Page 92 - Mastering SolidWorks

Chapter 3

Working with Sketches

and Reference Geometry

The first step to learning how to create models in SolidWorks is to learn how to sketch. If you are
coming from another history-based modeling program, many of your skills are transferable to
SolidWorks. If you have never used CAD before, think of the sketch-feature relationship as
creating a simplified 2D drawing that represents a portion of the part that you can make with
some sort of process such as extruding or revolving.
So far in this book, you have looked mainly at concepts, settings, and setup, which are
necessary but mundane. In this chapter, you’ll begin to learn how to control parametric relation-
ships in sketches. Then in later chapters, you’ll begin to build models—simple at first, but
gaining in complexity and always demonstrating new techniques and features that build your
modeling vocabulary. Beyond this, you’ll use the parts to create assemblies and drawings.
This chapter deals entirely with sketches in parts. However, you can apply many of the topics
covered here to sketches in assemblies and drawings. Some related topics, such as layout
sketches, have functionality that is exclusive to assemblies, and these topics will be covered in
later chapters.

IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL LEARN TO:
◆ Begin a sketch

◆ Distinguish sketch entities
◆ Create relationships in sketches
◆ Examine sketch settings
◆ Use sketch blocks in parts, assemblies, and drawings
◆ Create and use reference geometry

Creating a New Part

Before you can create a sketch, you must create a new part. To create a new part, you must follow
these two simple steps:

1. Click the New tool.
2. Select a part template from the list. The part template will have the units and drafting
standards already set.

Mastering SolidWorks, First Edition. Matt Lombard.
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.