The SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review mode is essential when working with large assemblies. Models can be opened in a fraction of time for quick review and then load only the components you need to work on. Use tools like snapshots or walk-through to make the most of it.
New in the SOLIDWORKS 2019 release, is the ability to work directly in Large Design Review to insert/move components, add/edit/delete mates or delete top level components.
Here is a quick video overview of this performance enchancement:
In order to edit the assembly, set the Mode dropdown to Large Design Review and select ‘Edit Assembly’.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review Edit Mode
The first thing you must do is save the assembly in the 2019 version. The options will be greyed out if the file remains in a previous version state.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review – Save in current version
When opening an assembly with Large Design Review in SOLIDWORKS, you’ll notice the pop-up message now has 4 additional capabilities listed for editing.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review Capabilities
You can now insert components and add mates like you would normally. The in-context pop-up dialogs are still available.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review – Insert Component
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review – Adding Mates
The Feature Manager Design Tree will also have more information. Previously only the component structure was visible. Now you have access to the Standard Planes, Origin and Mates folder (top level mates). You can also see Reference Geometry, Sketches and Component Patterns in the assembly but these will be read-only.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review – FeatureManager Design Tree
Standard mates are supported (i.e. Coincident, Tangent, Parallel, Distance, etc) but some of the Advanced mates will not be available. Non-supported mates that already exist will show as temporarily fixed. You cannot edit the mate and it will keep the component fixed in place. The Mate icon will show a temporarily fixed symbol and the component in the tree will show (f)*. You can delete these mates which will allow the component to move (provided you remove all temporary fixed mates). Don’t suppress these temporary mates and move the component, as unsuppressing the mate again will not be able to calculate and bring it back.
SOLIDWORKS Large Design Review – Temporarily Fixed Mates
NOTE: The majority of assembly-level features will block editing in Large Design Review given the increased complexity