Use the Untrim Surface tool to fill gaps or repair sharp corners or jagged edges by extending a surface along its natural boundaries. Close the gaps in a surface body. Extend a surface body to remove a sharp corner.
Use a boundary surface to fill in gaps between other surfaces. Understand some of the similarities between boundary surfaces, lofts, and filled surfaces. Delete some undesirable geometry from a surface model and fill the gap with a boundary surface.
Split a straddle face into two faces along a parting line. Analyze the part with respect to the direction of pull of the mold to determine the best location for the parting line. Use ths Split Line tool to create the parting line.
Evaluate the size, weight, and more of a model using the measure and mass properties tools. Understand how the material and coordinate system of a part affect its mass properties. Measure between points and circles to determine the size of a part.
Add materials to parts for calculations of mass properties, for use with SOLIDWORKS Simulation, and to modify the appearance of the part. Define the material for a part. Add a custom material to a part. Use configurations to assign different materials to a part.
Create points, axes, and coordinate systems to aid in the creation of features and helps with the use of measurement tools. Explore the options to create reference points, axes, and coordinate systems based on one or more model entities.
Use standard mates to constrain the degrees of freedom of components relative to other components or reference geometry such as planes or axes. Learn about standard mate types such as coincident, concentric, and more. Understand how selected entities such as faces, edges, vertices, planes, or axes determines the available mate types.
Use sketch relations and dimensions to fully define a sketch. Understand the status of a sketch, either under defined, fully defined, or over defined. Evaluate a sketch to determine why it is under defined.
Use automatic sketch relations to capture design intent as you sketch a profile. Identify the icons that appear on the cursor to signify automatic sketch relations. Create a sketch profile and add automatic sketch relations as you sketch.
Use sketch relations to fully define a sketch and capture design intent. Learn about automatic sketch relations and sketch relations that you add manually. Add relations between two lines to understand common sketch relations. Add relations between circles and arcs to observe additional sketch relations.
Create ellipses and slots as entities in a sketch. Learn about the variety of tools you can use to create ellipses and slots. Understand when you might choose the different ellipse and slot tools based on points in the center or along the perimeter of the ellipse or slot.
Create circles and arcs as entities in a sketch. Learn about the variety of tools you can use to create circles and arc. Understand when you might choose the different circle and arc tools based on points in the center or along the perimeter of the circle or arc.
Create rectangles as entities in a sketch. Learn about the variety of tools you can use to create rectangles. Understand when you might choose the different rectangle tools based on the center and corners of the rectangle.
Create lines and centerlines as entities in a sketch. Understand the options for creating lines in a sketch. Draw lines that are vertical, horizontal, or at a specified angle. Use centerlines for relations and dimensions to facilitate the creation of model geometry.
Understand the difference between starting a sketch on a plane or planar face. Create the first 2D sketch profile on a reference plane. Create additional 2D sketch profiles on planar model faces of the part.
Review the various end condition options for extruded features. Examine the end conditions defined by distance from the sketch: Blind, Through All, and Midplane. Examine the end conditions defined by existing 3D geometry: Up to Next, Up to Vertex, Up to Surface, Offset from Surface, and Up to Body. Identify geometry differences based on the selected end condition.
Understand the importance of picking the correct sketch plane for starting a part. Choose the starting feature and starting sketch plane for a part. Understand how the choice of a starting sketch plane can affect the drawing.
Create rounded or beveled edges using fillets or chamfers, respectively. Understand general filleting rules to facilitate better modeling practices. Create and understand some of the options for constant radius fillets. Create and understand some of the options for chamfer features.
Extend sketch profiles to create extruded bosses to add material and extruded cuts to remove material. Use sketch relations and dimensions to define sketch profiles. Understand some of the options for extruded features. Add material with an extruded boss and remove material with an extruded cut.
Insert driving dimensions into a sketch using the versatile Smart Dimension tool. With a single tool, you can create radial dimensions for arc, linear dimensions between two points, and more. The dimension that appears depends on the entities you select. Insert linear, angular, radial, and other dimensions. Modify dimensions. Move and reattach dimensions.
Create balloons to relate items in a bill of materials table to the corresponding items in a drawing view. Use the Balloon, Auto Balloon, and Stacked Balloon tools to create balloons on the drawing. Align balloons using magnetic lines.
Calculate values in a bill of materials table using equations. Use various functions such as IF, AVERAGE, COUNT, and so on to calculate the data. Calculate the total cost by multiplying the unit cost times the quantity. Determine the sum of the costs of all of the components in an assembly.
