CATI TECHNICAL BLOG

SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Customizing Description for Bounding Box Properties – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Customizing Description for Bounding Box Properties – #SW2018  Now in SOLIDWORKS 2018, you can customize the default description settings of bounding box properties for new/existing sheet metal/solid cut list bodies. You just follow me, and I’ll show you the way. Go to your system options, and in the Document Properties tab, choose Weldments. To change description for solid bodies: Under the bounding box properties section, clear use default description. In the description filed, overwrite Plate […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Asset Publisher and Magnetic Mates Enhancements – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Asset Publisher and Magnetic Mates Enhancements – #SW2018 In SOLIDWORKS 2017, Magnet Mates were introduced.  This made it much easier to design facility layouts.  In SOLIDWORKS 2018, this functionality has been improved!  My favorite enhancement is the ability to have multiple ground planes in the assembly.  Now multi-level layouts can be accomplished! Before, when positioning components using magnetic mates, it could sometimes be difficult to orient the components because they would try to snap to […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Plastics: Clamp Force in Machine Opening Direction – #SW2018

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Plastic injection molding is the go to manufacturing method when plastic parts must be mass produced. However, these molds are precision machined and highly expensive both to create and rework. For this reason, many manufacturers utilize SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulation to reduce mistakes and rework. SOLIDWORKS Plastics provides the results for many different parameters, one of which (clamp force), will be discussed in this blog. What is a clamp force? Plastic injection molding is the process of injecting molten plastic, under pressure, into a […]

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SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 What’s New – Enhanced Permission Control – Undo Check Out – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 What’s New – Enhanced Permission Control – Undo Check Out – #SW2018 With SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 you now have the option of allowing your entire administration group to undo the check out of a file checked out by another user on a different machine. Once the check out is undone, a comment is also placed in the history of the file. In the past, only the “admin” user was allowed the permission of undoing a check out […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Creating a Bounding Box – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Creating a Bounding Box – #SW2018 SOLIDWORKS 2018 now allows you to create a Bounding Box around your parts! This Reference Geometry feature can be applied to multibody, single-body, and sheet metal parts to show the smallest box in which the part will fit, and automatically updates as the part features change, as bodies become hidden within the part, or as the part is flattened, folded, or unfolded. This feature is easy to use and […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Show File Names and Descriptions in Design Library – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Show File Names and Descriptions in Design Library – #SW2018 When working out of an extensive design library, it is easy to lose track of what parts may be needed. New in SOLIDWORKS 2018, a user can display a part’s description from within the task pane. To view file descriptions, navigate the desired folder within the design library. Then simply right click in the task pane area then select “Show Description” Now we can easily […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Changing the Transparency of an Assembly or Multibody Part – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Changing the Transparency of an Assembly or Multibody Part – #SW2018 With SOLIDWORKS 2017 and earlier, to change the transparency of multiple components within an assembly or multiple bodies within a multibody part, you had to select on the multiple components/bodies and then change the transparency—which can be cumbersome if there are a lot of components/bodies within your assembly/multibody part. SOLIDWORKS 2018 offers a new functionality in which you can now change the transparency of […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Include or Exclude Suppressed Components in Pack and Go – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Include or Exclude Suppressed Components in Pack and Go – #SW2018 Pack and Go is a tool within SOLIDWORKS that is used by many people for a lot of different reasons. I’ve experienced Pack and Go being used for revisions, for sending data to people outside the design process, for backing up, or most relevant to me – sending an assembly to customer support for help. While people send me their work for support, they […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Logging into SOLIDWORKS – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Logging into SOLIDWORKS– #SW2018 Between Mouse Gestures, Shortcut Bars, Command Buttons, and even Icon Colors, customizations to the SOLIDWORKS 2018 User Interface allow you to really personalize your experience with the CAD software. While some of these options are just personal preference, most lead to faster and more productive modeling. When you need to get some work done on an unfamiliar or rarely used machine, the differences in setup can hinder your performance. You might […]

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Pen, Touch, and Gesture-based Sketching – #SW2018

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SOLIDWORKS 2018 What’s New – Pen, Touch, and Gesture-based Sketching – #SW2018 In SolidWorks 2018 you may notice a new command manager available when right clicking one of the command manager tabs. This command manager is called ‘Sketch Ink’ and it is for the new touch based sketching available in SolidWorks 2018. Tech Tip: This functionality currently requires the Windows 10 Creators Update. When using the touch based sketching, you use the ‘Pen’ tool to create free-hand sketch entities. You can […]

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