• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1046 0

headers to sort the names of components in the assembly, you can move the sliders on the left side of the FeatureManager to change the display colors of the parts.

You can expand or collapse subassemblies by clicking the assembly symbol at the top of the tree, or you can disable the color display by clicking the color gradient scale. Value bars can also be displayed to show the relative value of each assembly component.

Figure 3.25 shows a model of a bicycle sorting subassemblies by mass. The gray value bars are superimposed on the text in the FeatureManager area. You can open an assembly on your computer and try this for yourself to see the color display.

You can access the Assembly Visualization feature on the Evaluate tab of the CommandManager when an assembly is active, or through the Tools menu. The toolbar icon is with the Tools icons, and you can find it by choosing Tools⇒Customize or through the Tools menu in an assembly.

By right-clicking below the FeatureManager Filter when Assembly Visualization is active, you can also save the resulting sorted list to a file in a number of formats, including, xls, xlsx, txt, csv, and pdf.

FIGURE 3.25

Assembly Visualization offers several ways to sort and display the components in an assembly.

Tutorial: Using Assembly Visualization

This tutorial walks you through the steps necessary to use the Assembly Visualization tool in SolidWorks.

1. Close other open documents by choosing Window⇒Close All. If you have any documents open from the DVD, you can save them using the Save As command.

2. Open the assembly file BibleBikeAssembly ch3.sldasm from the DVD.

3. Select the Assembly Visualization tool from the Tools menu. You can also select it on the Evaluate tab of the CommandManager or from a custom location by choosing Tools⇒Customize⇒Commands⇒Tools and dragging Assembly Visualization to the toolbar of your choice.

4. Toggle the Flat/Nested view icon to see its effect on the tree display.

5. Click each available heading to see the tree sorted, based on your selection.

6. Turn off the assembly coloration by single-clicking the red to blue fade.

7. Sort the tree based on mass.

8. Show the tree in flat rather than nested display.

9. Click and drag the red and blue sliders up and down to focus on a range of weights.

10. Click to toggle the Value Bars to show the relative weights of parts.

Summary

Visualization is a key function of the SolidWorks software. It can be either an end to itself if you are showing a design to a vendor or client or a means to an end if you are using visualization techniques to analyze or evaluate the model. In both cases, SolidWorks presents you with a list of tools to accomplish the task. The tools range from the analytical to the cosmetic, and some of the tools have multiple uses.

Part II: Working with Assemblies

In This Part

Chapter 4

Building Efficient Assemblies

Chapter 5

Getting More from Mates

Chapter 6

Working with Assembly Sketches and Layouts

Chapter 7

Using Assembly Tools

Chapter 8

Controlling Assembly Configurations and Display States

Chapter 9

Patterning and Mirroring Components

Chapter 10

Modeling in Context

Chapter 11

Creating Assembly Features

Chapter 12

Using Parametric Links in Assemblies

Chapter 13

Editing, Evaluating, and Troubleshooting Assemblies

Chapter 4: Building Efficient Assemblies

In This Chapter

Setting apart the elements of an assembly

Increasing performance by using SpeedPaks

Organizing assemblies by using subassemblies

Grouping parts and mates by using folders

Showing names and descriptions with tree display options

Employing helpful assembly tools

Arranging assemblies tutorial

Managing the FeatureManager tutorial

Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the basics of assemblies, the basics of mating, and so on. The process for putting assemblies together remains the same for assemblies of any size, but once the assembly passes a certain point — and this point is likely different for each user or application