Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality
The current implementation of direct edit tools in SolidWorks does not seem finished. SolidWorks
appears to not be chasing the hyped claims of dedicated direct edit CAD programs, but I do not believe
that they are ignoring the development of the tools.The key to answering the valid criticisms coming from the direct edit movement is not to abandon the
proven benefits of history-based systems, but rather to make the history-based system work for users
instead of against them. Most of the valid criticism could be addressed by giving users more direct con-
trol over the FeatureManager and the rebuilds.The first thing to do is to allow users to display the FeatureManager in a linear history-only order, with-
out indenting or consuming features to show parent-child relations. SolidWorks ordinarily takes a
sketch and indents it under the feature that it is used to create, even when the sketch existed before the
feature and technically should be shown above the feature. Doing this would allow users to understand
and control features better.The second thing to do is to give the user more direct control over rebuilds. If the user could put a
Freeze feature in the tree so that nothing above the Freeze ever rebuilds, this would control time wasted
in rebuilds for things that have not changed, but still keep the advantages of history-based models after
the Freeze feature.Direct Editing has advantages over history-based modeling, but it also has weaknesses. The strengths
are not so great that users need to abandon history modeling. I believe that history-based modeling as
implemented by SolidWorks can be modernized in such a way as to erase the comparative weaknesses
and build on the strengths.Evaluating possible future improvements to a
SolidWorks history-based system
FeatureWorks works by deconstructing, or “unbuilding,” the part, removing faces of features that
would be applied last. For example, first it will try to recognize fillets, and removes them from the
model. Then it recognizes other types of features, including holes, and then finally it recognizes the
base extrude or revolve feature.You can use this as part of your process, but only deconstructing the part partially, leaving the por-
tion of the part that is not assigned to a feature as an imported body. If you remove the fillets and
the holes, you might be able to do the edits that remain using direct edit tools. This will leave you
with a partially imported part with some parametric features and some direct edit features. Some
folks might consider this a sloppy mess, but getting work done on schedule does count for some-
thing; if that is what it takes, then it removes the sting to some extent. The FeatureWorks
PropertyManager is shown in Figure 30.19.