SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [78]
• Hidden Lines Visible (HLV). Displays the model edges without the shaded faces. Edges that would be hidden are displayed in a font.
• Hidden Lines Removed (HLR). Displays the model edges without the shaded faces. Edges that are hidden by the part are removed from the display.
• Shaded with Edges. The model is displayed with shading, and edges are shown using HLR. Edges can either be all a single color that you set in Tools⇒Options⇒Colors (typically black), or they can match the shaded color of the part. Tools⇒Options⇒Document Properties⇒Colors is where you find the document specific setting to use the same color for shaded and wireframe display, which becomes very useful in an assembly when all the parts shown in wireframe are the same color as they are when they are shaded, instead of all being black.
• Shaded. The model is displayed with shading, and edges are not shown.
• Shadows in Shaded Mode. When the model is displayed shaded, a shadow displays “under” the part. Regardless of how you rotate the model, when Shadows are initially turned on, the shadow always starts out parallel to the standard plane that is closest to the bottom of the monitor. As you rotate the model, the shadow moves with it. If Shadows are turned off and then on again, they again display parallel to the standard plane that is closest to the bottom of the monitor.
• Section View. Sections the display of the model. Figure 5.7 shows the Section View command at work. You can use up to three section planes at once. Solid and surface models as well as assemblies can be sectioned. You can use the spin boxes, enter numbers manually, or drag the arrows that are attached to the section planes to move the section through the model. Section planes can also be rotated by dragging the border of the plane.
Figure 5.7
The Section View tool
Clicking the check mark icon in the Section View PropertyManager enables you to continue working with the sectioned model, although you may not be able to reference edges or faces that are created by the section view. It is only a displayed section; the actual geometry is not cut.
Section Views can be saved either to the View Orientation box or to the Annotation View folder, which enables section views to be reused on the drawing. Annotation Views are described in more detail in Chapter 16.
Once you are working in a section view, if you want to alter it, you can access Modify Section view through the menus at View ⇒ Modify ⇒ Section View. You should notice that no toolbar icon exists for modifying a section view. You have to access this command through the menus, or by turning off then turning back on the Section View tool. You might also notice that a Modify Section View is available in the hotkey assignment area, Tools ⇒ Customize ⇒ Keyboard.
• RealView. Creates a more realistic reflective or textured display for advanced material selections. This feature does not work with all graphics hardware, so check the SolidWorks system requirements Web site to see if it supports your hardware. An entire section of this chapter is devoted to the various tools available with RealView graphics.
• Edit Appearance. Edit Appearance enables you to apply colors, textures, and materials to faces, bodies, features, parts, and components. Appearance and display issues comprise a large portion of the SolidWorks interface.
Zebra Stripes
Another geometrical analysis tool that helps you visualize the quality of transitions between faces across edges. Zebra Stripes simulates putting a perfectly reflective part in a room that is either cubic or spherical and where the walls are painted with black-and-white stripes. In high-end shape design, surface quality is measured qualitatively using light reflections from the surface. Reflecting stripes makes it easier to visualize when an edge is not smooth.
The three cases that Zebra Stripes can help you identify are as follows (see Figure 5.8):
• Contact. Surfaces intersect at an edge but are not tangent across the edge. This condition exists when stripes do not