Introduction to SolidWorks Custom Properties

SolidWorks has something called custom properties. Many programs within Windows have file formats that include properties which allow the user to include some general information about the file without affecting its actual content. For most of these programs, there is a standard short list that includes fields like Author, Keywords, Comments, Title, and Subject. There is also a method that allows the user to create their own custom properties.

SolidWorks has simplified the process to create custom properties, and allows its users to utilize their values within the document via linked annotation notes. The custom properties are available under pulldown File>Properties>Custom tab. There are even shortcuts included that allows the user to create links in these fields to attributes of the document itself.

The advantage in using custom properties is that one can link to their values in annotation notes. This allows for automatic updates to annotation notes without having to edit them directly.

Here are the instructions to link a note to a property. (These instructions are from SolidWorks Help which can be found by searching titles only for “Link to Property”. For more detailed information, please see the Help.)

Start an annotation note.

In the Note PropertyManager (left pane) choose this icon:

 Link to Property Icon

-OR-

In the Note Properties dialog box, choose this icon:

Link to Property Icon

Then,

  1. Select the radial button that identifies the file from where the values will be linked.  The most common choices are either the “Current Document” or “Model in view specified in the sheet properties” (for drawings).
  2. View the available custom properties.

    Dialog

  3. Choose one and then click the OK button.
  4. This will add a tag to your annotation note that looks something like $PRP:”<property name>”.  The annotation note itself will display the value of that custom property.

This can be used to automatically fill in data fields on drawing blocks based on custom properties and document properties in the model.  It can also allow the fields to be filled in from a macro that is designed to provide those values.  Linking annotation notes to custom properties can save a lot of time and reduce repeatitive drawing activies.  However, before committing completely to using links to custom properties on drawings, one should look into the methods and reasons for this.  They should also consider the pros and cons of each.  I will go into detail about when and how to use links to custom properties on drawings in a near future article.

Tri-Valley SWUG Kick-Off Meeting

Kenneth Barrentine has started a new SolidWorks User Group in the southern end of the San Francisco East Bay called the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group (T-VSWUG).  (I originally was abbreviating it as TVSWUG, but I just realized there is already a group with those initials).  He held the group’s first meeting a few days ago.  It appears to be a great success.  As meetings and SWUGs go, this was one big start! 

Vic Leventhal

We had Vic Leventhal (former COO of SolidWorks Corp and current Group Executive, Dassault Systemes) give the keynote speech of the evening about the history of SolidWorks.  His presentation of fun and informative.  He even gave out $50 of his own money! 

I personally give a presentation about SWW8.  In attendance, we had Gabi Jack, who recorded a video of the event.  In fact, her blog article about this meeting has edited videos of Vic Leventhal’s presentation.  Her article also includes details about the event from a unique and refreshing perspective.

Kenneth's Demonstration

Kenneth conducted a live demonstration of various tips and tricks, including topics like showing how to find the origin of a detail view for ordinate dimensioning.  The format was semi-open, with frequent audience participation.  I was impressed by Kenneth because he made hand-outs that listed the topics that he was going to cover in his presentation.  This allowed people to follow along, and they knew what to expect.

Oh, and what a day to attend.  Prizes, prizes, prizes.  Just about everyone went home with something.  I apologize for not noting his name, but here’s the grand prize winner of the 3Dconnexion SpaceExplorer.

Grand Prize Winner

I believe there was a little over 50 people in attendance.  This photo shows that it was pretty much a full house.  I thank Kenneth for organizing this event and getting this new group started.  I personally look forward to attending more of his meetings.

Silicon Valley SWUG Meeting: Caught Off-Guard

Wade Barnett held the first-quarter Silicon Valley SolidWorks User Group (SVSWUG) meeting in Campbell, CA on March 18th (a few days ago).  Other than my carpoolin’ co-worker, I had not told anyone other than Kenneth Barrentine that I was attending the SVSWUG meeting.  I was just expecting to anonymously attend to see what Wade was going to do for his SWW8 related presentation (SolidWorks World 2008).

As Wade announces the start of the meeting, I hear my name.  It was Wade seeing if I was in attendance.  I respond with, “one minute,” as I was finishing up some business.  He calls my name again.  “I’m here.” 

He precedes to invite me talk about SWW8 for the meeting.

Background on this is that I did make a presentation about SWW8 that I was planning to give the next day at the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group in Pleasanton, CA.  However, I did not expect to speak at the SVSWUG meeting about it; so I didn’t bring my laptop (and therefore my notes/presentation). 

However, I’m a trooper.  I quickly agree to speak.  I was caught a bit off-guard, though.  I joined Wade at the front.  Wade and I talked with the attendees about SWW8.  I was trying my best to pull my presentation highlights from memory.  It worked out OK as we volleyed through talking points.  Several times I wish I had my material with me.  It can be hard to help someone visualize what you are talking about without photos.  I hope we did help people get some sense of the scope and importance of SWW8.  Maybe more people from our area will attend next year.  Out of the 50 or so SVSWUG meeting attendees, I believe like seven where at this year’s SolidWorks World.

For the rest of the meeting, Wade conducted an open forum with the discussion of simple tips and tricks to help solve certain problems and speed up/shortcut certain functions of SolidWorks.  He had SolidWorks running to show live examples.  It always impresses me the value that of even simple tips and tricks sessions have for many people.  He covered many points, from how to make slots quickly to how to record and use simple macros.  The open forum meant that even when Wade didn’t have an answer immediately, others were able to chime in on questions that where brought up. 

In my opinion, the open forum approach to presentations can be useful.  It is most useful to newer users or users that don’t get a chance to explore SolidWorks in depth.  However, I think it does have its place.  At times, open forum presentations can get bogged down with questions or tasks that have too large of a scope for the brief time available.  I believe Wade was able to balance these issues pretty well in his session.  He knew when to delve into a topic, and when to save a topic for another time.  Even still, I think this format should be used sparingly.  Of course, regardless of presentation format, audience participation is always welcome.

Create CAD Standards (SolidWorks environment)

Creating a drafting standards within a SolidWorks environment is an important task.  The task may seem daunting to those of us who haven’t done this before, particularly if our company has no pre-existing documentation methods.  These can be new companies, or companies moving from a lack of control into standardization.

Fortunately, there is a lot of help available.  Actual drafting standards already exist.  Also, many of us have been through this before (sometimes multiple times).  ASME provides American National Standards for many of the areas that need to be covered.  ISO provides international standards for these too, however I will focus on the use of ASME since this is what I used myself.  On the other-hand, creating SolidWorks specific standards requires a little more reseach and upfront work.

Here are my very general suggestions for documents and tasks to create a company’s standard.

  1. SolidWorks Templates (basic overview)
    1. Create a basic solid model template.  The setup within this template will become the backbone of everything within SolidWorks. This will be the most used document.  Establish custom properties that detail the part.  (Use of existing properties can be leveraged to simplify this task.)  Creation of this first template does not preclude the creation of other solid model templates. Instead, it will be used to create any others. For details about templates, goto SolidWorks Help and search titles only for the words “document templates”.
    2. Create a solid model assembly template.  Many of the general settings of this template should be duplicates of the settings of the solid model template.  Some planning is required.  Determine the best method of assembly structure for your company.  Several practices exist as guides, such as Top-Down, Horizontal Modeling, Bottom-Up, and Configurations.  It is important to note that there is not one-size-fits-all method for all companies.  Research each and make the determination based on company needs.  Setup the assembly template to support the chosen method.  However, do not become overly reliant on any particular methodology since situations may require flexibility.
    3. Decide how the drawing templates will interact with solid models. This includes deciding to have any pre-defined views, use of custom and other properties, etc.
    4. Create sheet formats and templates for each drawing size that will be commonly used.  Include annotation notes linked to custom properties, such as part number, material, revision, originator, origination date, surface finish number and/or type, etc.  See SolidWorks Help search for “Link to Property”.
    5. If in a network environment, place the templates and sheet formats within a folder where all SolidWorks users will have access.  Point all SolidWorks installs to this location.  This can be done within pulldown menu Tools>Options>File Location>Document Templates and Sheet Formats.
    6. Create a company standard for shortcuts and macros that speed up SolidWorks operations. Set up a network location for the company macros.
  2. Create the following standard operating procedures.
    1. SolidWorks Performancethat covers computer system requirements, Windows settings, SolidWorks installation, working folders, and standardizing files.
    2. SolidWorks Best Practices and Standards
      • Solid models: discussing preferred methods for creating features.
      • Assemblies: cover methodologies (when to use top-down or bottom-up; and what part should be the primary fixed component) and how to avoid circular mating, etc.
      • Drawings: covering how to use templates/sheet formats, shortcuts, common macros, etc.
    3. Drafting Standards, which can rely on ASME Y14.100 (umbrella engineering drawing standard), ASME Y14.5M (GD&T drafting standard) and possibly ASME Y14.41 (3D model drafting standard).  List exceptions to the ASME standards within the procedure.  If relying on these standards, make sure to have copies of them on hand. This will allow the procedure to be short and to the point.  If not relying on a standard, this procedure can potentially be very long.
    4. Source File and Document Control, which covers how to handle file management (SolidWorks files) and documents.  Be sure to cover processes for control of SolidWorks files in folders and/or the PDM application.  This may be a procedure that is supplemental the company’s general document control processes.
    5. Revision Control, which covers how to revise engineering documents.  This can rely on ASME Y14.35.  If the company uses a ERP or PLM, this procedure may be supplemental to those processes.

For references for further research, check out SolidWorks resource links, such as weblinks that can be found here on Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources.  Also, check out Blog Squad sites such as Matt Writes.

SolidWorks User Group Network Technical Summits

It’s another year, and Richard Doyle is moving a full steam putting the 2008 Technical Summits together.   If you haven’t attended one yet, I invite you to read my review of the San Jose Technical Summit in 2007 to get an idea of what to expect, and the benefits of attending.

Briefly, they include training and discussions on a variety of topics including sheet metal, drawings, weldments, and assemblies.  They also have seminars on newer functions such as RealView Graphics.  COSMOS, PDMWorks and other third party applications are also covered.  For a sample agenda and more information, please visit the SWUGN website.

Here’s the remainder of the schedule this year.  Even if one is not near your home town, I recommend attending the closest one to you.  It will be well worth the trip, especially if you need an alternative because you cannot make it to SolidWorks World.   RSVP soon if you are near Orlando, FL or Nashville, TN! 

Orlando, FL – 3/18

Nashville, TN – 04/09

Oklahoma City, OK – 5/20

Baltimore, MD – 6/17

Vancouver, BC – 7/22

Minneapolis, MN – 8/19

St. Louis, MO – 9/23

Salt Lake City, UT – 10/21

Chennai, India – 11/18

Los Angeles, CA – 12/16

Various SolidWorks Discussion Forums (Part 2)

To continue with Part 1 of this article, here are more SolidWorks related forums.

Solidmentor Solid Forum– This site is well organized and contains many resources, including forums dedicated to SolidWorks discussions.  It lists posts by topic in the Solid Forum area.  Membership (free) is required to participate.  Activity is low, with new posts appearing on a weekly to monthly basis; though when new messages appear, replies appear in rapid spurts thereafter.  The forums on Solidmentor have an unfinished feel to them.  I think this is why activity is still very low despite the popularity of the general website.  At this time, I do not recommend the Solid Forum, though I do recommend the overall Solidmentor website.

SolidWorks Forums– This is the home site for the forums managed by SolidWorks Corp.  Forums exist for practically every nuance one could imagine within a SolidWorks discussion, such as Assemblies, BOM, Design Tables, Surfacing, Routing, Toolbox, COSMOSWorks, and User Groups (just to name some).   Within each forum, messages are ordered by most recent activity.  Personally, I’m not fond of the fact that so many categories for forums exist on the site.  Membership is required to view and participate in discussions.   Membership is technically free.  SolidWorks Corp frequently watches the forums for their own purposes.  Some people don’t seem to like this fact.  There are a lot of knowledgeable participants, several of which are SolidWorks Corp employees.  This means that most inquiries are addressed quickly.    This is by far the largest SolidWorks forum site, with tens of thousands of members.   Participation is heavy.  However, participation does not seem to include most members.   One point of caution, be sure to use the non-Java interface.   The site is well moderated.  I recommend this site, in part because of the activity level, and in part simply because it is the main site for SolidWorks discussions, and it is run by SolidWorks Corp itself.

SolidWorks Yahoo! Group– This is main SolidWorks based forum on Yahoo! Groups.  It is dedicated to SolidWorks.  Topics can be listed either in order of recent activity, or by topic.  Membership (free) is required to participate in the forum.  This group provides a significant number of other resources, such as download, weblinks, and polls.  Activity occurs on an hourly to daily basis.  I personally co-moderate this group.  I recommend this group for the activity level and additional resources; oh and yes, also because I help run it.  🙂

SolidWorks-APl Google Group– This is a Google group that is specifically for discussions regarding SolidWorks API.  It lists posts by most recent topic.  Membership (free) is required to participate in discussions.  This group is a good place to ask API related questions.  It is for more advanced users.  The group has seen more activity in the past than it does now.   However, if someone does post a question, it is often answered by others fairly quickly.  It appears to be loosely moderated.  Activity is weekly to monthly.  I do not recommend this group because of its low activity.

SWcad– This is another Google group.  It is dedicated to SolidWorks related discussions.  It lists posts by most recent topic.  Membership (free) is required to view and participate in discussions.   Activity is on a daily to weekly basis.  It is tightly moderated.  New users are placed on probation.   I do not recommend this group due to low activity levels. 

Please comment if you know of any other groups.  Feel free to check out all the groups I listed, even if I do not recommend them.   Some that do not suit me may work well for others.  However, I personally visit and participate on all of these sites.  Also, feel free to comment on my opinions here.