I’ve never thought it was fair that the image had to be rendered in SolidWorks, so this year, here was my entry:

I kinda thought it came out pretty cool, but I’ve learned my entry didn’t get any votes from the anonymous panel of judges. One judge complained that I capitalized ”Merry” but not “Happy”. Another judge, felt Jordan’s entry had more artistic appeal. For the record, I happen to know neither of these “judges” have a degree in Art nor English!

Props to Jordan for a fantastic design. I see something new in it every time I look at it….but seriously?!

Wait till next year.

Annual VAR Presentations

Date: December 6, 2011
Time: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Location:
Swan Lake Resort
5203 Plymouth Laporte TRL (Turn West on Academy Drive)
Plymouth, IN 46563

Agenda:
Put it together with Weldments–Ketul Patel — CATI
Rx for Sick SolidWorks–Greg Dawes — Fisher/Unitech
The Art of Mating–Jim Byrne — Dasi Solutions
Simply Surfacing–Kris Klika — 3DVision
Christmas Prizes–Peggy Frantz – Flakt Woods

Please sign up by clicking HERE so they know you are coming. See you there on the 6th!

Here is what you need to do.

To create a design study:

1. Do one of the following:

• Click Design Study (Tools toolbar).
• Click Insert > Design Study > Add.
• Right-click an existing Design Study tab and click Create New Design Study.

A Design Study tab appears at the bottom of the graphics area.

2. To set properties such as study quality and results folder, click Design Study Options .

3. Define variables using parameters.

Here your variables will be the dimensions needed to change your volume.

4. Define constraints using sensors.

You constraint would be mass properties for volume.  Set to monitor only.  Thsi gives you an output of how the volume changes.

5. For Optimization studies, define goals using sensors.

Set you goal to be the same as your constraint, a volume sensor.

Select Optimization, and allow SW to take over.  Optimization is like engineering cruise control.

6. Click Run.

The results of the study appear on the Results View tab.

Select a scenario or iteration on the Results View tab. In the graphics area, the model updates with the values for that scenario or iteration.

Click on the Optimization Link below to watch the full process.

 Optimization

Note Simulation Professional is needed for the optimization option.

Lou countered with the comment that EPDM does have a way to alert you when I project is due.

“Bah!” I shouted jumping on my desk! Anything that cool I’d certainly know about it!

Lou calmly showed me the Deadline property of a folder,

went to the notifications area,

and then pointed to the tiny little option down at the bottom of the folders tab…

Saaaayyyyy…a timer based notification! There’re in there, just need to find a way to harvest it!

EDSM quiz: There are at least three other timer based functions inside of EPDM. Can you name them?

Save a rotated 3D view

• When you go to View>Modify>3D Drawing View, you can choose any view and rotate it any direction.  When you choose a view that you like, it will stay like that.  That way you can get a great view on the drawing with a short amount of time.

Combine notes

• If you have multiple notes on your drawing but you want to combine them, before you would need to copy and paste the text.  All you really need to do is just drag and drop one note to another.  They get combined.  If the main note is numerically indented, when you drop the other note on it, it will follow the same order.

Edit multiple dimensions at once

• If you select a bunch of dimensions, you can edit them all at once.  You can add tolerance information, text, precision, etc.

I hope these tips help keep you productive.  If you have any questions about these, please contact 3DVision.

Application Support Engineer (ASE)

Description: 3DVision Application Support Engineers are experts in SolidWorks products providing comprehensive technical support, training, and implementation.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage technical support issues taken via phone, email, or web
• Conduct training classes
• Make on-site customer visits

Minimum Required Skills and Experience:

• Minimum 2 to 5 years 3D Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, or MCAD industry experience.
• Minimum 2 to 5 years of SolidWorks experience
• Education: BS in Mechanical Engineering

For more information download the ASE Job Posting and send your resume to the email address at the bottom.

All you need to do is double click in the cell of the BOM and then you will get a message about keeping or breaking the link.

You will have to choose “Keep Link” to update the property.  Now whatever you type in the cell will show up in the component’s properties.

eDrawings is a very effective product from Dassault Systemes SolidWorks that allows you to communicate your designs with customers, without having to transfer heavy files via email or even FTP sites. So, it seems perfectly suited to have an eDrawings App for tablets.

Ever since the first iPad hit the market I have been getting calls requesting that Dassault Systemes SolidWorks comes out with an eDrawings app for the iPad. So far, there have been no official announcements that this is being developed. However, this does not mean that all hope is lost. There are other Apps out there that will allow you to leverage your iPad/Android Tablet into an eDrawings wielding powerhouse. Citrix Receiver is one such App. The way it works is simple, you install eDrawings on your server at work, and then through Citrix Receiver you choose eDrawings from your “company catalog” and boom you are using eDrawings over the air on your tablet! Technology is AWESOME!!!

To learn more about Citrix Receiver you can visit the following link.
http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=1689163

-Turn on RealView Graphics and Shadows in Shaded Mode (it won’t work without the shadows on)

-Turn on Shaded (without Edges)

-Set the Scene to Ambient Occlusion

Now you have nice textures, more realistic lighting and shadows, and you have turned off the cartoon like edge lines. It is starting to look much better than the default settings.

There is one last thing you should do to really make your image stand out.

-Add a Camera. Manipulate the perspective and move the object out of the center of the screen to create a nice composition.

-Set the Camera View

Now we have a good composition with some added perspective along with nice textures and more realistic shadows and lighting. To save the image go to File, Save As, Jpeg.

I think you’ll have fun creating some great images in SolidWorks. Model courtesy of Ray Keane and GrabCAD

Here is what you need to do.

You will need to have registry permissions and knowledge of registry editor.

• Edit your registry – Select the ‘Start’ menu and then activate the ‘Run’ application. Type “regedit” and click ‘OK’.
• Navigate to- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\srac\cosmos/works
• Copy Key – Right Mouse Button on the “cosmos/works” folder and select Export
• Import Key -Import the settings to a new computer. Copying this key on another machine should copy all the settings.

If you’d like this option to be included in the SolidWorks copy wizard then please file an enhancement request from the SolidWorks website