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By Root 728 0

you can double-click it and drag one of the handles around the outside of the image. When the picture comes into the sketch, it is usually too big, having been sized at a ratio of 1 pixel to 1 mm. To size a picture accurately, you should include a ruler or an object of a known size in the image. If you cannot do this, the next best thing is to guess the size. Draw a line in your sketch and dimension it to approximately the size of something that is recognizable in the image, and then move the image by clicking and dragging it to lay the dimensioned sketch entity as close over the object in the image as possible.

You can rotate and mirror images, as well, using the Sketch Picture PropertyManager. Images are opaque, and you cannot see the model through them, but at the same time, you also cannot see the images through the model. They are like flat pieces of paper that are pasted to the model or hanging in space.

You can add transparency to images, either by selecting a color or by using the built-in transparency in the image file (alpha channels are only available in certain types of image files). When you select a color to be transparent, you will also need to increase both the Matching Tolerance and the Transparency value sliders, which are by default set to their minimum values.

Caution

If a sketch picture has had user-defined transparency applied to it, and you double-click the picture, SolidWorks automatically bumps you into the eyedropper mode, which selects a color to be transparent. A single extra click in this mode can make a mess of your Sketch Picture transparency settings by changing the selected transparency color.

Sketch pictures cannot be shown on a drawing associatively. The only way to do this is to capture an image of the sketch picture that is being shown in the model, and put this image in the drawing. PhotoView 360 does not use sketch pictures, either, and Decals are a separate item altogether.

Tip

Although the most common use for the sketch picture is as a tracing guide, you can use it for a wide variety of other purposes. For example, any sort of logo, decal, or display that is on a flat surface can be shown as a sketch picture.

Best Practice

Best practice for using sketch pictures is to put them into a separate sketch near or at the top of the FeatureManager. Even though you can have sketch entities in a Sketch Picture sketch, I recommend keeping them in separate sketches. This is because when you use the sketch entities for an extrude or a loft guide curve, this sketch will be consumed under that feature, meaning the image becomes buried somewhere in your model rather than being easily accessible at the top of the FeatureManager.

Using three views

When building a model from images, it is often helpful to have three or more images from orthogonal views, similar to re-creating a part from a 2D drawing. If you have a left and a right view, it may be a good idea to put them on planes that are slightly separated so that the images are not exactly on top of one another, which makes them both hard to see. Putting them on slightly offset planes means that one will be clearly visible from one direction and the other visible from the other direction.

Each sketch picture must be in a separate sketch. Figure 6.10 demonstrates the use of multiple sketch pictures to trace the outline of a vehicle, with the partially complete model shown with the images.

FIGURE 6.10

Using multiple sketch pictures

Additionally, you can put multiple sketch pictures inside a single sketch if you want to do that. Both images show up in the FeatureManager, and both can be displayed at the same time, although you may have difficulty if you want to put them on top of one another.

Compensating for perspective

When taking digital photographs to be used as sketch pictures in SolidWorks, you have to consider how perspective affects the image. Perspective can make it difficult to size items in the foreground or background. You should be aware of this, as well as that objects at different distances from the camera