Improving Performance in Large Assemblies We all know how frustrating it can be when you have a project that has a deadline approaching and you need to get it done in a timely manner – but then there are hurdles to jump over. One of those hurdles can be dealing with performance issues while working with a large Solidworks assembly. Waiting around while your computer struggles can be unfortunate as well as very unproductive. In this blog, I will talk about suggestions that can help minimize that performance impact to your machine and thus help improve your productivity. This will require planning and management beforehand in
SolidWorks Blog
SOLIDWORKS TIPS AND TRICKS AND 3D CAD RELATED INFORMATION FROM THE TECHNICAL STAFF OF CATI
SOLIDWORKS: Modeling Gears for Assemblies
Modeling Gears for SOLIDWORKS Assemblies The next component I want to take a look at in our discussion of files that slow down SOLIWORKS assembly performance is the gear. Gears are used in a lot of mechanical designs, and are often parts that are downloaded from the web and inserted directly into our assemblies. There is a time and a place for detail. Having highly detailed parts for piece part manufacturing is perfectly acceptable and necessary. Placing highly detailed parts into large assemblies can cause severe performance issues. Let’s take a look at a typical imported gear file.
SOLIDWORKS: Electrical – Shortcuts to Project Design, Data Reuse
Electrical – Shortcuts to Project Design, Data Reuse How do we increase the speed that you are able to produce projects? In SOLIDWORKS Electrical there are many different methodologies that help us develop and design projects. As we build up projects, we inherently become faster and faster at design based on the tools we learned and the experience we gain from understanding where the tool are for design. The work you do in these projects, even if it’s just one, has data that we can reuse over and over again. Having this information will allow us to develop the next project faster. In schematic development, our basic goal
SOLIDWORKS: Power Select!
Power Select Have you ever needed to select all entities that have a certain face color? What about all extrusions that have edge angles less than 45deg? Or how about all red faces that have convex edges that are part of a cut feature? Well, Power Select allows you to do all this and more! Power Select is just ONE of many tools included in SOLIDWORKS Utilities which since 2016 comes standard in SOLIDWORKS! Power select can be accessed from the selection tool on the default top toolbar. Power Select lets you select Edges, Loops, Features, and Faces. You can
SOLIDWORKS: Opening a 2017 Version File in SOLIDWORKS 2016
Opening a 2017 Version File in SOLIDWORKS 2016 With each new release of SOLIDWORKS we typically get the question of “Can I open a 2017 file in 2016?” One of my counterparts at CATI graciously posted this very topic a few months ago with great details on what you CAN and CANNOT do with this backward compatibility. You can read this article here. What I am adding to this post is a scenario where a customer followed the steps listed in this Blog and still was unable to open a SOLIDWORKS 2017 file in SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP5. So we dug a little in the
SOLIDWORKS: Simulation – Use Those SOLIDWORKS Functions!
Simulation – Use Those SOLIDWORKS Functions! SOLIDWORKS functionality can make life easier when working with Simulation. You probably know them well, so why not use those familiar functions to your advantage? Let’s look at a few. Simulation-specific configurations Interference detection check for simulation-ready geometry Split lines for boundary condition application Configurations Editing the geometry before setting up a simulation is usually necessary. By setting up a new configuration for the analysis, changes made there won’t affect the original design. This allows for several “what-if” scenarios. Notice in the two screen shots below how the “Default” configuration contains all the assembly components, whereas in the “For analysis” configuration the assembly is simplified
SOLIDWORKS: eDrawings Markups
eDrawings Markups This Blog article will walk you through adding markups to a drawing, saving those markups, inserting them into SOLIDWORKS, and then removing them from SOLIDWORKS. Publishing a Drawing to eDrawings You will find this option in the FILE pulldown menu of your open SOLIDWORKS document, it will say “Publish to eDrawings”. Once it is published to eDrawings, we can add markups with the option to add a comment. When directing someone to the view your markup is referencing, you have a few options; you can add a shape, text box, dimension, or even a picture. To Begin My MARKUP You will
SOLIDWORKS: Renderer Selection in SOLIDWORKS Visualize
Renderer Selection in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Selecting the best rendering method for the job at hand is one of the most important decisions a user of SOLIDWORKS Visualize can make. The renderers and options that Visualize offers are best suited to different points in a typical workflow and can help the user greatly increase her or his efficiency. This article/case study discusses those renderers and the best times to use them. Because Visualize leverages both CPU and GPU hardware, the “preview” of the render in the Viewport as you set up the shot is actually a real-time rendering. This means that what you see in the Viewport and what you
SOLIDWORKS: Do You Use Selected Contours?
Do You Use Selected Contours in SOLIDWORKS? Even though many SOLIDWORKS users take advantage of Selected Contours when creating different geometry, I often see Selected contours not being utilized and overlooked. Maybe this is due to being unaware of the functionality or just not fully understanding how to use it. When creating sketches in SOLIDWORKS, most users create multiple closed contours within the sketch and don’t realize it. What does a closed contour entail? Closed contours are any boundary generated by the intersection of sketch geometry and can be used individually or in combination with other contours. Looking at the image below, there are four blatant closed contours.
SOLIDWORKS: Importing DimXpert Into Drawings
Importing DimXpert Annotations into Drawings Views Recently we ran into an issue where we wanted the DimXpert annotations in a Drawing using the dimensions that were already place in the model. This is not too hard to do, but the option to do so is not exactly where you would think it would be. I’m going to use a simple part for this example. After you place your View, go back, and select the view and Import options will appear. Select both the Import Annotations, and the DimXpert Annotations boxes Once the check boxes are marked, the dimensions will appear.
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SOLIDWORKS Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet
