The Ribbon bar was introduced to SolidWorks several versions back. It allows the user to have much more screen real estate versus having all the required toolbars turned on. It's configurable and dockable. As I covered in the last movie, we can click on the various tabs below the Ribbon to change what icons are available to us. By default, we have these four here. We can add or remove different tool tabs to the Ribbon. Click on Weldments, it adds a new tab, so then if I click on Mold Tools, for instance, it's going to add it there. That Ribbon bar we can move around the screen if we need to.
By clicking anywhere up here, I can drag it out. Notice I drag it out, I could just place it in the Desktop if I want, I can place it on another window if I wanted to or I can dock it. So I can dock it back to the original location at the top. I can come over here and I can dock it to the right or dock it to the left, your choice. If you do that, it just places it there. You've got the same available tabs. Drag that back out. I prefer to have it on the top and it docks. We have a lot of other tool tabs that we can bring out as well, or toolbars.
I can right-click here, anywhere in that gray area and it will bring up these available toolbars. So one that I happen to like and use a lot is, if you go down here to the Tools tab, it's going to pop out that little toolbar. Now sometimes it will drop it here in the middle of the screen, sometimes it will dock somewhere. So just kind of look around your screen to maybe where that originally got dropped. Now I can drag it and dock it over here. I like to put it on the right hand side. It gives me a little more real estate, and then I have those tools available and that always stays there. I can also go ahead and add Tools to any one of these Ribbon bars to customize it to my liking.
So if I click on, for instance, the Sketch tab, if I right-click on it, at the very bottom, I can say Customize, the CommandManager, and the first screen that comes up is the Toolbar tab and notice that's exactly what we had before. So if I want to add or remove toolbars, I can do that here as well. Under the Commands, we have all the commands that are available in any one of these sketch tabs. So, like for instance, if I go to Sketch, these are all the sketch tools that are available. Only a subset of those is available in the actual ribbon. So if I'd like to add something to that, I can just drag it over.
So, one that I like to use a lot is called Sketch Picture. I'm just going to click on that and drag it. Wherever I drag, it's going to drop a little icon on the screen for us to use to quickly get to it. You can add as many as you want, and the same thing is you can click on one of those and remove it. So I don't want it. So I'm going to drop it back there and I can, same thing, reorganize my icons as needed. Click on that and we're good to go. The Ribbon bar is a very helpful interface for getting tools quickly and with less clutter on the Desktop. It can be modified with your favorite tools and dock to one of three locations to suit your layout needs.
Author
Released
3/7/2012The course shows how to cut and revolve holes into parts and use the Hole Wizard tool to generate industry standard holes like counter bores, counter sinks, and taps. Best practice for designing parts is emphasized throughout the course as well as methods for creating parts faster and easier using equations, mirroring, and patterning tools. The course wraps up with generating manufacturing-ready drawings complete with an itemized Bill of Materials. As a bonus feature, Gabriel shows how to photo render a final design. Exercise files are included with the course.
- Starting a new sketch
- Adding and removing relationships
- Dimensioning a sketch for specific size attributes
- Setting system options, units, and templates
- Drawing polygons
- Drawing circles, arcs, and splines
- Creating offset geometry
- Moving, copying, and rotating elements
- Working with planes, axes, and the coordinate system
- Using Revolve and Loft to create 3D objects
- Trimming with the Revolve, Loft, and Sweep cuts
- Creating smooth and angled corners with fillets and chamfers
- Designing with sketch blocks
- Working with subassemblies
- Creating threaded parts
- Integrating Excel to manage design tables
- Adding dimension notations to a drawing
- Rendering an image of a part or assembly
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Related Courses
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Learning eDrawings
with Gabriel Corbett1h 14m Beginner
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Introduction
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Welcome59s
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Using the exercise files1m 10s
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1. Touring the Interface
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2. Introducing the 3D Workspace
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Understanding the 3D world3m 38s
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Starting a new sketch4m 34s
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3. Basic Sketching Tools
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Using the Circle tool3m 44s
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4. Relationships and Sketching Tools
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Creating arcs in a sketch7m 47s
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Sketching polygons4m 9s
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5. Sketch-Editing Tools
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Creating offset geometry3m 20s
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Mirroring part of a sketch2m 46s
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6. Reference Geometry
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Working with planes7m 30s
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Placing and using axes3m 2s
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7. Building 3D Geometry
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8. Removing Material
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Trimming with the sweep cut3m 56s
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9. Refining Geometry
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Mirroring objects5m 22s
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10. Blocks
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Creating blocks3m 27s
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Designing with blocks3m 56s
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11. Assembly: Putting it All Together
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Working with subassemblies5m 54s
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Patterning in assemblies6m 1s
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12. Advanced Mates
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13. Hole Wizard
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14. In-Context Modeling
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Linking to layout sketches5m 18s
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15. Creating Threaded Parts
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16. Equations and Design Tables
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17. Part Drawings
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Working with drawing templates11m 50s
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18. Adding Dimension Notations to a Drawing
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Applying auto dimensions4m 40s
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19. Adding General Annotations
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Creating hole callouts4m 16s
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Adding item notes6m 45s
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Drawing revisions3m 27s
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20. Assembly Drawings
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21. Rendering
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 18s
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Video: Accessing and customizing the Ribbon