- [Instructor] This short video explains a little bit
about what you need to consider when taking this course.
The course does assume that you have a working knowledge
of SOLIDWORKS and a copy of SOLIDWORKS on your computer.
The course will show all of the modeling steps on screen.
So if you're quite new to SOLIDWORKS,
then you should still be able to follow along
by copying the videos and pausing and skipping
if you need to.
If you get stuck at any point
or if you have any questions
about why we do things a certain way,
then please do drop me a message.
You can write it in the Q&As below the video
or you can send me a message directly
on LinkedIn or Twitter.
The course is taught using SOLIDWORKS 2021.
So if you're using a different version
then you can still take the course
but you might just notice some very minor differences
in things like the interface, how the icons look
and the exact wording of some tools.
Throughout this course,
a number of exercise files will be provided.
These are mainly SOLIDWORKS part files and assembly files.
These files aren't actually needed to complete the course.
They're just provided as an example of the parts
that you're making yourself, just in case you get stuck
and you want to see how I did it.
The SOLIDWORKS files are saved within zip files
for each chapter.
If a chapter has exercise files,
then this will be indicated on the screen
during the appropriate video.
A starting set of files will be provided
for the whole chapter.
And then the end state for that chapter
is actually the starting state of the next chapter.
So for example, the end state of chapter three
is the starting state of chapter four.
And this will be explained within the chapter as well.
To use the SOLIDWORKS exercise files,
first download the zip files, and then for each chapter,
create a separate folder on your computer.
For example, chapter three.
Then place the zip file for that chapter into that folder,
open the folder and unzip those files.
Then you just need to open the appropriate file
which is usually the assembly file.
The assemblies in these files
are linked to these specific file names.
So just to reiterate,
make sure that all of the provided files for a chapter
are in the same folder.
If you change the location of any of these parts
or the file name, then you might lose a link
from the assembly to the part.
If you do, you should be able to relink the files
just by going to the assembly,
clicking on the part name in the parts tree on the left
and then trying to open that file.
Parts within assemblies
can sometimes get a little bit confusing in SOLIDWORKS.
So if you do get stuck,
then please feel free to ask me for help online,
and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.