eDrawings Viewer or SolidWorks Viewer?
The eDrawings Viewer can open SolidWorks-native parts, assemblies and drawings. So why would you need the SolidWorks Viewer?
eDrawings can open SolidWorks 2001 SP10 documents and later. The SolidWorks Viewer will open all older SolidWorks documents. The Viewer will be needed and supported for some time to come to support legacy data. (Source: Paul Adams, SolidWorks Corp.)
How Do I Export Files to CADKEY Classic?
CADKEY “Classic” does not support solid models, but you can extract the wireframe boundaries from a SolidWorks file for export via IGES. Choose File > Save As > IGES, and click the Options button. Configure the IGES export options from SolidWorks to output 3D wireframe curves as Parametric splines (not B-Splines).
Translating IGES files from SDRC I-DEAS to SolidWorks
Sending an individual part from I-DEAS to SolidWorks
In I-DEAS:
Go to File > Export > IGES and select OK on the Export form.
The Prompt region will ask you to “Pick Entity”. Pick a part until the white bounding box appears around it.
On the IGES Export form enter the Filename and Pick Flavors…
On the IGES Flavors form, toggle on “Use Standard Flavors”. Select the ? and pick Number 14 – Unigraphics.
OK the Flavor and IGES Flavor forms. When you reach the IGES export form select the Export button and OK the I-DEAS Warning which tells you that a new IGES file will be created.
Send the IGES file to the system which will import it into SolidWorks.
In SolidWorks:
Go to File > Open.
Change “Files of type” to IGES (*.igs).
Click the Options button and verify the settings are ON to import “Surface/solid entities” and “try forming solids”.
Finally, click on the “Open” button and the IGES file will be imported.
Importing an Assembly IGES File from I-DEAS to SolidWorks
In I-DEAS:
Go to File > Export > IGES and select OK on the Export form.
The Prompt region will ask you to “Pick Entity”. Grab all the assembly instances by holding down mouse button one and drawing a box around them. Alternatively when it says “Pick Entity” use mouse button 3, Get From Bin and select the assembly.
On the IGES Export form enter the Filename and Pick Flavors…
On the IGES Flavors form toggle on “Use Standard Flavors”. Select the ? and pick Number 14 – Unigraphics.
OK the Flavor and IGES Flavor forms. When you reach the IGES export form select the Export button and OK the I-DEAS Warning which tells you that a new IGES file will be created.
Send the IGES file to the system which will import it into SolidWorks.
In SolidWorks:
Go to File > Open.
Change “Files of type” to IGES (*.igs).
Click the Options button and verify the settings are ON to import “Surface/solid entities” and “try forming solids”.
Finally, click on the “Open” button and the IGES file will be imported.
Displaying Multiple Viewports
In Solidworks 2008, you can select the pull-down menus WINDOW – VIEWPORT and choose the number and direction of the screen partitions. Another way is to use the new Heads-Up display palette at the top center of the part window, where the VIEW ORIENTATION icon also contains within it a list of available viewport partitions.
In SolidWorks 2007 and 2006 you could also click the yellow pull-down list in the lower left corner of the graphics window and choose “Four View”.
Either way, once the screen has been partitioned into viewports, you can then place the mouse on the splitter bar and drag it to re-size the partitions. In Solidworks 2005 and prior, you had to look for the minimized display of this split bar (a small rectangle to the left of the horizontal slider or on top of the vertical slider), and dragging this would split the graphics window into multiple viewports.
Changing the Center of View Rotation
With the View > Rotate tool active, click on a part vertex, edge, or face. Instead of rotating the view around the part’s center, the view will now rotate around the selected vertex, edge, or face normal. This is very useful for manipulating the view when zoomed-in.
Also, you can use the middle mouse button (or press down on the scroll wheel) to rotate the model. With this method, middle-click on a vertex, edge, or face. The model will now rotate around the clicked object instead of the default rotation center.
In SolidWorks 2007, view rotation is improved to rotate the model around the center of the screen instead of the center of mass. The above methods are still available but will not be needed as often.
Is it Possible to Adjust the Degree of Perspective in the Perspective View Display?
Yes. Activate the Perspective display mode in the part or assembly (use the icon or View – Display – Perspective). Now choose View – Modify – Perspective…. You have the option of adjusting the observer position. You can set the position to be from 0.001 to 1000 “object sizes away”. Smaller numbers will show more parallax. The default value is 3. This is a document specific property.
SolidWorks 2006 introduced the ability to define cameras in a model. Go to View – Lights and Cameras – Add Camera, or right-click on the FeatureManager where it says “Lights and Cameras” and choose Add Camera. The camera controls give you more flexibility to define the degree of perspective based on Field of View settings. Camera Views are also the only way you can place your obeserver position to be inside your CAD model, lookout outward.
What are the standard SolidWorks Hotkeys?
Contact CAPINC to request your laminated copy of SolidWorks Hotkeys. Available for our customers in the New England area (CT | MA | ME | NH | RI | VT).