Animate

Animations you can view in eDrawings on the Animations pane:
  • Animations generated in eDrawings. Play through the view orientations or drawing views with shaded data in the order displayed on the Animations pane.
  • SOLIDWORKS Motion studies animations. Use the animation tools, including playback options, on the Animations pane.

Animations Generated in eDrawings

Use the eDrawings animation tools to animate models using drawing views contained in drawings and standard views for parts and assemblies.
When animating drawing files (*.edrw and .eDw), section lines and detail circle annotations hyperlink to the associated section or detail view. When you stop an animation, if you click a section line or detail circle annotation, the related view appears in the graphics area, and vice versa. See Hyperlinked Views in Drawings.

SOLIDWORKS Motion Studies Animations

When you publish eDrawings files from SOLIDWORKS files that contain SOLIDWORKS Motion studies animations, you can view these animations in eDrawings.

Limitations:
  • Animations that contain body size or shape changes are not shown in eDrawings files.
  • Perspective cameras saved in SOLIDWORKS Motion studies animations are not supported when viewing animations in eDrawings.

Animating a Model or Drawing

To animate a model or drawing, use one of the following:

Continuous Play Starts a continuous forward play loop. In some cases, Continuous Play is not available. For example, if you have a drawing with only one view, no animation will play if you click Continuous Play.
Stop Stops the animation at its current position. When you stop the animation, you can use the zoom, rotate, and pan tools. When you restart the animation, it zooms to fit the animated view in the graphics area and returns to the previous active view.
Next Advances to the next view in the animation sequence.
Previous Returns to the previous view in the animation sequence.
Reset Returns the model to its original orientation.

Publishing SOLIDWORKS Motion Studies Animations

To publish SOLIDWORKS Motion Studies animations:

  1. Click Publish eDrawings File (Standard toolbar) or File > Publish to eDrawings.
  2. In the Save Configurations to eDrawings file dialog box, click Options.
  3. In the System Options - EDRW/EPRT/EASM dialog box, select Save motion studies and click OK.
  4. In the Save Configurations to eDrawings file dialog box, click OK.
    The published SOLIDWORKS content appears in the eDrawings Viewer.

Viewing SOLIDWORKS Motion Studies Animations

To view SOLIDWORKS Motion studies animations:

  1. Click Animate .
  2. On the Animations pane:
    1. Select an animation to view.
    2. Select an animation speed .
    3. Select a playback mode:
      Normal Playback Plays the animation once.
      Loop Playback Plays the animation from start to end in an infinite loop until you stop or reset it.
      Ping-pong Playback Plays the animation from start to end, then from end to start, in an infinite loop until you stop or reset it.
    4. Click a command:
      Play Animation Plays the animation in the selected playback mode.
      Stop Animation  
      Reset Animation Resets the animation to the beginning at any time.