In 2013 SolidWorks you can now automatically deploy an admin image from the option editor. There is now a link to do this in the editor and you can set this to deploy to any or all machines on the same MS Active Directory Domain.

In this image you can see that I have added machines on the domain and selected them to deploy. You also have options of when to do the install Now or at a specific time later.

Then in the client options you can set it to either install or uninstall and if it is to uninstall is it going to be a custom one. This will give you more options of what to remove from the machine during the uninstall like registry settings or data folders. You can also select to have the computer automatically reboot after the install/uninstall is complete.

Additionally there is a place to add the admin log in so the installs are performed using this. Once you have this all set to run you then get a status feed back on the install so you can see if any of them fail. This is also a silent deployment method so there is no indication on the client machine this is happening like in a manual admin image deployment.

This and more will be covered in an upcoming webinar about installing SolidWorks 2013.

One of the great new enhancements that we have seen with the release of SolidWorks 2013 is the ability to utilize Luxology custom appearances for rendering within PhotoView 360.  SolidWorks recently has updated the customer portal with the links you will need in order to access the Luxology appearance assets to start downloading and using these fantastic appearances for you SolidWorks renders.

The Luxology appearance assets are located on the Luxology website (Luxology is the partnering company that has created the software for the PhotoView 360 add-in), but don’t be fooled and try to create an account with Luxology, you will not be able to download any of the assets from their site if you do so (unless you have a license of Modo).  Further more if you have already created an account for the Luxology website, make sure you are logged out before accessing it through the SolidWorks customer portal.

Login into the customer portal through www.solidworks.com, you will see a login link on the upper right hand side.  Once you have logged in, click the customer portal link to access the main page of the customer portal, here you will see a new link that is added for PhotoView 360 appearances.

This link will bring you to another page with another link to get you to the SolidWorks Asset Sharing:

 

 

This will bring you to another page with one more link:

Finally you are on the Luxology assets page; from here you can look through their library and download appearances  for all of your rendering needs!  Keep in mind that some of these appearances will actually render off of the surface of your model, giving a much more realistic final render than what we saw with previous appearances in Photoview 360.  There is an example at the end of this blog that has ‘Chipped Paint’ as an appearance which gives an extra 3D feel.

 

So now that you are logged into the assets site for Luxology, how do you start downloading and using these appearances for your rendering?  One method is to download and unzip directly to the default location for SolidWorks <Installation Drive>/Program Files/SolidWorks Corp (2013)/SolidWorks/data/graphics/Materials.

Or create a specific location for your Luxology appearances to separate these appearances from the standard appearances that came from the installation.   I created a Luxology folder in my working drive, with sub folders similar to the default folders in SolidWorks.  Either way works just fine!

 

Be sure to add the folder location to the SolidWorks system options if you do it the second way.  Tools>Options>Folder Locations>Custom – Appearances

 

Now you are set to start applying these appearances to your part/assembly for rendering.  If you start applying appearances and it doesn’t look anything like what you thought, don’t worry!  The Luxology assets for PhotoView 360 are generally only visible in the preview and final render windows.  When I went to create a Christmas Snow Globe the view from the SolidWorks window is far from what PhotoView 360 will see:

 

But when you create the final render, you get amazing appearances!

 

If you’re working in a folder in your EPDM vault frequently, wouldn’t it be handy to have a shortcut directly to the folder?   It’s almost as easy as creating a shortcut to any Windows folder but keep in mind you can’t browse to a vault folder during the shortcut creation so but below is and easy way to copy the path.  Just one thing to keep in mind – if you use the EPDM login, you will be prompted to log into the vault as soon as you open Windows if you add one of these shortcuts.

(1)    Locate the file or folder in your local view and select it so it is highlighted.these shortcuts.

(2)    Hold the SHIFT key, then RMB (right mouse button)

(3)    From the menu select Copy as path.

(4)    Browse to the desktop or other location where you want the shortcut to reside and  RMB > New > Shortcut

(5)    Paste the path from the clipboard in the text box and complete the shortcut wizard dialog.

 

When setting up a model in static simulations, I often run through the bolt/pin process to create connections that will transfer loads to joining bodies, defining the connection by selecting the appropriate geometry on the holes we are using for the pin/bolt and running the simulation.  But what happens when we want to analyze the actual connection itself to verify if the bolt/pin is going to withstand the stress generated by the model conditions?  How can we determine whether or not the designed geometry of the bolt, its material, grade and preload will pass or fail?  SolidWorks has a very useful tool for defining a pin/bolt check plot to look at just this.

By looking at the axial, bending and shear forces acting on each bolt/pin within the assembly defined through the simulation study, SolidWorks compares this with other parameters (strength and area) to calculate axial, bending and shear load ratios to equate a combined ratio.

The inverse of this sum is then used against the defined factor of safety in the bolt/pin definition to give a pass/fail output.

 

To take a look at how this tool can be used to determine model geometry and the required bolt, material and grade to use, I have set up a simple assembly with two configurations; 8 mm and 10 mm diameter bolt studies to analyze.

 

 

In this particular model, I have multiple bodies being bolted together in series; this must be defined in the advanced option in the bolt property manager.  Select the advanced option located in the lower portion of the property manager and select the cylindrical wall of the body/bodies that are in series of the connection (figure 2).

 

 

Pierce and coincident, aren’t they the same thing?

They are the same in that they are both sketch relationships, but that’s about as far as that goes.

SolidWorks defines a Pierce Relation as a relation that makes a sketch point coincident to the location at which an axis, edge, line, or spline pierces the sketch plane.

Okay…so what does that mean?

Let’s take a look.

I’ve created a spline on my top plane and a circle on my front plane.  If I choose to make the circle and the spline coincident the center of the circle will move on the sketch plane to be coincident with the spline but not touch the spline.

Let’s look at this from a few different angles.

From a view normal to the sketch plane we can see the coincident relationship.

I can move the circle on the sketch plane and it continues to maintain a coincident relationship to the spline.

But if we look from a different angle (let’s say the top), we see a much different picture.  The circle may be coincident with the spline when looking at the sketch plane, but it doesn’t actually touch the spline.  The spline does not pierce the circle at any point.

However, when I add a pierce relationship, which is a 3-dimensional relationship, the circle is now moved to a location where the spline pierces or passes through the Front plane, our sketch plane.

Neat, huh?

Okay, but if we look at our spline we can see it pierces or passes through our sketch plane at a number of places.  How do we select the exact location where we want our circle to have a pierce relationship?

It’s easier than you may think –

By selecting the spline closest to where it passes through the sketch plane, the circle will move to a place where the spline pierces closest to that location.

Super neat, huh?

Okay, so why does all this matter?

Well having a pierce relationship is nearly critical when creating a sweep.  Here’s rule of thumb, when you create a sweep, create your path first and your profile second.  If you create them in the opposite order you will not be able to create a pierce relationship between the two sketches.

Take a look below.  I’ve created a profile, a path, and two guide curves.  I’ve set up my profile using coincident relationships with the path and guide curves.  Notice the profile also has vertical and horizontal relations.

Whoa!  Not good folks, not good.  Let’s see if we can fix this a bit and get better results.

Using the same set of sketches, I’ve updated the relationships on the vertices of the profile to pierce the path and guide curves.  I also changed the horizontal and vertical relations to perpendicular and parallel.

Why did I do this?  Look at the result, much better.  Phew!

By using relations that don’t restrict the profile (horizontal and vertical are restrictive) it allows the profile to rotate independently along the sweep.  By using a pierce relationship at the vertices, it also allows the profile to move along the path and maintain a pierce relationship yielding a much better result.

Pierce and Coincident, the same thing?   They are the same as much as apples and oranges are the same.  They may both be fruit but that’s where the similarities end.