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parts technique for other applications, as well. Sometimes a product is designed as a single solid to keep the modeling simple and because it is not known how the parts will be assembled or manufactured. When the manufacturing decisions are made, the part can be split into several models that have the engineering details added to them.

Using mirror parts

You can mirror a right-handed part to create a left-handed part. To activate the Mirror Part command, you must select a plane or planar face. Then choose Insert⇒Mirror Part to initiate the Mirror Part command. Mirror parts can also use configurations, and so if you have one of those “mirrored exactly except for . . .” parts, you can select the configuration of the parent from the child document.

Using the Layout Feature

When people talk about the Layout feature and layout sketches, this can lead to an unfortunate naming conflict. These two highly useful functions do nearly the same thing; one is a newly added formal feature, while the other is simply a technique that has existed for years. For this reason, the new Layout feature is capitalized in this book, and referred to as a feature, while the layout sketch is in lowercase and is referred to as either a sketch or a technique. For more information on the Layout feature, see Chapter 6, which also describes layout sketches.

The Layout feature is simply a 3D sketch that is given special treatment within an assembly. It works best with sketch blocks. To initiate a Layout, click the Layout button on the Layout tab of the assembly CommandManager or activate it from the Insert menu. Once you are in a Layout, SolidWorks puts you into a 3D sketch with the Front (XY) plane activated, so it displays a small grid.

Cross-Reference

For more information about 3D sketches, see Chapter 20.

For now, you primarily treat the 3D sketch as much like a set of 2D sketches as possible. The main difference is that you can double-click a different plane to start sketching on the new plane, and you always see this small grid when a plane is active.

Three-dimensional sketches have some limitations when you are working with Layouts, such as lacking the capabilities to use sketch patterns and Sketch Pictures.

Using the Layout workflow

Here are the general steps for working with the Layout feature:

1. Open a new or existing assembly.

2. Click the Layout toolbar button on the Layout tab of the CommandManager.

3. Sketch on the plane in the 3D sketch to create 2D sketches representing parts of a mechanism or other assembly.

4. Make selections of the sketch into blocks representing individual parts.

5. Insert multiple instances of the blocks to represent multiple instances of the parts.

6. Use sketch relations to put the blocks together like mating parts in an assembly.

7. Test the mechanism by dragging sketches. (Blocks function like a single sketch entity, so you can drag them within the sketch like parts in an assembly.)

8. Right-click the block (from inside or outside the Layout) and select Make Part From Block (also a button on the Layout toolbar), as shown in Figure 10.23.

Note

The large and small icons for Make Part From Block differ slightly. All of the icons used in the left margin of this book are large icons.

FIGURE 10.23

Tools you encounter when using Layout

Understanding virtual components

Virtual components always exist with in-context workflows, and frequently with the Layout workflow. Virtual components are parts that are saved within the assembly. You can save a virtual component externally, and you can also make an externally saved part into a virtual component.

The advantages of virtual components are that you don't have to worry about saving out additional files, plus the assembly will never lose track of any virtual component.

Virtual components are primarily intended to be used as quick, temporary, conceptual tools, rather than as a way to make parts that will be a permanent part of the assembly. Some SolidWorks users also use virtual components to represent non-geometric parts