The Cincinnati SolidWorks User’s Group meeting was held October 14^th.  It was graciously hosted by Richards Industries, a “leading provider of a variety of industrial valves for the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food processing industries.”

Richard Doyle, a User Community Manager from SolidWorks, presented What’s REALLY New in SolidWorks 2009.  This was a presentation that he put together that highlighted some of the less conspicuous changes that were made in SolidWorks 2009 that can significantly change/improve your work in SolidWorks.  It was a great presentation and I think we all learned a lot.  Here are my five favorites.

1.)  Snap note to rectangle center. 

How many times have I tried to perfectly place a note within a title block box!  This is a nifty tool.  To use this tool, create a note.  Right click on the note and select “Snap to Rectangle Center.”  Then select the four bounding edges of the rectangle.  This will snap the note to the center of the selected rectangle.  Awesome tool!

2.)  Double click middle mouse button for zoom to fit. 

Double clicking the middle mouse button (the scroll wheel on my mouse) will zoom to fit your model to your screen.

3.)  Magnifying glass. 

There is a new magnifying glass tool in SolidWorks 2009 that makes it simpler and easier to investigate and select details of an assembly.  To get to this tool, hit the “G” key.  This will pop up the magnifying glass.  The magnifying glass is tied to your curser so you can drag it around.  When you get it placed properly, you can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out.  If you hold down the “Alt” key you can use the scroll wheel to section through the model normal to the screen.

4.)  Editable blocks in sheet format. 

You can now create editable notes in your sheet format that can be edited at the drawing level.  To do this, go to Edit Sheet Format.  Right click and select Edit Title Block.  Select all the notes that should be editable in the drawing.  You can use the up or down arrow to reorder the list.  This order is important because this is the order that is followed when you tab through the editable notes.  Accept your selection by selecting the green check mark.  Right click and select Edit Sheet to get out of Edit Sheet Format.  You should then be able to double click on one of the editable notes and change it at the drawing level.

5.)  Unload hidden components. 

This is a neat trick that can help when working with large assemblies.  If there are components that you do not need to work with (fastners for instance) within an assembly you can hide them, and then right click on the assembly name in the tree and select “Unload Hidden Components.”  This will unload the hidden components from memory.  This can significantly improve assembly performance while you are designing within an assembly.

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