Here’s a couple extra features that you might find useful for Sheet Metal in SolidWorks 2012…

What’s New Extras Video

Hi there – quick post of the SolidWorks World 2012 opening session video. Enjoy!

If you build assembly models that contain thousands of parts, you have undoubtedly experienced instances where your computer’s performance suffered.  You are probably already aware of many of the tools that SolidWorks provides to optimize your files.  Using tools such as large assembly mode, lightweight, SpeedPak and Defeature, will dramatically speed up the process while you are working on such large files.

But what about when you just need to review the assembly with a customer or other members of your design team?  There may still be a large amount of overhead data in your file that is not required for this purpose. SolidWorks 2012 introduces a new feature call Large Design Review Mode.  Large Design Review Mode is primarily intended as an environment for quick design reviews.

Large Design Review lets you open very large assemblies quickly, while still retaining capabilities that are useful when conducting design reviews of assemblies.

When you open an assembly in Large Design Review mode, you can:
• Navigate the FeatureManager design tree
• Measure distances
• Create cross sections
• Hide and show components
• Create, edit, and play back walk-throughs
• Open part file to edit

To open an assembly in Large Design Review mode, click Open (Standard toolbar) or File > Open.  In the dialog box, select the assembly you want to open, and then, in Mode, select Large Design Review.

For more on how to use this great new enhancement, refer to your SolidWorks help file, “Large Design Review Mode.”

Also take a look at this video on YouTube.

So 2012  is now released, and they have finally fixed a couple of things that had changed if you upgraded to Windows 7 or Vista. If you never used XP with a Workgroup vault, you may not be aware of these functions. You used to be able to browse the vault from the “SolidWorks Open” dialog. There was a link on the left in the favorites along with Desktop and My Documents. In 2012, they have brought this back for users of Windows 7 and Vista. It is a little different then it is in XP as it is not added to favorites, but it still gets the files you want to open.

The button can be found at the bottom of the open dialog. When selected, it opens a “Select from Vault” dialog that allows you to browse the vault. By default, it is set to check out and if you just select “Check Out” it will go back to the SolidWorks Open and this will then point to the check out location called out in the Workgroup client options. There is also the “Check Out Advanced.” This will open the standard check out dialog for Workgroup and populate with the selected files from the Select from Vault. This makes it easier to open a file to a specific configuration even if it was not last saved to that one.

There is also one thing that is not listed in the “Whats New for 2012″  but I have had a few customers bring this up as being an annoyance.This is also primarily seen in Windows 7 & Vista. This has to do with searching in the vault from inside SolidWorks. So you set up the search criteria and tell it to “Find” and it searches down the Vault View Tree. When it finds the first to meet the criteria it stops and highlights the file in the tree. Really it does, but it is very light and not always easy to see. Recently, I received a fixed SPR notification for this issue and you can now actually see the highlighted file. Once again, this is not an issue if you are still using Windows XP as you could adjust the brightness of the monitor if this was not visible enough.

The American Heritage dictionary defines a utility as:

(yū-tĭl’ĭ-tē)
n., pl., -ties.

1. The quality or condition of being useful; usefulness:
2. A useful article or device.
3. A public utility.
1. A commodity or service, such as electricity, water, or public transportation, that is provided by a public utility.

In SolidWorks, the utilities add-in available with seats of SolidWorks Professional or Premium can be very useful indeed!

SolidWorks defines Utilities as “a set of tools that lets you examine in detail the geometry of a solid model, and make comparisons to other models”.

With everything from automated tools to simplify your models to geometry comparison between separate files; these tools can give you valuable insight into your designs and give you the information you need to be successful.

Take some time to get familiar with SolidWorks Utilities by checking out this link:  http://help.solidworks.com/2012/English/SolidWorks/swutilities/SolidWorks_Utilities.htm