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Another option when building a sheet format, or any other drawing function that requires sketching, is to use a special layer for construction geometry. This enables you to hide the layer when it is not being used, but it still maintains its relations. Hidden layers can be used in several other ways (for example, as standard notes on the drawing), and they can be easily turned on or off.

Adding dimensions and notes to layers

SolidWorks drawings have a tendency to be drab black-and-white drawings in contrast to AutoCAD drawings, which often seem to take on a plethora of contrasting colors. Drawings are often a little easier to comprehend when different types of items are colored differently, but to do this effectively, you must apply the coloring scheme consistently. Dimensions and annotations can also be placed on layers in the three ways described in the previous section (active layer, from the PropertyManager during creation, and through the drop-down list on the Layer toolbar). However, the line styles do not affect dimensions and notes, only the color and visibility settings.

Working with components on layers

Assembly drawings probably suffer the most from the monochromatic nature of most SolidWorks drawings because individual components can be difficult to identify when everything is the same color. This is why SolidWorks users typically color parts in the shaded model assembly window. It only makes sense that they would want to do the same thing on the drawing.

Using assembly colors on drawings

Starting in SolidWorks 2011, you can now use assembly part colors on drawings. This is a document-specific setting, so it will only apply to the documents where you want it to apply, not to all drawings. If you use this setting, you may also need to be more careful in how you choose part colors in your assemblies. You will generally want to choose darker and more saturated colors, and avoid the yellows, grays, and light colors that will not contrast with the white or gray color of the default SolidWorks drawing sheet.

You can find the setting to use assembly part color on your drawing at Tools⇒Options⇒Document Properties⇒Detailing⇒Use Model Color for HLR/HLV in Drawings. HLR stands for hidden lines removed, and HLV stands for hidden lines visible. These are the two wireframe display modes that are most frequently used on drawings. Of course, another way to display part color on drawings is to use shaded views, but for traditional drawings, shaded views are often considered nonstandard. Figure 18.2 shows the setting in the Document Properties dialog box.

FIGURE 18.2

Using assembly part colors on your drawing

The setting mentioned for shaded drawing views is available by selecting the view on the drawing, and clicking the Shaded display style toolbar icon from the Heads Up View toolbar on the drawing, or from wherever the View toolbar is displayed. You could do the same thing by selecting the view and then choosing View⇒Display⇒Shaded or Shaded With Edges.

Using assembly parts on layers

Another option to display the components of an assembly in different colors while using a wireframe display mode that wouldn't rely on colors assigned to parts in the assembly is to use the Component Line Font options. (Line Fonts are covered in the section “Controlling Line Format.”) The Component Line Font dialog box contains a Layer setting, which you can use to put a part on a layer. If the layer is set up with a color, then the part displays with that color in all views of the drawing or in just the current view, depending on your settings. It does take a little time to set up the individual layers for each part and then to set the parts to the layers.

You can access the Component Line Font dialog box by right-clicking a component in a drawing view. The Component Line Font dialog box is shown in Figure 18.3.

FIGURE 18.3

The Component Line Font dialog box

In normal use, the Use document defaults option is selected and all the settings in the dialog box are grayed out. To gain access to these settings,