Articles by: John Lee, CSWE
In the past, SOLIDWORKS Composer has offered the option to call out quantity as an exponent on an annotation. Now, in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2020, that exponent can be set to utilize a new clarity-enhancing callout option. It’s controlled by a property called Exponent shape. In…
New in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2020, is a basic attach type for labels. It is simpler than some of the other attach types, for example, it has no Properties > Label (even though it is a label). True to its name, it is rather basic. There…
In a previous article, we demonstrated how to access the 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace from within SOLIDWORKS in order to get parts quoted for manufacture. We can now use eDrawings Professional to get parts quoted using *.stl files. STL (stereolithography) format is one of the most common…
A handy feature new to SOLIDWORKS Composer 2020 is the ability to filter the BOM table to show only the components which have visible callouts. The setting is a checkbox found in BOM Properties > Filter > Visible Callouts Here are the results of checking…
A new method for applying Callouts to External Cosmetic Threads in SOLIDWORKS 2020
In prior years of SOLIDWORKS, cosmetic thread callouts were added into drawings either automatically on view creation, or manually this way. Now in SOLIDWORKS 2020, the cosmetic thread callouts can be shown like dimensions, but the prior method is still available. The new functionality in…
New in SOLIDWORKS 2020 are simplified callouts to cosmetic threads. In prior years, the callout would automatically include the type of thread. Thread type display is now optional in the callout, thanks to a control checkbox that is available from the Cosmetic Thread Property Manager:…
Remember that time you tried to offset faces as new surfaces, only to receive an error message that it failed? This can be frustrating, especially when many faces are involved and it is unclear which ones are the culprit. Troubleshooting can become time-consuming as you…
For years now, SOLIDWORKS has included many useful tools in the View Orientation window. Now in SOLIDWORKS 2020, we can use that same window to specify whether to use Y or use Z for the Up Axis. This will redefine all of the standard views…
SOLIDWORKS 2020 has retained critical functionality from SOLIDWORKS Explorer, and has discontinued the SOLIDWORKS Explorer application. SOLIDWORKS File Utilities Functions The retained functionality is now called SOLIDWORKS File Utilities and is a must when renaming SOLIDWORKS reusable data (such as parts and assemblies) from outside…