SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part V: Creating Drawings

The Relative View has a special function that is important for drawings of multi-body parts. If both

faces used to establish the view are from the same body, then all the rest of the bodies in the part can

be hidden with an option in the Relative View PropertyManager, which is shown in Figure 21.22.

This functionality is particularly useful in Weldments and is covered in more detail in Chapter 31.

Multi-body modeling is covered in Chapter 26.

FIGURE 21.22

The Relative View PropertyManager

3D Drawing View Mode

3D Drawing View Mode is not technically a drawing view type. It is a mode that enables you to
select faces or edges of the model that may need to be selected for some purpose, but cannot be
seen from the orientation of the drawing view. You can invoke the 3D Drawing View Mode from
the 3D Drawing View toolbar button, which is on the View toolbar and can be accessed by choos-
ing View ➪ Modify ➪ 3D Drawing View from the menus.

Ironically, this mode does not work for the Relative View, which would be a perfect application for

it. Instead, Relative View makes you go to the model window. 3D Drawing View Mode is intended

for views such as the Broken-out Section View where a depth must be selected for the cut.

In Figure 21.23, notice the small toolbar above the drawing view. This toolbar is available while

the 3D Drawing View Mode is turned on. Clicking OK on the small toolbar turns off the mode and

returns the view to its previous state.