Creating or editing parts in place/in context of an assembly is very handy feature of most modern 3D CAD. However, if users are not careful it can cause great problems. Specifically, external references. In short, we DO NOT allow part files to have external references through the context of a parent assembly. We are looking for a way to make default behavior NOT create/maintain associativity when working on a part from the assembly it’s used in. So we use the geometry of other parts to start the sketch, for example, but then fully define the sketch.
Solid Edge had settings in the “Project to Sketch” command that could completely prevent using peer assembly components (not good) but could also prevent the external reference by not maintaining associativity from other parts (good). Of course some of us would toggle that back on now and then during development, but with the understanding that every link would need to be broken and sketches fully constrained within the context of the part alone. For the most part we kept them as in the screen shot (taken from Solid Edge), so the default behavior was to not make external references. This setting could be controlled as part of the admin settings tool so that is how we helped reduce the number of issues with this. Now that we’re in Solidworks this problem of parts with external references is coming up again and I get the feeling that it’s not purely intentional, it’s more negligence, so changing some default behavior in Solidworks should clear it up.
I think I found it, after looking in all the wrong places first.
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Bright side I did not continue looking in the wrong places after I found it in the right place…
LOL, I suppose. Hard to unlearn muscle memory of all those routines. Solidworks has the option to search for commands and it will even show me where they are at, when I search for the right thing.
your menu bars in the screen shot, no ribbon, do you hide it some how and just have all the common tool bars up all the time. Like before the ribbon?
I don’t like CommandManager. Too much fiddlefarting around even if you know where everything is. With toolbars, everything you could possibly need is right at your fingertips. Of course, my most common commands I keep on mouse gestures and the “S” key panel.
This is what my Assembly environment looks like.
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And Part.
Notice how the PropertyManager is docked on the right hand side of the screen. Way easier to access the tree while in a command. Thanks to matt for this one.
Well, that’s awesome. I to dock it outside the Manager Pain right away because I couldn’t stand the tree being covered up when I need it most. I have just been enjoying how the command manager grows in width ever since. So if it’s docked on the right side it doesn’t grow in width?
The CommandManager in SW is like the Ribbon in Edge - it has toolbars on it. The PropertyManager in SW is the equivalent of what Solid Edge calls the Command Manager.
Command Manager in SE → Where’s Waldo ?
Command Manager in SW → Ribbon (thank you MicroSoft for leading the chage that’s making us all 1000% more efficient.)
It was a smart move on MS’ part to introduce the ribbon interface at the exact time that everyone was switching from monitors that had 1200+ vertical pixels to 1080…Brilliant move!
That would be handy to turn it on for just a bit though then back off.
