Graphics Systems SolidNotes

A New Feature I Love: Favorites Folder

 

Example of a long feature tree

If you've ever built a part or an assembly with a long feature tree, you can understand that sometimes that feature tree can be a little difficult to work with.  There isn't really a whole lot that you can do about it, nor is there much the software can do:  large assembly files have a lot of components and complex parts require many features.  Even when you take advantage of subassemblies or folders, you can still end up with a big feature tree that might be a challenge to navigate.

 

Navigating a large feature tree can be a bigger challenge when you have to navigate it while in the PropertyManager for a feature.  You can imagine a scenario where you have to add multiple mates to a single datum plane that is buried deep in your feature tree, and you have to keep digging through the feature tree to find it.  Look at the screen shot to the right, and try to picture yourself digging around for a reference that's embedded in two levels of sub-assemblies.

There is a feature, new to SolidWorks 2013, that is an easy solution to help you find these items easier called the Favorites Folder.  This keeps your favorite features and components in a handy folder at the very top of your Feature Tree, which makes them easy to find and reference later on.

 

 

One of my favorite things about this is how easy it is to find and use.  You can add any sketch, feature or reference geometry to the folder simply by selecting it in your feature tree with your Right Mouse Button and selecting "Add to Favorites".  This will allow you to readily access your favorite references at the top of your feature tree.

 

 

By default, the Favorites Folder is set to show automatically when necessary, just like the Solid Bodies and Surface Bodies folder.  Also, like the Solid and Surface Bodies folders, you can control its visibility through the Hide/Show Tree Items option in your system settings.  Once you have the feature added to your Favorites Folder, it's easy to find atop your Feature Tree instead of having to scroll through.  This also makes it easy to access when you want to edit the feature.

On Design and The Tools Of Our Trade

Every once in a while in this space, I like to depart from the usual technical tips and tricks and think back to not the tool but the reasons for its use. We need to learn the tools of our trade, certainly, but we must also continually learn and refine our craft. We are, after all, designers. SolidWorks is the mechanism by which we translate our ideas into reality. As designers, we are taught to think outside the box. To look at the world a little differently. To see solutions where there were none before. Speaking for myself, I know I have sought and received inspiration from the work of others…perhaps you recall my article in these very pages on a longtime favorite of mine, Brooks Stevens.

Aside from others’ designs, I also enjoy reading their thoughts and perspectives on Design Thinking itself. This month, I thought I would leave you with a couple simply elegant quotations from those I respect and admire:

“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context — a chair in the room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city.”

--- Eliel Saarinen

“It’s art if it can’t be explained. It’s fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It’s design if it doesn’t need explanation.”

--- Wouter Stokkel

 Who are your biggest inspirations, in your work?

 

Using Bend Notes in SolidWorks 2013

SolidWorks 2013 has some very nice enhancements for bend notes. To start, bend notes can now be controlled directly from a selected view’s PropertyManager.

 

Bend notes can also have more information added beyond direction, angle, and radius. Simply click on the buttons below the Bend Note field in the PropertyManager to add information. You can also build up a bend note with your own order and constant text between the bracketed syntax for the bend note information place holders.

 

Under Tools, Options, Document Properties, Sheet Metal, you’ll find the controls for the notes. Changing the style here will change the styles for all the bend notes in the drawing, although you can also select note and adjust them separately.

Don’t forget you can select multiple notes together to change style and position. While this isn’t new in 2013, it’s good to review the options here. See the following examples for some ideas. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

Transactive Memory and 3D Content

I’ve been reading a bit lately about transactive memory.   It’s a theory that basically states that in any organization, the group mind may know something in its entirety although individual members will only know either certain things or how to find the person with the appropriate knowledge.   Collectively, however, it’s an efficient and effective system.

Reading about this has reinforced my belief that the more work we put into obtaining data, the better we remember it.   Have you felt that way?   In the old days, we may have had to drive to a library and pore through volumes of material to find something.   Now, we find that all we need to remember is which file drawer we’ve placed something in, or, in an even more contemporary example, that it comes up at the top of the list in Google if I phrase my search terms in a certain way.

I am a big believer in being familiar with one’s resources.   Reading about memory systems and mnemonic tools has reassured me that this is in fact how the brain works, and indeed it’s safe to say at times it’s less important to remember something  than to know how to find it when needed.

What does this have to do with SolidWorks?

I’m glad you asked.   As trusted advisers, we here at Graphics Systems believe in empowering our customers, and a vital part of our training classes is teaching not only the software but tools for its effective use.    One of those tools is 3D Content Central, a Dassault Systemes SolidWorks hosted site.

 

If you’re about to model any sort of purchased part, check this site out first as there are countless free searchable parts and assemblies available in native SolidWorks format.   Yes, I said “free.”   The only stipulation is you agree to receive an email from the company whose products you’ve downloaded, but that’s a rather small price to pay!   Additionally, you are able to post your own company’s parts for others’ use in their designs…so it’s a win-win situation and the site has spawned quite a user community.  

So, remember those resources at your fingertips, such as 3D Content Central and my.solidworks.com (as was covered in these pages recently by my coworker Dale Rice).  

New SolidWorks 2013 Function: Convert Drawing View to Sketch

Have you ever wanted to take a drawing view and make it into a standard block that you could use in layout drawings? You have a part model, but you only want a 2D “picture” of it? SolidWorks 2013 has a new command that makes this a breeze!

Simply right click on any model drawing view and choose Convert View to Sketch.

 

If you want to define a sketch block, choose that option and set the insertion point as you would any other block you create in SolidWorks.

 

Click to place the block and viola! There’s your block.

Getting Familiar with My.SolidWorks.com

How much time do you spend going from blog to blog, site to site, or checking your twitter feed to get the latest SolidWorks info? SolidWorks introduces my.solidworks.com; an aggregated site that pulls tutorials, tips, and news from across the web to one location.

My.solidworks.com organizes articles, videos, photos, step-by-step tutorials, the latest news, and social media updates in a way that is searchable and allows you to filter based upon topic and source.  It is just the ticket to help you be more productive while searching through online content. Solidworks will be adding more content in phases, so check the site often. Enjoy!

New Right Mouse Button Options in SolidWorks 2013

You’ve been following the media. You’ve subscribed to all the blogs. You’ve even upgraded to SolidWorks 2013 and have been using it regularly. You know that this latest release brought hundreds of new features and enhancements. But…how many have you discovered? It’s so easy, and completely natural, to simply keep using the new version just as you did the last. This is why annual Update training classes, as offered through resellers like ourselves, are among the most valuable investment you can make. There is simply no substitute for instructor-led, hands-on training to show you how you might discover and best apply new features. And frankly, what class could be more fun to take, to make you feel like a kid in a toy store?

Which brings me to a new feature I might never have noticed otherwise – the addition of many new context-sensitive options in the right-click menus. For instance…have you discovered all the depth and direction options now available on the Extrude and Revolve commands? (See Fig. 1)

Fig, 1

There are many more time-saving features where this came from, and they can all be found in a SolidWorks 2013 Update class!

Drawing Template vs. Sheet Format Files in SolidWorks

Ever go to create a drawing template and wind up confused on the difference between a sheet format file and a template file?  Well for most users there's really no reason to worry about the sheet format file because in newer releases of SolidWorks, everything you need for a drawing template is included in the template file. For the sake of understanding though, I'll explain what both of these files are and how they relate to each other. 

The drawing template file is just what you normally think of when you think of a template. It has all your company's standards built into it such as the sheet size, title block appearance, and any settings changed in Document Properties. Once set SolidWorks will use this same template for every drawing you create thereafter.  You save a template file by setting up a drawing based on your company's standards and then doing a File, Save As, and changing the file type to Drawing Template (.drwdot). 

Now when you go to the File menu in a drawing, you'll also notice the command "Save Sheet Format". 

This will let you save out just the sheet format file (.slddrt)...so what is included in the sheet format file?

Well when you are customizing your title block you'll remember in order to edit the title block you have to right click in a drawing and go to Edit Sheet Format...

Everything you edit inside this command (title block, borders, linked properties) are all included in the sheet format file when it's saved out. 

Now like I said before, because the sheet format file is saved within the template file there isn't a reason to save out just the sheet format file. In older versions of SolidWorks the template file was just a blank sheet size and you then had to apply the sheet format file to this blank sheet. Now it is all included in the template file.

If you for some reason you need to change the sheet format of a drawing you right click in a drawing and go to properties and there you can browse to a different sheet format file and use that instead.

Hopefully that clears up any confusion between these two file types.

Finding Your Keys… or, the Top-Level Assembly

The more stuff I have around on my desk, the harder it is to find anything. Like my keys, or my wallet, my glasses…

SolidWorks projects can be like that as well, especially when it comes to assembly files. You can have dozens of assembly files in a folder and forget which on is the “top.” Or perhaps there are a few “tops” in that directory, which makes it even more difficult to find what you’re looking for.

SolidWorks 2013 has a helpful new solution: Quick Filter for Top-Level Assemblies. Rather than just filter your folder view for assembly files, this new option only shows assemblies in the current folder that are at the top-level (that is, they are not used as a subassembly in any other file in the folder). I find it very handy and I hope you do, too! Just follow the screenshots below to see how this works.

All Files Showing: shows all files in the directory. Here I'm seeing parts, subassemblies, drawings, and even non-SolidWorks files.

 

Quick Filter Assemblies: Now I only see assemblies, but they could be top-level or sub-level; basically it is showing files with the .sldasm extension in this folder.

 

Quick Filter Top-Level Assemblies: Here I only see assemblies that are at the top level; .sldasm files that are not subassemblies of any files in this directory.

The Hidden Gem of the Extrude Command

SolidWorks Extrude has a great hidden gem to save you time when you create your models. Let's look at a typical example:

We need to extrude part of our model 2mm away from another face. In this case we don't have a sketch plane we can use. Rather than creating a plane, let's look at the hidden gem!

Here is another look at our dilemma.

Let's review our Extrude dialog box. If you look at the top you see that we have a pull-down menu for "From".

I also took a snap shot of it expanded.

You can use this "From" section in the Extrude dialog box to extrude from your Sketch plane (this is the default), a Surface, Face, or Plane, any Vertex in your part or a Offset. In my example we need to offset the Extrude 2mm so here it is in action.

 

I use the "From" option all the time to save me from have to creat extra reference planes in my parts.