Productiveness Ideas for the SOLIDWORKS Person Interface and FeatureManager

The SOLIDWORKS consumer interface has lengthy been acknowledged as among the finest within the computer-aided design and engineering {industry}.

Its clever toolbar and panel structure, left and right-click performance, workflow context sensitivity, and gesture interpretation are all components that make SOLIDWORKS straightforward to study and fulfilling to make use of.

What’s the Supervisor Pane?

The Supervisor Pane is on the left facet of the SOLIDWORKS consumer interface and comprises generally used tabs just like the ConfigurationManager (configuration management), DisplayManager (appearances and decals), and PropertyManager (parameters and references). The tabs dynamically change when acceptable for a clean workflow.

The FeatureManager on the far-left tab reveals the characteristic historical past, names, and dependencies when working with half fashions. With meeting fashions, the FeatureManager Tree additionally shows the meeting hierarchy and meeting options, too. We closely use the FeatureManager Tree to pick out and modify elements and options, provoke modifying operations, and far more.  Listed here are 4 straightforward tweaks you possibly can leverage to work extra effectively with the FeatureManager Design Tree.

Easy methods to Collapse the FeatureManager

As a design progresses, the checklist of elements and options within the left pane can get fairly lengthy and tough to handle. When choosing an on-screen characteristic or part, SOLIDWORKS will mechanically scroll the FeatureManager Tree to make that merchandise seen within the pane. This may be useful when discovering objects within the FeatureManager, however navigating the expanded hierarchy may be complicated if the merchandise is in a folder or nested subassembly, particularly after a number of choices.

You possibly can rapidly shrink or collapse the tree to its top-level elements and regain your bearings. Proper-click anyplace within the white house pane background of the tab, choose Collapse Objects, and watch the tree collapse to the highest part stage. If you happen to favor keyboard shortcuts, urgent Shift + C will do the identical.

Collapsing the FeatureTree with a right-click

Turning Off Auto-Scroll

It’s price noting that in giant assemblies with many elements, scrolling the FeatureManager merchandise into view could cause a delay because the tree is searched. If you happen to discover this scrolling motion disruptive, it may be disabled from System Choices > Characteristic Supervisor and deselect “Scroll chosen merchandise into the view.”  With this feature disabled, now once we decide an merchandise within the graphics space, it doesn’t develop the tree.

Easy methods to Filter the FeatureManager Tree

One other useful gizmo for navigating and looking out an extended FeatureManager is the Filter discipline on the prime of the pane. Simply begin typing some textual content, and the elements or options that don’t match the textual content string are hidden within the FeatureManager show.

Filtering the tree primarily based on a search time period

Solely these options and elements with a reputation that matches the textual content string stay seen. That is extraordinarily useful for figuring out explicit elements, discovering and dealing with sketches, and rapidly accessing particular reference geometry. By default, the options and elements that don’t match are additionally hidden within the graphics space.

Deleting the textual content string within the Filter discipline returns to the total view. If we would like solely the FeatureManager Tree to be filtered however not cover the elements within the graphics space, that possibility is out there by clicking the flyout on the Filter icon subsequent to the textual content discipline.

Toggling the FeatureTree filtering habits

Easy methods to Cut up the SOLIDWORKS FeatureTree

This tweak is related for half and meeting fashions and might vastly streamline your workflows. The everyday course of for working with configurations is as follows:

1. Double-click on a configuration to activate it.
2. Change to the FeatureManager to see which elements are lively.
3. Return to the ConfigurationManager to alter the configuration.
4. Change to the FeatureManager to see which elements are lively.
5. Repeat as wanted.

Fortunately, we are able to break up the Supervisor Pane in SOLIDWORKS and present FeatureManager in a single pane and the ConfigurationManager within the different. Then, whenever you change configurations within the ConfigurationManager pane, the tree show adjustments in actual time.

Splitting the SOLIDWORKS consumer interface to point out two totally different tabs without delay

To separate the Supervisor Pane, click on and drag down the horizontal bar on the prime of the pane, and now two panes are stacked within the left panel. Whenever you’re finished utilizing this operate simply seize the bar once more and drag it as much as the highest, and also you’re again to a single characteristic supervisor tree.

Easy methods to Change What’s Proven within the FeatureManager

By default, every part within the FeatureManager reveals the lively configuration and show state title subsequent to the part title. That is useful with assemblies containing configured elements and/or with a number of show states.

Opening the FeatureTree show settings

For less complicated fashions with elements having just one configuration or show state, displaying this info makes the tree seem unnecessarily sophisticated. For these fashions, now we have an choice to have an effect on what seems within the part node subsequent to the title. Entry this management by right-clicking on the prime of the tree and choosing Tree Show > Element Names and Description.

The totally different choices for Tree Show are:

• Don’t present Configuration or Show State title if just one exists
  When activated, solely these elements with a number of configurations or show States will show the part info.
• • Element Description
    It will show the worth from the Description customized property.
  • Configuration Title
    It will show the title of the configuration from the ConfigurationManager.
  • Configuration Description
    It will show the worth from the Description customized property for the chosen configuration.
• 
  Unchecking the Show State Title field will cover all show state info from the tree.

Default settings for the Tree Show choices

Enhancing SOLIDWORKS Productiveness

The FeatureManager Tree is a elementary management ingredient in SOLIDWORKS with broad performance. Utilizing the tweaks on this article will improve effectivity and advance productiveness.

Being the industry-leading CAD and engineering ecosystem, SOLIDWORKS has many extra tweaks, ideas, and tips to assist streamline your design workflows. With over 35 years of expertise, our staff has loads of time to seek out essentially the most environment friendly strategies to do nearly something in SOLIDWORKS.

To study extra time-saving SOLIDWORKS tricks to minimize design time, register for our webinar right here.