Chapter 2: Navigating the SolidWorks Interface
Minimizing icons .............................................................................................
In order to maximize valuable space on the monitor, many SolidWorks users strive to minimize
the number of toolbar icons on the screen, or confine them to two rows of toolbars. You can do
this by using the CommandManager, flyout toolbars, the āSā toolbar, right-click toolbars, and hot-
keys, and removing unused icons, as well as the other techniques discussed here.
Having an uncluttered workspace is definitely a plus, but having easy access to commands is the
real purpose of an interface in the first place. You need to strike a balance between too much
and not enough. The more kinds of work you do in SolidWorks, the more tools you will need to
have available. If you only create relatively simple machined parts and drawings, you will need
fewer tools available than someone who creates complex plastic part assemblies with rendering
and animation.
Contemplating device approaches ...................................................................
If you have never used a Spaceball or equivalent view-manipulation device, you should consider it.
They are wonderful devices and do far more than just spin the view. Most of the devices also have
several programmable buttons that you can link to menu items. They can move drawing views,
parts within assemblies, and even manipulate selected objects in other Office applications and Web
browsers.
Using touch and multi-touch support..............................................................
I have written portions of this book on a Tablet PC. A tablet might not be ideal for long periods of
SolidWorks usage. However, I use it regularly for presentations and even modeling when I really
want to get the feel of drawing a line by hand. The stylus is not quite as intuitive as a pencil, but it
is less of an impediment to the tactile feel of actual drawings than a clunky mouse. Tablets are a
great option when used in combination with the new touch functions in SolidWorks, such as
mouse gestures.
The mouse gestures functionality is considered a tool well suited to a tablet interface, where flick-
ing the stylus is easier than mouse clicking. This is a single touch technique, since the stylus typi-
cally adds only a single point of contact with the screen.
Multi-touch devices are still rare, especially in the CAD-enabled office, but they are becoming more
widely available. In preparation for this future functionality that seems ideally suited to visual
applications such as CAD and 3D, SolidWorks has added functionality to take advantage of these
tools. Multi-touch Action Mappings, as the SolidWorks Help refers to them, are intuitive two fin-
ger motions that enable you to control the view for actions like:
l Zoom in or outl (^) Rotate
l Pan
l (^) Roll
l Zoom to fit
l (^) Right click