Hello! if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the SolidSmack RSS feed or to the free email updates. Thanks for visiting!
What do ya say we cause a little trouble? Last week I made some extremely riveting points about setting up your SolidWorks interface for a better workflow. I’m sure it cause mild shaking and maybe a distant shriek of terror.
However, one thing that frustrates me to the point of making a really disturbing face, while people cringe in disgust around me, is the inability to create your very own custom scene without using PhotoWorks. Lame. Head-butt.
Do you use RealView?
What’s cool about SolidWorks 2008 and 2009 is using RealView when you’re modeling. A nice background scene makes the experience all the more special. Unfortunately, you typically need the PhotoWorks Scene Editor to add Scenes with different backgrounds. (PhotoWorks is a SolidWorks add-on available in Professional and Premium versions.)
Well, it just so happens, that you don’t need PhotoWorks at all, and it’s extremely easy to create your own Scenes with your own backgrounds. Here’s all the files and the steps you need to make it happen.
Continue reading ‘SmackHACK! Custom SolidWorks Scenes without PhotoWorks’
It’s rare, but you just don’t get a highly optimized SolidWorks part by holding your breath and pushing really hard. That’s a chronic medical condition you should probably have tested. It’s time to brush up on that structural engineering and add some interpretive analysis to those fine SolidWorks parts.
SolidWorks in partnership with SOLIDProfessor has launched a site with free exercise, videos and tips for SolidWorks SimulationXpress, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tool included with all version of SolidWorks.
Will this work for you?
You have the options of watching some demo videos to become better acquainted with all the juicy bits of analysis using SimulationXpress or download exercise files to apply loads and deform on your own. Here are some more details.
Continue reading ‘Load. Deform. Free Lessons for Your Parts with SolidWorks SimulationXpress’
I know. It happened here as well. Five people and a large parrot fell over convulsing when they thought of the possibilities.
It’s one thing to use SolidWorks to turn your design and engineering department into a concept-crazy, model churning machine of product-cycle pleasure. It’s quite another to whip that interface into a tool that makes your modeling efforts spew forth profit from the hours save in design.
The difference will amaze you
It is weird… an interface has changed the way I work, and it happened nearly overnight. The difference is most noticeable when I transition back and forth between SolidWorks 2007 and SolidWorks 2009. Have you noticed that? If not, the new interface introduces some changes that may leave you wondering how to use these to optimize your modeling. Here’s what you need to know.
Continue reading ‘Set it UP! Killer SolidWorks Interface, Better Workflow’
What’s the last thing you’re thinking of when you wander into a den of wild asps? …What system is best for running SolidWorks on 64 bit Vista. That does absolutely nothing for your survivability quotient.
It’s a common misconception that SolidWorks doesn’t run very well on 64 bit Vista. If you look into installing Microsoft Vista the experience can be quite the opposite. Now, people are using laptops and desktops loaded with Vista that kick the pants off XP systems.
However, it may help to know exactly what systems works best. So I turn it over to you, the reader.
Have you upgraded? What system do you use? What did you look for when upgrading your hardware? What programs didn’t work? What did you pay? Tell us what your experience in the comments and I’ll repost the findings.
Continue reading ‘Ask the Reader: SolidWorks on Vista 64 bit. Best System Setup? What’s Important?’
There is really an endless amount of interesting object you can make with SolidWorks and a lot of interesting and unusual way to get there. Some readers on the Most Obscure Feature Combo post had excellent ideas and I even got a few via email. This crazy spiral, by Jeff Mowrey (@idesignhaus on Twitter) of Industrial Designhaus, LLC, is one of them.
The way he went about creating it is very well thought out. Have any idea how it was done?
Take a guess in the comments and I’ll post the file for you to download. What about other helix and spiral-type features and parts? Are there easy ways to create them and use them in your designs?
Here’s a few examples for you to have a look at - examples of how you can create some complicated looking spirals within a single feature. Oh, and all the rendered images here… done with Photoview360 - the new rendering engine (from Luxology) that comes packaged with SolidWorks 2009 Professional and Premium. NICE.
Continue reading ‘How the Heck Is This Made? Creating SolidWorks Spirals, Sweeps and Helixes’
