As I stated in my last post I have already upgraded to SolidWorks 2008 sp1.0 and guess what, I have already come across a change that has me scratching my head. I am not sure how many of you use the Section View command to look at internal components and take measurements but this is something that our designers are doing quite frequently. In sp1.0 you can no longer Ctrl select 2 edges in an assembly section view and get a measurement by simply selecting the Measure command. You are now required to first select a sectioned face then activate the Measure command and THEN Ctrl select the 2 edges in order to get the dimension. I quickly checked a system at our shop that is still running sp0.0 and it was not this way in that release. Now maybe I am simply overlooking an obvious reason for adding this but this is just another step in my opinion to get the same result that you always got. If I AM overlooking something please let me know.
Archive for November, 2007
And The Reason For Change Is???
Posted by Jason on November 29, 2007
Posted in SolidWorks Updates | 2 Comments »
SolidWorks 2008 SP1.0 Is Live!
Posted by Jason on November 28, 2007
SolidWorks released service pack 1.0 today for SolidWorks 2008. It is live through the SolidWorks Customer Portal in the Downloads and Updates section if you are a subscription service member. This may be the time that your company decides to roll out this new version into production, if this is the case be prepared to plan on some initial time that it will take to get used to the new user interface and all of the new features that this version offers.
I have personally upgraded to SW 2008 sp1.0 from SW 2008 sp0.0 already and I ran into some problems when upgrading using the SolidWorks Installation Manager. It seems to be trying to re-download the entire program as opposed to only the the update files. You have the option to download all of the files manually which is the route that I took on 1 of the computers that I manage and it was a lot quicker, just a little more work. Also be sure to remember that if you are updating from sp0.0 you need to have installed the original version from the DVD and not the online installation.
Have fun with the newest version and I hope to see all of you in San Diego in 2 short months.
Posted in SolidWorks Updates | No Comments »
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Posted by Jason on November 22, 2007
I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful time of year to reflect on all of the things that we have to be thankful for.
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Absolutely Sheer Genius
Posted by Jason on November 20, 2007
Well here I am, at it again. This time it is not a feature that I stumbled across but a co-worker of mine found this useful option. How many of you have wanted the software to be able to display fractional dimensions on drawings that updated with the models. This is something that I have wanted since the day we bought and started using SolidWorks. Well now you have it! When you create a drawing and begin adding dimensions to it you have the option to switch from a decimal call out to a fractional call out. First, you need to add a dimension, then in the feature manager tree go to the “Other” tab on the top. Inside this tab is an “Override Units” Option that when check allows you to select either decimal or fractions. It also has other options like the unit of measure and the denominator and also the option to round to the nearest fraction. If you do not have the round to the nearest fraction option checked the dimension will automatically switch to decimal if the dimension is not a standard fraction. This is a MUST tool to utilize if you have a lot of drawings with fractional dimensions on them. Definitely, try it out!
Posted in SolidWorks Tips and Tricks | 3 Comments »
It Just Keeps Getting Better!
Posted by Jason on November 19, 2007
I know I have been kind of scattering these what’s new and cool in SolidWorks 2008 lately but it has been one of those things where you happen to stumble across something completely by accident and then realize how useful it could become. How many of you have it that you are referencing another SolidWorks model and as soon as you think you have all of the information that you need and close it you find one more feature or dimension that you have to reference. I personally have this little occurrence happen to me all of the time. Today I stumbled across a feature that allows you to quickly access a bunch of the most recent documents (parts, assemblies and drawings) that you have had open. I believe the default keystroke for this feature is “R”, if it is not you are able to quickly check by going to the File menu and looking at the bottom of the fly out at a command called Browse Recent Documents (the keystroke should be to the right of the command in the fly out). This feature when enabled opens a window similar to the window that appears when you Ctrl+Tab between open documents. This is a quick and easy way to get back to files that you had open earlier in the day or SolidWorks session. Give it a try, I think this is something that you could learn to like and use a lot.
Posted in SolidWorks Tips and Tricks | No Comments »
Let’s Come Together And Get This Done!
Posted by Jason on November 13, 2007
At the Midwest Regional User Conference in November a user met up with Lenny Kikstra to discuss a SolidWorks enhancement request. This request was described as a Geometry Lock that would allow you to lock certain parts from being rebuilt every time. This could possibly speed up your design time considerably because of the decreased time it would take to rebuild. To get a full description of this enhancement request check out Lenny Kikstra’s Blog entry entitled Geometry Lock Enhancement Request and be sure to click the pdf link in his post to read a very well prepared proposal by Lloyd Beachy. This is where you, the SolidWorks Community comes in. If you feel that this enhancement request is deserving please visit the SolidWorks Enhancements Request page and take a quick moment to submit this. Thank you so much for your help with this and let’s get this enhancement done.
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
The Due Date Is When???
Posted by Jason on November 11, 2007
Over the past couple of weeks I have done a lot of thinking about how to set up templates for commonly used designs to speed up design time. In the industry that we are in (deep drawn metal stamping) almost all of our jobs have multiple stations that lead to producing the final product. In most cases the majority of these stations are common designs that may only be different by a few dimensions. So with these facts in front of me and multiple due dates all piled on top of each other has forced me to begin thinking about how to speed up my design time so that I can hit ALL of these due dates without a problem. Around a year ago I began to dabble with a product call DriveWorks which is a design automation program that runs inside of SolidWorks. Now at the time I messed around with it the price tag scared our company off having just spent the money to switch to SolidWorks and CamWorks. But here is the kicker, in SolidWorks 2008 SolidWorks has partnered with DriveWorks to incorporate a program called DriveWorksXpress included in the software. Now it just means that I have to find the time to play around with it more and set it up to benefit our company, I do believe this is a breakout session at SolidWorks World that I will have to attend.
If you want more information about this product you need to check out Jeff Mirisola’s Blog because he has just sat through a 3 day training event on DriveWorks.
Posted in SolidWorks Partners | 4 Comments »
It’s Game Time!
Posted by Jason on November 1, 2007
Leave it to SolidWorks it just keep making SolidWorks World more and more appealing. You need to check out what SolidWorks is doing in the Partner Pavilion this year. It looks like they are having a little game with the chance to win a Lenovo ThinkStation Workstation S10. This give away is above and beyond all of the registration discounts they have. So be sure to sign up today because you won’t want to miss your chance at these great deals. I will plan on seeing YOU in sunny San Diego in January.
Posted in SolidWorks World | No Comments »
