Part I: SolidWorks Basics
updates them in the drawing. On the surface of things, this sounds too good to be
true, and it is. The potential problems are that you might not model things the way
you would dimension them for the shop. You have to answer several questions for
yourself, such as do the leader lines go to the right locations or can they be moved and
the dimensions usually come in in such a way that they require quite a bit of moving
them around.l (^) Reference (driven) Dimensions can be applied to the drawing view directly. These
are only associative in one direction, meaning that they measure what is there, but they
do not drive the size or position of the geometry. All changes must be made from the
model. Again, on the face of things, this appears to be redundant and a waste of time,
but in my personal estimation, by the time you finish rearranging dimensions, check-
ing to ensure that you have everything you need and hiding the extraneous dimen-
sions, you are usually far better off using reference dimensions.
Best Practice
Users have strong opinions on both sides of this issue. The best thing for you to do is to use both methods and
decide for yourself. n
- If you choose to use the Model Items approach, you can do this by choosing
Insert ➪ Model Items. Then specify whether the dimensions should come from the
entire model or just a selected feature. You also need to ask whether the dimensions
should come into all views or just the selected one, and whether you want just a certain
type of dimension, annotation, or reference geometry. - Once the dimensions are brought in, you need to move some of them from one view
to another, which you can do by Shift+dragging the dimension from the old location
to the new location. Ctrl+dragging predictably copies the dimension. You can move
views by dragging an edge in the view.
With new and even experienced users, there is some confusion around the Sheet versus Sheet Format
issue. Part of the confusion is due to SolidWorks terminology. SolidWorks names the two items Sheet
and Sheet Format. In this book, I simply use the terms Sheet and Format, to avoid linking the two items
with a common first name. It would be better yet if Format were changed to Border or Title Block so
that the name more closely matched the function.In a SolidWorks drawing, you are editing either the sheet or the format. When editing the sheet, you
can perform actions such as view, move, and create views, but you cannot select, move, or edit the
lines and text of the drawing border. When editing the format, you can edit the lines and text that make
up the drawing border, but the drawing views disappear.Often, users save a template that already contains a format, and save themselves some time every time
they create a new drawing.While you cannot change templates after you create a document, you can swap and update formats,
and change sheet sizes.Sheet versus Sheet Format