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The Thin Feature panel and a thin feature extrusion

The Cap Ends option is available only when you specify a Thin Feature to be created from a closed loop sketch. This creates a hollow, solid body in a single step. You can also use Thin Features with cuts, and they are very useful for creating slots or grooves.

Using contour selection

Contour selection enables you to select areas completely bounded by sketch entities for use with features such as Extrude. For example, you could use a sketch like the number sign (#). You can use contour selection to select the box in the center, which is completely bound by sketch elements. The image below shows an extrude feature making use of contour selection in a sketch.

Using contour selection

The part used in the above image is on the DVD, and is called Chapter 4 — Contour Selection.sldprt.

SolidWorks works best when the sketches are neat and clean, when nothing overlaps, and when no extra entities exist. However, when you need to use a sketch that does not meet these criteria, you can use this alternative method.

Best Practice

I believe this feature was introduced into SolidWorks only to keep up with other CAD packages, not because it is a great feature. I do not recommend using contour selection on production models. It is useful for creating quick models, but the selection is too unstable for data that you may want to rely on in the future. The main problem is that if the sketch changes, the selected area may also change, or SolidWorks may lose track of it entirely.

Using Instant 3D

Instant 3D enables you to pull handles to create extrusions and to drag model faces to change the size and location of features. Several feature types enable you to use arrows to adjust elements visually of parametric features and sketches. The function largely replaces and expands on the older functionality called Move/Size Features. Figure 4.6 shows the arrows added by Instant 3D, which are the handles that you pull on to create a solid from a sketch or edit an existing feature. Notice also that you can make cut features with Instant 3D. In fact, you can change a boss feature into a cut. I'm sure this is a neat sales demo trick, but I'm not aware of any practical application of changing a boss into a cut.

One of the attractive things about Instant 3D is that it allows you to make changes to parts quickly without any consideration for how the part was made. For example, the cylindrical part was made from a series of extrudes, with a hole cut through it with draft on the cut feature. The flat faces can be moved, and the cylindrical faces offset. Behind the scenes, SolidWorks figures out which sketches or feature parameters of which features have to be edited. This saves you time searching the FeatureManager to figure out which features or sketches control a given face. As you work through more complex parts, you will see how handy this can be at times. You can activate or deactivate Instant 3D using the icon on the Features toolbar.

Note

When combined with the sketch setting Override Dims on Drag, Instant 3D can be a powerful concepting tool, even on fully dimensioned sketches.

Instant 3D also offers a tool called Live Section. Live Section enables you to section a part with a plane, and you can drag the edges of the section regardless to which features the edges belong. To activate Live Section, right-click a plane that intersects the part and select Live Section Plane. Live Section is shown on the cylindrical part in Figure 4.6.

Instant 3D can also be an effective tool when used in conjunction with the direct editing type of tools such as Move Face. In fact, Instant 3D mimics some of the direct edit type of functionality found in applications such as Sketchup and Spaceclaim.

Chapter 23 discusses the direct edit theme in more detail, and revisits the Instant 3D manipulators in that light.

FIGURE 4.6

Using Instant 3D and Live Section

Making the first extrude feature

Going back to the sketch in Figure 4.5, I will show