Performance booster

It is a little unusual, but my husband also uses SolidWorks and is a CAD Administrator.  Recently he wrote a great tip for his CAD users about how to boost your performance by turning on and off the hidden line selection modes.  Here's the tip from my husband:

It has come to my attention that SolidWorks performance deteriorates quite a bit with the HLV and HLR modes turned on. You can get to this screen By selecting the "Tools" pull down and selecting "Options", "System Options" and "Display/Selection". "Allow selection in wireframe and HLV modes".

This setting allows for the selection of lines that are behind a face or body in your model. It works in assemblies too. That would be where your in "Edit Part" mode and would like to reference a edge off another part or the model. With these modes "On" the edges will light up as your mouse passes over them.

Because this option is handy on a frequent basis I made a macro to turn it on and off.

How to set up macros to toggle the HLR (Hidden Line Removed) and HLV (Hidden Line Visible) modes:

Close the SolidWorks application.

Copy these files to your C:\Program Files\SolidWorks\Macros\ folder.

Download hidden_line_selection_on.swp Download hidden_line_selection_off.swp

Open SolidWorks along with a new file or one you may have been working on.

Go to the "Tools" pull down select "Customize" and go to the "Keyboard" tab.

Scroll down in the left window to Macros, You will now see in the right window the macros that are available.

Select the file "Hidden Line Selection Off" , Left Click in the "Press new Shortcut key" and press the key or key combination you want to assign this to (example: the "ALT" and "D" key simultaneously) and press the "Assign" key. You will now see the key you pressed ("Alt+D") in the "Current keys" box. This one is ready to use now.

Repeat the same steps for the "Hidden Line Selection On" macro. You could use the "ALT" and "S" key for this one.

To que your Memory Alt+S = Selection                    Alt+D = De Selection or OFF

Sincerely,

Brooks Vrooman