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Solidworks drawings are a pain

carrieives

New member
This is a rant. It doesn't really need any replies. It just seemed that this might be a better outlet than throwing the computer over the cube wall. I am sure that many things would be clear if I would have gotten training, but Solidworks is supposed to be easy to use so why do I need that. I know how to run Pro/E so the idea of a parametric solid modeler is not new.

I am trying to make a drawing and am cursing the way views come in. I put in a top view and now would love for it to be oriented differently....of course, the way I want to orient it isn't one of the standard views...(all I want to do is rotate the @#* thing 90 degrees, a breeze in Pro/E). So, I either tough it out with the crappy views or go make a view oriented differently (I don't feel that I have any control over the orientation). GRR.....

And that is just to add to the pain of it picking hidden lines for dimensioning from in my view with no hidden lines shown.
 
There is a simple way to rotate a view. Make sure the view is current (outside box is green) then click on the rotate button (make sure your "view" toolbar is shown). Then a dialog will come up and you can specify whatever angle you like.

As far as picking hidden lines, there are a couple things. Mostly it's in the options for Solidworks. Under system options, the Drawings tab, make sure "Select hidden entities" is checked on. Then under the Display/Selection tab, make sure "Allow selection in wireframe and HLV modes" as well as "Allow selection in HLR and shaded modes" are both checked on, otherwise you will not be able to pick hidden lines.

Hope this helped, and good luck!
smiley2.gif
 
OK, I was able to rotate the view by selecting it and hitting the rotate button. (It might have been really helpful if help included that kind of information) Thanks for the help.

Now, If I want an iso view that isn't oriented the way the standard view is, how do I do that?

Thanks,
Carrie
 
Also in a DRAWING TOOLBAR you have a button: AUXILIARY VIEW.


AFTER you have a view (astandard one) select an edge and click this button. You can use an auxilary view to define other auxiliari(es) views.


You can evensketch a line in a view and select this line for an auxiliary view. NOTE: tosketch enithing IN a view, start the sketch when the red dashed contur of a view is highlighted.


SW is great !!! (Ok... I don't know other 3D programs but SW is realy a helpful tool). Good luck !
 
The way that i have done it in the past, i created a new view then projected an iso view from that view. Then i just change the view orientation of the view you projected from till you get what you want. You can always move the iso view after, then delete the original view it was created from if you like.
 
OK, so with some guess work and manipulation I may get a view oriented the way I want....definitely not as easy as the way I am used to where you can say start from the back view, rotate the model in the view around the vertical axis of the drawing 45 degrees and around the horizontal 35 degrees and have the iso view orientation that you wanted.
 
More Ranting - If I put a drawing center point in the center of a circle and the edge changes at all, it tends to lose its reference. I sometimes will have the axis show up by themselves from the model for hole, but I can't get the silly things to show if I try adding them from the model items menu. I'm tired of having to delete and recreate the center marks.
 
In the ANNOTATION toolbar you find a button: CENTER MARK. Click this button first then click the cyrcle(s).
 
Thanks, I knew how to add them, what I don't know is why I have a drawing that is full of olive green center marks that are just off the holes they should be attached to and I have no idea how to re-attach them. So, I am looking forward to spending Tuesday morning deleting and recreating the center marks and the dimesions that were attached to them.

I also figured out why they seem to spontaneously show up, there is a check box in options that has them show up when a new view is created.

This is a completely different way of doing things than the other 3d cad program that I have years of experience with. So part of this is the frustration of knowing I would be done already if using the other program.
 
carrieives,

If your Front View is set as you like it and you're using SW2008 you can create an Iso View as a Projected view from that view or anyview by moving your mouse diagonally from any view to get any of 4 Isometric Views.

Michael
 
you can also set up any view you want by pressing space bar when viewing part from slected angle,
when the orientation tool shows up you select new view and type the name of the view, this view can then be accesed at any time and can be used for a drawing view as well.

To controll the amount of perspective in a view you can turn it on and then drop down menue View- modify- perspective lower numbers are more perspective.

I can't wait ot get 08'
Edited by: skateboardkid
 
Your problem with "olive green center marks" I think that is a SW bug. But, in many cases, is not necesary to use center marks for dimensioning. For example, try that: In a drawing with 2 circles,with the dimension tool selected, click one circle and then click the enother citcle. At first click SW try to dimension first cyrcle as diameter. After the second click SW gives you the distance between the cyrcles centers. In that way you can dimension the distance between a cyrcle and a line or between a cyrcle and a point WITHOUT using center marks.


Hope that help you !
 
Good, just what I always wanted...a buggy program to do drawings with. (I've had that in the past, thought we were more stable these days) I am trying to update my service pack, but that isn't going as easily as I would have thought.

I know that I can dimension without the center marks, but they make the drawing look nicer (unless they aren't where they belong).
 
So I thought I'd try saying something nice about Solidworks.....here it is, multibody modeling can be useful.


I was starting to feel all warm and happy and then I had to work on a drawing again. Today I can't get my chamfer dimension to create. And of course, I can't just show it because it's not in the 45 x .xx format.


I have been upgraded to SW2009 so that has helped some, but I still hate doing drawings in it.
 
Why can't you get the chamfer dimension to create? You just use the chamfer dimension tool, slecect the angle side and select the side you want to refrence the angle from and place it. What's the issue?
 
The issue was that the corners between the chamfer and the straight walls were rounded. I was able to get the dimension in by supressing my round, creating the dimension and then unsupressing my round. It shouldn't have been that hard though, and it really shouldn't hve mattered.
 
Carrieives,
Switching from one software package to another will always create headaches for even the simplest of tasks. When I started first on SW, I did all the tutorials that pertained to the level I wanted to get to so I could get a grasp of the basics and then get started on creating models/drawings for my company.

A few months later, I took the course, Solidworks Essentials which cemented a lot of what I had learned and then some. Your rants won't happen as often if you took a similar path.

I have worked with other CAD programs and they all have their strengths and weaknesses but you should work this to your advantage.
 
I'm just waiting for this to turn into a SW vs ProE debate.


Waidesworld is so right in what he says. I know from doing a lot of drawings in SW that it's perfectly capable of doing what you want, no it's not perfect but ProE is far from perfect either....have a bit of patience and don't expect it to work the way ProE does. If you went from SW to ProE then I'm sure you'd be griping the same.


Mihail, I don't think the olive green centre marks is a bug....it did annoy me that it appeared all the time but I'm sure I managed to turn it off (will check later as I haven't done a 2D drawing in a few weeks).
 

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