Chapter 5: Using Visualization Techniques .................................................................................
l (^) Ctrl+MMB. Pan.
l Shift+MMB. Zoom.
l (^) Double-click MMB. Zoom to fit.
l Scroll with wheel. Zoom in or out. To reverse direction of the zoom setting, choose
Tools ➪ Options ➪ View.
l Alt+MMB. Rotate in a plane flat to the screen.
Using mouse gestures
Mouse gestures are an interface method that you can customize to do anything a SolidWorks
toolbar button can do, but by default, it controls view orientation. Figure 5.2 shows the default
configuration of the mouse gesture donut.
FIGURE 5.2
Click+drag the right mouse button (RMB) to access the commands on the donut.
It may take a little time for you to get used the interface. It works best when you understand what
the commands are before you use them, so that you can invoke the Top View command in a single
motion. It does not work well if you have to initiate the interface with a very short RMB drag, then
drag again to select the command. For this reason, it might be better to limit the donut to four
commands rather than eight, and set it up intuitively such that the top view is a RMB stroke up, a
right view is a RMB stroke to the right, and so on.
You can customize the mouse gesture donut in the Tools ➪ Customize ➪ Mouse Gestures. This
works much like the Keyboard (hotkey) customization, where you can turn gestures on or off, set
the mouse gesture donut to four or eight sections, and any gesture direction to any available
command.
Using the View toolbar
The View toolbar, shown in its entirety in Figure 5.3, contains the tools that you need to manipulate
the view in SolidWorks. Not all of the available tools are on the toolbar by default, but I have
added them here for this image. To customize your own View toolbar, you must use choose
Tools ➪ Customize from the menu and select the Commands tab. Then click on the View toolbar,