Renaming Configurations

Hey, they have been sneaking a lot of cool things into the SolidWorks service packs during this 2009 release. One of them is the ability to rename configurations.

You can rename a configuration in a part or subassembly even when another open document is referencing the configuration. Previously, you had to close the parent document before renaming the configuration.

Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud...

A couple of SolidWorks releases ago, the company implemented a new way of licensing software called "Activation". This will require SolidWorks and Simulation software to be activated each time the software is installed. You can think of an activated license of SolidWorks as a water molecule that is pulled from a central "cloud" in the sky of SolidWorks.

When you install SolidWorks for the first time, it will ask you to activate the software. This will send encryped computer information to the SolidWorks cloud and the SolidWorks will send you back an activation.

If you change your hard drive out or install SolidWorks on a new computer, you should transfer your license. This will send your currently activation out to the SolidWorks cloud. Then when you install the software on another computer, and activate it again, it will pull an available activation back from the cloud. This is pretty simple to do. Just go to the help menu and choose transfer license and follow the instructions.

If you do no do this, you cannot activate SolidWorks again, EVER! Just kidding... You just need to get ahold of us at the hotline and we can change which computer is granted activation rights.

My newest custom hotkeys... for Drawings!

I'm a bit of a nonconformist. I like to do things my way. So I guess it's good that SolidWorks has a lot of customization options. I'm not a big keyboard guy, having grown up in the Mouse Age in terms of CAD, but I'm a big fan of Alt-Tab and Ctrl-Tab to switch applications or open documents, and I've got a handful of custom hotkeys that I like. Well, I just found 2 more.

I was looking purposelessly at the pull-down menus in SolidWorks the other day and found View - Next Sheet, and View - Previous Sheet. I tried them out in a multi-sheet Drawing and sure enough, they allowed a nice switch between Drawing Sheets! (Double-clicking the FeatureManager is SO MUCH WORK!) But who would want to pull these commands out of a menu? That's so 20 years ago.

So I went on over to Tools - Customize - Keyboard, I did a little search for "sheet" and found the two View commands I had just discovered. "I wonder if you can assign a hotkey to PgUp and PgDn?" I thought.

Yes, you can. It shows up as "Prior" and "Next" within the Customize Keyboard dialog.

So now I've got the PgUp key and the PgDn key to walk up and down through the Sheets in a Drawing. Slick.

SolidWorks 2010 Beta

We are pleased to announce the SolidWorks 2010 Beta Program. You're invited to participate in the testing of SolidWorks 2010 CAD software, SolidWorks Simulation, and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.

The program is open to customers with current subscription service. Only current SolidWorks Enterprise PDM customers with subscription can participate in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Beta.

https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/subscription/betaprograms.htm

Printing to scale, revisited...

If you remember, long ago in a far away place in the land of SolidWorks, one was able to print a drawing selection to scale. The SolidWorks user was whisked to the drawing allowed to move a picture frame on screen to print whatever they wanted to. For some reason this disappeared, for about 6 months. The prodigal print to selection is back! This was added back in SP3 of SolidWorks. Simply go to the "Print" command and you will notice that the "Print Selection" options are back.

In the purgatory between 2008 and 2009 SP3 however, in my dream of printing to scale I asked myself, could this be done in the SolidWorks eDrawings Viewer? And the and answer is a resounding yes. Most of the cool print to scale options are available in the eDrawings viewer as well. It's almost easier to naviagte the print application in eDrawings than it is in SolidWorks itself. Take a look at these options and have fun with them...

SolidWorks Tech Tip: Deleting "Things"

SolidWorks Tech Tip: Deleting Things

Most people know that you can delete lines from a sketch, or features from the Solidworks feature Manager, by pre-electing the object(s) and then simply hitting the DELETE key. But did you know, that over the last 4 years, the programmers have enhanced the intelligence behind the DELETE key, allowing it to react differently in the following situations:

BODIES: If what you have pre-selected are Solid or Surface Bodies, the DELETE key will instead launch the function INSERT - FEATURES - DELETE BODY.

PATTERNS: If what you pre-selected were members of a feature Pattern, the DELETE key will pop-up a dialog asking you if you really wanted to delete the entire pattern, or if instead you wanted to add the selected pattern members to the "SKIP LIST".

SURFACE EDGES: If what you pre-selected was an edge curve from an interior 'hole' in a surface face, the DELETE key will automatically run the function INSERT - SURFACE - UNTRIM, which will 'heal' the surface to eliminate the hole.

SolidWorks Tech Tip: What's Old is New Again: Dynamic Editing

SolidWorks Tech Tip: What's Old is New Again: Dynamic Editing

A function was added in SolidWorks 99 that allows you to dynamically edit features without having to Edit Sketch or Edit Feature definition. This functionality is still there, lurking in the software, waiting to be rediscovered by today's SolidWorks user!

First, to access Move/Size Features, you need to add an icon to your toolbars: Open a part file. Go to Tools - Customize... Click on the Commands tab. Select the Features category of icons. In the third row of icons, look for two small green spheres with four black arrows. Drag and drop that icon onto your toolbar of choice.


Now that you have the icon available, what can you do with it? To use any of the Move/Size Features capabilities, turn on the function by clicking the icon once to activate it. Now, here's what you can do:


Activate the Move/Size Features icon. All of the following behavior will only occur if Move/Size Features is active. Click the icon to activate or deactivate the function:

Move Features. Click on the face of a feature and drag/drop it onto another face (or edge). This works with Extrude, Revolve, Fillet and Chamfer. You have now reassigned the location of the feature to either a new sketch plane (or new edge to fillet/chamfer). Normally you can only drag/drop to move features in this manner if you hold down the Shift key, but with Move/Size Features active you do not need the Shift key.


Size Features. Select the face of an Extrude. Three small green sphere "handles" appear. Drag the one that has two straight arrows sticking from it and you can dynamically change the extrude depth without having to Edit Feature. Cursor feedback tells you the length of the extrude as you drag it. Moving your cursor nearer or further from the extrusion centerline alters the drag increment.



Resize Sketches. Click on the face of a feature, such as an Extrude, that is built from an underderfined sketch. You will see the outline of the sketch highlight in green. You can now immediately drag underdefined sketch geometry to resize the feature without the requirement of using Edit Sketch first.

Modify Sketches. Be very careful with this next use of Move/Size Features since it is difficult to reverse except with Undo. Select a face of an extrude feature. If you drag and drop one of the other two green sphere "handles" (either the one with four arrows or the one with two curved arrows) then you will invoke the Tools - Sketch Tools - Modify command. This allows you to move the sketch of the feature around freely, thus repositioning and/or reorienting the sketch origin.


Dynamic Sketch Editing. Saving the best for last here... If your Move/Size Features icon is active, then you can Edit Sketch immediately by double-clicking the sketch in the FeatureManager. While editing, you will see a golden preview of the feature that updates real-time as you make changes to the sketch.