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Modeling basics · Lesson 2: Design intent and sketching

Part orientation, automatic relations, fully defined sketches and sketch repair.

Lesson goal

Start each part on the right plane with a sketch that reacts as expected to changes.

▶

4 videos

✎

1 exercise

Beginner

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Prerequisite: Lesson 1

1. Watch the videos

Dassault Systèmes videos hosted on MySolidWorks: they open in a new tab and a free account is enough. Watch them in order.

Design Intent: Part OrientationVideo 1▶Design Intent: Part OrientationChoose the first feature and the starting plane, and see the effect on the drawing.In French↗ Automatic RelationsVideo 2▶Automatic RelationsThe cursor symbols that add relations while you sketch.In French↗ Fully Defining a SketchVideo 3▶Fully Defining a SketchUnder defined, fully defined, over defined: read the status and fix it.In French↗ Editing SketchesVideo 4▶Editing SketchesStray geometry, dangling dimensions and relations, the What's Wrong tool.In French↗

2. Key takeaways

1

The starting plane sets the part orientation in the drawing: choose it so that the front view is the useful view.

2

Automatic relations (horizontal, coincident, tangent) are added while you sketch if the cursor shows the symbol.

3

A fully defined sketch is displayed in black; in blue, degrees of freedom remain.

4

A dangling dimension or relation points to deleted geometry: reattach it or delete it.

Tip

Hold down the Ctrl key while sketching to prevent an automatic relation you do not want.

3. Do the exercise

Model a simple L-shaped bracket:

  • choose the starting plane so that the L profile is seen from the front
  • fully define the sketch with as few dimensions as possible
  • delete a line, then repair the dangling relations reported
✓To check: The sketch is black, and the design tree no longer shows any warning.

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