Pen Tools

The Pen Tools are available on touch-enabled devices.

Pen

You can access the Sketch Ink CommandManager tab by right-clicking any CommandManager tab and selecting Sketch Ink.

The Pen tool activates the pen or stylus for creating sketches. You can create multiple sketches with multiple Pen-Sketch nodes within the Pen tool. You can use the multiple Pen-Sketch nodes to quickly generate concepts within the software. You can then use the shape recognition tools to trace the sketch and generate real sketch entities, from which you can create solid or surface geometry.

You can use the Pen tool to customize shape elements like Color and Thickness. In this mode, you can use ink strokes to draw your ideas on a sketch plane. The strokes do not not impact your model and can be suppressed. You can also go back, select these strokes, and convert them to sketch entities later with the context menu.

Eraser

The Eraser tool deletes sketch strokes that you created with the Pen or Touch tools.

The Eraser tool deletes full ink strokes (items that have color and are not converted to sketch entities) only. You cannot delete partial strokes. Select Eraser and click any stroke to delete it. It will not delete sketch entities created with a sketch tool. For example, you enable the Line tool and try to use the Eraser tool, you will not be able to use it. It only works on things created through the Sketch Ink CommandManager.

Select

The Select tool can select multiple entities using pen or touch. You can select a pen stroke and delete it, or you can update the selected stroke to a recognizable shape or a sketch entity. The Select tool turns your pen from an inking device into a pointing device. So, you stop making ink strokes, and start selecting and highlighting.

Auto Shape

The Auto Shape mode converts strokes into the nearest recognizable shape using a tolerance limit. These shapes include Line, Point, 3 Point Arc, Circle, Corner Rectangle, Ellipse, and Polygon.

Auto Sketch Entities

The Auto Sketch Entities mode allows you to draw strokes on the screen. The software analyzes your strokes and converts your pen strokes into SOLIDWORKS sketch entities automatically. There is no need to pre-select the kind of entity you want to draw.