Blog SOLIDWORKS 2021 What’s New – VDA Balloons
SOLIDWORKS 2021 brings several great enhancements to help you effectively get your drawings done. One of those enhancements is the ability to tag inspection points according to VDA requirements. If you are not familiar, you must not be big into the German automotive industry; that is where VDA balloons are frequently used! If you are, or even if you are not and you need them, you are in luck. They work just like any other balloon or note leaders.
Before you start, there are document properties for the leader display, for both Balloons and Notes, that can be specified as VDA.
Once you are back in the drawing, placing a balloon in space will not automatically put the VDA leader on, whether you have these document properties settings or not. However, it is a pretty simple process, just like changing a leader prior.
After clicking on ‘Balloon’, setting the ‘Balloon text’ to ‘Text’, and entering in your value, place the balloon on the drawing (leaving as ‘Item Number’ will put a question mark in the balloon). You can then accept out of the Property Manager. This gives you a balloon with no leader.
However, you can then select the balloon, and choose ‘More Properties…’ from the Property Manager. Here, you can choose the VDA Leader.
The VDA Leader is added and you can now freely move and rotate the balloon and edit the text.
To move the balloon, you simply drag the attachment point. You can even attach it to an item by dragging until the item highlights and dropping. Rotation occurs by dragging any part of the balloon except the attachment point. Finally, to change the text, select the balloon and edit the Balloon text in the Property Manager.
I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2021. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2021. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”
Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
www.cati.com
What is DI Month? We’re declaring October Design Innovation Month—again! It’s a month-long series of special events focused on what’s new in design and manufacturing technology. You’ll learn about enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2021 that deliver new capabilities for improved performance, streamlined workflows, and a connected design ecosystem. Find out what’s new in 3D printing applications and 3D scanning to integrate into your design process.
