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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

SolidWorks 2013
User Interface
A Dassault Systemes 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
2013 SolidWorks 2013.
2) Wait for program to start.
3) Press ( FileNew) or (
File Open.
4) When creating a new file:
1) Select to create a new part or to create a new
assembly and press OK.
2) Press Document Properties (tab) Units and
ensure that the correct unit system has been
selected.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Selecting an Application
Press (down triangle) Add-Ins and ensure
that the application of interest is selected (or Press Office
Products (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 Analysis Motion
Computational Fluid Dyn. Flow Simulation
Many other specialized applications
The application controls what buttons are available.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Getting Help
1. Online tutorials: (down triangle)
SolidWorks Tutorials
2. Context-sensitive help: Not available in
SolidWorks(?)
3. Online documentation: (down triangle)
SolidWorks Tutorials
4. On-line documentation:
5. See instructor.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
User Interface Layout
From SolidWorks online documentation.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
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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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Accessing the Part History
Press this tab:
Get this window (the
Feature Manager):
Right-click to perform actions on features.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Using the Mouse
Left button click: pick a location, object or button
Multiple objects can be selected.
Select an object twice to unselect it.
Use right-click Select Other if its not selecting what you want.
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
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
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.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Selection Filtering
Some operations allow you to control what
you are selecting with buttons on the side
of the list box.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
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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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
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.
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MAE 455 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
Basic Solid Modeling Process
1) Create datum planes
2) Create a sketch on a plane
3) Sketch curves
4) Constrain curves
5) Perform Sweep
6) Repeat 2-5 a few times to get basic shape.
7) Shell the basic shape if necessary.
8) Add fillets and rounding.
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