Capture a dimension, feature or component — gull system handbook

How to capture a parameter in the SOLIDWORKS panel: the mode, the click in the model, the custom name, Save, and what can go wrong along the way.

Capture a dimension, feature or component

Capturing is done in the gull system panel inside SOLIDWORKS: pick a mode, click in the model, name it and save. Until you click Save, nothing reaches the configurator.

A captured parameter is a place in the model the configurator can drive: a dimension, an angle, a pattern's instance count, a feature's or component's suppression, a configuration, a colour, a material, sketch text. The list of captured parameters is on step 1 in the app and in the panel.

Procedure

1. Open the configurator in the app on step 1 Capture parameters and its model in SOLIDWORKS (CAD → Open).
2. In the panel's Capture group choose the Capture mode. The default is Parameter (dimension, feature, part). The mode is chosen before clicking: one click on a component could mean suppression, appearance or material, and the mode says which you meant. The modes are listed in Capture modes.
3. Click in the model on what you want to drive. A dimension in a sketch or feature, a feature in the tree, a component in the assembly. The panel writes what SOLIDWORKS returned into the Selected parameter row; "—" means this click captures nothing in this mode.
4. In Custom name type the name you will refer to the parameter by in rules. An empty field saves the parameter under its CAD name. If that is taken, the panel asks for a custom one.

Until you click Save, nothing is sent. A click in the model only prepares the parameter. A test in which Save is forgotten looks exactly like broken capturing.

What is captured, by what you click

• You click: a length dimension - Captured as: Dimension (mm) - A rule then drives: the dimension's value
• You click: an angle dimension - Captured as: Angle (°) - A rule then drives: the angle's value
• You click: a pattern's instance count - Captured as: Count - A rule then drives: how many copies the pattern has
• You click: a feature in the tree - Captured as: Feature - A rule then drives: the feature's suppression
• You click: a mate - Captured as: Mate - A rule then drives: the mate's suppression
• You click: a component in the assembly - Captured as: Component - A rule then drives: the component's suppression and configuration
• You click: the model's root or a configuration - Captured as: Configuration - A rule then drives: the model's active configuration
• You click: a sheet-metal flat pattern - Captured as: Flat pattern - A rule then drives: nothing — it is a source for a DXF/DWG export

A captured parameter's properties in the app

Select an item in the step 1 tree and Properties on the right shows Name (editable, Enter saves), Type and, under In SOLIDWORKS, Real name and File location — both read-only, because gull system never renames your files. No value is shown here on purpose; live values appear when you test a rule.

Where you cannot click

• When SOLIDWORKS has another model in front. The panel offers Open model.
• SOLIDWORKS equations and global variables are not captured. Drive the dimension the equation reads, or replace the equation in the model with a rule.