Wiley SolidWorks 2009 Bible Part 9 pot

The Difference Between Templates and Formats Simply put, templates are collections of document-specific settings and default views, saved in the *.prtdot part template, *.asmdot assemb

TIP You may have difficulty expanding the width of the column that contains the config- uration names, thus making it difficult or impossible to read the ends of the long

config names However, like Excel, you can expand the height of the rows, which causes the config names to wrap, as shown in Figure 19.20.

Summary

Smart Components can automate the placement of a main component, as well as associated mounting features and components It can also offer automatic resizing options, depending on the geometry to which it is mated The setup for Smart Components varies from simple to complex, with auto-sizing causing most of the complexity

Part V, Creating Drawings, walks you through the tools

you need to make drawings work for you The main

focus is on task automation where possible, and where it

supports the end goal Sometimes automation is not the answer

and manual processes are better, so be prepared for answers that

you may not expect

Creating Drawings

IN THIS PARTChapter 20

Automating Drawings: The Basics

Engineering drawings include a lot of repetitious information from one

drawing to the next The information is not always exactly the same,

but it is usually in the same format and of the same type For example,

part drawings always include information about who made the drawing,

when the person made it, what the material and surface finish of the part are,

and some basic notes that depend on the use of the drawing (manufacturing,

assembly, or inspection)

All of this information needs to appear consistently on each drawing, every

time However, humans are not always good at following dull routines,

which is why we have computers to help with these boring or difficult tasks

The Difference Between

Templates and Formats

Simply put, templates are collections of document-specific settings and

default views, saved in the *.prtdot (part template), *.asmdot (assembly

template), and *.drwdot (drawing template) file types

Formats, more formally called “sheet formats,” are exclusive to drawing

documents, and contain the sheet size, the drawing border-line geometry,

and the text/custom property definitions that go with the text in the drawing

border Formats can also include company logo images

IN THIS CHAPTER

The difference between templates and formats

Creating drawing formats

Creating drawing templates

Creating blocks

The Basics

however, when the format is already in the template, the size is taken care of ahead of time, and so the templates end up being saved as sizes Of course, you can change formats later if you need to use a larger drawing sheet

Can templates be changed on existing documents?

Can you change templates on existing documents? No This is one of the most common questions from new users Perhaps if SolidWorks received enough enhancement requests on this topic, they would be willing to change the software to enable the user to transfer the settings from an existing template to one or more existing documents

Currently, once you create any kind of document from whatever kind of template, you cannot change the underlying template However, you can change all of the settings, which is for the most part equivalent

SolidWorks 2009 offers custom drafting standards, which fulfills much of the function that the ability to swap templates would achieve You can take a drafting standard such as ISO or ANSI, make adjustments to it, and save the standard out to a file which you can distribute to other users You can change the standard at Tools ➪ Options ➪ Document Properties ➪ Drafting Standard You can load and save standards from the same location More detailed on what can actually be changed within the drafting standard is in Appendix B, and additional detail comes later in this chapter

While templates cannot be reloaded, formats can be You might want to reload a format (drawing

border and associated annotations) if you have made changes to the information or line geometry

Why have different templates or formats?

Different formats must be maintained for different sheet sizes If you do contract design or detailing work, then you may need to maintain separate formats for different customers Some people also choose to have different formats for the first sheet of a drawing and a simplified format for the remaining sheets

Why you should maintain different templates is an easier answer First, if you put formats on the templates, then you are making separate templates for various size drawings Also, separate templates are frequently created for different units or standards, because templates contain docu-ment-specific settings I also keep a blank drawing template with no format on it just to do con-ceptual scribbles or to make an informal, scalable, and printable drawing without the baggage that typically accompanies formal drawings

CAUTION

CAUTION SolidWorks can install with default document templates that use different standards Be careful of the difference between drawings with ANSI (American National

Standards Institute) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, or more importantly, the use of third-angle projection versus first-angle projection Figure 20.1 shows the difference between a third- and first-angle projection Third angle is part of the ANSI standard used

in the United States, while first angle is part of the ISO standard used in Europe.

FIGURE 20.1

Third-angle versus first-angle projection

If you work for a company that does a lot of international work, then you may have to deal this

issue more frequently The setting that controls the projection angle is not in Tools ➪ Options

(where you might expect it to be), but in the Sheet Properties, which you can access by

right-mouse button clicking anywhere on the blank drawing sheet and selecting Properties

Custom drafting standards

In my experience, in companies that work in the real world, no one follows any of the single ing standards perfectly Each company seems to have its own interpretation or exceptions to the

draft-standards SolidWorks is coming to grips with this in a practical way Starting with SolidWorks

2009, you can create your own custom drafting standards, equivalent to the established ISO and

ANSI standards These standards can allow you to save all of the settings found in Tools ➪

Options ➪ Document Properties to a single standard that you can then transfer to other users

To make your own custom standard, make changes to the various settings for annotations, symbols, dimensions, and so forth, and then go back to the Drafting Standard page of the Document

Properties tab, rename the Overall Drafting Standard, and save the standard to a file I have created

a new standard, which is shown in Figure 20.2

FIGURE 20.2

Creating a new customized drafting standard

The drafting standard file type has the extension of *.sldstd If someone else has sent you a standard file, you can read it in to your drawing, assign it, and your drawing will assume all of the customized properties

ON the CD-ROM

ON the CD-ROM I have saved a custom standard file and put it on the CD-ROM for Chapter 20 You can load this file into an open drawing using the interface at Tools➪Options➪

Document Properties ➪ Drafting Standard.

Creating Drawing Formats

Drawing formats can be either simple or difficult; the good news is that you can choose which one you want to use

Customizing an existing format

The simple solution is to customize an existing format for your own use This generally works well, and you can usually finish the task in a few minutes, depending on your requirements The easiest option is to take the existing SolidWorks sample formats and add a few things such as a company name, logo, and tolerance block to them You can also use formats from other drawings, editing and saving them out as your own

Sample formats

The sample formats that installed with SolidWorks are located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2009\ They include ANSI sizes A to E, and ISO sizes A0 to A4 You can probably find enough space on the formats to place a company logo and some standard notes

You cannot open a format directly — it must be on a drawing — and, so, to get a closer look at the format, you must make a new drawing using the format

NOTE Templates that have been saved with a format already on them skip the step of prompting you to select a format This allows you to create new drawings more quickly If you select one of the default SolidWorks templates, these do not have formats on them, so you are prompted to select a format immediately Figure 20.3 shows the interface for selecting a format that displays after you have selected the template for a drawing.

Editing a format

In the drawing, you are either editing the sheet or editing the format You can think of the sheet as being a piece of transparent Mylar over the top of the drawing border format In order to get to the format, you have to peel back the Mylar layer Drawing views go onto the sheet, and so when you edit the format, any drawing views that may be there disappear

FIGURE 20.3

Selecting a format

To peel back the sheet and gain access to the format, right-click a blank area of the sheet and select Edit Sheet Format This right-mouse button menu is shown in Figure 20.4 Be careful of the terms here, which include Sheet and Sheet Format The sketch lines of the format light up like a sketch becoming active, and at the lower right-hand corner, on the status bar, a message appears, saying Editing Sheet Format

FIGURE 20.4

Selecting the edit sheet format

The lines in the format border are regular SolidWorks sketch entities, but they display a little differently Also, sketch relations are sometimes not used in formats because solving the relations causes the software to be a bit sluggish Typically, Trim, Extend, and Stretch functions are the best sketch tools for editing lines

Using Insert ➪ Picture in the drawing, you can use most common image types to insert logo or other image data onto your drawing or format Not all compression styles are supported, however

I have had difficulty with compressed TIFF images Be aware of the file size of the image when you put it into the format, as images can be large, and all of that extra information will travel around with each drawing that you create from the format Figure 20.5 shows a bitmap placed in the format

You can resize the image by dragging the handles in the corners and move it by simply dragging it The bottom image in Figure 20.5 shows the Print Preview window I included it here to show that the outline around the image that displays while you are working in SolidWorks does not print out

FIGURE 20.5

Placing an image

Managing text

SolidWorks allows you to make a text box of a specific size that causes text to wrap This is

particularly useful in drawings The upper image in Figure 20.6 shows a new annotation being

added The lower image shows the same text box after the corner has been dragged

FIGURE 20.6

Adding an annotation and wrapping the text

TIP When dragging the text box, it may seem intuitive to drag the middle handle on the end, thinking that shortening the box will cause it to wrap However, that only

works if the box has some space on the bottom to wrap to; SolidWorks does not automatically

expand the text box down the way PowerPoint does You are better off dragging a corner to get the wrap to work.

Custom properties

The most important part of the drawing format is the custom properties While the rest of the

format is just for display, custom properties use automation to fill out the title block using matching custom properties in either the model or the drawing document Custom properties can pull items such as filenames, descriptions, materials, and other properties from the model associated with the sheet, or they can pull data from the drawing itself, such as the sheet scale, filename, sheet number, and total sheets If you are seriously looking to automate drawings, you cannot overlook custom

properties

Custom property data entry

Custom property data entry happens at the part or assembly level This information is then reused

in the drawing format and in tables such as BOMs and revision tables, as well as searches using the FeatureManager filter and all PDM (Product Data Management) systems make use of SolidWorks

Summary Information

Figure 20.7 shows the Summary Information dialog This functionality has existed in SolidWorks for several releases You access this dialog through the menus at File ➪ Properties You can select Property Names from a drop-down list or type in your own, assign types of data, and enter in a specific value for the property The Value/Text Expression column also has a drop-down list from which you can select several pre-set variables, such as mass, density, and even link values used in the part

FIGURE 20.7

The Summary Information dialog

This is a perfectly functional way of entering data, but the fact that it is somewhat out of the way, hidden in the menus, means that it does not get used as much as it should So SolidWorks came

up with another way of entering data

The Custom Properties Tab

The Custom Properties Tab of the Task Pane enables you to quickly and easily access and assign custom properties within a document Figure 20.8 shows the process of building your own Custom Properties Tab You can start the Custom Property Tab Builder by either using the Create button on the Custom Properties Tab or through the Start menu, at Programs ➪

SolidWorks ➪ SolidWorks Tools ➪ Property Tab Builder

FIGURE 20.8

Using the Custom Properties Builder and Custom Properties Tab

The interface enables you to add drop-down lists, toggles, and text entry boxes This offers a lot of flexibility in the entry of custom property data, and is a very nice addition to the software

Property link display

Figure 20.9 shows the existing custom property formatting in the default format being used for this example

FIGURE 20.9

Custom property formatting in the title block

The syntax $PRP or $PRPSHEET indicates that the property that follows the syntax is to be pulled from either the current document (drawing) or from the model specified in the Sheet Properties, respectively This is an important distinction to make Most of the time, custom properties are typed in at the part or assembly level so that the data can be reused by drawing properties, BOM, or even design tables

Notice that all of the notes in the format that are showing raw syntax are pulling data from the model “Draw2,” and the Scale notes are driven by the drawing When no value exists for the prop-erty to display, you have an option of what to show The top portion of Figure 20.10 shows the settings in the View menu that control the display of syntax of the custom property links In gen-eral, it is common to turn off the error display, and to show the link variables

FIGURE 20.10

Link variable display options and effects

Errors and link variables

The errors in Figure 20.10 are caused by links to the local document for which there is no

corre-sponding property For example, the “ERROR!: COMPANYNAME” message is linked to “$PRP:

COMPANYNAME,” but the local custom property COMPANYNAME does not exist If it existed but had a null or space value, the error would disappear

Likewise, with the option to display link variables turned on, the syntax that calls model custom

properties displays until there is some value for it to pull from If a part is put onto the drawing,

then some of the properties are filled in because properties and values exist to pull from, and the rest of the properties simply disappear to make space Notice in Figure 20.11 that the Material

property has been filled in, but the Finish property has not This is because there is either no

Finish property in the part on the drawing or a null value in the Finish property

FIGURE 20.11

Custom properties filled in by a part

TIP When initially setting up the format, it can be useful to have a dummy model already on the drawing The dummy model should have all of the custom properties

in it that you intend to use in your drawings This prevents the blank fields or error messages

from appearing during setup.

NOTE If you drag-and-drop a part onto a drawing while editing in the Sheet Format, the views may appear for a split second and then disappear again This is because you cannot display drawing views while editing the Sheet Format Once you exit the Sheet Format

and go back to editing the sheet, the views can display once more.

Creating linked properties

It is easy to create annotations that are linked to properties Begin as if you are creating a note:

1 Click the Note toolbar button on the Annotations toolbar, or click

Insert ➪ Annotations ➪ Note.

FIGURE 20.12

The Link to Property dialog box

4 If the desired custom property is not in the drop-down list shown to the right, then

you can type it into the text box or click the File Properties button to edit the erties This button is not available for the model if there is no model on the drawing, in

prop-which case you must type in the name of the property manually

Using the Title Block function

The Title Block function was added in the 2009 version of the software Title Block enables the person who sets up the sheet format to specify an area that contains notes that are easy to access without editing the format You can even cycle through these notes in a specific order by pressing Enter or Tab Figure 20.13 shows the resizable black border of the Title Block, the Title Block PropertyManager, and where the Title Block sits in the drawing FeatureManager

FIGURE 20.13

Using the Title Block function

You can access the Title Block to edit or define it by right-clicking in the Sheet Format (while

editing the Sheet Format, not the sheet) and selecting either Define Title Block or Edit Title Block,

as the situation requires

The Title Block can be any size you like, but it must remain rectangular, and you can only create

one Title Block area The area bounded by the Title Block box is used to zoom the display to make

it easier to fill in the text boxes If you want to include areas in different corners of the drawing in the Title Block area, you will need to make the Title Block box as big as the entire sheet, and the

user will have to manually zoom to each corner

Select each Note item to add it to the list in the PropertyManager selection box Use the arrows to the left of the box to assign the order in which the user cycles through the boxes The idea is that the user clicks in a box within the Title Block area, fills it in, then presses Enter or Tab to get to the next box The order will loop if the user does not start on the first box listed in the

PropertyManager

ON the CD-ROM

ON the CD-ROM You will find a sample template with a format with a Title Block definition added to it on the CD-ROM The file is called title block.drwdot Add it to your template

library folder and try it out.

Creating a format from a blank screen

There is no graceful way to say this, and so I’ll just say it: SolidWorks is not really good at lating a lot of 2D sketch-line data such as what you find in drawing title blocks I have gone

manipu-through the process of making my own formats, as well as the process of importing DWG data

from which to create them By the time you have everything centered, in the right color, on layers

if you are using them, and the text aligned, you have used up more than a couple of hours If you choose to custom build one size and then use it to create the rest of the sizes, you need to be

patient SolidWorks typically turns off the most useful parametric sketch functions when working with a format (what SolidWorks considers a large sketch) because of speed problems If you would like to turn these settings back on, they are located at Tools ➪ Sketch Settings

SolidWorks is not the best program for making a nice-looking drawing border If you insist on ating your own, set aside some time for it, and have an idea of what you are trying to achieve,

cre-maybe sketched out by hand or in a printout of a title block that you would like to replicate You can also use the DWG Editor, which is much better suited to this kind of work

The Modify Sketch tool may be useful in moving entities around the screen, and even scaling

them You can also access a useful hidden command by right-clicking the name of the drawing in the FeatureManager and selecting Move from the menu, as shown in Figure 20.14 A small dialog box appears that enables you to move the entire format by a specified distance

If you need to use construction geometry to help you size or locate objects or

FIGURE 20.14

The Move Drawing dialog box

Creating a format from an imported DWG/DXF file

If you want to create your format from an imported DWG or DXF file, then locate the file that you would like to import, and open it from the File ➪ Open dialog box The DXF/DWG Import screen appears, as shown in Figure 20.15

FIGURE 20.15

The DXF/DWG Import screen

The sample files used for this example can be found on the CD-ROM for Chapter 20 if you are

interested in following along You will find five *.DWG format files You can use any of them to

create a format, but I suggest either the A or B size To make a drawing format, you can select the Create New SolidWorks drawing and Convert to SolidWorks entities options Although one of the

other options contains the word format, it is not being used in the same sense, so do not be misled

When this selection is complete, click Next Figure 20.16 shows the next screen

FIGURE 20.16

The Drawing Layer Mapping screen

Select the Layers selected for sheet format option Select the TB layer, leaving the other layers off Every imported file will be different in this respect, because layers used by title blocks vary widely Click Next when you have made these selections Figure 20.17 shows the Document Settings

From here, you can add the links to custom properties as described earlier, as well as logo images, loading favorites, and blocks You can now save the format as described in the next section.

NOTE Using the Color Display Mode button on the Line Format toolbar toggles the display from using the layer color to using the SolidWorks sketch colors Another setting that affects sketch display in drawings is found at Tools➪Options➪System Options➪

Drawings➪Display Sketch Entity Points, which shows endpoints and arc center points in the

same way that they are shown in feature sketches.

Saving the format

You can save drawing formats in two ways, either with the template, or separate from the template You cannot edit formats separate from a template, but they do have their own file type, *.slddrt

NOTE If you are wondering how the extension *.slddrt relates to a sheet format, what is now known as sheet format used to be called a drawing template (thus, the drt of

slddrt) What is now called a template did not exist in 1997 The shift in architecture and, more

importantly for users, the shift in terminology has left many people a bit confused.

Saving templates is covered in the next section To save a format, select File ➪ Save Sheet Format You can do this with or without the format being active Save the format into a location with other formats, and give it a descriptive but unique name If you have not yet done so, this is a good

opportunity to create a separate folder, outside of your SolidWorks installation folder, that contains your most frequently used files Remember also to tell SolidWorks where this library location is

through Tools ➪ Options ➪ System Options ➪ File Locations ➪ Sheet Formats

Even if you have saved a format with a template, it is a good idea to also save the format on its

own This is because you might want to use that format on an existing drawing that has a different format on it, or use it on a second sheet

Second sheet formats

When you have multi-sheet drawings, it is often important to have a simplified or specialized mat for the second sheet Figure 20.19 shows sample page-one and page-two formats side by side

for-Adding new sheets

You can add sheets to a drawing by using the Add Sheets icon to the right of the sheet tabs at the bottom of the SolidWorks window, or through the right-mouse button menu of the sheet tab at

the lower-left corner of the drawing window If you right-click the first sheet tab, the sheet that is added gets the format that is used on the first sheet If you right-click the second sheet tab, the

added sheet gets the second sheet format

Creating Drawing Templates

Document-specific settings are an important part of the template, and it is probably best to get one size drawing completely set up the way you want it, and then create the other sizes from this draw-ing This helps to ensure that the settings, such as bent leader length, font, and line weight, are the same for all of the templates Uniform settings on drawings give them a consistent look, and make them easier to read An in-depth discussion of document-specific settings at Tools ➪ Options ➪

Document Properties can be found in Appendix B Drafting standards are also controlled by ing templates

draw-Using Predefined views in drawing templates

When I use drawing templates, one of my favorite techniques to get to a multi-view drawing

quickly is to put one Predefined view on the template along with appropriate views projected from the Predefined view A Predefined view establishes an orientation and location on the drawing

sheet You can add multiple Predefined views and align them with one another on the drawing

sheet so that a drawing is automatically populated by the model, but this is not recommended

because if you decide to change the orientation of the drawing, you have to change each Predefined view independently If you set up a single Predefined view and make the rest of the views with

projected views, changing the orientation of the Predefined view causes all of the projected views

to update associatively You cannot directly change the orientation of a projected view Predefined views and views projected from Predefined views appear blank until they are populated with

model geometry The predefined part of a Predefined view is the orientation and placement of the

view

Figure 20.21 shows a template using Predefined and projected views You can access Predefined

views on the Drawings toolbar; although it is not there by default, you can place it on the toolbar through the Tools ➪ Customize ➪ Commands interface You can also access Predefined views

through Insert ➪ Drawing Views ➪ Predefined Projected views are also accessed from the Drawings toolbar

Once a Predefined view has been placed, you can select an orientation for it from the

PropertyManager Figure 20.22 shows the Drawing View PropertyManager The orientation for a

view is set in the top Orientation panel In addition to orthogonal views, you can also create

iso-metric and other custom views as Predefined views

After the view has been oriented, you may want to create more views on the drawing that also

become populated by model geometry This is where the projected views are used Make sure that the drawing properties are set to the correct projection angle

Because the rest of the views have been created relative to the Front view, none of the views needs

to be rotated as it would if, for example, the Top view were placed above the Back or Right views

Although it is not on this drawing, many drawing templates include a third-angle projection bol as a part of the Title Block, which is in the format Figure 20.23 shows first- and third-angle

sym-projection symbols These are included as blocks with the sample data in the SolidWorks tion Blocks are discussed in more detail in Chapter 22

FIGURE 20.23

Projection angle symbol blocks

Aligning Predefined views

You can align views to one another through a view’s right-mouse button menu, as shown in Figure 20.24 Projected views are aligned to one another automatically, but if you chose to use a

Predefined view rather than a projected view to one side of the original Predefined view, you can use the Align Vertical by Origin or the Align Horizontal by Origin command This ensures that the parts in each view are aligned Aligning by center should not be used for projected views on an

engineering drawing, because it is not guaranteed to line up edges in adjacent views

Populating a drawing with Predefined views

Four methods exist to populate a drawing with Predefined views:

n Drag-and-drop Drag a part or assembly from the FeatureManager and drop it in the

drawing window All Predefined views are automatically populated

n Insert Model Right-click a view and select Insert Model From the interface, browse for

the model to be displayed in all of the related (projected) views

n PropertyManager Select a predefined view, and from the PropertyManager, select

Browse in the Insert Model panel

n Make Drawing from Part/Assembly Click the Make Drawing From Part/Assembly

FIGURE 20.24

Alignment options

Predefined views and sheet scale

When Predefined views are created, they are set to follow the sheet scale by default; however, you can manually set them to have a custom scale If you are using the automatic scaling option (found

at Tools ➪ Options ➪ System Options ➪ Drawings ➪ Automatically Scale New Drawing Views), the sheet scale is automatically changed when the drawing views are populated to make a nice fit of the model geometry on the drawing The scales used by the automatic feature are all standard mul-tiples of two, so you do not have to worry about odd scale factors on your drawings

Predefined view limitations

The function and expectations of Predefined views are fairly straightforward, although there are a few things that could be improved For example, SolidWorks does not allow you to create pre-defined section or detail views Also, the View Palette does not preview the populated Predefined views

Using styles and blocks in templates

Starting in SolidWorks 2009, the functionality formerly known as favorites is now known as

styles In SolidWorks, styles function like styles and formatting in Microsoft Word, or other

word-processing software, by adding underlines, bold formatting, and even items such as tolerances and symbols Hole Wizard Styles are described in Chapter 17, and work similarly to Dimension and Note Styles (described in Chapter 22) This chapter is concerned with the fact that styles can be saved to files, and loaded to documents In particular, they can be loaded to documents that can be saved as templates, thus maintaining the loaded styles Several types of styles can be loaded into and saved with drawing templates, including dimension, note, GD&T, weld, and surface finish symbols

When a style is loaded into a template, any document that you create from that template can use

any of the loaded styles The many file types for styles exist mainly to transfer styles from one ument to another, but they are not needed once the style is loaded As a result, before saving a

doc-template, you should gather together your styles into your library folder and load them into the

template

You can load styles by going to the interface for the type of favorite, for example, dimensions or

notes Figure 20.25 shows the top of the Note PropertyManager interface, which contains the

Styles panel

FIGURE 20.25

The Styles panel for the Note PropertyManager

The buttons in the Styles panel of the Note PropertyManager interface have the following functions:

n Apply the default attributes to the selected notes

n Add or update a style

n Delete a style

n Save a style

n Load a style

Even symbol types that can be applied by dragging-and-dropping from the Design Library can also

be loaded as styles However, I prefer dragging from the Design Library because you get a preview

of the symbol; with the styles, you just see a text tag

Blocks can also be loaded into a template or used from the Design Library as drag-and-drop items

Custom properties in templates

Part of the usefulness of templates is that you can do work once, and have it replicated many times This is an excellent example of process automation One of the ways that you can take advantage of this feature is by putting default custom properties in your templates In many cases, simply having a default value for something is better than no value, and a default value may even prompt you to put a value with real significance in the property For example, the Description of a document is extremely important, especially if you are using sequential part numbers for your file-names A custom property named Description can be added to your template, and the default value is used unless it is changed when the template is used in a document

You have already seen how custom properties used in parts can be instrumental in filling out a title block on a drawing Custom properties in part and assembly documents work exactly the same as they do in drawings The custom properties interface is shown in Figure 20.26

FIGURE 20.26

The custom properties Interface

Saving a template

Drawing templates are saved through the Save As menu, by selecting Drawing Templates in the

Files of Type drop-down list This automatically takes you to the folder for the templates, as fied in Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations ➪ Templates

speci-In the case where a template and format have been saved together and are being saved together,

but the format also needs to be saved to its own file, saving the template with the changed format only changes the format for documents that are made from that point forward with that template

You may also save out the format to its own file from the edited template Formats are needed in

their own file (in addition to existing within a template) for situations when you have an existing drawing and want to change the size of the sheet, and then need a format to put on the sheet

Another situation is when a drawing may come in to your organization from an outside contractor, and they have not used your format; in this case, you can simply replace their format with yours,

or you can send them your format (and template, for that matter), from which the contractor can create all drawings for you

Separate formats are important for when you have multi-sheet drawings When adding a sheet, you also need to add a format You can save multi-sheet drawing templates in which the first and sec-

ond sheets have different formats on them

n Tolerance blocks on drawings that might change with the process (if you do not have

separate formats that already contain this information)

n Electrical or pneumatic schematic symbols that can be snapped together

n Flowchart type symbols

n Fluid flow-direction arrows

n Special markers calling attention to a specific detail

n Sheet formats that can be created as a block, enabling you to move it around as a single

entity much more easily

You can create blocks by selecting a group of sketch entities, annotations, or symbols and then

Summary

Getting your templates and formats correct creates an excellent opportunity to save some time with drawings by automating many of the common tasks through the use of templates, Predefined views, multiple formats, blocks, favorites, and linked custom properties Setup becomes more important when you are administering a larger installation, but is also important if it is just for yourself One of the most important things that you can do is to establish a file library and direct your Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations paths to the files There is nothing quite as productive as having something that works right the first time, and every time

Twelve years ago, when I first moved from AutoCAD to SolidWorks,

one of the most difficult concepts to understand was that in

SolidWorks you do not create lines in the drawing view, and in fact,

you cannot move any of the lines in the view at all The drawing view was

in effect a snapshot of the 3D model from a particular point of view The

snapshot could be updated, but it could not be manipulated manually

At first, this seemed a little bit confining However, once I understood it, the

concept became liberating rather than confining It meant that I did not have

to worry about the drawing views being inconsistent or incorrect All I had

to worry about was the 3D model being correct

If you are a new user, then you should feel confident that SolidWorks

properly maintains the views better than you could do it manually Any type

of view from any point of view of even the most complex model or assembly

geometry can be updated perfectly

To be fair, there are some things that SolidWorks has difficulties with, but

knowing this now means that you will be ready for these issues and know

how to deal with them when or if they occur One issue arises from assemblies

that contain parts that interfere HLR (hidden lines removed) display of

interfering parts can show extra lines or hide lines that should be shown At

other times, you may have issues with lightweight parts When possible, it

is best to work with model geometry that is fully resolved as well as

high-quality drawing views

IN THIS CHAPTER

Creating common view types

Creating other view types

Using display options in views

Distinguishing views from sheets

Tutorial: Working with view types, settings, and options

Creating Common View Types

The previous chapter discussed Predefined views in templates Predefined views make it faster to automatically create drawings with consistently placed, simple views However, sometimes you may need to create views on templates that do not have Predefined views, or you may need a special arrangement of views SolidWorks has a good assortment of view types to make practically any type of view that you may need

NOTE When creating or changing either the geometry or the settings that control how a view is displayed, the view may become cross-hatched, indicating that the model needs to be rebuilt To resolve this problem, press Ctrl+B to rebuild the drawing.

Using the View palette

The View palette is shown in Figure 21.1 It is activated automatically if you use the Make Drawing From Part tool, unless the drawing template that you select has Predefined views on it In this case, the Predefined views are populated, and the View palette is not activated

FIGURE 21.1

The View palette

The View palette contains all of the standard named views, the current view of the model, custom named views, and any annotation views (views that the model was in when annotations were

added to it) You can drag-and-drop these views on the drawing

If multiple parts are available, they are listed in the pull-down menu at the top of the panel You

can also browse, refresh, or cancel out of the view from this same area

To activate the View palette without using the Make Drawing From Part tool, simply create a new drawing document, ensure that the Task Pane is available, and click the View Palette tab in the

Task Pane Then use the ellipse button ( .) to browse to a part After you select a part, the palette window is populated with views of the model This method has the advantage of enabling you to see the views before you put them down It does not link views in the same way that the

Predefined and projected views are linked, however I find this interface somewhat difficult to use, and prefer to set up the Predefined views in templates or to use the Multiple Views option in the

Model Views PropertyManager, which is shown later in this chapter

Model

Model views are one of the few types of views that are not dependent on another view Everything has

to start from somewhere, and most drawings have to start with either a named or Predefined view

You can place named views by using the Model View button on the Drawings toolbar or by ing Insert ➪ Drawing View ➪ Model Using the Model View PropertyManager is a two-step process, and is shown in Figure 21.2 In the first step, you select the model, and in the second step, you set the options for the view Views dragged from the View Palette are also Model views

click-Open documents

The large selection box in the Part/Assembly to Insert panel displays any models that are open in

SolidWorks at the moment If the model that you are looking for is not in the list, then you can use the Browse button to look for it

I find this part of the interface to be clumsy because an extra step is involved that was not there

before It used to be that when you chose to place a named view, you would open the Browse log box directly, but now there is an intermediate step For this reason, I try to use a workflow that avoids this PropertyManager I typically use the Create Drawing From This Part/Assembly if the

dia-part is open, and if not, I drag-and-drop the dia-part onto a new drawing created from a template with Predefined and projected views on it This combination saves a lot of extra steps

One of the annoying quirks of this interface occurs in the first step when you are using the

PropertyManager (the image to the left in Figure 21.2) If you click in the drawing window for

some reason (for example, if you are expecting it to simply place a view), then a prompt appears, stating that you have selected a drawing document, and that only parts and assemblies can be

Start Command When Creating New Drawing Option

The Start Command When Creating New Drawing option causes this PropertyManager to open up immediately when a new drawing is created If you click in the drawing window, then the prompt appears, telling you that you are not paying attention

Cosmetic Thread Display

Many people see the High and Draft quality options and assume that the option refers to the ity of the view, while in fact it refers to the quality of the cosmetic thread display Cosmetic threads can display in either high or draft quality The distinction is made for performance reasons The difference in terms of display is that in high-quality mode, hidden cosmetic threads (cosmetic threads that are behind a face) do not display in shaded mode

qual-Number of Views and Orientation

This is the one function that almost redeems the Model View PropertyManager for me In Single

View mode, you select the view that you want to place from the Orientation panel, place the view, and then move on In Multiple Views mode, you select all views that you want to be displayed,

including choices such as Current Model View and any named or annotation views that are created

in the model interface These views are indicated on the drawing as boxes (representing view ders), as shown in Figure 21.3

FIGURE 21.3

Placing multiple views

This is really useful functionality It makes view selection and placement very easy and is visually clear Unfortunately, the Single View setting is the default setting, and the PropertyManager does not remember the last setting that was used Still, the combination of Multiple Views and

Orientation is far better, in my opinion, than the View Palette, which I find visually confusing and non-intuitive

Auto-Start Projected View Option

The one option in the Options panel is Auto-Start Projected View, which, on the placement of a

Display Style

You can set the default display style in Tools ➪ Options ➪ System Options ➪ Drawings ➪ Display Style This panel provides an override for views being placed This panel also allows you to control High or Draft Quality views, which are described later in this chapter

Scale

SolidWorks drawings always default to showing views at the overall sheet scale, unless the System Option on the Drawings page called Automatically Scale New Drawing Views is turned on If this setting is on, the sheet scale saved with the drawing template is overridden For example, a 1:1 sheet scale can be changed automatically to 1:4 by the setting

You can change the sheet scale through the sheet properties, which were discussed in Chapter 20 Controlling views with the sheet scale makes it much easier to change the size of a drawing and to scale all of the views together Individual views can be displayed at the view scale, and detail views are typically created at a different scale automatically The scale setting is found at Tools ➪ Options ➪ System Options ➪ Drawings ➪ Detail View Scaling Detail views, covered later in this chapter, auto-matically get a note showing the custom scale for the view You can create a note that functions in the same way as the automatically created “Scale” text manually from a note and a link to a custom property for views where the link to the sheet scale has been broken manually

TIP A note that automatically links to the scale of a drawing view is something you could consider creating a note style or block for.Dimension Type

Even in non-orthogonal (isometric) views, true dimensions should be used for most drawing views Projected dimensions depend on the angle of the edge to the view plane

Cosmetic Thread Display

If something is worth having, it is worth having twice This panel appears in both steps, just in case you missed it in the first step

Projected view

The Projected view type simply makes a view that is projected in the direction that you dragged the cursor from the selected view Be aware that first-angle and third-angle projections result in views that are opposite from one another For example, if you drag at a 45-degree angle, the result

is an isometric view When placing an isometric view that you have created in this way, SolidWorks constrains the new view to a 45-degree-angle line through the Origins of the two views To place the view somewhere other than along this line, press the Ctrl key while placing the view to break the alignment The PropertyManager for the Projected View is shown in Figure 21.4

FIGURE 21.4

The Projected View PropertyManager

When you use the pushpin on the Projected View PropertyManager, you can place multiple

pro-jected views from the originally selected view, or select a new view to project views from Display properties and scale of the projected views are taken from the parent view

Standard 3 view

The Standard 3 View tool on the Drawings toolbar can also be accessed at Insert ➪ Drawing

View ➪ Standard 3 View This places a Front view, and projects Top and Right views for

third-angle projection drawings

Detail view

The Detail view is activated from the Drawings toolbar or at Insert ➪ Drawing View ➪ Detail Either way, you can use the function in two different ways: one that is fast and easy and the other that

gives you more control but is not quite as fast

Pre-drawn detail circle

The detail “circle” can be drawn before you initiate the Detail View command When you pre-draw

a detail circle, you must ensure that you are sketching in the view and not on the sheet To draw in the view, the view must be activated You can activate a view by clicking in the view or by bringing

a sketch cursor inside the boundary of the view When you activate a view, the status bar in the

lower-right corner of the SolidWorks window displays the message, Editing Drawing View, as

shown in Figure 21.5

The dotted border in the image to the left shows that the view is selected, and the status bar shows that it is activated The image to the right with the solid corners indicates that the view has Locked Focus You can lock focus on a drawing view by double-clicking it or by right-clicking and select-ing Lock View Focus from the menu

FIGURE 21.5

Activated drawing views

If a view is not activated or the focus is not locked on the view, then any sketch elements that you draw will be placed on the drawing sheet While sketching in a drawing view, it is a good practice

to watch the status bar

The point of all of this is to sketch a closed loop in the view so that it can be used for a Detail view The closed loop can be a circle, ellipse, spline, series of lines, or any other shape, as long as it is

a closed loop The closed loop is called a circle for the purposes of the Detail view in SolidWorks

terminology

A setting controls how the circle displays, in particular whether it displays as drawn or as an actual circle This setting is found at Tools ➪ Options ➪ System Options ➪ Drawings ➪ Display New Detail Circles as Circles This setting appears to be obsolete It no longer works correctly in SolidWorks

2009 It appears to be overridden by settings in the Detail Circle PropertyManager The different results are shown in Figure 21.6

FIGURE 21.6

Drawing a closed loop with the Display Detail Circles as Circles option both on and off

Display Detail Circles

as Circles turned on

Display Detail Circles

as Circles turned off

Once you create the loop, you can click the Detail View toolbar button and place the view The

view is automatically scaled by the factor set at Tools ➪ Options ➪ Drawings ➪ Detail View Scaling

By default, this scale is set to twice the parent view scale, but you can reset the default to whatever you like

Detail circle drawn in-line

A faster way to complete the Detail view is to simply click the Detail View toolbar button without pre-selecting or pre-drawing the loop This activates the Circle sketch tool immediately, which

activates the view as soon as you bring the cursor over the view, so that when you draw the circle,

it is sure to be in the view rather than on the sheet

Alternatively, you could swap the circle tool for an ellipse or spline; this works just as well, but

offers more flexibility Regardless of the sketch tool, when you close the loop, SolidWorks prompts you to place the view The workflow for this in-line method is better than the old-school pre-

drawn loop technique

Editing a Detail view

You can edit a Detail view by dragging the circumference of the detail circle to a new diameter,

dragging the center of the detail circle to a new location, or by selecting Edit Sketch from the detail circle right-mouse button menu This method enables you to edit sketch relations or otherwise edit the sketch that you used for the detail When you are done with the sketch, you can use the

Confirmation Corner to click OK

You can delete Detail views by selecting and deleting the detail circle Deleting the detail circle

gives you the option to delete the resulting view as well as the original sketch Also, deleting the

detail view gives you the option to delete the detail circle and the original sketch

Section view

Section views in SolidWorks offer many options such as Default Section view, Partial Section view, Aligned Section view, and Editing a Section view

Default Section view

The Default Section view has the same in-line and pre-drawn optional techniques as the Detail

view, as well as the same advantages and disadvantages

Section views may have a straight line that may go through the center of a cylindrical feature Even though you are in a drawing and not in a model sketch, you may still benefit from model sketching techniques For example, to draw a straight vertical line through the model shown in Figure 21.7,

in the images on the left, you can hover the cursor over a circular edge to wake up the center, and

FIGURE 21.7

Aligning a line in a Section view sketch

You can also use jogged section lines with the default section tool Similar sketch relation niques are more common in jogged sections because there are more sketched lines The results are shown in Figure 21.8

tech-Partial Section view

A Partial Section view is created when the section line does not cut all the way across the model In Figure 21.9, the line that is drawn to create the Partial Section view was the vertical section line The prompt that appears enables you to confirm that you intended to create a partial section cut If you answer No to the prompt, the result is an error, with the new view displayed in the dangling color