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FIGURE 5.3

The View toolbar

Adding scrollbars and splitters

An option exists to add scrollbars and view pane splitters to the graphics window. To use it, choose Tools⇒Options⇒Display/Selection, Display Scrollbars in graphics view. This selection will be grayed out if any SolidWorks documents are open (so you must close all SolidWorks documents to change it). When you zoom in such that the part/assembly/drawing is partially off the screen, the scrollbars will activate on the right side and bottom of the SolidWorks window, enabling you to scroll up and down as well as left and right to pan the view. Scrollbars and splitters are turned off by default. You cannot turn off one or the other; scrollbars and splitters come as a package deal.

Figure 5.4 shows a detail of the bottom-right corner of the SolidWorks graphics window, where you find the scrollbars and splitters. Notice the cursor in the lower right over one of the splitters. The splitters can be easy to miss if you do not know what they look like.

FIGURE 5.4

Scrollbars and splitters controls can be turned on or off.

The splitters enable you to split the main graphics window into multiple view ports. The options are two ports horizontally, two ports vertically, or four view ports. The splitter bars are located at the intersection of the scrollbars in the lower-right corner of the graphics window. Of course, you can also use the icons on the Standard Views toolbar for splitting the view into two vertical ports, two horizontal ports, or four ports, the Heads-up View toolbar, or the View Orientation flyout.

Once a viewport has been split, you can remove the split with the toolbar icons, either by dragging the border back to the edge of the display window or by double-clicking the split border. If the view has been split into four, you can set it back to a single viewport by double-clicking the intersection of the horizontal and vertical port borders.

Using the Magnifying Glass

You can invoke the Magnifying Glass by pressing G, and dismiss it when you select something or when you press Esc. To change the hotkey it is associated with, choose Tools⇒Customize⇒Keyboard. Magnifying Glass is listed in the Other category. The Magnifying Glass is intended to magnify a small area of the view to enable you to make a more precise selection.

The magnified area follows your cursor as it moves, and you can zoom in and out by scrolling the MMB. Ctrl-dragging the MMB keeps the Magnifying Glass centered on the cursor. Pressing Alt creates a section view parallel to the view, and scrolling the wheel with Alt pressed moves the section plane farther away or closer. Figure 5.5 shows the Magnifying Glass in operation, cutting a section view through a part.

FIGURE 5.5

Using the Magnifying Glass with the section view

Note

The intended purpose of the Magnifying Glass is to select small items. You may use it to inspect things, but remember it will disappear as soon as you select something.

Clicking the Triad axes

The Triad is the multicolored coordinate axis in the lower-left corner of the SolidWorks graphics window. You generally use it passively to see how the view is oriented and to get X, Y, Z reference directions for features that need it.

To use the Triad to control the view orientation, try the following:

• Click an axis. The view will rotate to point this axis out of the screen.

• Click an axis a second time. This axis will point into the screen.

• Shift-click an axis. This view will spin 90 degrees about that axis (using the right-hand rule).

• Alt-click an axis. This view will spin 15 degrees (or the default view rotation angle) around the axis.

When you are in a named view, a little box in the lower-left corner shows the name of the view. This includes standard named views and custom named views. Anything that shows up in the View Orientation box (accessed by spacebar) displays a name in the corner. Figure 5.6 shows the Triad