SolidWorks 2022: Modifying Sketches

Name: SolidWorks 2022: Modifying Sketches
Author: Will Tenney

Discover how to cleanly modify sketches previously made without causing errors

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Course: On-Demand

Hi, my name is Will Tenney. And in this lesson we learn about how to access sketches from the feature tree, modify dimensions and modify relationships within those sketches. So what we've got right here is a new type of topography design and progress. And right now I have a relationship that kind of sets the top elements of each of these letters. About a third, the way down of each of the letters it's making for a very skinny and lean type of look. But I've decided that that's not something I want to go for anymore. So I need to modify the sketch that made these features. So we go to the feature tree over to the left hand side find the sketch where this entire design got formulated, locate the feature. We can simply just click on the element itself and it'll give us a clue. Looks like it's Boss Extrude 13. This dropdown menu shows us the sketch that created that feature. So what we can do is we can roll over the sketch, click with the left hand mouse button and select edit sketch. We can also right click on the sketch and do it that way as well. So let's go ahead and do it. Great. So what we can see here are the elements that made this topography design possible. We have a dimension for the thickness of the features of the letters. We have dimension for the distance between the letters. Just for layout purposes. We have a dimension for the width of the letters. We also have an equal length dimension between these three lines therefore setting our relationship of threes. So let's go ahead and make some changes. First thing is let's modify a few dimensions. I'll start by taking an easy one just the distance between the letters. I'll make this say a half inch. You can see everything updated accordingly, great. And let's also modify the width of the letters themselves from one and a half inches to two inches. Now for each of these, I'm just double clicking on the dimension and it's bringing up the modifier for me. So that's easy enough. The width and the height, both updated. There must be an equal relationship between the horizontal and the vertical lines that I have somewhere probably in this first letter. So let's take a look. All right, I clicked on the line and I'm seeing all the relationships popping up with these green icons. I see a coincident relationship probably with the top of the "A". I see a horizontal relationship that's obvious. And then an equal sign. If I highlight, roll over, rather the equal sign, I can see in pink the two elements that are equal to one another. And wouldn't you know it? It's the vertical and horizontal lines of this first letter. So that's the equal dimension that I want to eliminate. So I'm gonna go over here to the left hand side with this line selected, right click on the equal length. I'm clicking on it one more time just to make sure I got the right one. Yep, that's right, right click and delete. Now even though this width is set this height should still be movable. So let's go ahead and see if we can drag it and find out. Yep, that is what happened. You can see that the width of the "A" stays stationary while the height of the "A" can be moved. Now, some of these other letters seem to have other relationships because they're altering in different ways. So let's go ahead and bring back our relationships that we had before. I just click control Z to undo the moves that I just did. Let's see here. Let's go ahead and remove this relationship of thirds. So right now, this line, this line and this line are all equal to one another. And you can see the equal relationships highlight in pink as we bring them up. We're gonna go ahead and delete those equal relationships. There are two that need to be gotten rid of. Great. Now this line, this line and this line are all completely independent of one another dimension wise. And there you go. And looks like I set my top third of my letter design if you will, with this line specifically. So it's kind of important I don't delete that line. I still need that to function in my design but now I can move it a little bit more and let's find a place that works better for me. That looks kind of nice. You know, instead of two-thirds and one third let's explore three fifths and two fifths. So I'm going to create some more lines here. Five of them. I'm going to make each one equal. Great. And I'm going to make this vertex and this line colinear to one another. Great. Okay, that looks a little bit better. It's not so squished up at the top. These letters can breathe a little bit more. This is a two fifths, three fifths relationship as opposed to one third, two thirds. So we've got that going for us. I wonder if we can modify this pattern as well. So this 26 is an indication of a pattern that was set most likely for these construction line boxes that we have here. If I were to double click on that and say make that 30 we may not be able to see it 'cause we'd have to count each one, but here it is, it's added four more boxes. Now I don't need those other four cause there's only 26 letters in the alphabet. So we can bring that back. But it's nice and that we can modify that if we need to. Let's see what we can do here. All right, excellent. Now the true test would be able to close this sketch with these modifiers in place and make sure that the program doesn't crash on us or that the feature doesn't crash on us. So let's see what we get. Okay, it looks like it's had a few issues. What that tells me is the relationship between the sketch that made these first seven letters is different than the one that made the rest of these letters but they still share some sort of relationship. So if I wanted to, I could go back to the feature tree find these yellow alerts and go into the sketches themselves to see if I can fix what those problems are. And yeah, we've got some alerts here. We'll save that for a future lesson. But it's nice to know that we can go back and make those changes and see design updates. Thanks for listening. In the next lesson, we'll learn about how to modify the sketch entities introduced in module three.

Beginner Provider : Will Tenney 5 Lessons · 32m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

This module finishes the series on 2D sketching. As such, it is all about preparing sketches for use in creating 3D models. Certain occurrences can take place that affect the performance of a 2D sketch, affecting the design in unforeseen ways. This module teaches the user how to prevent those occurrences from happening as well as how to correct errors that might occur in sketches as a result of a user error or design change. In order for the program to build a functional 3D model, there can be no inconsistencies or mistakes in the parts and pieces that create that model. The program does well to prevent this in the way that it operates. With that said, sometimes changes happen and sketches will need to be updated by the designer to support those changes without causing errors. This constitutes the instruction in the first half of this module.

From here, you will learn how and why sketches get absorbed into the minutia of feature generation, how to avoid that if desired, and why preparing for that reality early in the design process can ultimately make for a cleaner model that is much easier to update without causing problems. This also includes creating variables and associated values for those variables so that several dimensions can be tied to one another and therefore updated simultaneously once those variable values change. This is yet another way to imbed design intent into the modeling process as well as make for a more robust file.

What You'll Learn

Modify sketches after they have been created to support design changes
Identify and fix sketch errors caused by user error or design changes
Reference unabsorbed sketches and recognize the value of working with reference sketches
Understand how and why sketches are absorbed into features, and how to avoid it when desired
Create equations and Global Variables to tie multiple dimensions together for more concise, controlled design

Key Takeaways

This module finishes the series on 2D sketching, focusing on preparing sketches for use in creating 3D models.
Certain occurrences can affect the performance of a 2D sketch and impact a design in unforeseen ways, and the module teaches how to prevent and correct them.
For the program to build a functional 3D model, there can be no inconsistencies or mistakes in the parts that create that model.
Preparing early for how sketches get absorbed into feature generation can make for a cleaner model that is easier to update without causing problems.
Creating variables and associated values lets several dimensions be tied together and updated simultaneously, embedding design intent and making for a more robust file.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this SolidWorks 2022 module cover?

It finishes the series on 2D sketching and is all about preparing sketches for use in creating 3D models. It covers modifying sketches after creation, identifying and fixing sketch errors, working with reference sketches, understanding how and why sketches are absorbed into features, and creating equations and Global Variables.

Why do sketches sometimes need to be modified?

Sometimes changes happen and sketches need to be updated by the designer to support those changes without causing errors. Certain occurrences can also affect the performance of a 2D sketch, and errors can result from user error or a design change that must be corrected.

What are Global Variables used for in this module?

Creating variables and associated values lets several dimensions be tied to one another and updated simultaneously once those variable values change. This is a way to embed design intent into the modeling process and make for a more robust file.

What lessons are included in this module?

The lessons are Basics of Modifying Sketches, Modifying Sketch Entity Conditions, How to Fix a Broken Sketch, Referencing Unabsorbed Sketches, and Equations and Global Variables.

What skills does this course build?

It builds skills in Design Change Packages, Design Modification, Sketching, Sketch (Design Software), Solid Modeling, and SolidWorks (CAD).