Improved 3D PDF Dimensions and Annotations

One of my favorite enhancements is the improvement in the display of our dimensions and other annotations. These are now viewable in the 3D views and viewports, with no data loss. This also applies to 3D PDFs showing component dimensions, feature dimensions, and DimXpert annotations.

Modify Datum for Auto Dimension Schemes

It is very common to use the Auto Dimension Scheme when you’re starting your MBD project. This tool gives us plenty of options, including Plus and Minus or Geometric Tolerancing types. For this prismatic part, we can define the datum planes by model faces. For the primary Datum, we use these four top faces together as a group. The side and bottom faces of the model will round up the selection of the Secondary and Tertiary Datums.

Next, we need to identify the model features that we want to define the tolerancing of. We do this by selecting the faces of the cuts, extrusions, and other features. Once complete, SOLIDWORKS indicates which faces are adequately toleranced with green shading.

Now, we need to modify the part design to add a boss in the middle. Looking at our tolerance status after this change, SOLIDWORKS isn’t highlighting the new geometry in green like the rest of the model.

Now, in SOLIDWORKS MBD 2023, we can edit features of items like our previously created datums. This makes it easy to add the top face of this new extrusion to the existing group of faces that represent the Primary Datum.

SOLIDWORKS MBD Wedge Feature Support

Let’s look at the cut-out at the top edge of this part. Here, we have two opposing nonparallel faces. I have some great news for you. SOLIDWORKS MBD 2023 now supports wedge features! We can use wedge geometry to define a geometric tolerance or even create a wedge datum.

Added ISO Standard Symbols

It is well known that SOLIDWORKS has a massive library of symbols. In 2022, SOLIDWORKS added additional Tolerance symbols. Well, SOLIDWORKS MBD 2023 takes this to a whole new level. You can now apply ISO 14405-1:2016 standards-based symbols to dimensions and tolerances. You can easily add these symbols straight from the symbol library, or from the Tolerance Modifier section in the DimXpert Property Manager.

MBD Helps with “Hanging” Dimensions

Here is another excellent enhancement to SOLIDWORKS MBD 2023. This machined part contains holes in overhanging geometry. It is easy to define a locating dimension to call out the vertical position of this hole. Once placed, the annotation can be difficult to interpret due to the dimension’s extension line terminating out in space.

Now, in SOLIDWORKS 2023, we have a new setting that controls the display of the dimension in this situation. In the DimXpert section of our Document Properties, we have several Display Options.

Enabling this new option for “Connect Dimension Extension Lines to Model” can make this annotation much easier to understand.

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2023. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2023. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Greg Buter
Application Engineer Manager
Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2022 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests

Design Innovation Month is CATI’s “What’s New in 2023” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D Printing & 3D Scanning technology. This year we’re going back to the future to bring you in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes! Best of all, it’s free of charge! Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.

Assembly Pattern – Configurable Instance to Skip

Creating assembly patterns can save time and maximize proficiency. In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, multiple configurations paired with multiple pattern features made it difficult to create the different permutations without extra features that feel…. redundant.

Now in SOLIDWORKS 2023 designers have the option to configure the instances to skip in the assembly patterns. Additionally, you can select the options for specifying which configurations are affected by those skipped instances.

Component Replace – Level of Replacement Control

For this roller assembly, we may want to switch the roller to a type with a rubberized wheel. The Replace Component command in 2023 now allows you to replace a single bearing, all the bearings in the top-level assembly, or all instances of that bearing in every level of that complete assembly. A preview window opens to provide feedback, ensuring accuracy when replacing components.

Assembly Mates – Automatic Repair Mates

During the “replace” command a rebuild error occurs. A simple mismatched face ID can derail your productivity. With SOLIDWORKS 2023, you will be excited to see a new “Auto Repair” feature built right into the context toolbar. It’s also found in the right-mouse-click menu of the mate group. The Auto Repair looks for a similar Face, Edge, Vertex, or Reference Geometry and attempts to reattach the missing items. This is a huge time saver for keeping your mates and SOLIDWORKS 2023 assemblies error-free.

BOM Part Numbers – Document Property for Default Part Number

Along with the new features making assembly configurations even more useful, our Bill of Materials has new features as well. In SOLIDWORKS 2023, a new Document property is available for the Default part number to be used in a BOM for a new configuration. You can save this setting in your template, ensuring everyone uses the correct company standard part number every time.

Assembly Features

We often need to provide access to hardware by cutting several components. An assembly cut is perfect in this situation. Even better, in 2023, we have all the standard end conditions available to us – the same as in part modeling mode.

With the feature scope modified we will add this cut to the downstream parts by using the “Propagate feature to parts”. New in SOLIDWORKS 2023, the feature scope automatically removes Toolbox components. This makes sure you don’t add unwanted features to off-the-shelf fasteners.

Optimized Resolved Mode

I’ve always suggested using lightweight mode as part of achieving maximum performance for your daily use of SOLIDWORKS. But in many cases, this requires switching between lightweight and resolved modes via context toolbars or right-mouse clicks.

In SOLIDWORKS 2023, you now have the new system option for “optimize resolved mode automatically”. This improves performance by selectively using lightweight technology when you load components in resolved mode. SOLIDWORKS hides the options for lightweight and resolved modes as the components load as resolved. Lightweight states also don’t appear in the feature tree. This allows you to focus on design and maximize your performance, while leveraging this amazing feature in 2023.

STEP Files – Save as Multiple Files

Sending very large STEP files to customers and vendors can sometimes lead to project delays due to download issues with sizable files. Based on your enhancement requests, new in SOLIDWORKS 2023, a step file export option has been added to saved assemblies as multiple files. With this enabled, SOLIDWORKS saves STEP files for the top level, sub-assembly, and individual parts. This reduces the number of file download timeouts and project delays.

With more flexible and powerful assembly features, automatic mate repair, and optimized resolved mode, SOLIDWORKS 2023 is looking up to be an amazing release for assembly designers when it comes to performance, functionality, and workflow.

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2023. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2023. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Bob McGaughey
Sr. Application Engineer, Strategic Solutions
Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2022 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests

Design Innovation Month is CATI’s “What’s New in 2023” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D Printing & 3D Scanning technology. This year we’re going back to the future to bring you in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes! Best of all, it’s free of charge! Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.

It’s October, so it’s time to continue with our What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2023 blog series! Today, I’m going to walk through my domain of SOLIDWORKS – data management. I’ll let Joe Frank handle Manage, so today, I’m going to talk about What’s New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023. There are several great enhancements that make life easier for administrators, the vault easier to navigate for users, and some other fantastic quality-of-life improvements.  You can watch this content in video format as well:

Let’s kick this off by talking about our login process for the administration tool.

Automatic login to the admin tool

Starting off with our What’s New in PDM trip, I’ll give the administrators a little love. Not every administrator sits around working in the admin tool all day long. Most are everyday engineers that occasionally go behind the scenes and make changes. A small headache every admin deals with is that logging into the vault view doesn’t log you into the Administration tool. Well, new in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023, we have auto-login and it’s configurable! For PDM, you can automatically log in as the active Windows user (Active Directory, PDM Professional only) or set the tool to log in as a specific user. It removes a step for any administrator that just needs to make a simple change. Who doesn’t love that?

Control Logic Indicator

Control logic is a great way to augment your data cards. They let you create conditions for how PDM populates values and gives you ultimate control. But it’s not always clear where you’re using it. For example, in PDM 2022, I could have control logic setup on 4 fields on my card. However, I have no way of knowing that without writing it down somewhere. New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 though, we see indicators on our data card, showing which controls use control logic and which ones do not. This is immensely helpful for environments with multiple administrators or if you aren’t regularly modifying your cards. Now you have clear notes about which controls use logic and which ones do not.

Tooltips for data cards

I’ve talked about being a DriveWorks Professional more than once. I think it’s an amazing tool that anybody can use. One of the things that I like the most about the user interface is the tooltips. Tooltips are basically mini-instructions to help you find your way. They tell you how fields should populate and let you understand your environment. But I’m not here to talk about DriveWorks.

Nope, all of that was a setup because now SOLIDWORKS PDM offers the same thing! For all the same reasons, tooltips are a welcome enhancement in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023. Now when you fill in your data cards, you can be confident that the information you type is exactly what it’s supposed to be. No more cleanup later for the administrators! (Okay, maybe a little bit, but hopefully less now).

File retrieval log

I’ve been wondering when we would see this one! SOLIDWORKS PDM is a great tool for managing which users have access to files. However, we’ve never had a native SOLIDWORKS PDM tool that tracks which users are retrieving files. Sure, we have tools like CacheMeter to help with this, but it would be nice to at least monitor these actions in the PDM interface. Now we can! With the file retrieval log on the PDM server, we can easily see which users retrieve which files, the pinged archive server, and the client machine IP address.

Encrypted file traffic between archive server and client

Speaking of file security, one of the biggest questions I’m asked with SOLIDWORKS PDM revolves around file encryption. Prior to 2023, you could encrypt traffic between the SQL Server and Client machines, but not between the archive server and clients. Now, SOLIDWORKS PDM encrypts file traffic between the archive server and the client machines, further protecting your intellectual property.

Windows 11 support

You know that blue dot in your system tray that you’ve been avoiding? Yeah, that one that says you can upgrade to Windows 11… Well, I have some great news! SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 officially supports Windows 11, so no more worrying about when you can upgrade and finally get rid of that notification. While this technically started in 2022’s later service packs, 2023 is the first full version to support Windows 11. Get excited because now you can learn that brand-new operating system!

What’s New in 2023 Wrap-Up

The SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 release has several enhancements that we’ve been waiting for. I think my favorite one is the file retrieval log, but any of these would be an excellent choice. Everyone from the PDM administrator down to the PDM newbie is going to have an easier time working in the PDM vault. On top of the useability enhancements, the file security improvements ensure that everyone has a secure vault.

Enjoy your newest release PDM junkies! I can’t wait to see what we have in store next year!

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2023. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2023. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Nick Sweeney

Marketing Communications Specialist & Data Management Expert

Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2022 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests

Design Innovation Month is CATI’s “What’s New in 2023” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D Printing & 3D Scanning technology. This year we’re going back to the future to bring you in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes! Best of all, it’s free of charge! Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.

For most of my designs, I choose to use the feature pattern as I have more options for future development. Things like configurations of the pattern, variable pattern, and nonstandard x-y directions are available in the feature pattern. There are times when I do need a pattern at the sketch level, but it has always been a little harder to work with sometimes. Let me show you some tricks for editing your sketch patterns in SOLIDWORKS.

Edit a Sketch Pattern in SOLIDWORKS

With a feature pattern, making those edits is straightforward. Simply right-click on the feature and edit.

From here, we can change the parameters of the feature.

If I want to edit the Sketch Pattern parameters, I must edit the sketch to start. But the issue is that getting back into the pattern dialog box is not as intuitive. Most people end up deleting the feature to do it over, as they do not know how to edit the pattern. They might also try double-clicking or right-clicking on the pattern relation to get only display/delete relations. The way to get back into the Sketch Pattern properties is to right-click on a patterned object or the seed, then “edit pattern” will show up on the menu.

From here you can edit the sketch pattern to change any of the properties.

Everything is still intact and editable, and most of all the Instances to Skip is just as useable as the feature pattern. I still prefer to use Feature Patterns, as I find that I have more control over all of my design. There are times that a sketch pattern is super useful in my designs and editing was always a challenge. But the goal of this post was to help bring awareness to the fact that sketch patterns are editable! Anthony Sandri goes into great detail on the performance side of patterns in another blog post, which is another reason to contemplate using Feature Patterns.

I gave up thinking that it was possible to edit a sketch pattern until recently. I hope this gives you some new information on how to handle them.

Craig Maurer
Elite Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

There are two roles that everyone needs for both 2D (logical) and 3D (physical) electrical design. These are called the ‘Collaborative Business Innovator’ (IFW) and ‘Collaborative Industry Innovator’ (CSV) roles.

CATIA V6 Electrical Required Foundational Roles

Collaborative Business Innovator brings the connected environment into an entire organization. This role allows people from inside or outside of your company to securely view and share content while in a web browser. It also lets you do all of the work in a single location from design to market. You can add the power of collaboration and data sharing to your 3DEXPERIENCE platform and create a hub for your designs in a convenient place where you can collaborate on the cloud from anywhere.

On the other hand, Collaborative Industry Innovator is best described as a product data management tool. This browser-based role gives PDM additional functionality by letting users compare, markup, and view realistic CAD data. This provides a collaborative way to monitor iterations and changes to your electrical designs.

2D Electrical Schematic Role Breakdown

Collaborative Business Innovator and Collaborative Industry Innovator are the base roles you need for the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. Together, these tools integrate seamlessly with the roles that make up CATIA Electrical. For the creation of schematics and 2D logical designs, you’ll need the ‘Systems Schematic Engineer’ (TIC) role. This tool allows designers to create intelligent schematics for wiring, cabling, piping/tubing, and HVAC systems. Let’s look at some of the capabilities

• Fully define 2D electrical component, port, and wire/cable libraries
• Define and connect electrical and fluid system schematics for a complete detailed logical system design
• Build logical architecture of harnesses
• Capture attributes and technology automatically within the schematic.
• Edit the attributes of electrical components within the schematic
• Create links between logical components and realistic 3D representations
• Analyze connectivity and quality of schematic design and ensure synchronization with the 3D design using business intelligence rules.

3D Physical Electrical Design Role Breakdown

For 3D physical design, you’ll use the ‘Electrical 3D System Designer’ (ELG) role. This tool is an integrated 3D electrical development environment, which enables the physical design of wire harnesses and cabling in the conditions of the complete product. Some of the main features to point out include:

• Create electrical geometries, electrical branch geometries, and electrical physical systems
• Synchronize electrical schematics to 3D designs to improve electrical systems quality and consistency
• Create or import conductor specifications
• Design and optimize electrical wire harness bundles and cable ways accurately in the realistic environment of the full system
• Route 3D wires and cables to obtain exact bundle diameters and wire/cable lengths
• Simulate routes between selected network ends and compute route lengths

CATIA V6 Electrical provides a logical to physical electrical system design solution and is fully integrated with the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. This means that you can easily incorporate CATIA V6 Electrical into your design lifecycle process. This allows you to efficiently collaborate with the other roles that 3DEXPERIENCE has to offer, giving you a more seamless process.

Jacob Quintana
Application Engineer Specialist, Electrical
Computer Aided Technology

Why would you rent?

As a fundamental question, there are plenty of reasons to rent instead of buy. Maybe it’s a short-term need, like a rental car or hotel room. Other times, it may just be a stop-gap option while you figure out your future, like renting an apartment. And even beyond that, it could simply be a matter of convenience, like leasing your car. The funny thing is that all those situations also apply to SOLIDWORKS term licensing.

Why do we have short-term needs? Easy, we’re in a situation where there’s no need for a long-term solution or we just haven’t found the right one yet. In engineering, maybe you’re in a situation where a designer just left the company. Instead of scrambling to find and train a new employee, it could make sense to hire a contractor to help with your design work. They’re highly skilled and typically cost less as a temporary solution than a full-time hire.

Another reason you might only need a license for a few months is interns. Interns are generally seasonal by design, so getting a 90-day term license is perfect for them. Start it at the beginning of the Summer and they’ll be good to go until the Fall.

Benefits to Term Licensing

Beyond the obvious nature of not having a full license commitment when you only need it for a short while, there are other benefits to using SOLIDWORKS term licensing. One of the key benefits of a term license is that it’s always on an active subscription. This means that you can install any version of SOLIDWORKS that you need, whenever you need it.

On top of being on an active subscription, you’re also on active support from day one. This means you can reach out to CATI’s customer support any time between 8 AM and 8 PM EST, Monday through Friday, and get an answer to your questions. Now you don’t have to struggle for an hour with a zero-thickness error. Just call us up and let’s see what we can find!

Another thing to consider with term licensing is that because it’s likely a temporary solution, you could justify it as an operating expense, rather than a capital expense. This keeps the engineering budget tighter and still gives you the flexibility to finish your projects on time. Additionally, with the lower cost-of-entry that Term licenses offer, it’s generally easier to receive approvals for a purchase and get a license in your hands faster.

Is Term Licensing Cheaper than Perpetual?

That depends on how long you’ll have the license. Like most “rent/buy” questions, the duration is the biggest factor. For example, think about rental cars. Renting a car for a family vacation isn’t cheap, but it’s also significantly cheaper than buying a car just for vacation. That same logic applies to SOLIDWORKS term licensing.

In contrast with perpetual licenses, term licenses offer a significantly lower upfront investment, making them attractive for those short-term needs. While it varies based on the length of term for your license, even for a single year of SOLIDWORKS, getting the 360-day license could make more sense financially, depending on your situation.

Why Try Term Licensing?

If you’re in a situation where you need to get a license for a temporary employee, term licensing is pretty much designed for you. It has a low cost of entry and you get the latest version of the software. This makes it perfect for seasonal employees, contractors, or even if you want to try the software for your latest project.

Where term licensing falls short, however, is once you get past that one-to-two-year commitment. Owning your license gives you the peace of mind that you’ll always have it. You’ll never lose access to your intellectual property, making it the right choice for those that know SOLIDWORKS will continue as part of their toolbox going forward.

Want to get started with SOLIDWORKS Term Licensing as soon as possible? Give CATI a call and see how we can help get you some short-term licenses

Deep Breath

Ok. Pick up the keyboard and or mouse that is now in bits strewn across the floor. Don’t make eye-contact with your co-workers, it’ll only increase the awkward tension in the room. Get a cup of coffee and take a breather. Everything isn’t going to come crashing down, I promise. Once you’re fully caffeinated let’s talk about what happened to cause this RIDICULOUS BREAKDOWN JUST BECAUSE SOLIDWORKS WANTS TO MESS WITH THE #*$@&^+ CODE AGAIN AND WASTE MY TIME! I’M ALREADY BEHIND SCHEDULE! … what did I say? Deep breath.

Truth Hurts

Relaxed now? … Ok, let’s change that. Likely, if the part worked fine in a previous year with no errors and you’ve now saved THAT SAME PART in a newer release of SOLIDWORKS and it has errors, it has nothing to do with any code changes that SOLIDWORKS has made in the newer release. Raging again? Stick with me. By saving in the latest version of SOLIDWORKS, you think SOLIDWORKS Release Broke my Part, but instead you uncovered a problem that existed in your part in the prior release the whole time.

Conversion Process to Newer Versions

So, what actually happens during the conversion process to a newer year? When does it happen? What uses the ‘new code’? When you’re using a newer version of SOLIDWORKS to open an older version of a part, you see the save icon warns you a file that needs to be saved in the current year.

Needs Converted Save Icon

When you select this, SOLIDWORKS saves to the latest version AND SOLIDWORKS performs an Advanced Body check.

Advanced Body Check

What’s an Advanced Body Check? An Advanced Body Check is a validation that the geometry is a good watertight solid model. This check ensures there are no invalid faces or edges. You can run this check at any time as well through Tools > Evaluate > Check Entity.

Check Entity

But if you didn’t run the Check Entity, how does SOLIDWORKS know to check the geometry? How can I set up SOLIDWORKS to consistently run body checks? To understand that we look at what option is automatically on during the save process when saving to a new version.

Verification on Rebuild

In System Options > Performance, there is an option that is OFF by default. ‘Verification on Rebuild’ is off by default. This is intentional because ‘Verification on Rebuild’ checks all the geometry for consistency during every rebuild, which for most cases would be unnecessary computation time.

Verification on Rebuild

You see the errors in the newer version of SOLIDWORKS with the prior year’s version if this option was on. It’s not a case of the new SOLIDWORKS release broke my part.

Why the Errors?

So why would a model (REGARDLESS OF YEAR) show an error with ‘Verification on Rebuild’ disabled? It has to do with what SOLIDWORKS checks if a feature is possible to create. When a new feature is created, SOLIDWORKS checks if the newly created faces and adjacent faces are valid. Let’s say I have a simple shelled part like the following.

Simple Model

Then I add a fillet to the bottom edge outside edge as shown below.

Funky Model

Looks weird right? SOLIDWORKS says it’s a valid model and if I rebuild the model, I have no errors in my tree.

Clean Tree

But as soon as I save this model in a newer release of SOLIDWORKS I will see an error in my tree, which was actually an error all along.

Tree Error

Without the ‘Verification on Rebuild’ enabled SOLIDWORKS checks the new faces (TEAL) and the adjacent faces (MAGENTA). Those are all valid faces that do not cause any geometry problems, so SOLIDWORKS thinks the geometry is ok.

Standard Face Check

When the error is not as egregious as the one shown in this example there often aren’t any visual cues that somethings wrong. We may go months or years before finding error. And often times the SOLIDWORKS Update takes the blame, when the problem’s been there all along.

New Feature Coding

As a last side note, it’s important to understand how any new feature coding is applied when new releases occur. When a feature’s coding is improved from year to year, it’s done for any number of reasons. Changes to any given feature help improve stability, performance, and functionality. But the beauty of SOLIDWORKS is that coding changes are not immediately applied to every feature that’s changed. If that were the case, updates to newer versions would take much longer, you could have issues with parts that you have no intention of changing, or you could have to deal with unnecessary bugs that are resolved from one service pack to the next all the time.

The only time SOLIDWORKS uses newer feature coding on an older feature is when that feature is edited. To clarify, during the save process to the latest version of SOLIDWORKS, SOLIDWORKS only does the body checking mentioned previously, it does not update any feature coding. So, there are times where a part is saved in the latest version of SOLIDWORKS, an edit is made to a feature and the part ‘breaks’. To see if this is the case, right-click on a feature in the design tree, select ‘Feature Properties’, and look at the ’Date Created’ and ‘Last Modified’.

Feature Date Creation

Conclusion

I hope this brief outline helps you better understand what’s happening when SOLIDWORKS files are updated. Now you know that upgrading to the latest and greatest version of SOLIDWORKS may not be a case of  the SOLIDWORKS Release Broke my Part. There may have been a problem all along.

Brandon Nelms
Application Engineer Manager
www.cati.com

More specifically, we are going to use this Path Length Dimension as a reference dimension in an equation.

Here is the design request that we received. Pretty impressive graphics design work!

To accomplish this task, we will utilize the Hole Wizard feature and create a Curve Driven Pattern to get our complete array of holes. That sounds easy enough; but what if the part geometry changes? Will we need to edit the pattern to add more holes?

To fully capture this design intent, we want the quantity of these equally spaced holes to be driven by our part size. We will accomplish this by using an equation to define the quantity of holes, relating it to a Path Length Dimension value.

Let’s look deeper into the steps to accomplish this task.

Creating a sketch on the flange of the part, and using the Offset Entities command, gives us the curve to drive our pattern. Using this Path Length Dimension tool is simple. Selecting all these sketch segments and it quickly creates the driven dimension that is the entire length of those segments.

Going into the equation editor makes it easy to create Global Variables. We are going to create a new global variable named “Path_Length” and link it the Path Length reference dimension we just created. Linking a Global Variable to this dimension will make it easier for us to use it in our equation.

Next, we need to exit this sketch and go create our hole. Using the hole wizard for an M2 screw, and placing it on the midpoint of the left line segment, works great.

Next, we use the Curve Driven Pattern command to create the additional holes. We set the option for Equal Spacing. In the Quantity parameter, we can hit the “=” key to enter an equation. In this case, the quantity is equal to the global variable “Path_Length” divided by 9.

Editing the initial sketch of this part and adjusting its size will make it easy to see how the design intent, “several evenly spaced holes” was captured and maintained through future geometry modifications. Here are two different versions to verify that we were successful.

A bigger and wider version of the part still has several evenly spaced holes around the outer flange.

A taller version of the part also still has several evenly space holes around the outer flange.

Hopefully this example sparks some ideas for where you might be able to take advantage of the Path Length Dimension, Variables, and Equations in your SOLIDWORKS designs.

Greg Buter
Managing Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Let us look at the setup for the model. We have a series of periodic loads that are applied in real life over 24 hours. These loads vary in duration as well as temperature depending on the time at which the loading is applied, during that 24-hour window.

For example, the load is periodic and turns on and off at a set time of 101 seconds on, and 6 seconds off. The load is applied at the first hour at 450 degrees C. For the second hour 50 degrees C, and 650 degrees C and so on.

To create a manual time curve to define this series of events would be tedious. It is better to use the periodic application of the load and divide the overall 24 hours of real time run into multiple projects at given temperatures. We can divide the 24 hours into sections by transferring the boundary conditions as an initial condition in the subsequent run.

To apply the periodic load, go to your heat source (or given boundary condition) and choose dependency. Dependency allows the user to adjust the loading via a time, goal, or parameter dependency. In this case we will use time and add the time curve to reflect 101 seconds on and 6 seconds off. Choosing periodic repeats this cycle.

In this case the heat source is 50 degrees C for 1 hour. Doing the overall 24 hours in a set of stages per hour allows the user to vary the temperature and reuse the periodic loading. Run the first hour project to completion. Clone the project naming it per the second loading condition. Edit and adjust the heat source (or boundary condition you want to vary) and change it to the new temperature.

The next step is crucial to continue the run from the end of the first study. Edit the General Settings by right mouse button on the “Input Data” folder and choose General Settings.

Go to the “Initial and ambient conditions” section

At the pull down to the right of Parameter Definition choose “Transferred”

Browse to the previous study. And choose OK

This simple pull down allows the user to start the new subsequent study from the previous studies ending thermal, velocity, and pressure mapping. These two SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation options, Periodic loading, and Transferred Flow parameters allow a user to setup and run a long duration set of studies with varying inputs over time.

For more information reach out to your friendly CATI account manager. Check out the CATI YouTube page, and additional Simulation Blogs on the CATI blog.

Robert Warren
Simulation Specialist, Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

If you already have SOLIDWORKS installed:

1. Open Control Panel (you can search “Control Panel” from your Start menu).
2. Go to “Programs and Features”.

3. Scroll down to “SOLIDWORKS 20XX SP0X” and select “change”.

4. The SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager will pop up. If you receive a warning about a pending Windows reboot, you can hit “ok” and continue through. Reboot when done installing.
5. Select “Modify your installation” and hit Next.

6. Your Serial Number should already be pre-filled on this page. You can leave everything as-is and hit Next.

7. On the Product Selection page, check “PDM Client” and hit Next.

8. On the Summary page, hit “Change” next to “SOLIDWORKS PDM Options”.

9. Make the following selections
   • PDM Professional or Standard (if unsure, you can safely select Professional, since this will work for clients with both Professional and Standard licenses)
   • Select the appropriate license level: Editor, Contributor, or Viewer.
     • If Editor is selected, be sure to select Add-ins for the software you have installed.
     • If you’re unsure, reach out to your administrator or select “CAD Editor” and confirm after, since license type can be changed easily later.

10. From the Summary page, accept the terms and select “Modify Now”.

11. After installing, a reboot is recommended to ensure the installation is allowed to complete fully. You should now have the PDM client installed on your workstation while retaining your original SOLIDWORKS client and any menu customization you may have made.

If you need SOLIDWORKS & PDM:

1. Navigate to http://customerportal.solidworks.com and log in with your account.

2. If you do not have an account, select Create a SOLIDWORKS ID and register using your serial number. Once logged in, select Downloads and Updates.

3. Select the year and service pack you wish to install, accept the agreement, and download the setup.

Note: This download is the setup file only so there will be additional downloading when installing the client.

4. Run “SolidWorksSetup.exe” & choose to Unzip.

5. When that finishes, the Installation Manager should start automatically. Select “Install on this computer” & hit Next. If you get a pop up stating a reboot is pending, feel free to ignore it and hit “ok” to continue.

6. If you previously installed SOLIDWORKS, your serial number should be pre-filled. If not, be sure to enter it in the box next to SOLIDWORKS. Expand and select any other design software you’d like to install on your machine here (like Visualize or Simulation – PDM comes later). Hit Next.

7. You will either be taken to a Product Selection page, or to the Summary page. If you get to the Summary page, select “Change” next to “Products”.

8. On the Product Selection page, check the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Client” box. When done, select “Back to Summary”

9. Select Change next to SOLIDWORKS PDM Options (you may need to scroll down).

10. Make the following selections:
    • PDM Professional or Standard (if unsure, you can safely select Professional, since this will work for clients with both Professional and Standard licenses)
    • Select the appropriate license level: Editor, Contributor, or Viewer.
      • If Editor is selected, be sure to select Add-ins for the software you have installed.
      • If you’re unsure, reach out to your administrator or select “CAD Editor” and confirm after, since license type can be changed easily later.

11. Finally, return to the Summary page and select Install Now. You may be prompted for a license server that should be entered in the format 25734@<server name>.
    1. If you’re unsure of your license server, reach out to your administrator.

Creating a Vault View:

1. Open your Windows Start menu, find the SOLIDWORKS PDM folder, and select View Setup.
2. Select Next > to bypass the Welcome screen.
3. In the next screen, your server name may show in the white window.
   • If it does, select it.
   • If it does not, select the Add button at the bottom of the menu to manually add it.
4. Once the server is added, check the box to the left of the server name and select Next >.

5. Check the box next to the vault you would like to add a vault view for and select Next >.
   1. If it is grayed out, try following the troubleshooting steps according to the error messages listed in this related article.
6. Set the file location. It is strongly recommended that all users put it in the root of the C or data drive.
7. Finally, select the option to create the view “For all users on this computer”, if available. Select Next > and then Finish.

Note: Only for me should only be selected if the user does not have administrative rights on their machine. It will become apparent if the vault view fails to complete. In this case, users must place the vault view in their Documents folder or a folder created on the C: drive and select the Only for me option.

Rowan Gray
PLM Support Team Lead
Computer Aided Technology