Thursday August 22, 2013 at 12:14pm
Found a nifty tool within SolidWorks, buried in the background...
The Live Section plane tool is accessed within a part document under Insert> Feature> Reference Geometry> Live Section Planes, this tools lets you dynamically section models using any plane or planar face. This is not only an analysis tool but a useful tool for direct editing when combined with the Instant3D feature, within SolidWorks. You are able to display multiple Live Section Planes consistently and they are automatically saved within the model.
These planes are separate from the normal features in the tree and have they're own folder at the top of the tree, these can contain multiple planes at any one time.
What is the difference between the Live Section Planes and the Section View tool I hear you ask?!
Well with the Live Section Plane tool you are able to use the triad to rotate the planes as well as cut the model at a specific position.
Once you've reached the position, you are then able to then use the Instant 3D editing tool to dynamically alter and edit specific sizes and thicknesses of your model.
If you found this interesting or you would like to find out more about direct editing tools within SolidWorks then head over to
solidsolutions.tv and check out my Direct Editing webcast!
Olly Smith - Applications Engineer