Glossary of Terms

See SolidWorks Help: Add Relation.

Angle mates are like distance mates except you are specifying an angle between two planar faces, planes, or edges. See SolidWorks Help: Angle Mates.

Computer Aided Design software. SolidWorks, AutoCAD, and SketchUp are examples of CAD software.

More information at SolidWorks Help: Circular Sketch Pattern.

The coincident mate refers to bring two planar surfaces flush or aligned with each other or a surface, edge, or vertex in contact with each other. See SolidWorks Help: Coincident Mate.

Collision Detection helps you make sure that parts in an assembly don't run into each other or to see when components with collide. See SolidWorks Help: Collision Detection.

Concentric mates allow you to align the axis of a curved or cylindrical face with the axis of another. This mate is ideal for aligning holes and other curved faces. See SolidWorks Help: Concentric Mates.

different versions of the part/assembly.

Also referred to as reference geometry is used to aid the definition of of geometry that will become part of the final part. Reference geometry isn't anything you will see in the final part, it is a part of the design parameter/constraint that will drive what you see in the final part. See SolidWorks Help Construction Geometry for more information.

Convert Entities is a sketch tool that allows you to convert existing model edges visible through a sketch plane into sketch entities such as lines, arcs, and points. See SolidWorks Help: Convert Entities.

Design intent refers to the geometric constraints that the mechanical designer intends for the model to have. For example, a designer can intend for a hole to be in the center of a plate and constrain it as such in the model. See More on Design Intent.

The design library contains many default standard parts that can be used in mechanical design in SolidWorks. You can also add your own standard parts to the design library. See SolidWorks Help: Design Library.

DFM stands for Design for Manufacturability. There are many feature based tools in SolidWorks that aid the mechanical designer in designing components and assemblies that can be manufactured by common manufacturing processes. Read this Introduction to DFM article for more information.

different versions of how the part/assembly appears

The display style is a setting that impacts how the model appears in the graphics area (shaded, wireframe, hidden lines visible, etc.)

Distance mates allow you to specify a set distance between model faces, edges, or vertices. See SolidWorks Help: Distance Mates.

The axes/centerlines of elements are not aligned.

An exploded view is a view of an assembly with all the parts spread out so that you can see them individually oriented in context of how they fit into the assembly. See SolidWorks Help: Exploded View.

This does the opposite of Trim Entities, extending geometric entities to a boundary. See SolidWorks Help: Extend Entities.

Creates a 3D feature from a 2D sketch by adding a specified thickness to the sketch in one direction. See SolidWorks Help: Extruded Boss/Base.

See more information at SolidWorks Help: Extruded Cut

Features in SolidWorks are what make up a 3D model. These are things like extrudes, holes, fillets, rounds, etc.

Icons usually in the shape of sideways triangles that expand or collapse sub-items.

A sketch geometry status that indicates there is enough design parameters constraining the sketch geometry to allow only one possible condition. See Sketch Geometry Status'.

Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, or GD&T, is a system of defining and communicating engineering tolerances in terms of the functional requirements of a product. It allows for clear definition of engineering dimensional and geometric constraints through a symbolic language scheme.

Constraints based on geometry conditions such as parallelism, perpendicularity, tangency, coincidence, symmetry, etc. See SolidWorks Help: Sketch Relations.

Hole wizard makes it fast and easy to model standard holes in a mechanical design. The macro tool consist of a Type tab, where the hole specifications are set, and a Positions Tab, where the position of the hole(s) is specified. See SolidWorks Help: Hole Wizard for more information.

Checks for part models that are taking up the same space in an assembly. See SolidWorks Help: Interference Detection.

Keyboard hotkeys are keys on your keyboard that enable actions without using the mouse such as zoom, menu activation, and commands. See SolidWorks Help: Keyboard Hotkeys.

Instead of setting a distance or an angle, you can specify a limit that the part is free to move within. See SolidWorks Help: Limit Distance and Angles.

More information at SolidWorks Help: Linear Sketch Pattern.

Mates are the SolidWorks term for part constraints. They are how one part will constrain to another, much like the sketch constraints/relations you are used to. See SolidWorks Help: Mates.

Mechanical mates are a category of mates that match the interaction and behavior of mechanical components such as gears, cams, hinges, slots, screws, and universal joints. See SolidWorks Help: Mechanical Mates.

Neutral format file types are file types that are typically exported from native file types (such as a SolidWorks file) that contain the geometric and attribute data but not the detailed design data that was used to create the model allowing them to be safely shared with stakeholders outside your organization.

Offset entities places geometry out of line by a prescribed distance. See SolidWorks Help: Offset Entities.

Parallel and perpendicular mates are exactly as they sound: they allow you to set faces or edges parallel or perpendicular to each other. See SolidWorks Help: Parallel and Perpendicular Mates.

Parametric design refers to using relationships, constraints and parameters to control a design to better clarify design intent. See more on parametric design.

The pierce relation adds a constraint on a sketch point to intersect with a sketch line that is perpendicular to the originating sketch plane. See SolidWorks Help: Pierce Relation.

More information from SolidWorks Help: Power Trim.

The path, or cycle, which the product takes from idea conception to product termination and disposal. This includes design, manufacturing, quality, maintenence, and every other function of the product across its whole life. See more on product life cycle.

A profile refers to the 2D geometric elements that make up a cross section. See SolidWorks Help: Profiles for potential Sweep Profiles.

Reference geometry is geometry such as planes, points, and axes that is used for construction of other geometric features but don't actually represent geometry of the model. See SolidWorks Help: Reference Geometry.

A feature that is extruded by from the sketch profile around a selected axis of rotation.

Section views are views of your model cut in a specific location and orientation. They are useful for evaluating internal components of your SolidWorks part or assembly.

The sketch tab contains sketch commands that are used to make 2D profiles and shapes that are then made into 3D features.

Sketch geometry status' indicate the condition of constraints on a geometric entity in a SolidWorks sketch. There is under-defined to indicate too little design specification, fully-defined to indicate there is enough design specification, and over-defined to indicate too much design specification (conflicting design parameters). See SolidWorks Help: Sketch Geometry Status' for more information.

Sketch relations constrain sketch geometry geometrically as opposed to dimensionally. Some examples of geometric constraints are parallelism, perpendicularity, tangency, and alignment. Some sketch relations are automatic and others must be added manually in SolidWorks. See SolidWorks Help: Sketch Relations for more information.

The sketch state is whether the sketch is fully defined, under defined or over defined. These are states of constraint (how constrained is the model). See more on Sketch States.

An automated macro in SolidWorks that determines the best mate for two part entities that are held close to each other while holding ALT. It helps add mates faster. See SolidWorks Help: SmartMates.

The most basic mates such as coincident, concentric, tangent, distance and angle. These are used on the CSWA prevalently. See SolidWorks Help: Standard Mates.

Sweep refers to extruding a 2D profile along a 2D or 3D path. See SolidWorks Help: Sweep.

Tangent mates brings at least one cylindrical or curved face or edge in line with another face or edge. See SolidWorks Help: Tangent Mates.

Thin Feature allows you to apply a thickness to a profile. In traditional extrusions, the profile is usually an open contour however with sweep, the profile is a closed contour. See SolidWorks Help: Thin-Feature.

"Trim" away excess geometry. See SolidWorks Help: Trim Entities.

A sketch geometry status that indicates there are not enough design parameters constraining the sketch geometry to allow only one possible condition. See Sketch Geometry Status'.

Width mate refers to positioning a pair of planar surfaces centered between another pair of planar surfaces. See SolidWorks Help: Width Mate.