SolidWorks Legion

Austin trip to meet customers

Austin, TX has long been on my todo list for work travel. There are a lot of great SOLIDWORKS customers in the Austin region. Come last week, my long awaited plans came to fruition. This was a busy trip.

Visited several customers in both San Antonio and Austin.
Conducted a limited Alpha Test and received a lot of great feedback.
Presented at the local SOLIDWORKS User Group: CTSWUG

Central Texas SOLIDWORKS User Group meeting in Austin — Full house at the CTSWUG on April 17, 2019.

User Group Meeting and Support

My presentation at the user group meeting covered the topic of Model-based Definition in the context of SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS MBD. It’s a topic I’ve presented many times. (NASWUG, NSWG and SWW17)

Jeremy Browning also presented a lively demonstration that evening on how to model in a manner that utilizes SOLIDWORKS tools with maximum efficiency and resiliency.

Thank you to Nadia Shea and Jeremy Browning for their efforts of support during my visit. Also, thank you to Steve Calvert for his efforts, including the change of the date for their user group meeting to suit my travel.

Also, While in Town

While in town, I was able to indulge local flavor (literally); perhaps a bit too much.

Shrimp and a variety of bruschetta,
Brisket, Ribs, Cole Slaw and Sweet Potate Mash
Ribs, Brisket, Sausage and Corn Casserole
Pork Shoulder, Sausage, Beans and Cole Slaw

There was also a chance to take in a few of the regional sights and sounds from time to time, of course.

Great Trip!

However, the focus of these trips is to interact with SOLIDWORKS customers. This allows us to learn from our users about how we can improvement our products to better suit their needs in future releases. In this regard, this trip was a great success! Thank you to everyone who meet with me and participated in the local SOLIDWORKS events!

SOLIDWORKS World 2017 Highlights

Here’s some highlights from SOLIDWORKS World 2017:

And, yes, SOLIDWORKS World 2018 will be returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center for 2018. In case you missed some of the fun that LA has to offer this year, you’ll have a second chance to indulge in 2018!

Here’s some of my experiences at SOLIDWORKS World 2017:

And some more fun afterwards:

AngelSix releases many of their SOLIDWORKS API Macros and Books for free

An older resource for many things related to SOLIDWORKS API is AngelSix. Luke Malpass, founder of AngelSix, has written many SOLDWORKS macros. He has also written a couple of macros books.

As of last year, many of their macros and books are now available for free on fasetto. More info is available on AngelSix’s SOLIDWORKS page. The books apply to SOLIDWORKS 2008 and 2009, but much of the information is still relevant now.

AngelSix is also known for BatchProcess. BatchProcess is available for a 50-day trail.

Another API resource now on AngelSix is SolidDNA, which is a level of API that claims to make SOLIDWORKS API easier to use. Here’s a video tutorial that describes about to use SolidDNA:

Presentations at SOLIDWORKS World 2017

Normally, members of the Product Definition team at DS SolidWorks Corp give two presentations at each SOLIDWORKS World. Presentations can be either Hands-on or Breakout. Hands-on sessions involve attendee participation at desktop computers provided for the conference. Attendees typically follow and repeat steps shown by the presenter. Breakout sessions are essentially talks with demonstrations of functionality in SOLIDWORKS products.

Sometimes our team gives extra presentations. There are cases where our hands-on sessions are very popular, so we add an extra hands-on session of the same material for the overflow. Other times, we give the multiple breakout sessions on various topics.

My Presentations

At SOLIDWORKS World 2017, I gave three presentations and a panel discussion. It almost never fails that I give a presentation right after the General Session on Monday of the conference. This year, my Monday presentation was a hands-on session about new functionality that’s been added to SOLIDWORKS over the past 5 years. The session was Streamline Drawing Creation with Newer SOLIDWORKS Drawing Tools. In this session, attendees got to try out newer drawing tools that they may have missed before, such as

User Interface improvements
Drawing Zones, Location Label and Automatic Border tool
All uppercase setting for notes
Angle Dimension enhancements
Model Break View
Balloon improvements and more

If you’d like to check out this session’s materials, please feel free to download:

Streamline Drawing Creation with Newer SOLIDWORKS Drawing Tools (6MB+)

On Tuesday, I gave two breakout sessions. The first one was planned and well-prepared about MBD called Model-Based Definition using SOLIDWORKS MBD. This session covered very general overview of MBD, ways to implement settings in SOLIDWORKS for the best MBD experience, SOLIDWORKS MBD tools (3D Views, 3D PDF Publisher, etc), and DimXpert. A lot of people attended this session. Though, I didn’t pack the house to the wall.

The Powerpoint for this session is downloadable here (SOLIDWORKS files not included):

Model Base Definition using SolidWorks-2017 (4MB)

The second Tuesday breakout session, I presented on BOM’s, called Building SOLIDWORKS BOMs. Due to a cancellation by the original speaker, I had to step to not only cover the empty slot in the schedule, but also talk about BOMs without a prepared Powerpoint slide deck or file set. Since there were no materials for me to work from, I had to skip the Tuesday General Session to give myself time to pull together a session plan and file set. Given the circumstances, I believe I did well. I was able to cover many basics about BOMs, and also more advanced capabilities.

BOM table display options
BOM Type (Top Level, Parts Only and Indented)
Options for displaying configurations of the same part
Keep Missing Item settings
BOM Anchor
BOM Template
Virtual Parts
Document Properties
Sorting
etc.

Unfortunately, because the session was off-the-cuff, there is no Powerpoint outline to provide. The session was recorded, so it should be available as a video while the SOLIDWORKS Proceedings are available (soon).

On Wednesday, I was part of the panel discussion about MBD. Five speakers participated in an engagement with attendees who are interested in MBD. This session was called SOLIDWORKS World 2017 MBD Learning Path Panel Discussion. Attendees asked about many MBD related topics, including STEP, real world implications, specific use cases, vendor adoption, etc.

Return of Ctopher’s Custom Material Database

Custom materials in SOLIDWORKS are important if you are using materials not included in the default set. Around a decade ago, Chris Saller compiled a bunch of such custom materials from varies sources based on requests and submissions from many different people. This list is informally known as Ctopher’s Custom Material Database, “ctopher” being Chris’ handle.

Various versions of this file have been available on now long-gone websites over the years. Well, the material database is finally back and bigger (better) than ever! Chris has complied a new version in SOLIDWORKS 2016. This new version has many new materials. The new database is now available directly on SolidWorks Legion in the File Downloads tab as Ctopher’s Custom Material Database.

There are two methods to point SOLIDWORKS to use a custom material database. The easiest method is described on Ctopher’s Custom Material Database download page. Below is a slightly more advanced method which should also work on networks.

To point SOLIDWORKS to make the materials in this database available:

1.To use, place custom_matls_091516_sw2016.sldmat file into an easily accessible folder, such as S:\SOLIDWORKS Shared File\Custom Materials. The folder is your choice, based on your network and operational set up.

2.Start SOLIDWORKS.

3.Goto Tools>Options…>System Options>File Locations. In the Show folders for dropdown, select Material Databases.

4.Select Add button. Navigate to your chosen folder, such as S:\SOLIDWORKS Shared File\Custom Materials.

5.Select OK button.

6.Repeat for all instances of SOLIDWORKS within the network that need to access this database.

To use the custom materials:

1.Open any part file.

2.In the Feature Tree, right click on Materials and then select Edit Materials. “Custom_matls_091516” folder will be on your material list.

4.Click on desired subfolder, such as Copper Alloys.

5.Click on desired material to view properties.

6.Click on Apply to apply that material to your part.

7.Click on Close to return to your part.

Ctopher’s Custom Material Database

Ctopher Custom Material Database

Author: Chris Saller, et al.

Author’s website: ctophers home

Ctopher’s Custom Materials Database allows you to add many materials to SOLIDWORKS which are not currently included as part of the default installation. Materials range from ceramics, metal alloys, plastics, crystals, and even magnets. Current version was created using SOLIDWORKS 2016.

This database is provided for reference only, being based on tertiary sources. The database is not an official offering from DS SolidWorks Corp. in anyway, nor is DS SolidWorks Corp responsible for any content or how it is used. Information within the database is not guaranteed to be correct or accurate. Information within the database was submitted from multiple persons and sources. No one is responsible for the content of the database. The user of this database uses it at their own risk. The user is responsible to crosscheck all information for accuracy to a level that suits their own needs.

The database is a combination of materials used in aerospace and military applications, and SolidWorks users around the world submitting material properties to add to the database. The material mass properties have been tested with actual parts on a scale.

To allow SOLIDWORKS to use the materials in this database:

1.To use, place custom_matls_091516_sw2016.sldmat file into C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 201x\Custom Materials folder.

2.Start SOLIDWORKS and open any part file.

3.In the Feature Tree, right click on Materials and then select Edit Materials. “Custom_matls_091516” folder will be on your material list.

4.Click on desired subfolder, such as Copper Alloys.

5.Click on desired material to view properties.

6.Click on Apply to apply that material to your part.

7.Click on Close to return to your part.

Download Custom_matls_091516_sw2016.zip