Page 228 - Mastering SolidWorks

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uSinG other Sketch toolS 199

Line thickness and line styles are covered in more detail in the discussion of drawings in
Chapter 30, “Creating Assembly Drawings.”

Figure 6.17
a sketch with edited line
thickness and line style

Using Other Sketch Tools

SolidWorks has lots of functionality that overlaps between multiple topics. The following tools
could appear in other sections of the book, but I include them here because they will help you
work with and control 2D sketches in SolidWorks.

Working with RapidSketch
RapidSketch is meant to help you easily change sketch planes. As you move a sketch cursor over
flat faces of a model, the faces highlight to indicate that you can start a new sketch there. Each
new sketch appears in the FeatureManager.
The workflow with this tool is that you start in one sketch with RapidSketch activated.
Activate a sketch tool, move the cursor over a plane or face, and a dark plane will appear to
indicate you can start sketching on that plane. To move to another plane, the sketch tool must
still be active, but not be in-progress on an entity (nothing attached to the cursor). This option
makes SolidWorks sketching work more like Solid Edge, where it’s easier to change to a
new sketch.

Adding Sensors
You can add sensors in the SolidWorks FeatureManager for parts and assemblies by right-click-
ing the Sensors folder and selecting Add Sensor. You can find the Sensors folder at the top of the
FeatureManager. If you cannot find the Sensors folder, make it visible by choosing Tools ➢
Options ➢ FeatureManager, and make sure the Sensor folder is set to Show.
You are not limited to using sensors only when working with sketches; you can use them
outside of sketches in parts and assemblies to warn you when various types of parameters meet
various types of criteria.