Ever since I watched the SOLIDWORKS 2015 teaser videos at SOLIDWORKS World in January, I knew that the newest release of SOLIDWORKS will be something special. Let me tell you why.

In every new release I look for three very important factors:

1. How many enhancement requests submitted by our team on behalf of our customers are implemented
2. New CAD tools for creating and modifying geometry
3. Productivity enhancements that would boost my modeling speed by a factor greater than 2.

Based on these factors, I can report that I am more than satisfied working with SOLIDWORKS 2015. There are over 250 new enhancements in this version of SOLIDWORKS and it is impossible to mention all the great ones in a single post. Because of that, I will only share my top 20 favorite CAD enhancements (tools that are used for creating new geometry at the part level or locating components in assemblies).

Update: 50% smaller files in SOLIDWORKS 2015!!!

1. “Free” condition for the Width Mates

Cage build with 3 Width mates

This is nothing short of revolutionary, considering the fact that it makes the Linear Limit Mate almost obsolete. Imagine being able to limit the range of movement of any part in the space defined by faces belonging to one or two components for each direction. You can even create a cage to contain any component by using just three Width Mates.

Oh, the joy of selecting solid faces instead of typing numbers for the limit mate! I no longer need to measure first and input non-parametrical numbers. More importantly, I will no longer be afraid of mates flipping.

2. Enhanced end conditions for the Move Face feature

Again, reducing the need to use numbers and using geometry as end conditions,  in addition to the Blind end condition, we can now use:

• Up to Vertex
• Up to Surface
• Offset from Surface
• Up to Body

3. 3D Spline on Multiple Faces

While some might consider it a small enhancement, since only surfacing specialists seem to currently use the 3D Spline, I assure you that this new functionality will be extremely useful for any mechanical designer. Mastering this tool is an absolute must for any user who wants to get a productivity boost of 10x or more in conjunction with the new Variable Pattern. You will see exactly what I mean in the following days through our What’s Really New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 video series.

4. Variable Patterns

All cut-outs are the result of applying one variable pattern

There is probably no other group of features that got such important enhancements as the patterns in the last three releases of SOLIDWORKS. The Varying Dimension Patterns where a game changer in SOLIDWORKS 2013 and the Pattern Driven Patterns added an extra productivity boost in SOLIDWORKS 2014.

Now, we get to save even more time by using the new Variable Pattern. Used properly, these patterns can reduce a 200 feature long tree to just 3 features, while still creating extremely complex geometry. Moreover, for those who are scared of loosing the modularity provided by multiple features, you will find that the way this pattern is defined allows for incredible customization.

If you need to apply the pattern on a non-planar surface, learning how to use the new 3D Spline on Surface is a must.

5. Asymmetric Fillets

Asymmetric Fillet

After getting the conic fillets in 2014, we get more control over fine-tuning the blend between 2 or more faces. Imagine the Chamfer controls applied to fillets.

You also have a choice between a pure elliptical surface or you can modify it further by controlling the conic Rho parameter.

6. Flattening Surface Bodies

This is a request submitted many times by our customers and finally this functionality is now part of SOLIDWORKS 2015. It is not a complete replacement for specialized sheet metal flattening add-ons like Logopress or fabric flattening solutions like ExactFlat, but it does a good job of flattening shapes outside of the SOLIDWORKS sheet metal module’s capabilities.

Not only you get the flat body, but you can also take a look at the Deformation Plot.in order to see the areas where the surface is compressed or stretched.

7. Delete/Keep Body

Another small enhancement with a huge productivity boost potential. I find this most useful after running an Intersect command and getting a zillion undesired little bodies that are hard to select in order to be deleted. In SW 2015, I can simply select the bodies I want to keep and the software will just get rid of the rest.

Works very similar with the options from the Mutual Trim Surfaces command.

8. Create Assembly from Multibody part with proper instance control (identical bodies are recognized as different instances of the same component).

There are a lot of situations where using the Master Part technique for creating all the components of an assembly could not only provide 90% time savings, but it might be the only way to get the job done.

There was only one big problem in SOLIDWORKS 2014: when trying to create an assembly from a multibody part using the Save Bodies command, each body will generate a distinct component, with its own file, regardless whether some components where identical or not.

This problem has been solved in SOLIDWORKS 2015; the user has the option to save identical bodies as different instances of the same component. As a result the distinction between multibody modeling and assembly modeling has been blurred to the point where a user has to master both techniques in order to choose the one that would provide the maximum efficiency for each particular job.

As an example, I can now create an assembly for a welded frame in minutes instead of hours.

9. B-Spline to Style Spline conversion (and vice versa)

Spline Conversion

In a nutshell, the B-Splines are easy to create but the smoothness of their curvature is hard to control. The Style Splines provide beautiful C3 curvature, but they are hard to locate properly.

Now you can start tracing a picture using a B-Spline and, when you are happy with the result, you can quickly convert it to a Bezier Spline to insure the perfect smoothness.

All product designers and industrial designers will love this new functionality.

10. Chain Pattern in Assemblies

Chain

This is huge for all the designers of mechanisms who need to simulate roller chains, energy chains and power transmission components. In the past they would try to use the Curve Driven Pattern to model a chain, but that was a very laborious process and simulating the movement of the chain was almost impossible.

The new Chain Pattern allows for quick and precise creation of such chains and, even more impressive, they can be dragged with the mouse to simulate their function.

11. Create equidistant points on a sketch entity or splitting a sketch entity in equidistant segments

Just another great time saver. I will use this functionality a lot in speeding up the process of creating sketch patterns.

12. Equal spacing option for the Linear Pattern

This functionality has been craved by users for a long time. We could use the curve driven pattern as a workaround, but it is great to be able to do it directly from inside the linear pattern feature.

13. More Robust Angle Mates (no more undesired flipping)

Another enhancement that would save hours and hours of troubleshooting mates. Now we can add a reference direction to help prevent angle mates from flipping unexpectedly.

14.  Profile Center Mate

This is huge! With one mate you can now locate components based on the center of their faces. Based on my tests, circular or polygonal profiles (with equal length segments) are supported.

15. Replace all missing mate references in failed mates

Another important time saver! When you repair a mate with a missing reference, a dialog prompts you to repair other mates with the same missing reference.

16. The Split tool works now for all type of bodies: solid or surfaces

This very simple functionality will replace at least 3 features in the tree (offset + trim + trim). Not only it is a great time saver, but is much more logical and intuitive than the old technique.

17. Visualization Tool for References

Mate Relationships in Assemblies

Clear Parent-Child Relationships in Parts

This will provide further clarification about the parent-child relations in parts and assemblies. It is a thing of beauty!

18. Create Selection Sets

You can now create and save selection sets of multiple entities. Imagine CTRL+selecting multiple edges only once and using them in multiple features.

Great time saver!

19. Access to the Previous Selection

A small but… huge one! I cannot count how many times I wasted time (sometime even minutes) by making a mistake in clicking and loosing a huge CTRL+Selection set… That is no longer possible in SOLIDWORKS 2015!!!

20. Sheet Metal Loft on Non-Parallel Faces

You can create bent lofted bends from sketches on non-parallel planes. Previously, the planes had to be parallel.

To Learn More About SOLIDWORKS 2015

Starting tomorrow, we invite you to watch every day a new episode of the “What’s Really New in SOLIDWORKS 2015″ video series on the Javelin YouTube Channel in order to see these new tools in action.

We also invite you to attend live demonstration of SOLIDWORKS 2015 in October. Reserve your seat at an Event in a Canadian city near you. Register now, as space is limited.

The post SOLIDWORKS 2015 is here! My Favorite Top 20 CAD Enhancements appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

With every release of SolidWorks, we gain new methods of customizing the user interface to our specific needs – the 2015 release of SolidWorks is no different in this regard.

We can now Customize Context Sensitive Popup Menus / Right-Click Menus within the Graphics Area. This allows us to bring commonly used commands closer to our fingertips while modeling.

I can sum this enhancement with an equation:

Less travel around the graphics area = more productivity for you!

Take a skim through the following video clip to find out how:

For example, adding the Hole Wizard command to the context sensitive pop-up menu makes it easier to add holes to your model. Selecting a face on the model will then show the toolbar with your custom Hole Wizard icon taking you straight into the command without the need to select the tool from the CommandManager or use the “S” key.

To learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2015

Attend a Canadian SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event in a city near you this October to experience live demonstrations of SOLIDWORKS 2015 and integrated 3D solutions; so you gain a better understanding of how SOLIDWORKS can make your product design process even more productive.

Register for a SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015! – Customize Context Sensitive Popup Menus within the Graphics Area [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

It’s laundry day today, and when I took my white shirt from the wash, I noticed it looking rather grey. While I could just add bleach to my laundry cycle, it made me think that I notice the same thing happen in SolidWorks. Of course, I can’t put my laptop in the washing machine with bleach, so there must be a better way.

Many people don’t realize that this is actually occurring due to the lighting conditions in the part file. The ambient light is often set quite low as to allow for better lighting effects, but this means that you are effectively looking at the part in the dark. This means that what should appear white will actually look grey because it is white in a dark room. I need to turn on the lights. Watch this video:

As you can see, by increasing the Ambient Light, I was able to get my whites looking their whitest (I sound like a laundry commercial). In case you didn’t catch the sequence of clicks, here it is again:

How to get access to Ambient Light settings

Now, after this is set, you can save this as your template and you won’t have to come into this setting each time. Enjoy!

The post “SolidWorks with Bleach!” Or “Who Turned out the Lights?” – Increasing the Ambient Light in your parts appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SolidWorks is getting better every year through great enhancements, but they always strive to increase the quality and stability of the product at the same time.  You can help by joining the Customer Experience Improvement Program that will send logs and information about your SolidWorks session automatically in the background.  The information is treated as strictly confidential, and no model data or other computer program information is included.  And this won’t affect your performance in any way.

For more information, browse to http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/customer-experience-improvement-program.htm

To enable this setting, open SolidWorks and go to Tools > Options > System Options tab > General > “Help make SolidWorks products better by automatically sending your log files to DS SolidWorks Corporation”.

General Options – Customer Experience

Not only will this provide important statistics to SolidWorks, but with this option enabled you can also access these stats from computers at your company using the new CAD Admin Dashboard that was introduced in SolidWorks 2013.  Simply log into your Customer Portal account and go to CAD Admin Dashboard.  Here is the help documentation on the CAD Admin Dashboard.  Here is a video demonstrating the CAD Admin Dashboard functionality.  The data collected can be used to troubleshoot performance issues and stability by providing reports of each users sessions.

The post Join the SolidWorks Customer Experience Improvement Program appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Split Surfaces by Sketch, Plane or Surface. Resulting bodies can be saved as individual parts.

As we climb up the steep hill that is the list of new enhancements to SOLIDWORKS 2015, I wanted to peddle backwards for a moment to a feature that is a tad underused by most SolidWorks users – The Split Feature.

This tool gives us the ability to create multiple Solid Bodies within a SolidWorks file by chopping them into bits. In prior releases the “Cutting” of bodies was limited to Solids. This is not the case in SOLIDWORKS 2015 as we can now use a surface to “Split” another surface. Again widening the possibilities we have to generate our models more efficiently.

To learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2015

Attend a Canadian SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event in a city near you this October to experience live demonstrations of SOLIDWORKS 2015 and integrated 3D solutions; so you gain a better understanding of how SOLIDWORKS can make your product design process even more productive.

Register for a SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015! – The Split Feature can now split Surface Bodies! [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Sometimes you want to add an angular dimension from the vertical or horizontal, but there isn’t anything nearby from which to dimension.  SolidWorks 2015 now gives you the ability to dimension between a line and an imaginary horizontal or vertical line.  A reference crosshair appears when you select a line and one of its endpoints, giving you the option to select the vertical or horizontal.

The post SOLIDWORKS 2015 Tutorial – Improved Angle Dimensions [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Tell your IT department the good news. There is no need to buy bigger hard drives this year! Better use the money to send you and your colleagues to those advanced SOLIDWORKS training courses you always asked for.

SOLIDWORKS 2015 files (sldprt and sldasm) are about half the size compared to the 2014 format! You might be even able to attach them to emails again.

I did a quick experiment yesterday upgrading the file set of a large assembly to SOLIDWORKS 2015. Take a look at the results:

45% file size reduction in SOLIDWORKS 2015

How much space will you save on your Vault or your local drive after upgrading to SOLIDWORKS 2015? Please let us know by commenting on this article.

The post Do not buy a larger hard drive! Upgrade to SOLIDWORKS 2015! appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

How often do you need to add a linear pattern to fill a length with a specific number of instances?  Or perhaps you need to fill a length with specific spacing, but you need it to automatically determine the number of instances that are required?

In the past, we would use the Curve Driven Pattern feature to follow a sketch line and choose the “Equal Spacing” option to fill the length with instances.  Here is an older blog post covering that workflow.  Or we would create equations to control the number of instances to add, at a specific spacing,  based on the length.

Now in SOLIDWORKS 2015, both scenarios can be accomplished automatically in the updated Linear Pattern feature.  The “Selected Reference” option gives you more control for those asymmetric profiles.

SOLIDWORKS 2015 – Linear Pattern – Up to Reference

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 – Equal Spacing Option for Linear Patterns with Reference Geometry [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

The Width Mate has become even better in SolidWorks 2015.  There are three new Constraint options in this mate.  Rather than just having the component centered between the width references, you can now control the movement and position between them.

SOLIDWORKS 2015 – Width Mate Constraints

Constraints:

• Centered – centers the Tab selections between the Width selections (same behaviour as previous versions)
• Free – allows free movement of the Tab up to the Width references (like a limit mate but between the two Width references)
• Dimension – provide a distance dimension from either Width reference (must remain within the Width references)
• Percentage – provide a percentage of travel from either Width reference (0 to 100%)

Watch this video for a demonstration of the usefulness of this updated mate:

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 – New Constraints in the Width Mate [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

When speaking with folks who are new to the SolidWorks sphere of influence, I will typically mention the ability to make fast and accurate selections as primary skill to focus upon when learning SolidWorks.

This latest release of SolidWorks will help everyone accelerate their ability to make selections with the new Select by View option.

Have a look at the video below to see this functionality in action!

To learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2015

Attend a Canadian SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event in a city near you this October to experience live demonstrations of SOLIDWORKS 2015 and integrated 3D solutions; so you gain a better understanding of how SOLIDWORKS can make your product design process even more productive.

Register for a SOLIDWORKS 2015 Launch Event

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 Professional! – Select By View [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SolidWorks 2015 now gives you more control when deleting components out of assemblies.  In SolidWorks 2013, there was a change to the functionality such that selecting a component in an assembly and pressing Delete would delete just the component that was selected.  If the component was contained in a subassembly, it would delete the component from that subassembly.  Before that, selecting and deleting a component would remove the entire subassembly that included the selected components from the top-level assembly.

Now in SolidWorks 2015, when you select a component(s) and delete, a pop-up dialog is displayed allowing you to choose if you want the entire subassembly removed from the top-level, or if you want to delete just the component from the subassembly from where it is located.

Choose what you want to delete

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 – A Choice When Deleting Components from Assemblies [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Perhaps you need to open a part or a subassembly from an assembly and make some modifications in a specific area.  And when you were in the assembly, you had rotated around to find the area you needed to work on.  Now in SolidWorks 2015, you can open the model in the position that it was viewed at.  This can also be selected from a drawing to open it in the orientation as seen in the drawing view.

Open Model in Position

The post New in SolidWorks 2015 – Open Model in Position [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

I was recently asked how to flatten a sheet metal part in SolidWorks that interferes with itself. The short answer is that SolidWorks Sheet Metal is not designed to do this. Of course, as is often the case with SolidWorks, where there’s a will there’s a way!

In this example, I am trying to model up a binder clip (one of those black springy paperclips with the wire tabs that people have 101 uses for). It’s made of spring steel, so I want to bend it beyond where I want it so that there is always tension within the final product. This means that my design model will have interference. Or maybe I just needed a non-proprietary example of where you would use this.

So, as you can see, I modeled up half of my part, then used the Unfold command to flatten it so that I could create more features while it was out of my way. In this example, I created a mirror feature because my part was symmetric, but I could have created a flange or a hem or any other sheet metal feature. When I’m done, I can use the Fold command to get the first part of my design back to where it should be.

The post Flatten a Sheet Metal Part That Has Intentional Interference [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SOLIDWORKS users occasionally come across a sheet metal drawing view that displays formed (bent) part instead of flat pattern. Here is the explanation of a common mistake that causes this problem.

SolidWorks creates flat pattern configuration when the drawing of a sheet metal part is generated. The only difference compared to the main configuration is that the flat-pattern feature is unsuppressed in the flat pattern configuration. Design changes should be made in the main/default configuration.

Flat Pattern Feature

It is a common practice for many SOLIDWORKS users to right-click on a drawing view and use the Open command to access the part. Specific to sheet metal flat pattern drawing views is that accessing the model this way activates the right configuration of the model.

Open Part from Flat Pattern View

Unaware of the configuration change and wanting to edit the model, users sometimes toggle the Flatten option or manually suppress the flat pattern feature in the FeatureManager Design Tree. While the model may appear correct, the problem becomes obvious in the drawing document where the flat pattern view no longer shows flat pattern, but a formed part.

The way to correct the flat pattern view in this scenario is to access the model, activate the flat-pattern configuration and unsuppress the flat-pattern feature.  To avoid the problem, after accessing it from the flat pattern drawing view, it is sufficient to switch to the configuration tab and activate the main configuration of the part.

Switch to Main/Default Configuration

The post Why Would SOLIDWORKS Flat Pattern Drawing View Display the Formed Part Instead? appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

With the release of SolidWorks 2015 and SolidWorks Enterprise EPDM 2015, some virtual environments are now supported. Below is a list of which virtual environments are supported and which SolidWorks programs are supported in these environments.

Notes:

• Virtual environments force SOLIDWORKS, eDrawings, and DraftSight to run in Software OpenGL mode resulting in significant graphics performance degradation.

The post SOLIDWORKS and EPDM 2015 – List of Supported Virtual Environments appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

For years, the ability to create a realistic thread in SolidWorks was something of artistic fantasy; a way to demonstrate your proficiency in SolidWorks. The rebuild times on a small assembly would be long enough to get a warm beverage, and on larger assemblies it would be long enough for me to fly somewhere on vacation. Nevertheless, with the arrival of 3D Printers, the need to create very accurate 3D CAD models of threaded parts is less fantasy and more reality. Of course, there are no shortage of videos out there demonstrating how to model threads in SolidWorks. However, to my knowledge, none of them focus on any sort of “best practices” for creating a thread for 3D Printing.

Some testing we had previously done here at Javelin led us to some pretty complex calculations regarding offsets and gaps at Maximum Material Condition (MMC), but at the end of the day we found that the most reliable method was just to model up the threads slightly oversize, then run the printed part through a tap and die set. Having the threads already modeled up helped to guide the part into the die for a “final” cut. This would also allow it to work accurately with traditionally manufactured parts.

Here’s a video showing how to add the threads to an M6x1.0 Socket Head Cap Screw (SHCS):

Rather than use up a bunch of time making the body for my screw, I was able to simply open the appropriate fastener from the Toolbox by right-clicking on it and choosing Create Part from the menu. This allowed me to configure it to the desired size.

For more information about the utility I used to turn off the Toolbox flag for the part, please refer to this blog article.

To create the thread, I started by creating my Profile sketch. This would ideally come from a standards manual (such as the Machinery Handbook), not made up on the spot as I had done – particularly if you are not planning on using a tap and die set. I made sure to position it in such a way that it will begin cutting in space, rather than in contact with the part. This just protects against rebuild errors at the start of the cut. Then, I created a helix first by sketching a circle, then by using the Helix\Spiral command (Insert > Curve > Helix/Spiral). If it important to locate your helix in such a way that it starts on your sketch plane. This will result in the most predictable behaviour when creating a swept cut. If it does not start on the sketch plane, you will get a swept cut that goes in two directions, which can be difficult to manage. After you have your Profile sketch and your Path (the helix), create a Swept Cut.

I used a Revolved Cut for the undercut, but if you are 3D printing this then the undercut may be unnecessary (depending on your design intent, of course).

The post Creating Threads in SolidWorks for 3D Printing [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Vote

It must be very easy being a SOLIDWORKS Product Development Manager nowadays. The users are pretty much doing your job.

It is that time of the year again, when all SOLIDWORKS users are invited to vote for the Top 10 Enhancement Ideas to be revealed next month at the SOLIDWORKS World 2015 conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

This year the SOLIDWORKS Community was very busy brainstorming and submitting ideas for improving our beloved CAD software. There were almost 1000 ideas submitted and, even more impressive, most of them have many comments and suggestions for clarifying the scope and the implementation workflow.

Some users took the time to read and vote on all 972 ideas and even added comments, but I know that most people are too busy to do that. So I narrowed down the list to only 20 ideas I believe would have a big impact in our productivity when using the core functionality of SOLIDWORKS. I am sure my colleagues who love Simulation or EPDM will list their own suggestions in the following days.

All ideas are linked to the voting page, so just login to my.solidworks.com and click on each of them in order to vote.

Note: I kept the original spelling used by the authors of these ideas.

1. Display the exact item being cause of the error

Can you imagine how much time we will save during troubleshooting if the item causing the error would be clearly highlighted in the graphic area?

2. Selecting inner loops on a selected face

This is huge! At this time if you want to select all the holes in a face for Convert or Offset Entities you have to work hard.

Richard Laflamme and I found a few workarounds for speeding this process (to be demonstrated at SolidWorks World next month during the 12 Different Ways to Create Inter-Part Relations in SOLIDWORKS 2015 presentation - 10:30 AM on February 11th), but adding this functionality would be so much faster and more elegant.

3. Use CUDA or OpenCL for computationally intensive tasks

We have very powerful videocards but SOLIDWORKS uses a tiny fraction of their power. Let’s unleash their potential.

4. Variable Pull direction draft

This is self explanatory and would save a lot of time when creating complex surfaces.

5. Both Direction Pattern

For a bi-directional pattern that has the seed in the center, this will reduce the number of features in half. Great idea, Deepak!

6. Patterns should be able to use normal to planes for directions

Another great time saver for patterns. Eliminate the need to create auxiliary geometry for providing directions.

7. Untrim surface – keep untrimmed portion separate

This is a great idea that would save about 5 features!

8. Automatically Reattach Dangling Dimensions

Another great time saver. Let the software propose the best way to re-attach dimensions and have the user confirm or infirm that.

9. Get the same options when you select mutiple dimensions as when you select a single dimension

Just a great time saver.

10. Unknit surfaces; separate surfaces at edges

I wanted this functionality from the moment I started playing with surfaces and imported geometry.

11. Ability to choose Angle/Distance dimension with Smart Dimension tool

Read the comments, it makes a lot of sense.

12. Need “Motion Envelope” to show volume occupied by bodies/components when moving between positions

We already have this functionality in SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual. A lot of us would welcome its implementation in SOLIDWORKS!

13. Option for Exploded View to auto-create route lines

This is a no-brainer that can be implemented very easy (I assume).

14. Preselecting a slot face should default to a Slot mate

That would save us so much time!

15. Comand button to create flat configuration without having to place the “flat-pattern view on a drawing

Great time saver and also would make the software more intuitive (beginners have difficulties discovering the current workflow)

16. Optimized spline with minimum max-curvature

If you work with splines, you would love this idea!

17. link Gage value to custom property

So many of my customers are asking for this functionality!!!

18. Add feature dimension(s) to Move/Copy Bodies command

At this time we cannot configure the distance that a body would move. The fix should be simple and I am sure SOLIDWORKS will listen to you!

19. Update Graphics Driver During Version Upgrade

Applications Engineers and IT specialists would cheer and applaud if this will get implemented. Please vote for this idea!

20. Ability to save only the Speedpak configuration

This is one of the most helpful ideas for collaboration between companies I have ever seen. Not only you can protect intellectual property this way, but your customer would still have all the relevant data needed to integrate your components in their assemblies.

Please Vote and encourage your colleagues to read and vote!

The bottom line is: SOLIDWORKS listens to you! Tell SOLIDWORKS what you want!

The post 20 SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Ideas to Vote for! (in case you are too busy to read all 972 submissions) appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

There are many cases as designers that we are simply looking to get a job done – generally seeking the most efficient way possible. The ability to use the center of a geometric profile to provide a feature against which to mate, definitely falls within the efficiency category.

As opposed to using planes, axis and other reference geometry to locate and mate parts – one simple selection can be made.

The post New Mates in SOLIDWORKS 2015: Mate to Profile Center [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

A common concern I hear when presenting SOLIDWORKS Simulation is whether or not the results are accurate. This is a difficult – if not impossible – thing to prove without empirical data to back up the results. To reassure those concerned, I usually rely upon the ‘Validation Examples’ included in SOLIDWORKS and verified by NAFEMS, which may or may not leave the audience more confused in the end. In an attempt to fully explain NAFEMS and why it should be reassuring, I present you my latest blog installment.

Who is NAFEMS?

Let’s start with a short history on NAFEMS and an explanation of what they do. NAFEMS was founded in 1983 as a response to exactly what I was mentioning in the introduction of this article: concern over the reliability and accuracy of FEA results. Glad to hear it’s not just me!

As increased computing power became more widely available in the 70’s and 80’s, FEA adoption and use became more prevalent. The relatively quick adoptions lead to inexperienced users as well as questionable code and accuracy. It was at this time the UK Government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) funded a project within the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL) to investigate these issues. This was the beginning of NAFEMS, or the National Agency for Finite Element Methods and Standards.

Simulation Benchmarks

The initial aim of NAFEMS, and the way in which it relates to SOLIDWORKS, was to develop standard ‘benchmarks’ to which codes could be compared. In the most recent release of SolidWorks there are over 50 NAFEMS benchmarks compared over 6 different categories.

NAFEMS Benchmarks

Sample Results

For each benchmark you’re presented with the theoretical result and those found in SOLIDWORKS Simulation. A screenshot from one such benchmark (Vibrations of a Simply-Supported Thin Annular Plate) can be seen below:

Benchmark Results Example

What about numerical discrepancy?

As expected, there is some amount of discrepancy, but we all understand FEA is a numerical method intended to give approximate solutions, right?  Numerical discrepancy could be the subject of another blog entry, but in most cases being within ±5 percent will provide engineers confidence to make positive design decisions.

Today NAFEMS goes beyond benchmarks; they are involved in many aspects including advocating for simulation use, education, and training of best practice techniques. Take a look at the NAFEMS website if you’d like to learn more. In addition to NAFEMS, other organizations are entering this realm including ISO and AFNOR, the French national organization for standards.

Now, if I could just figure out how to pronounce ‘NAFEMS’ properly…

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation Accuracy (?) appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Sometimes the best path between two points is a curve!

Among the many new features of SOLIDWORKS 2015 is the ability to apply spline based leaders.

Take a look at the video below to see how you can apply a spline based leader to your annotations in SOLIDWORKS.

The post New in SOLIDWORKS 2015 – Spline Based Leaders [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.