SolidWorks 2015 User Interface SolidWorks – a Dassault Systèmes Product

MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

Starting SolidWorks 1) On the desktop, double-click

or from the start menu select: “All Programs”  “SOLIDWORKS 2015”  “SOLIDWORKS 2015”.

2) Wait for program to start. 3) Press (  “File” “New…”) or “File”  “Open…”. 4) When creating a new file: 1) 2)

( 

Select to create a new part or to create a new assembly and press “OK”. Press  “Document Properties” (tab)  Units and ensure that the correct unit system has been selected.

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Selecting an Application • Press

(down triangle)

 “Add-Ins…” and ensure

that the application of interest is selected (or Press “SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins” (tab) and select application of interest).

• SolidWorks Applications: – Solid Modeling: “Features” and “Sketch” – Assembly Modeling: “Assembly” and “Layout” – Drafting: “Drawing” – Finite Element Analysis “Simulation” – Mechanism Simulation “Motion” – Computational Fluid Dynmcs “Flow Simulation” – Many other specialized applications • The application controls what buttons are available. MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Getting Help 1. Online tutorials:

(down triangle)



SOLIDWORKS Tutorials

2. YouTube tutorials: search for keywords 3. Context-sensitive help: Click on in corner of property manager window

4. Online documentation: (down triangle)  SOLIDWORKS Help or just click on . 5. See instructor. MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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User Interface Layout

MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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From SolidWorks online documentation.

Viewing Modes & Control • Dynamic View Control: – – – – –

Rotate: Use middle mouse button to rotate Pan: Use control key & middle mouse button Zoom: Use mouse wheel to zoom Use to fit objects to screen Use 3D mouse: push/pull for zoom, left/right/up/down for pan, twist for rotate

• View Orientation: top, front, right, back, isometric,... – Use

for a variety of controls

• Render Style: shaded, wireframe, hidden lines removed – Use

for a variety of controls

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Accessing the Part “History” Press this tab: Get this window (the Feature Manager):

Right-click to perform actions on features. MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Using the Mouse • Left button click: pick a location, object or button – Multiple objects can be selected (hold down Ctrl key). – Select an object again to unselect it. – Use right-click  “Select Other” if its not selecting correct object.

• Left button hold & drag: – drag selection box corner – menu/option-control select

• Middle button: Viewing control • Right button click: – context-sensitive drop-down menu – drag for gesture recognition MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Actions and Object Selection • There are two themes for selecting objects: 1) Pick objects then select action 2) Select action then pick objects

– Most Office software uses (1) – CAD software uses combination of (1) & (2) • When multiple objects must be selected, you can go back to a previous step by clicking on the button or box for that step.

MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Selection Filtering • Some operations allow you to control what you are selecting with buttons on the side of the list box. Select Entire Part Select Face Select Surface Select Body Select Feature MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Controlling Object Appearance The visual appearance of objects can be controlled by clicking on . Can control: – Line styles – Color – Transparency, shininess – Surface textures or pictures

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Using Layers • Layers can be used to organize graphical objects into groups • Each layer has a name. • All objects in the same layer can be changed at the same time: – Display styles (color, line width) – Show or hide

• Some companies have standards for how layers need to be used. (We will not be using layers in this course.) MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

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Basic Solid Modeling Process 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Define reference planes Create sketch on a plane Draw curves in sketch Constrain and dimension curves Perform Sweep Repeat 2-5 a few times to get basic shape. Shell the basic shape if necessary. Add fillets and rounding.

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