Page 85 - Mastering SolidWorks

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makiNg the iNterface Work for yoU 53

Mice are the standard input device, and many of them are recommended for CAD work, but
you might also consider a trackball. I’ve been using a Kensington Slimblade trackball for several
years in CAD and normal office computing, and it takes up a lot less space on the desk. It does
take some time to get used to it. It is wired, but it doesn’t move around.

Using Touch and Multi-Touch Support
I have written portions of this book on a tablet PC. A tablet might not be ideal for long periods of
SolidWorks usage, but I use it regularly for presentations and even modeling when I really want
to get the feel of drawing a line by hand. The stylus is not quite as intuitive as a pencil, but it is
less of an impediment to the tactile feel of actual drawings than a clunky mouse. Tablets are a
great option when used in combination with the touch functions in SolidWorks, such as
mouse gestures.
The mouse-gestures functionality is considered a tool well-suited to a tablet interface, where
flicking the stylus is easier than mouse clicking. This is a single-touch technique, because the
stylus typically adds only a single point of contact with the screen.
SolidWorks 2018 has added a new Touch mode, enabled via View ➢ Touch Mode. Touch mode
changes the size of interface elements to make them easier to select, and it also adds a Touch
Mode toolbar, as shown in Figure 2.28. The tools on the toolbar are Escape, Shortcut to the S
menu, Multi-select (like pressing Ctrl), Delete, and Lock 3D Rotate, to prevent view rotations
while sketching.

Figure 2.28
The touch mode toolbar

Multi-touch devices are becoming more widely available in CAD-worthy configurations,
including the Microsoft Surface Studio, a full-size touch display that can be set up horizontally
like an old drafting board or used vertically like a large monitor. In preparation for this future
functionality that seems ideally suited to visual applications such as CAD and 3D, SolidWorks
has added functionality to take advantage of these tools. Multi-touch Action Mappings, as the
SolidWorks Help refers to them, are intuitive two-finger motions that enable you to control
the view for actions such as these:
◆ Zoom in or out

◆ Rotate