SOLIDWORKS 2015 What’s New – Move Face #sw2015

One nice thing I have always appreciated about SOLIDWORKS is that they not only add new features with each release, but they do not forget about existing features. A good example of this is the Move Face tool in SOLIDWORKS 2015.

Move Face

Move Face is not a new tool, but it is now easier to use, includes additional options in the PropertyManager, and allows for multibody selection for translate operations. One of the new options I really know will help out a lot are the new end conditions. Rather than just having the ability to move a face a certain distance, you now have end conditions that you can choose from: Blind, Up to Vertex, Up to Surface, Offset from Surface, and Up to Body.

The coolest thing about these new options is that they work in an assembly. Say you are editing a part in an assembly in SOLIDWORKS 2015, you can now move a component face up to the surface of another component using the Up to Surface end condition. It is so easy to use!

Set the Parameter to Up to Surface. Then, simply select the face to move and the face to move up to. The face moves to the selected surface.

Another one is Offset From Surface. It works the same way as Up to Surface, but it allows you to enter an offset distance. The face is offset from the selected surface.

Graphics Area Enhancements

The Move Face has always been a very powerful tool. But now it has been improved for ease of use. For example, there are some great new things you can do right in the graphics area. Have you ever wished that you could just type a specific value in rather than try and drag the triad just so? Or did you ever wonder which direction the face will move? Or did you ever say to yourself, why is the triad here? Shouldn't it be by this face that I picked. Well, in SOLIDWORKS 2015, you can now type a numerical value in the callout right in the graphics area.

A couple more enhancements are that you can see an arrow that indicates the direction the face will move and see better placement of the triad based on selections you make. The triad is placed at the centroid of your selections.

Using Multibody Selections

Another needed addition to the Move Face tool is the ability to select multiple bodies to move faces. With a simple box select, the triad is placed at the centroid of your selections.

Then, all you have to do is drag the red triad wing in the graphics area, type in your exact distance, and press Enter.

The selected faces move.

Please check back every day as we will be releasing articles twice a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. For those of you who are looking to follow this series of articles, we will be tagging them under the category of SOLIDWORKS What's New.

Neil Bucalo, CSWP, CSWS-MD
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.
www.cati.com