SolidWorks Fully Defined Sketches

Is it necessary to have Fully Defined Sketches?  I think it should be almost mandatory. Why? To increase SolidWorks performance and save time. The 2 pictures show the same Part, first with Underdefined Feature Sketches, then with the same Sketches Fully Defined. Using the Statistics Tool, we see the Total Rebuild time of both versions. The version with fully Defined Sketches Rebuilds 3X faster. Interesting, isn't it? Here's another question; Do you think Assembly Mates have the same type of affect on Performance? Should all Assembly Components be Fully Defined(Mated) or Fixed in place?

Cheers,
Devon T. Sowell
http://www.3-ddesignsolutions.com

Comments

[Stephen Norton]

What about fixing components in place in an assembly as opposed to mating? I use this a lot in sub-assemblies as I like components that are never going to move wrt the assembly origin to stay where they are no matter what you do with other mated components within the assembly.

[Devon Sowell]

Hi Steve-

Thanks for the comments. I have noticed that fully defined assemblies seem to Open, Rebuild, and Save faster. I'm going to make some test assemblies and report the results.

Devon

[Steve Calvert]

Interesting, Devon. Try the same test with some screws that are not fully mated and some that are. I don't fully mate components like screws because I don't care if they rotate in their hole but if you can show me some improvement in rebuild time due to fully mated components, then I'm changing my best practices.

Steve