slddrw editor - huh?

[MikeHalloran]

SW2009.0.0
After a year and a half, I'm getting better at modeling.
Not so much at working with the drawing editor.

<boring diatribe deleted>

Is there some workflow, or product structure, for which the SW drawing editor is actually well adapted, and doesn't continuously guess wrong about what I want to do?

Is there a video somewhere that will help me understand how I'm doing everything wrong?

Yeah, the tutorials... out of phase with the actual menu structure, maybe not a lot, but enough to be very confusing.

We used to have two guys who were _way_ faster than me, and would answer a question with a demonstration, conducted at lightning speed, with banter about the 'old school' way and the 'new school' way and the 'official' way, and ... well, they're both gone.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ctopher]

Mike,
Sorry, I don't 100% understand.
Are you looking for steps for creating drawings?

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08; CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[fcsuper]

Also, Mike, what is your background?

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Mike,
Do you mean the DWGeditor, or the regular SW mode which creates the 2D drawing views from the 3D model?

Can you give some examples of where you are doing 'everything wrong'? It's hard to point out what's wrong when we don't know what you are actually doing.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I'm not real pleased about the way SW insinuates itself into AutoCAD and asks irritating questions at the wrong time, but I'm not talking about that. I'm also not talking about the DWGeditor; I have AutoCAD for that.

I'm talking about the 'regular' editor that makes a 2D slddrw file from a 3D model.

I'm a mechanical engineer, with 4+ decades of experience.
I've used AutoCAD since version 9.
I've been using Solidworks for about a year and a half.

Yesterday, I was trying to make a multi-sheet fab drawing for a welded assembly, comprising an isometric assembled view with BOM, several sheets of details, and a sheet of views from odd angles with weld symbols. I eventually got it done, but the process was more aggravating than I think it should be, and the result is still a compromise between what I want and what SW will allow me to do in the time available.


... Sorry, I'm running out of display resources again and have to reboot. More later perhaps.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ctopher]

It is actually very easy to do....once you get the AutoCAD process out of mind.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08; CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Creating Relative views from Weldment profiles which do not have orthogonal faces can be a PITA. 'Recent' changes enabling the use of reference planes has helped, but there is still room for improvement.

Sometimes it is easier to create specific orientation views in the model, or even a config in the model with a cut-extrude to simulate a section, and then call those into a drawing view.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Sorry CBL, it's not a 'SW weldment'. It's joined with mates. I couldn't make the transition from the SW weldment tutorial to real parts.
(
I'm having serious issues with SW progressively forgetting to redraw the feature tree area, but that's not today's problem.
)
(
Yesterdays' complaint was about the user interface of the drawing editor, the elegance of which I clearly do not see through the complexity of its schizophrenic behaviors.
But that was yesterday's problem.
)
Here's a more specific question, related to CBL's response, and to some of the things I've been trying to do.
In the dialog to Create a Relative View, SW asks me to pick TWO FACES of my model.
It seems to then go on and create a view perpendicular to one of those faces. Why did it ask for two?

I'm trying to create a view that's NOT perpendiculr to ANY face of the model.
Say I want something like the 'isometric' view, but from a different quarter than the one SW picks.
How can I do that?





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[handleman]

There are a couple of options for other iso views. You can orient the 3D model the way you want it and then insert a new view, choosing "current model view" or you can use one of the several available isometric view macros to create all four (or all 8) named iso views in the model.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The Relative View asks for two views (say Top and Front) so that it can correctly orientate the view. If only one view (say Top) were specified, the view could be rotated at any point within the 360° available.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Now, Relative View makes sense... as does the SW Help for that subject, but it only made sense after CBL explained it.

Similarly, insert Current Model View makes sense, given Handleman's explanation.

I think the wrong people are writing help topics for SW.

Thanks, all.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[handleman]

Hey, I just took the "4 plus decades" into consideration and explained like I was talking to my Dad. ;-)


<ducks for cover>

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Ouch!

 

[MikeHalloran]

You would have loved explaining things to _my_ Dad.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[engd]

You can also project the 4 possible iso views from any existing view. Just use a "projected view" and move your mouse at a 45deg instead of the usual orthogonal direction.
Afterwards you can delete the original view if it is not needed.

 

[rcass]

Sounds like you could use a SWX course or possibly hook up with an user's group in your area. Its easy to do what you want but if you get stuck on autocad in your head it can get confusing. Try switching between different 3D programs.

"I'm trying to create a view that's NOT perpendiculr to ANY face of the model. Say I want something like the 'isometric' view, but from a different quarter than the one SW picks. How can I do that?"

Orient the 3D model the way you need it, save the view as a new view, select that view from the view palette.

 

[mjcole]

Mike

If you want to use DWG Editor Better look up the Intellicad product on which it's based. Roller Wheel zoom is in wrong direction just like using Yahoo when you're used to Google maps .

Michael