SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality

Thickness Analysis

Thickness Analysis is part of the SolidWorks Utilities, which are part of SolidWorks Office or
higher. After you have activated the Utilities add-in (Tools ➪ Add-ins ➪ SolidWorks Utilities),
Thickness Analysis appears under the Tools menu.

Note
The tools from the Utilities add-in are always listed in the Tools menu, whether or not the add-in is loaded.
When any of the tools is selected, the add-in is automatically loaded. SolidWorks has also done away with the
Utilities menu, so if you are accustomed to using this functionality from previous versions, some new function-
ality awaits you.

You can run Thickness Analysis in two modes: Show Thin Regions and Show Thick Regions. Of

these, Show Thick Regions is the most versatile.

Show Thin Regions

The Show Thin Regions option, or the “Thinness” Analysis, requires you to input a minimum

acceptable thickness. Every face with a thickness above this value is turned a neutral gray, and

every face with a thickness below this value is displayed on a graduated scale.

Figure 32.17 shows the PropertyManager for this analysis and its result on the same part used for

the draft work in the previous sections.

FIGURE 32.17

Results of the Thinness Analysis