Page 81 - Mastering SolidWorks

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makiNg the iNterface Work for yoU 49

You have to consider the purpose of the background. Some people doing presentations may
want the background to be attractive while otherwise staying out of the way. Others may need
the background only to contrast with whatever is in front of it in a way that does not strain the
eyes. For writing a book, the background generally needs to be white to match the page. No one
scheme will suit all needs.
In addition to colors and gradients, you can use an image as the graphics window back-
ground. This gives you a wider range of customization capabilities, and several sample images
are already available in the default settings. Also, be aware that document scene backgrounds are
document-specific but can be overridden by system options.
RealView also adds some capabilities with scenes. Scenes can be applied from the
Appearances, Scenes, And Decals tab on the Task pane. Most of the display settings work in
conjunction with RealView, which is an advanced display mode. Depending on your graphics
card, your computer may or may not be capable of using RealView. SolidWorks offers three
different types of scenes: Basic, Studio, and Presentation. Of these, I find the Studio scenes to be
the best when I need a reflective floor with shadows; otherwise, I stick with the Basic scenes.
I find it distracting to use either reflections or shadows in models while working. However,
adding a nice, shiny RealView appearance to the part is often useful, especially for visualizing
curvature on curvy parts.
I describe RealView, along with scenes, in more detail in Chapter 5.

Customizing Strategies
You can easily customize many aspects of the SolidWorks interface, including the following:
◆ Toolbars
◆ Menus
◆ Background colors or images
◆ Task pane location
◆ Hotkeys

◆ Macros
◆ Custom application programming
Whether you should customize each of these items depends partially on how much time and
energy you have to spend, how much you work with others, whether you share your worksta-
tion with other users, and how much money you are ready to dedicate in the case of custom
programming.

Considering Hotkey Approaches
Any command that you use more than a few times an hour is worth assigning to a hotkey. I like
to use alliteration when assigning keys to help with my faulty memory. The most frequently
used commands are assigned single-letter hotkeys, and the less frequently used commands are
assigned combinations. Thus, Tools Options is linked to O, Measure to M, Select Vertex to Shift+V,
and Curve Projected to Ctrl+J. (Ctrl+P is the Windows standard for the Print command.) Some of
the settings I like to use conflict with the default settings. SolidWorks has a nice mechanism to