Symmetry Solutions Blog

SolidWorks 2011 is released as of 9:00 CDT Wednesday, September 1st. There will be a lot of bloggers discussing all of the new functionality included in the software. Keep checking back here for more updates as we show the new features as well. And don’t forget to join us for one of the What’s New Events in October. The download is still at Beta3 but the pre-release should be available soon. You can access the SolidWorks 2011 launch site here.

One of the default settings in Windows Explorer that can not only cause a problem in SolidWorks but can also be a potential security issue is Hidden File Extensions.

Since this is a blog for SolidWorks, I’ll mention the SolidWorks issue first. I had a support call from a customer who was having a problem saving her Sheet Format. She had everything laid out like she needed and went to File>Save Sheet Format but when she tried to use the format it wasn’t available. When she saved the sheet format, the file extension was not added because she had the file extensions hidden. As soon as we turned them back on and she resaved the sheet format, it worked okay.

Read more…

I ran across this on the SolidWorks forums. Someone was needing to create a helical blade and then flatten it with sheet metal tools. I thought that this could not be done but they gave an example of how to do this. I will share their instructions and a sample of this as well.

First you need to open a sketch and create a circle of 5″. From this make a helix constant pitch and the pitch being 25″ and 1 revolution. Now create another sketch with a circle of 20″. From this create another helix with the same numbers as the first.

Now create two 3D sketches converting one helix per sketch.

Now you have two profiles that you can use for a Sheet Metal Loft Base. From the Sheet Metal tool bar Lofted Bends or the Insert>Sheet Metal>Lofted Bends. Select to start the feature then select the two 3D Sketches and what thickness you want to use. There you have the helical sheet metal part that will give you a flat pattern.

View a sample part here.

When using the meta-properties in 3DVIA that are coming from the Custom Properties in SolidWorks files, be aware how 3DVIA deals with capitalization of the property names.

While SolidWorks and Windows Explorer don’t see the difference between DESCRIPTION, Description, and description (as long as they are all spelled the same), 3DVIA see these as three different properties. Therefore if your BOM only lists DESCRIPTION and some of the actors have one of the other two variations of the word, that cell in the BOM will be blank.  So it is important to verify that the Custom Properties are consistent.

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One frequent request that comes across my desk, is how to perform a clean uninstallation of SolidWorks.  SolidWorks installs too many locations on a user’s local disk drive.  When a user uninstalls SolidWorks, a lot of these folders are retained on the system and you can end up with unnecessary or duplicate folders.  Also, at times a SolidWorks installation can become corrupt and it may be necessary to completely wipe SolidWorks from the systems registry and start fresh.

Read more…

SolidWorks 2010 will be the last release to include PhotoWorks. PhotoView 360 will be its replacement and the photorealistic solution for SolidWorks software.

So what is PhotoView 360?

Product Description
PhotoView 360 makes the creation of stunning photorealistic images as simple as a single mouse click. It establishes SolidWorks as the leader in rendering technology. PhotoView 360 comes as part of SolidWorks Premium, SolidWorks Professional or SolidWorks Office.

Positioning
PhotoView 360 is a new photorealistic rendering application for users who need to quickly create stunning images with as little as a single mouse click.

Technology Overview
The PhotoView 360 renderer is a fast standalone ray‐tracer that uses High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI) for photorealistic lighting. It is highly scalable on multi‐core systems, delivering nearly linear speedups as more processors are added. It supports full associativity with SolidWorks in the areas of assembly instancing, and the accurate transfer of RealView appearances.  PhotoView 360 was first released as part of SolidWorks 2009 SP1.

To view a gallery of rendered images, go to http://www.solidworksgallery.com/

The SolidWorks Flow Simulation can give you a message stating that authorization has failed. This is because on the client machine  the License Manager was opened and the License Order tab was selected. This changes a registry setting that needs to be corrected. Below is the work around for this and it has been corrected in 2010 SP3 which should be released in the middle of April.

Here is the workaround – please be sure you are comfortable editing the registry prior to attempting this procedure. Consider making a backup of the registry beforehand, in case you make a mistake. Read more…

If you are experiencing slowness or sluggishness while working on SolidWorks models and you open your files over a network, it is worthwhile to check to see if the network is causing at least some of the problems. 

To test whether performance issues are related to opening files over a network, place an assembly and its referenced files on your local hard drive and work on the assembly from there.

Procedure:

1. If you have the assembly open, go to File>Pack and Go …
2. Alternatively, in Windows Explorer, browse to the assembly, right click, click on SolidWorks, then Pack and Go …
3. In the Pack and Go window, in Save to folder – browse to a folder on your C:\ drive and place in a temporary folder.  In this example I created a new folder just to test this assembly.
4. Add a prefix or a suffix to change the filenames of all of the models so these won’t be confused with your regular models.
5. Click Save

 Open this assembly and work with it for a while and see if you notice an improvement in performance.

One of the many advantages of any CAD system is the ability to reuse design data in new designs.  Copying an existing design and then making changes has saved companies tremendous amounts of time and money.  Here is an easy way to reuse a design including the drawings and save it with a new file name. Read more…

If you ever need to send files to a customer or client you have several different options.  The method will depend on how much information you want them to have and whether or not they have SolidWorks.  Do they need just the drawing, a full assembly model and all of the components, the shape and size of an assembly but without any details, or just a picture?

1. eDrawing

You can send an eDrawing (which will allow them to look at the drawing and the model.  They can rotate the model around and hide components.)  Go to File>Publish eDrawing s File which will open up your file in eDrawings.  From eDrawings you can save it as an executable file so the client will be able to open it without having to install eDrawings.  The advantage to this is that they don’t need SolidWorks and the package to send to them is relatively small.

2. Pack and Go

If you want them to be able to look at the models along with the drawings, then you need to send them all of the component models, the assembly model and drawings.  The easiest way to do this is with Pack and Go.

1. In Windows Explorer right click on your main assembly drawing, click on SolidWorks, then select Pack and Go …
2. If the assembly drawing is open, go to File>Pack and Go…
3. You’ll open a window like this:

     4.    SolidWorks will gather up all of the models required for the drawing.  You have the option of saving them into a zip file.  You can even add a prefix or a suffix to each of the file names.

3. Save as Part

If the client just needs the overall shape and size of your model or you don’t want them to have any of the details of the assembly, then you can save your assembly as a part.  You can choose to save the exterior faces, the exterior components, or all of the components.  (You would see the difference if you did a section through the part or checked the weight of the part.)

1. Your customer may need your file in a different format than SolidWorks such as IGES, STEP, ProE, or one of the other available types.  With the assembly or part open, go to File>Save As and in the Save as type: drop down select the correct type.  Click on the Options button to modify any of the optional settings for the particular file type you have selected.
2. 
3. Sometime you may just need a “picture” of your model or the drawing.  In this case you can save your file as a pdf, jpeg, or tif.  Again, just select the appropriate type from the Save as type: drop down list.
4. If you just want them to look at just the drawing and not the model, you can save a detached drawing.  It’s like creating a “snapshot” of the drawing.  You do not need to send the models along with drawing for the client to view the drawing.  Just do a Save As and select detached drawing as the type.  The client must have SolidWorks to open the drawing.
5. You can export the sheet metal flat pattern from the model file.  Right click on the flat pattern in the Feature Manager Tree and select Export to DXF/DWG.  You will be able to choose what to include and also have a chance to clean up extraneous entities.  You can also save a drawing as a DWG or DXF file with a Save As.  Click on the Options button to set the version.