SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [5]
Credits
Senior Acquisitions Editor
Stephanie McComb
Project Editor
Jade L. Williams
Technical Editor
Charles Culp
Copy Editor
Marylouise Wiack
Editorial Director
Robyn Siesky
Editorial Manager
Rosemarie Graham
Business Manager
Amy Knies
Senior Marketing Manager
Sandy Smith
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher
Barry Pruett
Senior Project Coordinator
Kristie Rees
Graphics and Production Specialists
Ana Carillo
Andrea Hornberger
Jennifer Mayberry
Jill A. Proll
Quality Control Technicians
Lindsay Amones
Rebecca Denoncour
John Greenough
Melanie Hoffman
Susan Moritz
Robert Springer
Proofreading
Christine Sabooni
Indexing
BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services
Media Development Project Manager
Laura Moss
Media Development Assistant Project Manager
Jenny Swisher
Media Development Associate Producer
Joshua Frank
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the staff at Wiley for their dedication in editing the text of these books. It can be a difficult job making sure that a technical subject is treated properly. I'd also like to thank Charles Culp, the technical editor, for taking the time out of his schedule to make sure the material is accurate. Thanks also to Kim and Zoey, who help with the details in life allowing me to do this kind of work.
Introduction
SolidWorks as a topic of learning is a huge, sprawling expanse. There is a lot to know, and a lot to write about. While I have made every effort to be complete in this book, I'm sure there are some niche topics that have gone untreated. New in 2011, I have taken this book from a single volume of an immense scope to two individual volumes, each still fairly large, one covering parts and part drawings, and the other covering assemblies and assembly drawings. There is some overlap and some gray area between these topics, but I have tried to divide the material in the way that makes the most sense and divides the material evenly. It is certainly recommended for you to get both volumes for your reference.
This book is primarily meant as an encyclopedic desk reference for SolidWorks Standard users who want a more thorough understanding of the software and process than can be found in other available documentation. As such, it is not necessarily intended to be a guide for beginners, although it has elements of that. Nor is it necessarily intended as a classroom guide, but I have seen people use it for that as well.
Possibly the most controversial aspect of the book is that it is not filled with step-by-step tutorials (although there are some). Tutorials have their place, and I believe they are best suited for beginners. You are only a beginner for a short period of time, so this book tries to aim more at intermediate users, and it does so with a more conceptual approach to explaining functionality. I attempt to help you make the decisions about how to apply the tools to your tasks rather than demonstrating simple tasks that you will never need to do again. You will not learn to model a teapot in this book, because in your work, knowing how to model a teapot will probably not help you. You will, however, learn how to make decisions which should enable you to model just about anything you want, including teapots.
To keep the size of the book down, I have tried to avoid topics found only in SolidWorks Professional or Premium, although some discussion of these topics was in places unavoidable.
While the book does point out limitations, bugs and conceptual errors in the software, and from time to time ventures into the realm of opinion, in every case this is meant to give the reader a more thorough understanding of the software and how it is applied in the context of everyday design or engineering practice.
The overall goal of this book is not to fill your head