Magnify It

Are you sick and tired of zooming in and out and
rotating your model to mate components or to view and understand your
assemblies?  Then don’t forget to use the
Magnifying Glass tool new to SolidWorks 2009. 
This tool allows you to inspect a model and make selections without
actually changing the view.  You can
access the Magnifying Glass by pressing the G key on your keyboard. 

 

When you press the G key, the Magnifying Glass
appears wherever your cursor is and zooms in on the view.  Move your cursor, and the Magnifying Glass
will move as well.  Hold down the ctrl
key and the middle mouse button to pan the Magnifying Glass over the model with
better control.  Scroll your mouse wheel
to zoom in or out with the Magnifying Glass. 
Once you have inspected the model, or made your selections, simply click
in white space, hit G again, or hit Esc, and the Magnifying Glass will go away,
leaving your original view as it was.  You
can also rotate while in this tool, but this will rotate the original view as well. 

 

If you hold down the Alt key and scroll your mouse
wheel, the Magnifying Glass will section the model normal to the screen
allowing you further access to selecting hidden faces. 

 

Check out this new tool and hopefully you will find
that it saves you a lot a time and makes assembly modeling much easier!

Design Better,
Leslie Lougheed