September 8th, 2010
DriveWorks has just announce that DriveWorks Solo is now officially a Certified Gold Product. I found this rather surprising because I assumed it already was -DriveWorks Pro has been a gold product since 2002. Turns out each new product needs its own certification.
When looking to buy a partner product, its certification status should be part of your decision making process.
Here is SolidWorks’ definition of a gold product:
Beyond demonstrating success in the SolidWorks market, Certified Gold applications present a seamless and familiar environment to the SolidWorks user. Certified Gold Products:
Run on the same operating systems as SolidWorks software, and have the same Windows® desktop application for ease of administration
- Use and support SolidWorks documents and terminology
- Utilize SolidWorks graphics display and selection
- Provide edit definition capability
- Use SolidWorks style UI and Help, including tutorials, etc.
Gold Product Certification requires an ongoing partnership with Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp to:
- Keep up with and ensure compliance with new SolidWorks functionality
- Test Gold Products with new SolidWorks releases builds and make timely corrections to any ‘bugs’ or glitches
- Stay current with SolidWorks operating system requirements
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Jeff Sweeney
Engineering Data Specialist
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: certified gold, DriveWorks Solo, Jeff Sweeney, partner products
Posted in Announcements, DriveWorks | No Comments »
September 7th, 2010
I finally had an opportunity last week to download and use DriftSight, a free editor for DWG files.
“Quick, and easy” are my impressions so far. The install was easy, the application loads very quickly and my 10 Mb files (typical size) opened in seconds.
If you have used other 2D editors, you’ll pick right up on the interface. Trusty command line at the bottom, menu and toolbars at the top. -Everything seemed to work as you would expect. OSNAPs, the ability to override dimensions**, blocks, p-lines, XREFs…yeah, it’s all there and works just how you were taught in elementary school. [Ricky Jordan has a nice review, check out his site to learn more detail.]
I was curious about customization.
- The free version does not support lisp (a.k.a. “Lost In Stupid Parenthesis”) nor VB, but you can use scripting; and scripting can do when the budget it tight. They say Lisp and VB will be available in the Enterprise version.
- No editing .pgp files, there is a nice little interface for customizing your aliases. (Click on the thumbnails for better views.)
These are saved in XML format, so sharing your settings is quite easy.
- Mouse gestures?!
Apparently they aren’t just for 3D any more.
- The typical drafting options are all in there too.
In short. I like it. Beats the snot out of the 2D editor SolidWorks provides, and the price is better. (free for as many seats as you would like) DraftSight does the basics and you can customize it to your heart’s content.
I see later in October, DraftSight will be available in MAC and Linux versions too. Let’s hope it supports all six million TrueType fonts to keep the hippies happy. The Linux users should like it too, DraftSight’s command line will allow them to do the entire drawing without ever touching a mouse.
I created an account in the DraftSight community, this appears to be the best portal to getting free support (via forums) and an opportunity to provide input for what you want in DraftSight’s future releases. It is a typical user site, neat and well organized. I do have to gripe about it -when I created an account, the site forced me to create a stronger password than my bank did! One million and one new passwords I need to remember.
**Since everyone overrides dimension; it must be important to somebody. Though if I catch you doing it, the “Mark of the Engineering Data Specialist Man” you’ll certainly receive.
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Jeff Sweeney
Engineering Data Specialist
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: 2D, DraftSight, dwg, Jeff Sweeney
Posted in 2D | No Comments »
September 3rd, 2010
A lot of people think that the POINT tool (you know, THIS thing * ) in SolidWorks may not be very usefull other than for the Sketch Driven Pattern command…
If SO, you are missing out on some cool things it can do !!
As mentioned in part 1 of this blog (posted on Aug 30th), there are 2 different types of POINTS in SolidWorks.
There are the ones that you can make when you are IN a sketch and then the ones you can make when you are NOT in a sketch !
For this little known POINT functionality, we are talking about the one when you are INSIDE of a Sketch.
You may have noticed in the past, when in a sketch, if you Dimension to a sharp corner and THEN add a Sketch Fillet after the Dimension, that would get rid of that corner, it adds a nice little “virtural sharp (intersection)” where the sharp corner USED to be, and keeps your Dimension attached to it !
Really nice, RIGHT ??
But what if you Fillet FIRST ?
Or what if the geomerty of your sketch doesn’t really make the sharp corner that you need to Dimension to in the first place ?
Any guesses ??
How about the POINT tool !?
Yep. While you are in the Sketch, ctrl+pick (any) 2 lines, and then hit the POINT tool.
Just like magic, it will make a VIRTUAL SHARP for you ! AND you can then of course Dimension to it.
You can even change/choose what the Virtual Sharp looks like…
Got to Tools–Options–Document Properties–Virtual Sharps
(didn’t you WONDER what that was for ??)
Stay tuned… there may be a Pt3 to this blog if I can figure out any more stuff to do with the points !
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Randy Simmons
Application Engineer, CSWP
3DVision Technologies |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 30th, 2010
A lot of people think that the POINT tool (you know, THIS thing * ) in SolidWorks may not be very usefull other than for the Sketch Driven Pattern command…
If SO, you are missing out on some cool things it can do !!
Now the first thing you need to know is that there are 2 different types of POINTS in SolidWorks.
There are the ones that you can make when you are IN a sketch and then the ones you can make when you are NOT in a sketch !
For this little known POINT functionality, we are talking about the one when you are OUTSIDE of a Sketch.
i.e. INSERT–REFERENCE GEOMERTY–POINT.
Pick ANY face on ANY model (planar or non planar), hit the Insert–Reference Geometry–Point tool and BAM! you get a POINT right at the “center” of the face !
By the way, while you are there, take a look at the “Reference Point” property manager at all the other cool stuff you can do with it !!
Arc Centers, Intersections, Projected Points, Spaced Along a Curve ! Oh my !!
I’m SURE you can find some uses for those…
Stay tuned for my next blog on points, where I’ll show you some little known things about the point tool INSIDE a sketch !
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Randy Simmons
Application Engineer, CSWP
3DVision Technologies |
Posted in 3D CAD, SolidWorks, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »
August 30th, 2010
Ever wish there was a faster way to free-drag rotate a component in an assembly prior to applying mates other than using 1) Move With Triad or 2) Rotate Component? Wait no longer. Thanks to the Ronco Division at SolidWorks, a this-can’t-be-any-easier method of Free Drag rotation has been included in your copy of SolidWorks. And with old-school technology.
A simple RIGHT-mouse button click/hold/drag on the component to be rotated will leave you as happy as a tornado in a trailer park.
Join us next time when Shortcut Alert! helps you route the super-secret back way to your favorite lunch establishment.
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Chris Snider
Application Engineer
3DVision Technologies |
Posted in SolidWorks, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »
August 29th, 2010
Great Aunt Eleanor always made sure I kept things in perspective. I still remember the day I got my first paper published with ASTM. I was so proud, but when I got home to show her the book, she quipped: “That’s nice dear, but have you been on SolidWorks:HEARD! yet?”
Well, well Aunt Eleanor! What do you think of me now?
In this episode Lou and I talk about some of the basic functions of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and some advantages a company might experience if they adopted a PDM system in their workplace. I am pretty proud of it, swing over and listen!
I was pretty nervous before we started recording, but it turned out to be a lot of fun to record the episode. I was hoping to meet the opening band, but Lou explained to me they were just “bumper music” and he would add them in during the post process. <drat>
They rock.
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Jeff Sweeney
Engineering Data Specialist
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: Jeff Sweeney
Posted in PDM | 1 Comment »
August 25th, 2010
A little over a year ago SolidWorks released SolidWorks Sustainability. It was fun, thought it was rather cute, but me being a glass half empty kinda guy I wasn’t really sure people would really use it.
As my friends at Infocom used to say. “Time passes…”.
Now most companies have some sort of “Green initiative” going on now. I bet your company has one….but is it really much more than this?
Here is my tip to help you get a big promotion. Show your CEO how easy it is to use SustainabilityXpress inside of SolidWorks. Quick, easy reports showing your company is going the extra mile to save the planet -proof your designs are as green as they can be. (Just don’t print the reports on paper!)
Your CEO can now show you are doing more than putting up signs around the office. New stockholders will flock to your company, you get the corner office and you’ll have me to thank.
Thanks Engineering Data Specialist Man!
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Jeff Sweeney
Engineering Data Specialist
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: Jeff Sweeney, sustainability
Posted in sustainability | No Comments »
August 24th, 2010
Some scholars suggest the Windows “ping” command was first written in the early Ming Dynasty. I personally have been using it since Aunt Elenore gave me my first PC as a graduation gift from preschool. However, I had only been using it as a simple connectivity checker. A few days ago, while debugging a SolidWorks Enterprise PDM issue, it was recommended to me to add an “-l” switch to the command in this manner:
ping -t -l 1500 <archive server name>
I knew the machines were connecting with each other, so I had not even thought to use ping. I first tried ping without the option, all packets came back. When I tried with the option none returned!
The -l option allows packet size to be defined. A normal ping packet is only 8 bytes which is not a good test of actual TCP packets. A typical TCP packet is usually 1500 which is why SolidWorks suggests using this value. Any dropped packets indicate you may see a loss of performance.
This is a very quick, cheap way to get better feeling for the quality of your Intranet connection.
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Jeff Sweeney
Engineering Data Specialist
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: EPDM, Jeff Sweeney, performance, ping
Posted in PDM | 1 Comment »
August 23rd, 2010
I’d like to invite you to the next local SolidWorks user group. The Miami Valley group (www.mvswug.org ) will be meeting at Gander Mountain in Huber Heights on August 25th at 5:30 pm. If you haven’t been to a SolidWorks user group meeting or haven’t been in a while, make plans to stop by. It is a great opportunity to learn and share how to best use SolidWorks and the many tools available in the software. The other great reason to come to the user groups….. networking. It is a great way to meet other people in the industry. The old saying is sometimes true, “it isn’t what you know but who you know”. Come out and meet other designers and engineers facing the same challenges that you face each day. I am sure you will learn something to take back with you that will make you more productive.
Date: 8-25-2010
Time: 5:30-8:30pm
Location: Gander Mountain, Huber Heights Ohio
Agenda:
5:30-6:15pm – Registration, Networking, and Food
6:15-6:30pm – Opening Remarks
6:30-7:30pm – Jeff Moore Presenting on Workflow Tips & Tricks
7:30-7:45pm – Break
7:45-8:15pm – Open Mic
8:15-8:30pm – Discuss Next Meeting, SWUGN Technical Summit 9/21, Wrap Up and Prizes
RSVP to ovapres@yahoo.com if you plan on coming!
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Scott High
Technical Services Manager
3DVision Technologies |
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 23rd, 2010
When placing notes or dimensions on a drawing in SolidWorks 2010, you will notice that SolidWorks will try to align the note or dimension being placed with already placed dimensions – via the yellow inference lines:
To prevent this, you have 2 options. The first is to change your System Options and they will never appear again for another drawing. (System Options > Drawings > ‘Disable note/dimension inference’)
The second (which I think is preferred) is to hold the ALT key down when placing the note/dimension. It will prevent those pesky inference lines from appearing for that particular note/dimension and you will be able to place the note/dimension anywhere you like with respect to other notes/dimensions.
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Chris Snider
Application Engineer
3DVision Technologies |
Tags: Chris Snider, dimension, inference, lines, SolidWorks
Posted in SolidWorks, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »
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