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SolidWorks Rx is a handy tool that many SolidWorks users do not know about. It has numerous uses designed to improve your experience with SolidWorks:
- Diagnosing your computer system to ensure that your system is approved to run SolidWorks.
- Recording a SolidWorks session to identify a problem for Technical Support.
- Communicating a set of instructions in SolidWorks to other users at your company.
If you believe that SolidWorks is not running as it should, a good start is with SolidWorks Rx. This is installed automatically with SolidWorks, so if you have SolidWorks, you have SolidWorks Rx. To find it, go to your Start Menu>> All Programs>> SolidWorks>> SolidWorks Tools>> SolidWorks Rx.
1. Diagnose
The first page in the Rx is the diagnostics of your computer system. The first item listed in the diagnostics is your graphics card. Use the link provided to check your graphics card against the SolidWorks approved graphics cards. Also, use this link to download the latest drivers for your card to ensure that your graphics card is not causing problems with SolidWorks. Check the other listed items on the Diagnostics page: your system memory, temporary files set-up, where your Toolbox is located, etc.
2. Record
If everything looks okay on your Diagnostics page, move on to page two, Problem Capture. From here you can record a problem with SolidWorks that may be hard to communicate to our Technical Support team. Or, if you have a reproducible crash, you can record it with this tool. To use it, first close your SolidWorks application. Then hit the Begin Recording button, and a box will pop up asking you to Start SolidWorks and Record with video. (There is an Options button where you can change the scale of the recording or the length of the recording. Typically, the default options are acceptable. If you have a problem that takes a long time to reproduce, you might want to increase the number of frames to record in this Options section.)
Pick the OK button and SolidWorks will load. Once SolidWorks loads, Rx will be recording everything you do (do not worry, this does not include sound), plus helpful background information on SolidWorks that Tech Support can use to diagnose the problem. Duplicate the problem, crash, etc., using your mouse to highlight certain items.
Once you have finished recording the problem, close SolidWorks and you will return to the Rx tool. Pick the Yes button to proceed to the next step, and pick the Describe Problem button. Pick a category for the problem, complete the description of the problem, your name, email and phone number. Next you need to decide if you want to include the files you were using. If the issue is file specific or is something that would be time consuming for Tech Support to mock up, pick the Add Files button and then Add Files to Package, and SolidWorks Rx will grab the files you used. If any reference files are needed, use the Add Reference button to do this. Finally, pick the Package Files button and Rx will create a zipped file of all the necessary information and video. The zipped file (i.e. {0000001234567890}_{70525-081138}.zip) will save to your My Documents\SW Log Files folder. If you prefer to save this somewhere else, use the browse button before hitting Package Files. If you have another item you would like to record, pick New Problem Capture; otherwise, you can hit Exit SolidWorks Rx. Locate the zipped file and send it to Tech Support. This is very helpful for Tech Support to understand and diagnose your issue exactly.
3. Communicate
If you discovered a new feature or technique with SolidWorks and you think others at your company would benefit from learning it, too, you can use SolidWorks Rx to capture this without having to download any other programs onto your system. Follow the instructions listed above to record the steps to complete the technique and package the files. Then you can extract the zipped file produced, and email only the .wmv file to others at your company for reference. They will then have a recording of steps that they can watch, learn, and reproduce on their own machines.
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