- Coordinate Systems
SOLIDWORKS uses a system of coordinate systems with origins. A part document contains an original origin. Whenever you select a plane or face and open a sketch, an origin is created in alignment with the plane or face. An origin can be used as an anchor for the sketch entities, and it helps orient perspective of the axes. A three-dimensional reference triad orients you to the X, Y, and Z directions in part and assembly documents.
- Planes
SOLIDWORKS provides Front, Top, and Right planes as defaults. The orientations (Front, Top, Right, and so on) relate to these planes. Planes are used for sketching and for creating geometry for features.
- Selection Methods
- Selection Feedback
The pointer changes shape in SOLIDWORKS to show the type of object it sees; for example, a vertex, an edge, or a face. In sketches, the pointer shows relations such as endpoints, midpoints, intersections, and types of entities such as lines, rectangles, and circles.
- Grid and Snap
SOLIDWORKS snaps to sketch geometry on the fly. For example, as the pointer approaches a line endpoint, the pointer changes to recognize the endpoint so you can choose to select it.
- Dragging
In the SOLIDWORKS software, you can move sketch entities by selecting them and dragging. You can also stretch sketch entities by dragging. For example, select a line and drag an endpoint, or select a side or vertex of a rectangle and drag to stretch the rectangle.
- Orientation
The SOLIDWORKS Standard Views toolbar and flyout toolbar contain Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Right, Left, Isometric, Trimetric, and Dimetric orientations. Normal To is normal (perpendicular) to the sketch plane or the selected plane.