DesignSpark Mechanical Online Help

Displaying workspace tools

You can adjust the display of workspace tools and the display of your design in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace. using the Show drop-down list of tools in the Display ribbon group on the Display tab, and by modifying DS Mechanical options.

To customize the tools displayed while you are working with your design

DS Mechanical offers the following tools on the Display ribbon group on the Display tab to assist you while creating, editing, and detailing your designs:

• Check the World OriginZero point in coordinate system. You can insert an origin at any location in your design where you can anchor the MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. tool, enabling you to dimension from the origin or quickly move the sketch grid to the origin. You can also insert an origin at a solid's center of mass or volume. box to display the axes that set the default orientation of the design in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace..

• Check the SpinTool used to re-orient your design in any direction, allowing you to view it from any angle. Center box to mark the center of the spin when using the SpinTool used to re-orient your design in any direction, allowing you to view it from any angle. tool. (This is the same as the Show SpinTool used to re-orient your design in any direction, allowing you to view it from any angle. Center DS Mechanical option.)

• Check the Zoom Legend box to display the zoom legend in the Design windowArea in the user interface that displays your model or assembly. Also known as Workspace..

• Check the Lineweight box to change the line style to the thickness set by the Lineweight tool in the Style ribbon group.

• Check the 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. Highlight box to enable pre-highlighting of faces.

• Check the 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. Spotlight box to show a spotlight attached to the cursor when passing over faces.

• Check the BodyA solid or surface. Glow box to enable highlighting for pre-selection and selection of bodies. This setting applies to all windows.

• Check the Vertices box to show all vertices in the model. Vertices are not shown on closed periodic edges (for example, on a cylinder). This setting works on a per-window basis; enabling it in one window has no effect on other windows.

• Check the BodyA solid or surface. InterferenceEdges where solids intersect each other or volumes created by the intersection of solids, surfaces, and components in your design; can be displayed using the Analysis tools. box to show any bodies that are intersecting. This setting works on a per-window basis; enabling it in one window has no effect on other windows.

• Check the Ambient Occlusion Only box to render the display with a diffuse, non-directional shading effect that approximates how light should be shining on any specific surface based on the light source and, if included, the environment. The shading represents the exposure of the scene to ambient lighting, for example, interior surfaces of a model are typically more occluded and will appear darker than the exposed outer surfaces. This option can be used when the Enhanced Shading option is enabled.

  

  In the example, the image on the left is rendered with Ambient Occlusion and shows the shadows and highlights that are missing in the image on the right.

• Check the Adjacent Entities box to display faint highlighting on adjacent faces when you hover over an edge and on adjacent edges when you hover over a vertex. Scrolling the mouse wheel switches between adjacent entities. This feature is useful in selecting the correct edge or face to extrude.

• Check the Layout2D drawing mode that is most useful when you have no immediate need to generate 3D objects from the lines in the layout. If you try to pull layout lines to 3D, they do not behave the same way that sketched lines do. Think of a layout as a pencil drawing made on your design. When you are ready to use your layout to create geometry, you must project the layout lines to a sketch. Projecting a layout line to a sketch is like inking the line. You can import a 2D AutoCAD DXFDrawing Interchange Format or Drawing Exchange Format. CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. You can open and insert drawings, parts, and assemblies.Drawings can be inserted as layouts. You can export parts, assemblies, drawing sheets, and 3D markup slides. or DWGAutoCAD native drawing format. You can open and insert drawings, parts, and assemblies. Drawings can be inserted as layouts. You can export parts, assemblies, drawing sheets, and 3D markup slides. file as a layout. Lines box to display sketch curves on layout planes.

• Check the OffsetDistance an edge, segment, or curve is moved or copied. Baseline Faces box to display offset relationships with blue shading.

• Check the Standard Holes box display Standard Holes in blue. When unchecked, Standard Hole faces display in the normal face color.

• Check the Lightweight Components box to display Lightweight components. This also has a flyout for setting Lightweight componentSee Lightweight assemblyGraphics-only representation of a design. When inserting an external file into a design, select the Enable lightweight assemblies option to load only the component's graphic information. This improves performance of large and complex assemblies for quicker viewing. When you are ready to work with the component, you can load the geometry information. transparency.
• Check the Environment box to display according to the settings in the Appearance panel.

To display other workspace tools, modify the settings in the Popular DS Mechanical options.

You can also display journal-related tools by checking the Show Journal Tab option in the Popular DS Mechanical options.

Examples

Hovering over an edge with Adjacent Entities highlights the faces shared by the edge