- In the first video of this chapter, we used equations
to capture the designing intent of the sketch.
We can visualize this using
the Instant 3D capabilities of SOLIDWORKS.
The "Instant 3D" toggle command
can be found on the features command bar.
Click on the first feature in either the feature manager,
or directly in the graphics view.
This will show the selected features dimensions.
Blue dimensions are measurements
entered into the "Features" properties,
in this case our extruda depth.
Black dimensions are what we have created at sketch level.
Notice the little blue orb on the circles dimension.
I can click and drag this to adjust
the dimension size in real time.
Note that because of the equation constraints,
as we increase the size of this dimension,
the other sketch entities adjust accordingly,
and the profile of our flywheel looks as intended.
However, notice that the 40 millimeter extrusion depth
has not scaled accordingly,
and has remained at 40 millimeters.
Thus, we have not captured
the model's design intent fully, as yet.
Need to rectify this, so you can see how to go about it.
Do I+Control+Zed to undo.
In the feature manager, select the first
boss extrude feature icon,
so the context tool bar will be presented.
From the toolbar, select the "Edit Feature" icon,
in the left corner of the dialog.
Select the "D-1" entry box.
On your keyboard, select the equals key
to activate an equation entry.
In the graphics view, you will note the
sketch dimensions are now visible.
Select the circle dimension, which is 100 millimeter,
and multiply this by point zero one.
"Enter" once to solve the equation.
Do the same for "D-2" and multiply by point four.
"Enter" and "Enter" again.
Let's see how our model behaves now,
when we adjust the 100 millimeter dimension,
using Instant 3D.
As we now drag the blue orb,
we can see that the entire model scales as it should,
including the extrusion depths,
and our design intent is now fully captured
for this stage of our design.
With some upfront consideration and planning,
you can bolt solid models in this way,
use Instant 3D to constantly test your design,
as you bolt and constrain.
Now we do not have enough time in this course
to address every aspect of our design intent in this way,
but I trust from what I have shown you,
you can see how powerful this can be,
and how important the consideration
of design intent is in our modeling strategy.