Model Assembly Archives - Page 4 of 7

Enhancements planned for SolidWorks 2011

There were a lot of new SolidWorks 2011 functionalities that were demonstrated in today’s general session. There’s a long list of improvements. SolidWorks presented most of these improvements as part of an on-stage skit, so it was difficult to keep track of all the discussed changes. However, this is my best attempt to give a nearly complete list:

Parts

Revolve will be extrudable “up to surface”
Defeature feature allows for the removal of internal features of a part to protect IP.
Real View is “fully customizable”
Display Manage that controls settings such as color, transparency, etc.
Photoview 360 now has a preview menu within SolidWorks Works
Animation can be pre-rendered
Further improvements have been made to memory usage and optimization
Within Non-linear simulation, planar simulation allows the user to run simulation on a 2D slice of a part to save time; also, that 2D slice can be projected back to the 3D part.
Feature lock!

Drawings

Dimensions spaced evenly and in the right view (on new views, or to correct existing views)
Thumb wheel to change spacing of dimensions
Dual dimensions allowed in hole table
Weld tables now available in drawings
Weld callouts can be automatically added to a drawing

Assemblies

Chamfers and fillets can be used for weld prep
Cut sweep allowed
Weld gaps with actual geometry
Walk thru function, just like video games
Multiple piping enhancements

SolidWorks World General Session – Monday (part2)

Another theme of today’s General Session where potential improvements to 3D CAD, much of which is cloud computing based. These include collaboration to allow more than one person to edit the same model at the same time. Searches to use data from the database instead of making models from scratch. Bring a “lifelike experience” (soon to be trademarked term, I’m guessing) to SolidWorks and other applications. Predictive Engineering that can do things like calculate interferences or handle material properties before the user even requests such data. With all these improvements associated with cloud computing, I am willing to predict that there will eventually be no distinction between SolidWorks and Catia.

Stump the Chumps submission form

See if you can stump the chumps with your SolidWorks questions at our session in SolidWorks World 2010:

Stump the Chumps question submission form

Also, if you have files to submit as part of your question, please email your question and files to stumpthechumps@gmail.com.

Standard Views without Zoom-to-fit

When using Standard Views in SolidWorks, the resulting view of the model is normally Zoom to fit. This is regardless to the zoom level of the current view. So, if I’m zoomed in to look at a specific feature a very long part, when I change from Front View to Rear View, the model will be resized to fit to screen. This might be unexpected in some cases, as it requires extra steps to return to the area where I was working on the model.

With newer versions of SolidWorks, there is an alternative. A toggle setting is available under Tools>Options…>System Options>View. Unselect the Zoom to fit when changing to standard views option.

The only draw back is that this toggle is buried deep within the Options window. This makes the task of dynamically using this functionality difficult. Otherwise, this is a great function.

Zoom to fit when changing to standard views

SolidWorks 2010: Mouse Gestures

SolidWorks Corp has been working hard to improve the user experience. SolidWorks 2010 has examples have several innovative interface additions. The one addition that is sure to get a lot of attention is Mouse Gestures.

Mouse Gestures is a simple a menu scheme that is controlled by the RMB and a gesture (or short movement) of the mouse. When the RMB is clicked and held briefly in addition to a very slight movement of the mouse, a wheel menu appears around the cursor location.

Simply continue to hold the RMB down and move the cursor over the desired command. Without any further action, that command will execute and the menu wheel will disappear. If the RMB is released before a selection is made, the menu wheel is cancelled without any command executed.

If the traditional RMB is desired instead of the menu wheel, simply give the RMB a quick click (same as it ever was) without a mouse movement.

As with the “S” key shortcut menu scheme, Mouse Gestures menu wheel is customizable and context sensitive. The user is allowed 4 or 8 gestures with four different menus for each of the major modes: Part, Assembly, Drawing and Sketch. These are customized under a new tab in the good ol’ Tools>Customize… window.

Here are the eight gesture choices that can be assigned to particular commands:

Mouse Gestures is suprizingly easy to use. It’s intuitive when it is activated intentionally. However, I have found myself activating it unintentionally once in awhile. This may result in the surprize command being executed before I even know what hit me. So, for now and for me, Mouse Gesturing will be limited to View Modify functions. I certainly won’t be placing the Quit in my menu wheel. That said, the usual result of the accidental activation is just that the user will see the menu wheel briefly ghost in and out before any command is executed.

Mouse Gestures is a great new tool that looks to be a major time saver for frequently used commands. I’m looking forward to having a bit of fun playing with Mouse Gestures and customizing its functions until I find just the right combination of commands for each mode.

SpacePilot PRO 3D Mouse: New Software Updates

3Dconnexion recently announced another free software update for the new SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse. The most visible portions of this upgrade include new functions called Model Properties Applet and Intelligent Function Key Notification. Both of these new functions add functionality to the SpacePilot PRO’s LCD. If there ever was a device feature that needs added functionality, it is the LCD on the SpacePilot PRO.

Model Properties Applet

This new applet enables engineers to quickly view supposed key model information on the SpacePilot PRO’s LCD. The claim from 3DConnexion is that this somehow increases productivity and makes things easier for workgroups to collaborate. I’m not sure how this applet makes collaboration easier. The applet just displays fundamental document information on the LCD. It doesn’t transmit this data or pull information from my PDM.

For a drawing, the function is very basic, indeed. The applet tells me that I am looking at a drawing (go figure), and shows the computer network name of the drawing’s author, file size, file creation date, file last saved date, and the computer network name of the last person to save the file. There is nothing particularly “key” or “vital” about any this information. The applet would be far more useful if it allowed the user to modify the information on the display. For example, for me key information from a drawing would be a list of particular custom property names and their values, and the name of the model in the dominant pre-defined view (the view from which the part custom property values are derived).

Slightly more useful information is available for models, including mass, volume, material and density. This same information is displayed for assemblies, though I’m not sure why. Wouldn’t it be more useful to show me the total number of parts in the assembly, or an estimate on how many seconds would be required for a force rebuild (CTRL-Q)? My suggestion to 3DConnexion is to completely dump the file information and add these kind of data for all document types.

Intelligent Function Key Notification

This is a fancy name for the fact that the LCD now displays a quick pop-up window which shows the user which button command they activated. It does this regardless to the applet that is running on the LCD. This way, the user will always have visual confirmation as to which command they just executed. This is a moderately useful function for someone who has just finish mapping their programmable buttons and needs queues to help reinforce the memorization of that mapping. If the user has already memorized their button mapping, this function provides little benefit. For now, I like this function, but I can easily imagine that I will ignore it eventually.

“S” Shortcut key

One bonus for SolidWorks users is that 3DConnexion recently added support for the “S” shortcut key. It can now be added to the programmable buttons directly without having to create a device macro. This function was secretly added to the previous software upgrade for the SpacePilot PRO, but 3DConnexion is now bragging about it. They also stated that this “S” shortcut key support has been added for SpaceExplorer and SpacePilot Speed Keys. My only criticism here is that any key and key-combination should already be supported by the software for these devices. My 1990’s programmable keyboard supports any key combination in its “PF” keys. Why are these not fully supported by 3DConnexion’s 21^STCentury product offerings?

Installation

Having just recently updated my SpacePilot PRO drivers and software with this new announced version, I can say that installation was easier this time around. In the past, installation has been a bit of a pain. One problem plaguing the SpacePilot PRO is that its software and drivers need to be the last item installed on your computer. This means that if any supported application is installed after the SpacePilot PRO software, the SpacePilot PRO software needs to be reinstalled afterwards. Crazy, huh? Anyway, this upgrade was pretty painless this time, and I didn’t even lose my programmable key mappings, unlike previous upgrades and re-installs. New 3DConnexion 3D mice shipped in September 2009 will have the new version of the software and drivers included. Otherwise, for Windows, download them from this location here.