by rtwpsom2 » Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:45 am
Yes. There are three file types in solidworks, Parts, Assemblies, and Drawings. Drawings contain only views, notes, and dimensions. They contain no geometry. Think of them like a page layout in ACAD that is linked to a part or assembly file instead of being in the file itself. It is very easy to have views of multiple part or assemblies in a drawing without having to put all the geometry in the file, too. It is pretty versatile, and has advantages over ACAD because when you change the part, the drawing updates at the same time. There are very complex things you can do with Bill of Materials and cut lists. That said, I sell 1/100th scale drawings of Scharnhorst that I made in SW but converted to dwg's to print. Loading the entire Scharny file in SW takes a while and uses over 7 gigs of memory, but loading one of the dwg's takes a tenth the time and uses a lot less memory. So each has it's advantages. I like to do the drawing in SW then convert it, it is the best setup for me.
Yes. There are three file types in solidworks, Parts, Assemblies, and Drawings. Drawings contain only views, notes, and dimensions. They contain no geometry. Think of them like a page layout in ACAD that is linked to a part or assembly file instead of being in the file itself. It is very easy to have views of multiple part or assemblies in a drawing without having to put all the geometry in the file, too. It is pretty versatile, and has advantages over ACAD because when you change the part, the drawing updates at the same time. There are very complex things you can do with Bill of Materials and cut lists. That said, I sell 1/100th scale drawings of Scharnhorst that I made in SW but converted to dwg's to print. Loading the entire Scharny file in SW takes a while and uses over 7 gigs of memory, but loading one of the dwg's takes a tenth the time and uses a lot less memory. So each has it's advantages. I like to do the drawing in SW then convert it, it is the best setup for me.