SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Chapter 11: Editing and Evaluation

Tangent Edges as Phantom

Using the Tangent Edges as Phantom setting is an easy way to evaluate a large number of edges all

at once. This function does not do what the Zebra Stripes tool does, but it gives you a good indica-

tion of the tangency across a large number of edges very quickly. Again it only represents tangency,

and tells you nothing about curvature continuity.

Although this is an easy method to use, it is not completely reliable. I have not seen this function

deliver false positives (edges displayed as tangent when in fact they were not), but I have seen

many false negatives (edges that display as non-tangent when in fact they were). Figure 11.12

shows a situation where the edges are displayed with solid edges, but Deviation Analysis shows

them to have a zero-degree maximum deviation.

FIGURE 11.12

Using the Tangent Edges as Phantom setting

The measure of tangency has some tolerance. Users cannot control the tolerance, nor does the doc-

umentation say what it is. If SolidWorks says two faces are not tangent at an edge, you can believe

that, but if SolidWorks says that the faces are tangent, you still have to ask how tangent. That is the

question that Deviation Analysis can answer.

Geometry Analysis

Another tool that is fairly new is the Geometry Analysis tool. You can find it in the Tools menu or
the new Evaluate tab in the Command Manager. It is an extremely useful tool for troubleshooting
problematic geometry. The PropertyManager, shown in Figure 11.13 allows you to look for several
specific items:

l (^) Short edges
l Small faces
l (^) Sliver faces
l Knife edges/vertices
l (^) Discontinuous faces or edges