DesignSpark Mechanical Online Help

Popular options

Set the startup options, interface, application performance (speed vs. graphics quality), and customize the tools that are displayed while you are working with your design.

To customize popular options

1. Select DS Mechanical Options from the File menu to display the DS Mechanical Options window.

2. Click Color in the navigation panel on the left.

3. Modify the options on the page.

4. Click OK to save all your changes and close the window.

Graphics performance options

RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles. quality: Select a value from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest quality and 10 is the highest quality. Select a low number to increase the speed of the application; select a high number to increase the quality of the graphics. Increasing graphics quality may lower the DS Mechanical's responsiveness to actions in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace.. If you notice a delay when working with your design, modify this option to increase application speed. Within RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles. QualityTools for detecting anomalies or discontinuities in surfaces., you can also choose Custom, which allows you to set your own values for SurfaceTwo dimensional object that has no thickness (as opposed to a face, which is part of a three-dimensional object). A surface has area but no volume. See FaceSide or other surface of a solid. Some examples are the inside surface of a hole or the six sides of a rectangular solid. See Surface.. tolerance, NormalThe vector that is perpendicular to a flat plane at the selected point. In the case of a non-flat plane, the vector that is perpendicular to the plane tangent to the surface at the selected point. tolerance, and Max edge length.

SurfaceTwo dimensional object that has no thickness (as opposed to a face, which is part of a three-dimensional object). A surface has area but no volume. See FaceSide or other surface of a solid. Some examples are the inside surface of a hole or the six sides of a rectangular solid. See Surface.. tolerance is the distance between FacetSimple triangular face used to describe surface geometry in STL (stereolithography) file format. Edges and the actual surface. It’s a measure of the distance between the facets and the real geometry.

NormalThe vector that is perpendicular to a flat plane at the selected point. In the case of a non-flat plane, the vector that is perpendicular to the plane tangent to the surface at the selected point. tolerance is the angle between adjacent FacetSimple triangular face used to describe surface geometry in STL (stereolithography) file format. Normals. It’s a measure of the smoothness of the faceting.

Max edge length sets a limit for FacetSimple triangular face used to describe surface geometry in STL (stereolithography) file format. size. Smaller Facets match the real geometry better than larger ones.

NoteAnnotation placed on a design, drawing sheet, or 3D markup. Notes contain text or symbols that you insert and can be connected to geometry by a note leader.: You can also customize faceting on individual bodies in the Properties panel with the new TessellationAn approach for data exchange between CAD programs. Tessellation represents entities such as lines and surfaces in a CAD system with tiny triangles (polygonal data representations). Data formats such as XML and VRML are examples of tessellated data. QualityTools for detecting anomalies or discontinuities in surfaces. Level setting.

NoteAnnotation placed on a design, drawing sheet, or 3D markup. Notes contain text or symbols that you insert and can be connected to geometry by a note leader.: Values above 7 appear in red since selecting these values will greatly impact performance. It is strongly suggested that you do not select a value greater than 7.

Images below show the differences between a 7 value (left) and 10 value (right).

NoteAnnotation placed on a design, drawing sheet, or 3D markup. Notes contain text or symbols that you insert and can be connected to geometry by a note leader.: Images show a sub-millimeter view of a meters-long part.


NoteAnnotation placed on a design, drawing sheet, or 3D markup. Notes contain text or symbols that you insert and can be connected to geometry by a note leader.: Recalculate RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles. is disabled when you change the RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles. quality. To re-enable Recalculate RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles., click Ok or Cancel in DS Mechanical Options.

Anti-aliasing: The amount of smoothing applied to text, edges, and face boundaries in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace.. This option appears only if your graphics card supports anti-aliasing.

Recalculate RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles.: Select this option to update the 3D display in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace..

Sometimes when you're modifying a model, the graphics can become misaligned. In the example below, increasing the height of the cylinder has caused it to become misaligned at the base. The actual geometry is still correct, but the selected rendering quality was too low to maintain the visual appearance in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace..

In DS Mechanical Options in the Popular section, you can click Recalculate RenderingModeThree ways of designing: Sketch, Cross-section, or 3D. You can switch between modes at any time. available from the Properties panel for a view on a drawing sheet. Use Rendering mode to change the Graphics style for the view. Select Inherit if you want to link the graphics style to the parent view. See Graphics styles. to bring the model back into alignment visually in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace..

Multi-threaded faceting: Select this option to calculate faceting in parallel to improve performance.

Startup options

Show splash screen: Select this option to display the splash screen when you start DS Mechanical.

Show welcome screen: Select this option to display the Welcome window with links to tutorials, training videos, and other support resources when you start DS Mechanical.

Check for software updates: Select this option to use your internet connection to check for updates each time you start DS Mechanical.

Report performance information to DS Mechanical: Select this option to share data, based on performance, to help improve product reliability, performance and functionality. Shared data does not contain any model or design information.

Interface options

Show tooltips: Select this option to display hints when you hover over tools, tool guides, and other icons. They briefly explain what will happen when you select the tool and provide some hints on how to use the tool.

Show popup messages in status bar: ON by default. Select this option to display popup messages in the status bar area (the lower left corner of the DS Mechanical window). These messages provide hints and feedback while you work in DS Mechanical.

Show popup progress messages: ON by default. Select this option to display progress messages when importing files or using the Volume Extract tool.

Show tool KeyTips: Select this option to enable keyboard shortcuts. Pressing and releasing the Alt will display shortcuts that can be used to access the Quick Access toolbar, the Ribbon groups, and the tools in the Ribbon groups. You can also use Key Tips to open files from the Recent Documents list as follows:

1. Press and release the Alt key
2. Press 'f' to open the File menu
3. Recent documents will have a number Key Tip displayed next to them
4. Enter the number of the file you want to open

Show scroll bars: Check this option ON to add scroll bars to the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace. for panning left-right and up-down.

Control options

Tool Guide position: Select Left, Right, Top, Bottom, or Not Shown.

Show view orientation in design window: Default is OFF. When selected, this option displays a view orientation gizmo, as shown below, in the design window. You can click a linear gizmo arrow to rotate the design to a new orientation in 3D, or a rotational arrow to rotate the design in 90-degree increments in the plane of the screen.

Show mini-toolbar on selection: Select this option to display a small toolbar near your cursor when you right-click. The contents of the mini-toolbar depend on the tool you are using. You can click or scroll the middle mouse button to hide the mini-toolbar, and it fades as you move the mouse away from it. The mini-toolbar is shown in the image below.

Show radial menu: Allows you to use the radial menu to change select modes while other tools are active, and gives you quick access to the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid., MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry., FillUse the Fill tool to simplify or clean up geometry by extending surrounding faces to eliminate a selection. The selected region is filled in or healed with the surrounding surface or solid., and CombineA tool used to cut or glue geometry together. tools. If you select this option, you can select one or both of the following methods to open the radial menu:

• Show after holding left mouse button for N ms
• Show after clicking right mouse button, while holding left mouse button down

Show cursor arrows: Select this option to display arrows next to your cursor that indicate the directions in which you can move your mouse to edit the selected object. The arrows also convey the change in size that will occur if you pull in that direction.

Arrow transparency: Adjust the slider to control the transparency of the cursor arrows. MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. the slider to the right to make the arrows more opaque; move it to the right to make them more transparent. The arrows are set to opaque in the image below.

MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. handle size: MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. the slider to increase or decrease the size of the Move handle relative to the size of the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace., as shown in the image below.

GridSee Sketch grid guide: Change the position and size of the toolbar displayed for the sketch grid. You can set the Position (Bottom, or CornerSee FilletRounded corner at the intersection of two lines or edges; concave intersection between two surfaces. Fillet refers to an interior corner; exterior corner is known as a round. You can draw a fillet using the Create Rounded Corner tool or by selecting the Fillet (Constant radius round) option from the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. options. See RoundRounded corner at the intersection of two lines or edges. Round refers to an exterior corner; an interior corner is known as a fillet. Rounds and fillets are both called rounds. See Fillet, Constant-radius round, Variable-radius round.. (interior corner) or RoundRounded corner at the intersection of two lines or edges. Round refers to an exterior corner; an interior corner is known as a fillet. Rounds and fillets are both called rounds. See Fillet, Constant-radius round, Variable-radius round. (exterior corner)), and the Size (Large, or Small). The defaults are Bottom and Large.