes and numbers.

Overall, I have found that the plentiful number of buttons is a big plus for the SpacePilot PRO.  These buttons extend the functionality of the device beyond just being a 3D mouse.