Solidworks 2008 Whats new

DESIGN BETTER PRODUCTS

SolidWorks® 2008

What’s New

U.S. Patents 5,815,154; 6,219,049; 6,219,055; 6,603,486; 6,611,725; 6,844,877; 6,898,560; 6,906,712; 7,184,044; and foreign patents, (e.g. EP 1,116,190 and JP 3,517,643). U.S. and foreign patents pending. The information and the software discussed in this document are subject to change without notice and are not commitments by SolidWorks. No material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of SolidWorks. The software discussed in this document is furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of this license. All warranties given by SolidWorks as to the software and documentation are set forth in the SolidWorks Corporation License and Subscription Service Agreement, and nothing stated in, or implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered or deemed a modification or amendment of such warranties. SolidWorks, PDMWorks, 3D PartStream.NET, 3D ContentCentral, DWGeditor, eDrawings, and the eDrawings logo are registered trademarks and FeatureManager is a jointly owned registered trademark of SolidWorks. SolidWorks 2008 is a product name of SolidWorks Corporation. COSMOSXpress, DWGgateway, Feature Palette, PhotoWorks, TolAnalyst, and XchangeWorks are trademarks of SolidWorks. COSMOS and COSMOSWorks are registered trademarks, and COSMOSMotion, COSMOSDesignStar , and COSMOSFloWorks are trademarks of Structural Research & Analysis Corp. FeatureWorks is a registered trademark of Geometric Software Solutions Co. Ltd. Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE - PROPRIETARY U.S. Government Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-19 (Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights), DFARS 227.7202 (Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation), and in the license agreement, as applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer: SolidWorks Corporation, 300 Baker Avenue, Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA Portions of this software © 1990-2007 D-Cubed Ltd., © 1998-2007 Geometric Software Solutions Co. Ltd., © 1986-2007 mental images GmbH & Co. KG, © 19962007 Microsoft Corporation, © 1997-2007, Structural Research & Analysis Corp., © 2000-2007 Tech Soft 3D, and © 1998-2007 3Dconnexion, IntelliCAD Technology Consortium, Independent JPEG Group. All Rights Reserved. Portions of this software are from PhysX™ by AGEIA, 2006-2007. Portions of this software are copyrighted by and are the property of UGS Corp. © 2007. Copyright 1984-2007 Adobe Systems Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Protected by U.S. Patents 5,929,866; 5,943,063; 6,289,364; 6,563,502; 6,639,593; 6,754,382; Patents Pending. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Adobe PDF logo, Distiller and Reader are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. For more copyright information, see SolidWorks Help About. Other portions of SolidWorks 2008 are licensed from SolidWorks licensors. All Rights Reserved PDMWorks Enterprise software is © 1998-2007 SolidWorks Nordic AB. All rights reserved. Outside In® Viewer Technology © 1992-2007 Stellent Chicago, Inc.

Introduction

About this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xii

Using This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Converting Older SolidWorks Files to SolidWorks 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Chapter 1 User Interface

Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Menu Bar Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Menu Bar Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-2

SolidWorks Search and Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-2

CommandManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Customizing the CommandManager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Activating SolidWorks Office Add-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

FeatureManager Design Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3

Show/Hide FeatureManager Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

FeatureManager Design Tree Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Heads-up View Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Context Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Shortcut Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7

Opening and Displaying Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7

Browse Recent Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

Browse Open Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-8

Document Preview Tooltips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

Task Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9

Flyout Tool Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9

Control of Message Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New iii

Modifying Document Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-10

Design Clipart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10

Chapter 2 RealView

RealView Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Legacy Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3

Appearances PropertyManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

Basic Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

Presentation Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

Studio Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10

Edit Scene PropertyManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11

Dynamic Highlighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14

Chapter 3 Sketching

3D Sketch Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

Create 2D Blocks in 3D Sketches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

Area/Hatch Fill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

Consolidated PropertyManagers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4

Auto Trace Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5

Show/Hide Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6

Sketching in Instant3D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6

SketchXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

Continuity at Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

Curvature Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-9

Spline Manipulators Available while Not Editing a Sketch. . . . . . . . . . . 3-10

Spline on Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-10

Chapter 4 Features

Boundary Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Linear Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Tangent Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3

Fillet Corners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3

Fillet Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-3

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New iv

Hole Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

Enhancements: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

Hole Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5

Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5

Instant3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6

Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8

Circular Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8

Cosmetic Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8

Split Lines and Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9

Split Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9

Split Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-9

Sweeps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10

Chapter 5 Parts

Mate to Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

Inserting and Mirroring Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

Inserting Sketches when Inserting Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

Breaking the Link to a Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

Custom Properties of Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2

Automatic Positioning of Parts Using Mate References . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3

Isolating Bodies in Part Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4

Chapter 6 Assemblies

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2

Assembly Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-2

Stack-Up Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-2

Display States in eDrawings®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2

AssemblyXpert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 -2

Derived Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3

Custom Properties of Mirrored Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3

Derived Component Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3

Hole Alignment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6

Layout-based Assembly Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

Virtual Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7

Layout Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8

Mates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9

Mate Icons in the FeatureManager Design Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9

Mating to Origins and Coordinate Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New v

Mate PropertyManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-10

Copy with Mates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-12

Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-14

Selecting Sub-Assemblies in the Graphics Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-14

Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-14

Advanced Component Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-14

Filtering the FeatureManager Design Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-14

Show Hidden Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-16

Simplified Representations for Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-17

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-17

Display States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-18

Selective Loading of Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-18

Legacy Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-20

Smart Fasteners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-21

Chapter 7 Configurations

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Design Table Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Hole Wizard Holes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Modify Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Creating a PropertyManager to Configure Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2

Creating and Modifying Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4

Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-4

Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6

Chapter 8 Motion Studies

Motion Studies Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2

Levels of Functionality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2

MotionManager Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3

Collapsible Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3

Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3

Keys Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3

Playback Speed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3

Save Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-3

Assembly Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Adding Motors to Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Physical Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-4

Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New vi

COSMOSMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Analytical Properties of Mates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Dampers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4

Fixed and Floating Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-5

Legacy Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5

Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5

Redundant Constraint Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5

Chapter 9 Drawings and Detailing

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Balloons in Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Balloon Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Dialog Box Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Dimension Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Dimension Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Drawing Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

New Drawings from Open Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Copying Sheets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9-3

Inserting Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Drawing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Broken Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

Section Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4

Annotation Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4

Sketch Entity Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4

Bills of Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9-5

Column Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5

Property Modifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5

Virtual Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5

Weldment Material Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5

Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Editing Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Editing Cells Externally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Editing Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Equations in Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6

Fit Text to a Cell or Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Header and Balloon Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Header Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Hide and Show Rows and Columns in Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7

Making Font Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 -7

Modifying Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New vii

Chapter 10 Dimensioning and Tolerancing

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-2

DimXpert for Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3

Using DimXpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-4

TolAnalyst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11

Chapter 11 COSMOSWorks

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-2

Analysis Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-2

Hyperelastic Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden Material (A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-2

Shells Displayed by Thickness or Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3

New Study Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3

Pressure Vessel Study (P). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3

Linear Dynamic Study (A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3

Nonlinear Dynamic Study (A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-8

Example of Linear Dynamic Study (A). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-8

Analysis Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-11

Beams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12

Design Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-13

Large Displacement Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-13

Trend Tracker (P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-13

Loads and Restraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-14

Bolt Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-14

Pin Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-15

Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-15

Contact and Bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-16

Stiffeners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-17

Result Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-18

Design Insight Plots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-19

Stress Linearization (P). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-20

Chapter 12 Other Functionality

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-2

Application Programming Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2

DFMXpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-7

Rule Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-7

Rule Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-8

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New viii

DriveWorksXpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-8

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

Capturing Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

Creating Custom Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

Designing Input Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-9

Creating Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-9

Running Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-10

eDrawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

Mozilla Firefox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

Pro/ENGINEER Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

RSS Feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11

SolidWorks Display States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12

STL (stereolithography) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12

XPS (XML Paper Specification) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12

Import/Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Adobe Illustrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Autodesk Inventor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

DXF/DWG Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Sheet Metal Flat Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

Pro/ENGINEER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-14

Rhino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-14

XPS (XML Paper Specification) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-14

SolidWorks Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-15

Right Pane Previews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-15

Tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-15

Mold Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-16

MoldflowXpress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-16

Sheet Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-16

Adding Weld Beads to Sheet Metal Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-16

Exporting Flat Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-16

SolidWorks Rx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-17

Weldments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-18

Transferring Cut List Information with Weldment Body. . . . . . . . . . . . 12-18

Bills of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-18

Welding Bodies With Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-18

Structural Member Profile Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-19

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New ix

Chapter 13 SolidWorks Office Professional Components

FeatureWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-2

Automatic Feature Recognition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-2

Resize Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-3

Base Sweeps with Internal Loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-4

PhotoWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-5

Batch Document Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-5

Cubic Environment Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-6

Indirect Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7

Appearances and Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-9

Appearances PropertyManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-9

Emissive Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-10

PhotoWorks Scene Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-11

System Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-13

Image Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-14

Use Realistic Falloff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-15

SolidWorks Design Checker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-16

Check Documents from DWG Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13-16

Criticality Level Checks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-16

Font Checks Duplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-17

Multiple Standard Files on Active Document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-17

Document Checks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-18

Dimension Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-18

Drawing Document Checks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-19

Part Document Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-19

Assembly Document Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20

Feature Checks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20

SolidWorks Task Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20

Export PDMWorks Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-20

Render and Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-21

Dissect Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-21

SolidWorks Utilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22

Compare Documents - Assemblies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22

Feature Paint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22

Find Replace Annotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22

Simplify Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-22

Symmetry Check. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-23

Thickness Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-23

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New x

PDMWorks Workgroup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13-24

Portable Document Format (PDF) Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-24

Viewing Changed Document Properties with eDrawings . . . . . . . . . . 13-25

PDMWorks Workgroup Vault Import and Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-25

Toolbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-26

Auto Size Toolbox Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-26

Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-27

Chapter 14 SolidWorks Office Premium Components

ScanTo3D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2

Deviation Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5

Mesh Editing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-6

Curve Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-7

Mesh Prep Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-8

Surface Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-10

SolidWorks Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-14

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-14

Electrical Connectors with Multiple Connection Points . . . . . . . . . . . .14-14

Fixed Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-14

Lightweight Connection Points and Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-15

Stock Lengths for Pipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-15

Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-15

Auto Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-16

Flattened Route. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-16

TolAnalyst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-17

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New xi

Introduction

About this Book

This book highlights and helps you learn the new functionality in the SolidWorks® 2008 software. It introduces concepts and provides step-by-step examples for many of the new functions.

This book does not cover all details of the new functions in this software release. For complete coverage, refer to the SolidWorks Help.

Intended Audience

This book is for experienced users of the SolidWorks software and assumes that you have a good working knowledge of an earlier release. If you are new to the software, you should read the Quick Start guide, complete the SolidWorks Tutorials lessons, and then contact your reseller for information about SolidWorks training classes.

Additional Resources

Interactive What’s New is another resource where you can learn about the new

functionality of the SolidWorks software. Click next to new menu items and the title of new and changed PropertyManagers to read what is new about the command. A help topic appears with the text from this manual.

Late Changes

This book might not include all of the enhancements in the SolidWorks 2008 software. Late changes are documented in SolidWorks Release Notes

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New xii

Using This Book

Example Files

Use this book with the example part, assembly, and drawing files provided. The example files are placed in the <install_dir>\samples\whatsnew folder. Because some of the example files are used with more than one example, they are installed as read-only to help you avoid overwriting them.

New in SolidWorks 2008: Some procedures are provided in separate tutorial-like files called Hands-on Examples. If a section of the this book has a related Hands-on Example, a hyperlink is provided so you can click to access it.

Conventions Used in this Book

Convention Meaning Bold Any SolidWorks tool, menu item, or

example file

Italic Refers to books and other documents, or

emphasizes text Tip

References SolidWorks Help

Blue Underlined

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New xiii

Hyperlinks to SolidWorks Help or a Handson Example

Converting Older SolidWorks Files to SolidWorks 2008

Opening a SolidWorks document from an earlier release might t ake extra time. Afte r the file is opened and saved, subsequent opening time returns to normal.

You can use the SolidWorks Conversion Wizard to automatically convert all of your SolidWorks files from an earlier version to the SolidWorks 2008 format. To access the Conversion Wizard, click Windows Start, then All Programs, Solid Works 2008, SolidWorks Tools, Conversion Wizard.

Two report files are created in the conversion folder:

• Conversion Wizard Done.txt contains a list of files that converted.

• Conversion Wizard Failed.txt contains a list of files that did not convert.

After you convert files to SolidWorks 2008, you cannot open them in older SolidWorks versions.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New xiv

User Interface

This chapter describes enhancements to the user interface in the following areas:

 Menu Bar  CommandManager  FeatureManager  Tags  Heads-up View Tools  Context Toolbars  Shortcut Toolbars  Recent Document Browser  Open Document Browser

Design Tree

 Task Pane  Flyout Tool Buttons  Control of Message Display  Design Clipart

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-1

Chapter 1 User Interface

Menu Bar

The SolidWorks 2008 user interface has been red esigned to make maximum use of space. In addition to the title of the current document, a new Menu Bar contains a subset of tools from the Standard toolbar, the SolidWorks menus, the SolidWorks Search oval, and a flyout menu of Help options.

Menu Bar Toolbar

In the default view of the Menu bar, only the toolbar buttons are visible.

You can customize this toolbar in the same way that you customize toolbars in earlier versions of SolidWorks.

See Customize Commands

in the help.

Menu Bar Menus

By default, menus are hidden. To display them, move the mouse over or click the SolidWorks logo.

To keep the menus visible, pin the menus open. All menu items are now shown by default. You can customize menus to hide

options you do not use.

See Customize Menus

in the help.

SolidWorks Search and Help

The SolidWorks Search oval is now located on the right side of the Menu Bar, along with a flyout menu of Help options.

The SolidWorks Search tool includes grap hics (when available) of the items found during the search. Search results are shown in the Search view of the Task Pane. As with Toolbox items, the search items can be dra gged into the graphics area to add to your model. The search results can include items from 3D ContentCentral

supplier catalogs.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-2

Chapter 1 User Interface

CommandManager

The CommandManager, when displayed, is always docked above the graphics area.

Tabs below the left side of the CommandManager let you change the display of commands: these replace the control area buttons from previous SolidWorks versions. The tabs that are displayed by default depend on the type of document open and the work flow customization you have selecte d.

Customizing the CommandManager

You can customize CommandManager tabs by:

• Adding custom tabs and tool buttons

• Changing tool button labels

• Displaying or hiding tabs See CommandManager

in the help.

Activating SolidWorks Office Add-ins

If you have SolidWorks Office, SolidWorks Office Professional, or SolidWorks Of fice Premium, the Office Products tab appears on the CommandManager.

Use the SolidWorks Office flyout to activate SolidWorks Of fice add-ins installed on your computer and display their most frequently used commands.

FeatureManager Design Tree

New commands let you control what is displayed in the FeatureManager design tree.

You can:

• Show or Hide FeatureManager items

• Filter the FeatureManager design tree

In addition, new FeatureManager design tree icons distinguish between variants of features. For example, mates now have separate icons to denote what type they are. See Mate Icons in the FeatureManager Design Tree

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-3

on page 6-9.

Chapter 1 User Interface

Show/Hide FeatureManager Items

You can control the visibility of items such as Design Binder and Equations .

To set the visibility of items in the FeatureManager tree:

1 Click Options (Menu bar), or Tools, Options. 2 On the System Options tab, click FeatureManager. 3 Under Hide/Show Tree Items, for each item, select one of the following:

• Automatic. Displays the item if present. Otherwise, it is hidden.

• Hide/Show. Always hides or shows the item.

4 Click OK.

In the FeatureManager design tree, you can access hidden items by right-clicking the top-level tree icon and selecting Hidden Tree Items.

You can also access the hide/show options by expanding the shortcut menu and selecting Hide/Show Tree Items.

See FeatureManager Options

in the help.

FeatureManager Design Tree Filter

The FeatureManager design tree filter lets you search for specific features of parts and components of assemblies.

You can filter by:

• Types of features

• Feature names

• Sketches

•Folders

• Mates

• User-defined tags

• Custom properties

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-4

Chapter 1 User Interface

To filter the FeatureManager design tree:

1 In the FeatureManager, in the filter field, type a keyword.

In an assembly, click the down arrow to select additional parameters, such as setting the graphic area to display only the items matching the filter criteria. See

Filtering the FeatureManager Design Tree

2 To redisplay all features, click in the filter field.

on page 6-14.

See Filtering the FeatureManager Design Tree in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-5

Chapter 1 User Interface

Heads-up View Toolbar

A transparent toolbar in each viewport provides all the common tools necessary for manipulating the view.

You cannot hide or customize the Heads-up View toolbar. Custom and camera views you define appear on the View Orientations flyout

The View Filt ers flyout lets you control the visibility of multiple graphics area items such as annotations and sketch relations, at the same time.

See Heads-up View Tools

in the help.

Context Toolbars

When you select items in the graphics area or FeatureManager design tree geometry, context toolbars appear and provide access to frequently performed actions for that context, for example, editing the sketch of a selected face.The tools in the context toolbar are a subset of items previously found on the sh ortcut menus. You can still right-click while the context toolbar is displayed and see the additional menu items that relate to the currently selected item.

Context toolbars are available for the most commonly used selections. For the use of a context toolbar in drawing tables, see Editing Tables

See Context Toolbars

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-6

in the help.

on page 9-6.

Chapter 1 User Interface

Shortcut Bars

Customizable shortcut bars let you create your own set of “non-context” commands for each of the following modes:

•Part

• Assembly

• Drawing

•Sketch

You display these bars by pressing a user-definable keyboard shortcut. The default shortcut is the “S” key.

See Shortcut Bars

in the help.

To customize the shortcut bar:

1 With nothing selected in the graphics area, press S.

2 Right-click the default shortcut bar that appears, and select Customize. 3 To add commands, on the Commands tab, select categories and drag tools to

the shortcut toolbar.

4 With the Customize dialog box open, you can also:

• Remove a tool by dragging it from the shortcut bar.

• Resize the shortcut bar by moving the pointer over an edge and dragging it.

• Change the keyboard shortcut by clicking the Keyboard tab, sorting by

Command, scrolling to Shortcut Bar, and changing the value for Shortcut(s).

5 Click OK to close the Customize dialog box.

Opening and Displaying Documents

New features make it easier to select the document to open or display.

See Opening and Displaying Documents

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-7

in the help.

Chapter 1 User Interface

Browse Recent Documents

You can select the document to activate or load either by name or visual preview in the Recent Document browser.

To visually select a document from recently viewed documents:

1 Click File, Browse Recent Documents or press R on the keyboard.

2 In the browser, move the pointer over the preview to display the full path to the

document.

3 To open the document, click the preview.

To close a browser without selecting a document, click outside it or press Esc.

Browse Open Documents

You can browse currently open documents and select one to display.

To select a document:

1 Click Window, Browse Open Documents, or press and hold Ctrl and press

Tab.

2 To scroll through the documents in the browser, move the pointer over the

previews or press Tab (continue to hold Ctrl). The preview is highlighted and the document’s full path appears at the top of the

browser.

3 To select the document, click the preview or release Ctrl.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-8

Chapter 1 User Interface

Document Preview Tooltips

When you mouse over a document name in the File menu recent document list or the Windows menu open documents list, a preview tooltip appears.

To open or display the document, click the document name.

Task Pane

The behavior of the Task Pane has changed to provide additional space in the graphics area.

See Task Pane

Although the Task Pane can be undocked and moved around the screen , it can only be docked on the right of the SolidWorks window, with the Task Pane tabs extending to the left when it is docked and above when it is undocked.

in the help.

Flyout Tool Buttons

Similar commands are grouped into flyout buttons on toolbars and the CommandManager. For example, variations of the rectangle are grouped together in a button with a flyout control.

When you click the flyout button without expanding:

• For some commands such as Sketch, the most commonly used command is

performed. This command is the first listed and the command shown on the button.

• For commands used to sketch shapes such as rectangles, circles, and

ellipses, it is now easier to repeatedly create the same shape variant. When you create a shape, the button icon changes to that shape. If you click the button again without expanding the flyout, the most recently used co mmand is performed.

For example, the default rectangle icon an d command is a corner r ectangle. If you sketch a parallelogram, the button icon changes to a parallelogram. The next time you sketch a rectangle, the default shape is a parallelogram.

See Flyout Tool Buttons

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-9

in the help.

Chapter 1 User Interface

Control of Message Displays

You can now suppress many messages by checking Don’t ask me again when a message appears.

If you later decide that the message should be displayed, you can reactivate it.

See Advanced System Options

in the help.

To reactivate a suppressed message:

1 Click Options (Menu bar toolbar), or Tools, Options. 2 On the System Options tab, click Advanced. 3 Under Dismissed messages (checked messages will be shown again),

select the message that you want to display.

Modifying Document Properties

You can modify SolidWorks document properties without opening the document or even SolidWorks itself. Windows Explorer, SolidWorks File Explorer, or SolidWorks Explorer can be used to modify a document’s Custom and Summary properties.

With SolidWorks File Explorer or Windows Explorer:

1 With the document clos ed , rig ht click the file name and select Properties. 2 You can edit the properties on the Custom and Summary tabs. Your edits are

present the next time the document is opened. See Property Modifications page 9-5.

With SolidWorks Explorer PDMWorks W orkgroup add-in:

1 Select a document in the SolidWorks Explorer vault pane. 2 In the right pane, on the Properties tab, double-click the value of an existing

property and modify it.

Design Clipart

Design Clipart allows you to reuse sketches, features, views, and tables from SolidWorks models a nd drawings and data from DWG and DXF files. Design Clipart dissects SolidWorks, DWG, and DXF files and extracts data so it is reusable in SolidWorks.

See Instant3D 13-21.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 1-10

on page 4-6 and Dissect Files on page

RealView

This chapter describes enhancements to graphics in the follo win g ar ea s:

 RealView Workflow  Appearances  Scenes  Dynamic Highlighting

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-1

Chapter 2 RealView

RealView Workflow

On RealView-compatible systems, you can add Appearances and Scenes to display photo-realistic models and enviro nm e nts.

• Appearances. Materials are called Appearances. The appearance of a model is different from its physical properties. For example, you can assign a model the physical property of stainless steel, but apply the appearance of glossy car paint.

• Scenes. Scenes affect the way appearances look by displaying different environments that include reflective floors, photos that encompass the model, and reflections of backgrounds.

Verify that you have the latest drivers installed. Some RealView- compatible graphic cards may not display all of the effects (selfshadows and reflections). See: www.solidworks.com/pages/services/videocardtesting.html.

With RealView off, you can still apply textures and colors using Materials and Colors. However , the preferred workflow with RealView on, is to use Appearances

and Scenes from the Task Pane.

Legacy Models

SolidWorks 2007 RealView On RealView Off

SolidWorks colors and textures

SolidWorks colors and textures and PhotoWorks

appearances

To use RealView:

From the Heads-up View toolbar:

• Expand View Settings and click RealView Graphics to toggle

RealView.

•Click Apply scene to cycle through scenes (see Scenes

and apply the next consecutive scene. The scenes are organized in the same order as in the Scenes folder on the Task Pane.

• Expand Apply scene and select a scene to apply it. From the Task Pane, select the RealView tab to display:

• Appearances .

• Scenes .

You can also add backgrounds through Options , Colors.

Appearances uses default plastic

PhotoWorks appearances

™

override SolidWorks colors and textures

SolidWorks colors and textures

on page 2-8)

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-2

Chapter 2 RealView

Appearances

To apply appearances:

1 Expand the Appearances tab under RealView in the Task Pane. 2 Browse through the appearance folders on the top pane. 3 Select a preview from the bot to m panel and:

Drag an appearance to: To apply the appearance to:

the graphics area. the entire part. pre-selected

the FeatureManager design tree. pre-selected

4 To modify default appearances, press Alt to display the Appearances

PropertyManager with the Color/Image and Mapping tabs.

To apply appearances without displaying the Appearances PropertyManager, follow steps 1 through 3.

Appearances PropertyManager

features or body entities in

model faces. the selected model faces.

the features or bodies.

Color/Image Tab

The Color/Image tab controls selection and color properties.

• Selected Geometry. Selects geometry with filters and removes appearance.

• Color. Changes the color.

Mapping Tab

The Mapping tab controls the orientation of the appearance (for example the direction of wood grain). Appearances without texture or pattern, such as Gloss

Glass, have no mapping.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-3

Chapter 2 RealView

Mapping Style

Box mapping Multiple-sided models

Surface mapping Faces

Planar mapping Planar faces

Spherical mapping Spherical models

Cylindrical mapping Cylindrical models

• Axis directi on. Adjust s the p rojection dire ction of app earances, a nd map s them based on coordinates (xy, zx, or yz), the Current View (Isometric, Front, etc.), or a model’s Selected Reference (faces, edges, etc.).

• Rotation. Adjusts the angle of the mapping.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-4

Chapter 2 RealView

The default mapping style is based on model geometry. The checker board appearance was applied to all models shown below. Only the mapping style was changed. You usually need to adjust the mapping style and mapping size (see

Mapping Size on page 2-6) to optimize the model’s appearance,

Box mapping

Planar Mapping

Surface Mapping

Spherical Mapping

Cylindrical Mapping

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-5

Chapter 2 RealView

Mapping Size

Small mapping size

Regular mapping size

Big mapping size

To edit appearances:

1 Right-click a model in the graphics area to display the context menu.

2 On the context toolbar, expand the Appearance Callout 3 In the Appearances Callout, click either block adjacent to the entity you

want to modify.

4 In the Appearances PropertyManager, select the Color/Image or Mapping

tab, and apply the changes.

5 Click .

To display realistic reflections on shiny appearances such as chrome or high gloss paints, you must add a scene that includes an environment.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-6

Chapter 2 RealView

Default RealView background with reflective floor and no scene applied. The reflections are generic.

See Appearances in the help.

Warm Kitchen scene applied (non reflective floor). The reflections represent a real scene.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-7

Chapter 2 RealView

Scenes

Basic Scenes

This scene type is characterized by a simple ba ckground and lighting. Examples include Warm Kitchen and Office Space.

To modify the position of shadows, expand Lights, Cameras

and Scene , and change the position of the first Directional light in the folder.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-8

Chapter 2 RealView

Presentation Scenes

This scene type is characterized by a background that becomes part of the environment. Examples are Wood Floor Room and Courtyard Background.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-9

Chapter 2 RealView

Studio Scenes

Studi o Sce nes combine elements from the previous two types. Examples are Reflective Floor Checkered and Grill Lighting.

To apply scenes:

• Expand Scenes in the RealView Task Pane, then drag a preview into the graphics area.

• Click Apply Scene (View toolbar) to apply the next consecutive scene. For example:

If the current scene is Warm Kitchen and you click ,

you apply White Kitchen .

• Expand to display all scenes. Select a scene, and then click to apply that scene.

Hands-on Example

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-10

Chapter 2 RealView

Edit Scene PropertyManager

To edit scenes:

1 In the FeatureManager design tree, expand Lights, Cameras and Scene . 2 Double-click Scene to open the Edit Scene PropertyManager.

Floor Location

• Position by select ion. Flip s the floor ab out the selected model g eometry based on the planar face you select.

• Flip floor direction . Makes the ceiling the floor.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-11

Chapter 2 RealView

• Offset . Offsets the model geometry from the scene floor. Set values or drag the pointers.

• Rotation. Spins the floor. Set va lues or drag the pointers.

When the models are offset, both reflections and shadows are altered.

The direction of the floorboards and the orientation of the back wall have changed, but the wood grain on the table remains constant.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-12

Chapter 2 RealView

Scale

Controls the size of the environment. Changes in scale are visible with scenes such as the checker board. To modify scale, clear Auto resize and set values for Width,

Depth, and Height, or drag the pointers.

Environment Rotation

Set a value to rotate the background image abo ut a n axis that is no rmal to th e floo r.

See Scenes

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-13

in the online help.

Chapter 2 RealView

Dynamic Highlighting

With RealView, highlighting for selected edges, faces, or features has changed. Edges glow and appearances are blended.

RealView cleared RealView selected

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 2-14

Sketching

This chapter describes enhancements to sketching in the followin g ar ea s:

 3D Sketch Symmetry  Blocks  Consolidated PropertyManagers  Auto Trace Tools  Show/Hide Sketch  Sketching in Instant3D  SketchXpert  Splines

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-1

Chapter 3 Sketching

3D Sketch Symmetry

Symmetry about a line is available in 3D sketches on a plane when all entities are on the plane. Mirror and dynamic mirror are also available in this mode. The symmetry constraint between two entities and a plane is available in 3D sketching.

With 2D sketches created on 3D sketch planes, you can:

•Add Symmetric relations.

To add symmetry between the 2 arcs, you also need to also select a third entity (the centerline).

• Use the Mirror and Dynamic Mirror tools.

Mirror: The two lower circles were mirrored about the line.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-2

Dynamic Mirror: The circle was mirrored about the construction line.

Chapter 3 Sketching

Blocks

Create 2D Blocks in 3D Sketches

You can create blocks using 2D sketches on 3D sketch planes. Functionality includes:

• Perform any 2D block command (save, explode, etc.).

• Import blocks saved in 2D into a 3D sketch.

• Combine imported 2D blocks with 2D sketches created on a 3D sketch plane.

• Add relations and dimensions.

See Layout-based Assembly Design

on page 6-7.

See Layout Based Assembly Design in the help.

Area/Hatch Fill

You can add Area/Hatch Fill patterns to 2D sketches, 2D sketches on 3D sketch planes, and to sketches converted to blocks.

In Edit Sketch mode, click Tools, Sketch Tools, Area/Hatch Fill to add area hatch/fill to sketches before or after converting the sketch entities to a block.

The properties of Area/Hatch Fill for blocks include:

• Uses a PropertyManager that is similar to dra wings. It includes a Color option which displays the Color palette for Solid fill.

• Functions like area/hatch fill in drawings.

• Applies to all block commands. You can manipulate the block, save the area/ hatch fill with the block document, and reuse it in other models.

Block color overrides crosshatch color.

Area Hatch/Fill applied to two intersecting blocks.

See Area Hatch/Fill PropertyManager

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-3

in the help.

Chapter 3 Sketching

Consolidated PropertyManagers

Rectangle-based tools use a new, consolidated Rectangle PropertyManager. The consolidated Arc and Circle PropertyManagers were redesigned to match the Rectangle PropertyManager’s interface.

New rectangle tools (Sketch toolbar) include:

• Center Rectangle

• 3 Point Corner Rectangle

• 3 Point Center Rectangle

Rectangle-based tools in the Rectangle PropertyManager include:

Rectangle Type

• Corner Rectangle Sketches standard rectangles.

• Center Rectangle Sketches rectangles at a

center point.

• 3 Point Corner Rectangle Sketches rectangles at a selected angle.

• 3 Point Center Rectangle Sketches rectangles with a center point at a selected angle.

• Parallelogram Sketches standard parallelograms.

You can select any tool from the Arc , Rectangle , or Circle flyout tools, and change tools from the relevant

PropertyManager.

See Rectangles in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-4

Chapter 3 Sketching

Auto Trace Tools

This tool can help convert raster data to vector data. In Tools, Sketch Tools, Sketch Picture , open a document and click to select conversion options.

Options include:

• Trace Settings

• Display Options

•Adjustments

Once you convert the document to vector data, you have a sketch that you can modify, save, and use as the basis for a 3D model.

1. Open raster data. 2. Trace shape outline.

3. Convert raster data to vector data.

4. Modify sketch. 5. Create 3D model.

See Sketch Picture in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-5

Chapter 3 Sketching

Show/Hide Sketch

From the shortcut menu, you can edit an absorb e d 2D ske tc h an d show or hi de another absorbed 2D or 3D sketch in the same feature to reference it. This functionality allows you to show or hide an absorbed sketch while editing another absorbed sketch that is part of the same feature.

Apply this functionality to features such as:

• Lofts with three or more profiles and two guide curves.

• Sweeps with two or more guide curves.

• Sheet metal parts in which you select multiple edges in an edge flange feature.

• Models that include three or more holes created with the Hole Wizard.

Sketching in Instant3D

You can streamline your workflow from sketch to features. For sketching:

• Use any sketch tool to highlight and activate a planar face or plane.

• Start to sketch on the selected entity, or move to any another planar face or plane to activate it.

See Instant3D

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-6

on page 4-6.

Chapter 3 Sketching

SketchXpert

Enhancements

• Displays images of old geometry when solutions cause that geometry to

move.

• Displays dimensions and relations to be deleted with a strikethrough.

• Operates with 3D sketches.

• Generates through solutions faster.

Solution 1: The dimension (40) is deleted, and SketchXpert displays the location of the old geometry.

Solution 2: The dimension (60) is deleted, and SketchXpert displays the location of the old geometry.

Solution 3: The equal relations are deleted.

See Resolving Over Defined Sketches in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-7

Chapter 3 Sketching

Splin es

Continuity at Handles

You can manipulate spline handles and maintain the splines’ internal curvature when you select the option Maintain Internal Continuity in the Spline PropertyManager.

Maintain Internal Continuity selected: the curvature scales down gradually.

Maintain Internal Continuity cleared: The curvature scales down abruptly.

Continuity at handles is on by default for newly sketched splines.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-8

Chapter 3 Sketching

Curvature Constraints

Both the radius of curvature and the vector (direction) match when you add an Equal Curvature relation between adjacent splines. This creates splines that are curvature continuous at the boundary. Curvature continuous sketches produce smoother surfaces with tools such as the boundary surface feature.

See Boundary Surfaces

on page 4-2.

Requirements:

• The second spline must unconstrained.

• The two splines must share an endpoint.

The value of the 2nd derivative is zero on both curves.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-9

Chapter 3 Sketching

Spline Manipulators Available while Not Editing a Sketch

When you sketch a spline and exit the sketch, you can select a spline or spline point to display:

• Active spline handles

• Spline polygon

• Spline handle at the selected point

Previously, you needed to be in Edit Sketch mode to display the spline manipulators.

Spline on Surface

When you sketch a spline across multiple surfaces (Spline on Surface tool), the surfaces must be tangent. The surfaces can be combinations of surfaces and surfaces on solids.

Tangent surfaces

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 3-10

Features

This chapter describes enhancements to Features in the following areas:

 Boundary Surfaces  Fillets  Hole Series  Hole Wizard  Instant3D  Patterns  Split Lines and Par ts  Sweeps

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-1

Chapter 4 Features

Boundary Surfaces

Linear Option

The new Linear option (under Dir1 or Dir2 curves influence) extends the influence of the curve linearly over the entire boundary surface, similar to a ruled surface. This option helps to avoid excessive curvatur e (p oc ke tin g) effects. Pocketing occurs with highly-indented guide curves on surfaces where curves in a single direction are coincident to each other.

Linear optionGlobal option

Tangent Influence

The Tangent Influence option has been renamed to Tangent influence %. It no longer appears under the Dir1 or Dir2 curves influence list. Tangent influence % is a separate option under Direction 1 or 2 and has a slider to set the amount of influence.

See Splines

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-2

on page 3-8.

Chapter 4 Features

Fillets

Fillet Corners

Use the new CornerXpert (FilletXpert PropertyManager) to create and manage fillet corner features where exactly three filleted edges meet at one vertex.

Original fillet corner Alternative fillet corner

You can:

• Choose alternative fillet corners

• Copy a fillet corner to other compatible fillet corners

See FilletXpert

in the help.

Fillet Selection

When adding or changing fillets using the FilletXpert, selecting an individual edge or fillet displays a context toolbar to help you select multiple edges or fillets.

Hover over a toolbar icon to highlight entities in the graphics area. Click the toolbar icon to select the appropriate entities and populate the PropertyMa nager.

In the toolbar tooltips:

• Right and Left = the right or left face of the entity.

• Start and End = the start or end vertex of the entity.

• Virtual = the adjacent tangent entities that the software treats as one entity.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-3

Chapter 4 Features

Hole Series

Enhancements:

Tabs

The Hole Series PropertyManagers n o longer work in a linear fashion. Click t abs in any order to access each PropertyManager’s information. All tabs are always visible. There is a new Smart Fasteners tab available if you install SolidW orks Toolbox.

Autosizing

If you size a Hole Series, the software automatically si zes relate d Smart Fasteners. If you modify the size of the Hole Series, the software adjusts the Smar t Fastener size.

You must install and activate SolidWorks Toolbox.

Smart Fastener tab

To turn on automatic sizing, select Auto-size based on start hole on the Smart Fasteners tab.

See Smart Fasteners

on page 6-21.

Previews

Hole Series uses improved previews that specify individual components of the Hole Series. Individual Smart Fasteners components also highlight.

For example, when focus is on the End Hole tab, the end hole highlights in the graphics area.

See Hole Series

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-4

the help.

Chapter 4 Features

Hole Wizard

Enhancements

•The Custom Size group box has been removed. Click the new Show custom sizing option under Hole Specifications to set custom sizing information.

• When your model has configurations requiring different Hole Wizard hole sizes, you can specify the configurations to modify using the PropertyManager or a design table.

See Hole Wizard PropertyManager - Type Tab

in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-5

Chapter 4 Features

Instant3D

Instant3D allows you to do the following:

• Drag geometry and dime nsion manipulators to resize features.

• Use on-screen rulers to precisely measure modifications.

• Create extruded bosses and cu ts from selected contour or sketches.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-6

Chapter 4 Features

• Snap to geometry using drag handles.

• Dynamically section model geometry to view and manipulate features.

• Use 3D clip art of various model content, such as features, sketch es , tables, blocks, views, etc., to search through models.

See SolidWorks Search and Help 3-6, and Dissect Files

See Instant3D

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-7

on page 13-21.

in the help.

on page 1-2, Sketching in Instant3D on page

Chapter 4 Features

Patterns

Circular Patterns

You can select these entities for Pattern Axis in the PropertyManager:

Circular edge used as Pattern Axis to create circular pattern

• Cylindrical face or surface

• Revolved face or surface

• Circular edge or sketch line

Cosmetic Patterns

The new cosmetic pattern feature allows you to cosmetically define and display patterns of holes instead of showing a fully-tessalated solid model. This feature reduces rebuild time by not creating the pattern geometry.

• You can apply cosmetic patterns only to planar, parallel faces.

• Drawings of cosmetic patterns show a simplified representation of the pattern.

RealView Graphics must be enabled to create cosmetic patterns. Click View, Display and select RealView Graphics.

To create cosmetic patterns:

1 From the Task Pane, select the RealView tab, click Miscellaneous,

Pattern, then double-click cosmetic hole pattern or drag it onto the model.

2 Select a face for Fill Boundary . 3 Under Pattern Layout:

a) Select a layout. b) Set the spacing options. c) Select an edge to determine the pattern

direction.

4 Under Seed Types:

a) Select a seed type. b) Set the size options.

5 Click .

See Cosmetic Pattern PropertyManager

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-8

in the help.

Chapter 4 Features

Split Lines and Parts

Split Lines

When you create split lines, unchanged edges are reusable in do wnstream features and changed edges update.

Supported features:

•Chamfers

• Drafts

• Fillets

• Shells

For example, in this model you insert a split line on the front face as the last item in the FeatureManager design tree. If you reorder Split Line1 to follow the Extrude1 feature, the model retains the downstream chamfer and fillets. Previously, reordering was unsuccessful.

Split Parts

Enhancements:

• You can reattach a derived part to a specified stock part, split feature, or body.

• When you change the split feature geometry, no new derived parts are created. The existing derived parts are updated, preserving parent-child relations.

• When you split parts, you can select Copy custom properties to new parts in the Split PropertyManager.

See Split and Save Bodies PropertyManager

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-9

in the help.

Chapter 4 Features

Sweeps

You can swee p a so lid bo dy alon g a path to cut 3D mate r ial usin g the new Solid sweep option. The most common usage is in creating cuts around cylindrical

bodies. This option would also be useful for end mill simulation. Requirements:

1 The solid body must:

• Be a revolve.

• Contain only analytical geometry.

• Not be merged with the model.

2 The path must be tangent within itself (no sharp corners) and must begin at a

point on or within the solid body profile.

To create a solid body swept cut:

1 Open Sweep.sldprt. 2 Click Swept Cut (Features toolbar) or

Insert, Cut, Sweep.

3 Under Profile and Path:

a) Select Solid sweep. b) Select the revolve for Tool body . c) Select Helix/Spiral1 for Path .

4 Click . 5 Hide the revolve solid body.

Path

Solid body

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 4-10

This chapter describes enhancements to parts in the following areas:

 Mate to Coordinate Systems  Inserting Sketches when Inserting Parts  Breaking the Link to a Part  Custom Properties of Parts  Automatic Positioning of Parts Using Mate References  Isolating Bodies in Part Mode

Parts

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 5-1

Chapter 5 Parts

Mate to Coordinate Systems

While inserting a body into a part, you can apply a coincident mate betw ee n a coordinate system of the inserted body and a coordinate system in the t arget p art. If you also select to align the axes, the one coincident mate fully constrains the bo dy.

This is useful in designs with modular parts whose positions and orientations are fully defined.

Inserting and Mirroring Parts

When inserting parts and deriving parts by mirroring, you can now:

• Insert solid bodies, sketches and absorbed sketches

• Break the link to the original part

• Retain the custom properties of the inserte d part

• Position parts automatically using mate references

See Insert Part and Mirror Part in the help.

Inserting Sketches when Inserting Parts

When you insert a part into another part, you can include solid bodies and nonabsorbed and absorbed sketches. Inserted sketches are linked to the sketch from the inserted part file and remain linked until the inserted part is unlinked.

All transformed elements that came with the inserted par t are placed into folders located under the inserted part feature icon.

Breaking the Link to a Part

You can break the link to a mirrored or derived part and still keep the original features so that they can be edited in the new part. This facilitates the design of left and right side parts that vary slightly in their definitions.

You can break the link to the part:

• When you insert the part

• By clicking Break All in the External References dialog box

Custom Properties of Parts

You can retain the custom properties of a part when you:

• Insert the part into another part

If the target part file already has custom properties of the same name, then those original custom properties take priority over the inserted part's custo m properties.

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Chapter 5 Parts

• Create a mirrored part using Insert, Mirrored Part

When you create a mirrored part, the mirrored part’s custom properties table is linked to the table of the original part. You can unlink any individual custom property of the mirrored part by editing its value field.

Automatic Positioning of Parts Using Mate References

When you insert a part into an existing part file, any existing mate references in the inserted part are used automatically to place the inserted part body and the body move constraint is added to the feature tree.

This feature applies to:

• All selectable reference entities

• All mate reference types (default, tangent, coincident, con centric, and parallel)

• All mate reference alignments (any, aligned, anti-aligned, closest)

A preview shows the application of the existing mate reference as the part is inserted and before you OK the location.

If you select the body move constraint in the FeatureManager design tree, it is highlighted in the graphics area.

Hands-on Example

See Mates in Multibody Parts in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 5-3

Chapter 5 Parts

Isolating Bodies in Part Mode

You can isolate one or more selected bodies in a multibody part so that only the isolated bodies are fully displayed. The Isolate dialog box lets you control whether the bodies that are not isolated are hidden or transparent. The display you select applies to a single view or multiple views.

Exiting Isolate resets the display of all bodies to the display that was set prior to using isolate.

This capability is useful to product designers that work in multibody part mode to make molds or weldments.

See Isolate in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 5-4

Assemblies

This chapter describes enhancements to assemblies in the following areas:

 General  AssemblyXpert  Derived Components  Hole Alignment  Layout-based Assembly Design  Mates  Selection  Simplified Representations  Smart Fasteners

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-1

Chapter 6 Assemblies

General

Assembly Statistics

Information previously found in Assembly Statistics is now reported in the AssemblyXpert. See AssemblyXpert

References

Dialog boxes related to references have been updated.

See these topics in the help:

• Edit Referenced File Locations

• Save As with References

• Find References

Stack-Up Analysis

You can analyze tolerance stack-ups in assemblies. See TolAnalyst on page 14-17.

on page 6-2.

Display States in eDrawings

When you save an assembly as an eDrawings file, the assembly’s display states are saved in the eDrawings file. See SolidWorks Display States

on page 12-12.

AssemblyXpert

The AssemblyXpert analyzes performance of assemblies and suggests possible actions you can take to improve performance. This is useful when you work with large and complex assemblies. In some cases, you can select to implement the suggested changes automatically.

Although the conditions identified by AssemblyXpert can degrade assembly performance, they are not errors. It is important that you weigh recommendations of the AssemblyXpert against your design intent. In some cases, implementing the recommendation would improve assembly performance, but would compromise your design intent.

To analyze performance of an assembly:

In an assembly, click Tools, AssemblyXpert .

See AssemblyXpert Overview in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-2

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Derived Components

Custom Properties of Mirrored Components

When you mirror components, you can select Copy custom properties to new components in the Mirror Components PropertyManager.

Derived Component Patterns

You can derive component patterns from the following additional types of feature patterns:

• Curve driven

• Fill

Instances to Skip is now supported in the following additional types of feature patterns:

• Sketch driven

• Table driven

• Curve driven

• Fill

• Hole Wizard holes

• Hole Series holes

Additionally, for all types of derived component patterns, you can:

• Propagate component level visual properties.

• Select the parent seed location for patterning the derived component.

To insert components based on a curve-driven feature pattern:

1 Open Assemblies\patterns\frame_assembly.sldasm.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-3

Chapter 6 Assemblies

2 On the Assemble tab in the CommandManager, expand the Linear

Component Pattern flyout button and select Feature Driven Component Pattern .

3 In the PropertyManager:

a) For Components to Pattern, select the larger screw in the graphics area. b) For Driving Feature, select any hole in the curve-driven feature pattern.

4 Click . 5 The instances of the screw component are added along the curve-driven hole

pattern.

To change the seed position:

1 On the Assemble tab in the CommandManager, expand the Linear

Component Pattern flyout button and select Feature Driven Component Pattern .

2 In the PropertyManager:

a) For Components to Pattern, select the smaller screw in the graphics area.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-4

Chapter 6 Assemblies

b) For Driving Feature, select the hole as shown.

The hole you select becomes the seed feature.

3 In the PropertyManager, under Driving Feature, click Select Seed Position.

Possible seed positions highlight in the graphics area.

4 Select the seed position that corresponds with the screw you selected to p atter n.

The screws align with the hole pattern.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-5

Chapter 6 Assemblies

5 Click .

Hole Alignment

You can check an assembly for misaligned holes.

To find misaligned holes:

1 Open Assemblies\alignment\shaft_assembly.sldasm.

2 Click Hole Alignment (Assembly toolbar) or Tools, Hole Alignment. 3 In the PropertyManager, set Hole center deviation to 1.00mm. 4 Click Calculate.

Pairs of holes whose centers are within 1.00mm of each other, but not aligned, are listed under Results. The maximum deviation between centers is listed.

5 Select an item under Results.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-6

Chapter 6 Assemblies

The pair of holes highlights in the graphics area.

6 Expand an item under Results.

The two holes in the misaligned pair are listed.

See Hole Alignment in the help.

Layout-based Assembly Design

Enhancements have been made that provide a layout-based assembly design environment where you can switch back and forth between top-down and bottomup design methods. You can create, edit, and delete parts and blocks at any point in the design cycle without any history-based restrictions. This is particularly useful during the conceptual design process, when you frequently experiment with and make changes to the assembly structure an d co mp o ne n ts.

Virtual Components

When you create components in the context of an assembly, the software now saves them inside the assembly file, and you can immediately begin modeling. Later, you can save the components to external files or delete them.

In addition to streamlining the workflow, other advantages include:

• Y ou can r ename these virtual compone nts in the Featu reManager design tr ee,

avoiding the need to open, save as a copy, and use the Replace Components command.

• You can make one instance of a virtual component independent of other

instances in a single step.

• The folder where you store your assembly is not cluttered with unused part

and assembly files resulting from iterations of component designs.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-7

Chapter 6 Assemblies

To create a virtual component:

1 In an assembly, click New Part (Assembly toolbar) or Insert, Component,

New Part.

A new part appears in the FeatureManager design tree as [Partn]. The square brackets indicate that it is a virtual component.

2 Select a plane or planar face on which to position the new part.

The editing focus changes from the assembly to the new part. An InPlace mate is added between the plane you selected and the front plane of the new part, and a sketch opens.

3 Construct the part features, using the same techniques you use to build a part on

its own. Reference the geometry of other components in the assembly as needed.

4 To return to editing the assembly, click to clear Edit Component (Assembly

toolbar).

You can also create virtual components from blocks in layout sketches in assemblies. See Layout Sketches

To save a virtual component to an external file:

1 Right-click the part and select Save Part(in External File). 2 In the Save As dialog box, select the part in the File Name list.

on page 6-8.

3 Click Same As Assembly or Specify Path. 4 Click OK.

Layout Sketches

Blocks have been enhanced so you can mix layout-based design with assembly design. Using this new assembly layout technique, you can:

• Create a new type of sketch, called a Layout, in an assembly.

• Insert a layout in an existing assembly.

• Constrain blocks in the layout to components in the assembly, and vice versa.

• Create parts from blocks in a layout. These parts are:

• Constrained to the blocks so they do not violate the layout, but are otherwise free for you to constrain.

• Contain instances of the blocks. You can edit the blocks in either the layout or the parts.

• Created as virtual parts, to streamline the workflow. See Virtual

Components on page 6-7.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-8

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Hands-on Example

See Layout-based Assembly Design in the help.

Mates

Mate Icons in the FeatureManager Design Tree

In the FeatureManager design tree:

• New icons indicate the type of mate. (Previously, all mates used .) Example:

• When a mate is resolved but missing a reference, the new icon remains the same and the mate is flagged with . (Previously , the icon changed to and was flagged with .)

See Mate Icons in the FeatureManager Design Tree in the help.

Mating to Origins and Coordinate Systems

You can apply a coincident mate between the origin or a coordinate system of a component and the origin or a coordinate system of:

•The assembly.

• Another component.

If you also select to align the axes, the one coincident mate fully constrains the component.

This is useful in designs with modular components whose positions and orient ations are fully defined.

See Mating to Origins and Coordinate Systems in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-9

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Mate PropertyManager

The following have been added to the Mate PropertyManager:

• Several new mate types

• Mechanical Mates group box

• Analysis tab (For COSMOSMotion™ only.)

Standard Mates

The following mate type has been added: Lock . Maintains the position and orientation between two components. The

components are fully constrained relative to each oth er. A Lock mate has the same effect as forming a sub-assembly between the two compo nents and making the sub-assembly rigid. Previously, Lock mates were called fixed joints in COSMOSMotion.

See Lock Mate in the help.

Advanced Mates

The following mate types have been added:

• Linear/Linear Coupler . Establishes a relationship between the translatio n of one component and the translation of another component. Previously, Linear/ Linear Coupler mates were created using a joint coupler between two translational joints in COSMOSMotion.

See Linear/Linear Coupler Mate in the help.

• Path Mate . Constrains a selected point on a component to a path. You define the path by selecting one or more entities in the a ssembly. Y ou can define pitch, yaw, and roll of the component as it travels along the path.

See Path Mate in the help.

The following mate types have been moved to the new Mechanical Mates group box:

• Cam

• Gear

• Rack Pinion

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-10

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Mechanical Mates

The following mate types have been added:

• Screw . Constrains the same degrees of freedom as a concentric mate, with the addition of a pitch relationship between the rot ational deg ree of freedom an d the translational degree of freedom along the axis. Translation along the axis causes rotation according to the pitch relationship, and vice versa. Previously, Screw mates were called screw joints in COSMOSMotion.

See Screw Mate in the help.

• Universal Joint .The rotation of one component (the output shaft) about its axis is driven by the rotation of another component (the input shaft) about its axis. Previously, Universal Joint mates were called universal joints in COSMOSMotion.

See Universal Joint Mate in the help.

Analysis Tab

You can add the following properties to mates for use in COSMOSMotion analysis. (You can add the properties without having COSMOSMotion added in.)

• Load Bearing Faces. Associates additional faces with a mate to define which faces share in bearing the load. (Previously, Load Bearing Faces were called load references, and were added using the Load References PropertyManager.)

• Friction. Associates friction properties with a mate. You can specify the coefficient of friction or the materials involved in the mate.

• Bushing. Associates bushing properties with a mate. You can specify translational and torsional stiffness, damping, force, and torque.

See Mate Analysis in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-11

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Copy with Mates

When you copy a component, you can also copy its mates.

To copy mates when you copy a component:

1 Open Assemblies\fixture\clamping_fixture.sldasm. 2 Click Copy with Mates (Assembly toolbar) or Insert, Component, Copy

with Mates.

3 In the PropertyManager, for Selected Components, select pin106 in the

graphics area.

Two mates, one concentric and one coincident, are listed under Mates.

4 Click in the selection box under the concentric mate.

The mate reference highlights in the graphics area.

5 Select the hole of link105 as shown:

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-12

Chapter 6 Assemblies

In the graphics area, a preview of the pin appears in the hole, and the mate reference for the next mate highlights. In the PropertyManag er , the selection box for the coincident mate highlights.

6 In the PropertyManager, for the coincident mate, select Repeat to use the same

mate reference as used by the original pin.

7 Click .

The copy of the pin is added to the assembly. The selection box clears so you can add another copy.

8 Select the hole in the lever.

9 In the PropertyManager, for the coincident mate, clear Repeat. 10 Select the flat face of the lever as the mate referen ce for the coincide nt ma te for

this copy of the pin.

11 Click twice.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-13

Chapter 6 Assemblies

The copies of pin106 appear in the FeatureManager design tree. Their mates appear in the Mates folder.

See Copy with Mates in the help.

Selection

Selecting Sub-Assemblies in the Graphics Area

You can select a sub-assembly in the graphics area by right-clicking one of its components and choosing Select Sub Assembly. If the component is in a nested sub-assembly , a list displays the hierarchy . Move the poin ter over the list to highlight the various sub-assemblies, then click the one you want.

Selection Tools

New tools help you to select components in assemblies. Click the down arrow on Select (Standard toolbar) and select:

• Volume Select

• Select Suppressed

• Select Hidden

• Select Mated To

• Select Internal Components

See Selecting Components in the help.

Advanced Component Selection

The Advanced Select dialog box now uses a grid in terface, making it easier to set up and repeat searches. Additionally, the number of searchable criteria has been increased.

Filtering the FeatureManager Design Tree

You can use Filter at the top of the FeatureManager design tree to filter items displayed in the tree.

You can filter by:

• Component and feature nam e

• Component show/hide state

• Tags that you add (see Tags

You can also specify to match the graphics area and the filter results.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-14

on page 1-6)

Chapter 6 Assemblies

To filter by show/hide state:

1 Open Assemblies\filter\tableassembly.sldasm.

In the FeatureManager design tree, note that the compon ents bracket and head are hidden.

2 In Filter, click the down arrow and select Filter Hidden/Suppressed

Components. The components bracket and head disappear from the FeatureManager design

tree.

3 Click the down arrow again and clear Filter Hidden/Suppressed Components

to make the components reappear.

When you hide components using Isolate, you can match the FeatureManager design tree to the graphics area by selecting Filter Hidden/Suppressed Components in Filter.

To filter the graphics area:

1 In Filter:

a) Click the down arrow and clear Filter Graphics View. b) Type CLA.

All components except clamps disappear fr om Fe atur eManag er d esign tr ee, bu t remain visible in the graphics area.

2 Click the down arrow again and select Filter Graphics View.

In the graphics area, all components except clamps disappear.

3 Click in Filter to clear the filter.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-15

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Show Hidden Components

You can toggle the display of hidden and shown components. Then in the graphics area, you can select which hidden components you want to show.

To select hidden components to be shown:

1 Open Assemblies\vise\ToolVise.sldasm.

2 Click Show Hidden Components (Assembly toolbar).

The Show Hidden dial og box appears. In the graphics area, hidden components are displayed and shown components disappear.

3 In the graphics area, sele ct compound center member, upper plate<1>, and

upper plate<2> as shown.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-16

Chapter 6 Assemblies

The components you select disappear.

4 In the dialog box, click Exit Show-Hidden.

The three components you selected now appea r with the other co mponen t s th at were originally shown.

Simplified Representations for Assemblies

Overview

When you want to work on a small subset of components in a large assembly, you can improve assembly performance by opening a simplified representation of the assembly . You specify which components to load; other componen ts are not loaded and not visible, but the effects of their mates are retained.

You specify which components to load by opening the assembly through the Open dialog box. While opening, you can select:

• Individual components. (You do not need to fully open the assembly first.)

• A Display State where you pre viously defined the show/hide state of the

components.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-17

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Display States

To support simplified representations, you can now make Display States independent from configurations, so all Display States are available in all configurations. The active Display State is no longer remembered per configuration unless you specifically link it.

On the ConfigurationManager tab , Configurations appear at the top of the pane, and Display States appear at the bottom.

You can:

• Right-click a Display State name to open the Display State Properties

PropertyManager, where you can rename the Display State and select options.

• Select a Display State from the Open dialog box.

• Switch Display States using the new Display St ates toolbar:

• Link a Display State to the active configuration by selecting Link Display

States to Configurations at the bottom of the ConfigurationManager .

See Legacy Behavior

on page 6-20 for information on behavior of Display States

when you open models created in SolidWorks 2007 or ear lier.

Selective Loading of Components

To load only selected components when opening an assembly:

1 Click Open (Standard toolbar) or File, Open. 2 In the Open dialog box:

a) Browse to Assemblies\computer\computer.sldasm. b) Select Quick view / Selective open. c) Click Open.

The following appear:

•The Selective Open dialog box.

• A simplified FeatureManager design tree showing only components.

• A preview of the assembly.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-18

Chapter 6 Assemblies

3 In the FeatureManager design tree:

a) Expand Power Supply Assembly-1. b) Hold down Ctrl and select these three components:

• Computer Chassis-1

• Chassis-1

• AC Connector-1

You can also select components in the graphics area.

4 In the Selective Open dialog box:

a) Choose Selected Components. b) Click Open Selected.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-19

Chapter 6 Assemblies

The assembly opens with all components hidden except the three you selected. The hidden components are not loaded into memory. A new display state appears on the ConfigurationManager tab under Global Display State.

Legacy Behavior

In assemblies created in SolidWorks 2007 or earlier, each configuration has unique Display States, although the Display States might have the same name (such as Display State-1). When you convert an assembly to SolidWorks 2008, the software:

• Assigns a unique name to each Display State, in the format

<configuration_name>_<display_state_name>.

• Links the Display State to the configuration.

For example, a Display State named Display State-1 in a configuration named

Default is renamed to Default_Display State-1, and Link Display State to Configurations is selected by default.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-20

Chapter 6 Assemblies

Smart Fasteners

The Smart Fasteners PropertyManager has been updated to include direct controls for adding top and bottom stack components as well as accessing all fastener properties. In the PropertyManager:

• Results. Lists the groups of fasteners you are adding or editing.

• Select a group to view and make changes to its fastener type and properties.

•Click Edit Grouping to view a fastener tree where you can drag items from

one group to another.

• Series Components. Displays the fastener type for the item that you select in the Results list. You can edit the fastener type and add stack components. You can also set an option to automatically update the hardware size whenever the hole diameter changes.

• Properties. Displays the properties of the hardware that is selected in Series Components. You can edit properties to change the hardware.

The following FeatureManager icons are related to Smart Fasteners:

Smart Fasteners feature. Expand the feature to see item s such as components and patterns for the Sm art Fastener. Right-click the feature and select Edit Smart Fastener to make changes.

Toolbox component. Toolbox component set to autosize when the mating

geometry changes. Concentric mate associated with a Smart Fastener set to

autosize when the mating geometry changes.

You can now access Smart Fasteners and their stack components from the Fasteners tab in the Hole Series PropertyManager. (The Fasteners tab is only available when Toolbox is added in.)

See Smart Fasteners PropertyManager in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 6-21

Configurations

This chapter describes enhancements to configurations in the following areas:

 General  Creating a PropertyManager to Configure Components  Creating and Modifying Configurations

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 7-1

Chapter 7 Configurations

General

Design Table Feature

The Design Table feature now appears in the ConfigurationManager instead of the FeatureManager .

Hole Wizard Holes

The size of Hole Wizard holes can be configured:

• Manually, by clicking Configurations in the Hole Specification PropertyManager and selecting This configuration, All configurations, or Specify configurations.

• In design tables, using parameter syntax $HW-SIZE@<feature_name>.

Modify Dialog Box

When editing a dimension in the Modify dialog box, specify which configurations the change applies to by selecting on the flyout button:

This Configuration

All Configurations

Specify Configurations

If you select Specify Configurations, the new Modify Configurations dialog box appears, and you can specify different values for each configu ration. See Creating

and Modifying Configurations on page 7-4.

Creating a PropertyManager to Configure Components

For parts that have more than one configuration, you can build a PropertyManager that enables you to select the configuration of a part when you place it in an assembly (similar to the way you select Toolbox parts when you drag them into assemblies).

To create a configuration PropertyManager:

1 Open Configurations/two_bolt_flange.sldprt. 2 Save the part as MyFlange.sldprt.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 7-2

Chapter 7 Configurations

The part has seven configurations that vary many dimensions. In this example, you set up a PropertyManager for the following parameters:

3 Right-click the part icon at the top of the FeatureManager design tree and select

Create PropertyManager. The Create PropertyManager dialog box appears. The part’s configured

parameters are listed in the lef t pane. A Prope rtyManager preview appears in the right pane.

4 In the left pane, for Bore@Sketch4:

a) For Display State, select Enabled. b) For Label, type Bore, and press Enter.

A selection box labeled Bore appears in the PropertyManager preview. The selections in the drop-down list correspond to the values for Bore@Sketch4 in each configuration of the part.

5 In the left pane, for L@Sketch1:

a) For Display State, select Enabled. b) For Label, type Boss Diameter, and press Enter.

6 In the left pane, for J@Sketch1:

a) For Display State, select Reference. b) For Label, type Bolt Distance, and press Enter.

Because you selected Reference, the field added to the PropertyManager for

Bolt Distance cannot be edited.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 7-3

Chapter 7 Configurations

7 Click Consolidate.

The the fields you activated move to the top of the list.

8 Under Order, change the value for L@Sketch1 to 1, and press Enter.

L1@Sketch1 moves to the top of the list in the left pane, and Boss Diameter moves to the top in the PropertyManager preview.

9 Click OK. 10 Save the part.

See Create PropertyManager in the help.

To use the PropertyManager you created:

1 Open a new assembly. 2 In the PropertyManager:

a) Select MyFlange. b) Click .

The Configure Component PropertyManager appears with the fields you created.

3 Under Parameters, make selections in Boss Diameter and Bore. 4 Click .

See Configure Components in the help.

Creating and Modifying Configurations

The Modify Configurations dialog box facilitates creating and modifying configurations for commonly configured properties in parts and assemblies. You can add, delete, and rename configurations and change which configuration is active.

Parts

For features and sketches in parts, you can configure:

• Dimensions

• Suppression states

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 7-4

Chapter 7 Configurations

To configure dimensions:

1 Open Configurations\block02.sldprt. 2 In the FeatureManager design tree, right-click Annotations and select Show

Feature Dimensions.

3 In the graphics area, righ t- click Ø30 and select Configure dimension.

The Modify Configurations dialo g box appears. It list s the configur ations of the part in one column, and the values of the selected dimension in anothe r column.

4 In the graphics area, double-click 40 and then Ø50.

Columns for the dimensions appear in the dialog box.

5 In the dialog box, click <Creates a new configuration.>. 6 Type small and press Enter. 7 Repeat step 6 to create a configuration named large. 8 In the dialog box, change the dimensions as follows:

Sketch3

Extrude2

Sketch2

Default 30 40 50 small 15 20 25 large 35 80 60

9 Right-click small and select Switch to Configuration.

The small configuration becomes the active configuration.

10 In the lower left corner of the dialog box, click Rebuild active configuration .

The part updates to the new configuration.

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Chapter 7 Configurations

11 Click OK.

Assemblies

In assemblies, you can specify:

• Which configurations of components to use

• The suppression states of components, assembly features, and mates

• Dimensions of assembly features and mates

To configure components in an assembly:

1 Open Configurations\castor.sldasm. 2 In the graphics area, right-click the wheel and select Configure component.

3 In the dialog box, click <Creates a new configuration.>. 4 Type Medium and press Enter. 5 In the Configuration column for Medium, click and select A2.

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Chapter 7 Configurations

6 In the graphics area, double-click each axle support.

Columns are added to the dialog box for the axle supports.

7 For Medium, select D4 in the Configuration column for each axle support. 8 Right-click Medium and select Switch to Configuration to make Medium the

active configuration.

9 Click Rebuild active configuration in the dialog box.

The assembly rebuilds with the configurations of the components you selected.

10 Click OK.

Default

Medium

See Modify Configurations in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 7-7

Motion Studies

This chapter describes enhancements to Motion Studies in the following areas:

 Motion Studies Interface  MotionManager Enhancements  Assembly Motion  Physical Simulation  COSMOSMotion

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 8-1

Chapter 8 Motion Studies

Motion Studies Interface

Motion Studies uses the MotionManager, a key frame and timeline based interface

(adapted from SolidWorks Animator), and includes:

• Assembly Motion. Creates animations of SolidWorks models. Formerly called SolidWorks Animator and available as an add-in with SolidWorks Office Premium, it is now available in core SolidWorks.

• Physical Simulation. Simulates some of the effects of physics on assemblies.

• COSMOSMotion. Simulates and analyzes more complex effects of physics on the motion of an assembly.

See Introduction to Motion Studies

in the help.

To access Motion S tudie s:

1 Click the Motion Study tab at the bottom left of the graphics area.

If the tab is not visible, click View, MotionManager.

2 In Type of Study, in the top left corner of the MotionManager, select from:

• Assembly Motion

• Physical Simulation

• COSMOSMotion

Levels of Functionality

The functionality is additive based on the study type you select. Assembly Motion has the basic level of functionality, Physical Simulation includes additional functionality , and COSMOSMotion includes all the functionality available in Motion Studies.

For performance reasons, choose the lowest level that provides the functionality you need for your study. Higher levels provide for greater levels of realism and give more accurate simulations, but they use more complex calculations, which may take more time.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 8-2

Chapter 8 Motion Studies

MotionManager Enhancements

Collapsible Pane

Click Collapse Motion Study to show just the toolbar.

Filters

In the MotionManager, click one of the pre-defined filter types to filter the Motion Studies FeatureManager design tree.

• No Filter . Shows all items in the FeatureManager design tree.

•Filter Animated . Shows all items that move or change during the Motion

Study.

• Filter Driving . Shows all items that cause motion or other changes during the Motion Stud y.

• Filter Selected . Shows only items you select in the FeatureManager design tree (items must be selected firs t).

Keys Points

At key points in simulations, you can:

• Modify motor parameters.

• Modify the magnitude of a force (COSMOSMotion only).

• Suppress and unsuppress mates

Select AutoKey to have SolidWorks place a key at the curren t tim ebar location for every moved component, as it did in the 2007 release. Clear AutoKey to manually place keys in the simulation.

Click Add/Update Key to insert or update a key for the selected component at the current timebar location.

Playback Speed

Set the Playback Speed you want from the list. This changes only the rate at which the captured frames are played back. It does not change how many frames per second are captured.

Save Animation

You can schedule batch processes to save animations by clicking Schedule in the Save Animation dialog box. This is useful when saving large animations, which

can be a resource-intensive operation. See SolidWorks Task Scheduler 13-20.

on page

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 8-3

Chapter 8 Motion Studies

Assembly Motion

Adding Motors to Animations

You can add linear or rotary motors to animations and control them from the Motor PropertyManager.

Hands-on Example

Physical Simulation

Contacts

Click Contacts to define sets of components to check for contact between. During a motion study, if components within a set contact each other, the cont act is detected, and the components react with appropriate motion. If components not grouped together in a set contact each other, the contact is ignored, and they pass through each other.

Sprin gs

With the Spring PropertyManager, you can add linear and torsional springs. You can also add damper properties to springs by selecting Damper in the PropertyManager and entering values. Torsional springs and all dampers can be used only in COSMOSMotion.

COSMOSMotion

To activate COSMOSMotion, select it in the Add-Ins dialog box.

Analytical Properties of Mates

Load References have been replaced by Load Bearing Faces. You define Load Bearing Faces, Friction, and Bushings on the Analysis tab of the Mate

PropertyManager. See Analysis Tab

Dampers

In addition to adding dampers directly to springs, you can also click Damper to create stand-alone dampers with the Damper PropertyManager.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 8-4

on page 6-11.

Chapter 8 Motion Studies

Fixed and Floating Parts

The terms Ground Parts and Moving Parts have been replaced with Fixed and Floating, respectively, and are automatically detected based on the mates in your

assembly.

Legacy Studies

Assemblies containing a Simulation made with Physical Simulation in a previous release of SolidWorks open with a Physical Simulation tab on the MotionManager .

With COSMOSMotion added in, assemblies containing a Simulation made with

COSMOSMotion in a previous release of SolidWorks open with a COSMOSMotion tab on the MotionManager, and the COSMOSMotion IntelliMotion Browser appears in place of the FeatureManager design tree in the

MotionManager. You cannot change the simulations, but you can view and run them.

Plots

When you plot results, a triad appears on the component or mate to show its local direction of X, Y, and Z.

Y ou can hide a plot by clicking in its upper right corner . To show it again, expand the Results folder in the FeatureManager design tree, right-click XY Plots , and select Show.

Redundant Constraint Handling

You have a choice of two options to handle redundant constraints.

To specify redundant constraint handling:

1 Click Properties (MotionManager toolbar). 2 Under COSMOSMotion, click Advanced Options. 3 In the Advanced Simulations Options dialog box, select one:

• Automatically delete redundant constraints. Deletes all redundant

constraints, leaving a fully constrained assembly. The remaining constraints support the loads in the system.

• Replace redundant constraints with bus hings. Replaces with a bushing,

any mate that has a redundant component. The loads in the system are distributed based on which mates are replaced.

See Redundant Constraints in the help.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 8-5

Drawings and Detailing

This chapter describes enhancements to detailing in the following areas:

 General  Drawing Sheets  Drawing Views  Bills of Materials  Tables

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 9-1

Chapter 9 Drawings and Detailing

General

Balloons in Notes

You can now add balloons to notes. When creating or editing a note, click a balloon to insert it. Any modification to the balloon’s properties from the Balloon PropertyManager updates the balloon in the note. The font size of an individual balloon can be adjusted after it has been inserted as though it were any other font character.

Note referring to balloon item number 2.3, with corresponding pentagon-shaped balloon inserted in note text.

Balloon Text

Balloon text links parametrically to the BOM. Changing the item in the BOM propagates to the balloon.

Dialog Box Removal

The Dimension PropertyManager now contains the functionality that was in the Dimension Properties dialog box. The dialog box and the More Properties button

from the Dimension PropertyManager have been removed. The Note PropertyManager now contains the functionality that was in the

Properties dialog box for notes. The dialog box has been removed.

Dimension Alignment

You can now align dimensions to edges. Place the dimension, right-click it, select

Align to edge, then select an edge in the drawing.

Dimension Properties

You can now undo modifications to dimension properties.

Leaders

You can now use drag handles to change bent leader lengths for annotations.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 9-2

Chapter 9 Drawings and Detailing

Drawing Sheets

New Drawings from Open Documents

The Make Drawing from Part/Assembly tool is available on the flyout menu for New on the Menu Bar.

Copying Sheets

You can copy entire drawing sheets inside of a drawing document or across different drawings. Use:

Supported Copy and Paste Methods

Edit, Copy/Paste FeatureManager design tree

Right-click menus Graphics area of a sheet Ctrl + drag (between tiled

drawing windows)

See Copying Sheets in the help.

Supported To and From Locations

Sheet tabs

Inserting Images

You can insert pictures into a drawing just as you would in a sketch. Click Insert, Picture, and browse to your picture. Open the picture and use the Sketch Picture

PropertyManager to adjust the picture.

Drawing Views

Broken Views

Y ou can lock brea k lines in place. After breakin g the view , dimension the break lines to a known portion of the geometry. If the overall dimension changes, the break lines stay in place. The dimensions for the break lines are hidden if the break lines are not active. These dimensions are only for use in the drawing document and do not appear on a printed drawing.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 9-3

Chapter 9 Drawings and Detailing

Section Views

You can exclude ribs from sectioning in drawings. From the Section View dialog box, select a rib to add it to Excluded components.

Annotation Views

Views with annotations are marked with an icon in the Model View PropertyManager’s Orientation section; select Import an notations to bring the annotations into the drawing.

Sketch Entity Alignment

You can constrain sketch entities to geometry in multiple drawing views. Sketch objects in the drawing and use constraints as you normally wou ld in a sketch.

This image shows:

• A sketched point, in the top view, constrained to the theoretical sharp of the part using intersection relations (relations not shown for clarity).

• A sketched line, in the bottom view, constrained to be coincident with the bottom view’s geometry and the sketch point in the top view.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 9-4

Chapter 9 Drawings and Detailing

Bills of Materials

Column Contents

Double-click a column header to display a list of choices for the column contents. Custom properties defined in at least one part in the assembly, are available in the list.

Property Modifications

Changes to cells containing Custom Properties or Part Numbers now update in the model’s Properties.

See Bill of Materials Overview in the help.

For any part which does not yet have the Custom Property defined, an edit to the cell adds a definition for this property to the part’ s pr oper ties, on th e Configuration Specific tab.

To view the Configuration Specific tab, click File, Properties.

When you update the BOM for a part that already has the Custom Property de fined, the link between the part’s properties and the Bill of Materials (BOM) updates.

If you edit the Part Number, the new value appear s as a User Specified Name in the part’s Configuration Properties PropertyManager.

To view the part’s Configuration Properties PropertyManager, click the part’s Configuration tab, right- click the configuration you are using, and select Properties.

Virtual Components

When the BOM Type is set to Parts only or Indented assemblies, virtual components display this symbol on the BOM. (See Virtual Components page 6-7).

Weldment Material Usage

In a BOM, right-click anywhere in a row conta ining a weldment and select Dissolve Weldment to show the material usage of the weldment. The weldment’s cut list is

rewritten for material usage, such that, each different type of material in the cut list and the total amount of that material type is shown (for example, total length of square tubing used in all the weldment’s components). Collapse the weldment by right-clicking on any of its component and selecting Restore Weldment.

You can do this for all the weldments in a BOM at the same time by activating the BOM, then right-clicking and selecting Dissolve Weldment.

SolidWorks 2008 What’s New 9-5

Solidworks 2008 Whats new

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Introduction

About this Book

Intended Audience

Additional Resources

Late Changes

Using This Book

Example Files

Conventions Used in this Book

Converting Older SolidWorks Files to SolidWorks 2008

User Interface

Menu Bar

Menu Bar Toolbar

Menu Bar Menus

SolidWorks Search and Help

CommandManager

Customizing the CommandManager

Activating SolidWorks Office Add-ins

FeatureManager Design Tree

Show/Hide FeatureManager Items

FeatureManager Design Tree Filter

Tags

Heads-up View Toolbar

Context Toolbars

Shortcut Bars

Opening and Displaying Documents

Browse Recent Documents

Browse Open Documents

Document Preview Tooltips

Task Pane

Flyout Tool Buttons

Control of Message Displays

Modifying Document Properties

Design Clipart

RealView

RealView Workflow

Legacy Models

Appearances

Appearances PropertyManager

Scenes

Basic Scenes

Presentation Scenes

Studio Scenes

Edit Scene PropertyManager

Dynamic Highlighting

Sketching

3D Sketch Symmetry

Blocks

Create 2D Blocks in 3D Sketches

Area/Hatch Fill

Consolidated PropertyManagers

Auto Trace Tools

Show/Hide Sketch

Sketching in Instant3D

SketchXpert

Enhancements

Splin es

Continuity at Handles

Curvature Constraints

Spline Manipulators Available while Not Editing a Sketch

Spline on Surface

Features

Boundary Surfaces

Linear Option

Tangent Influence

Fillets

Fillet Corners

Fillet Selection

Hole Series

Enhancements:

Hole Wizard

Enhancements

Instant3D

Patterns

Circular Patterns

Cosmetic Patterns