Standalone Inspection

The Standalone interface received a UI overhaul in 2023. It now looks more like SOLIDWORKS and better supports high resolution. Also, you will see the Manual Extract replaces the OCR extraction tool. And the Auto Extract replaces the Smart Extract, which can even work on PDFs! In some instances, this new feature could be a welcome starting point over manually extracting everything first.

Balloon Sequencing

In the SOLIDWORKS Inspection 2023 Add-In Interface, we now can create balloon sequences that can be used with multi-sheet drawings. From the Inspection toolbar, you can easily create sequences with a given starting value and remove them as needed.  You can then use these during auto extraction.

Separately Balloon Drawing Sheets

Speaking of sheets, a common question I’ve heard in the past is “can I automatically balloon only a certain sheet?”. Well in the Add-in in 2023, that answer is “yes”. You can now choose specific sheets when defining Extraction Settings in the automatic extraction method.

Having ‘Include All’ checked works like previous versions. Unchecking ‘Include All’ allows you to specify sheets. Here is where you can also specify a different sequence for a given sheet, or just continue from the previous sheet.

SOLIDWORKS Inspection Manager

There are now two tabs in the Characteristics Section of the SOLIDWORKS Inspection Manager in the Add-In. In addition to the information we are familiar with in the Characteristics Table tab, there is also a Characteristic Tree tab.

Here, viewing and re-ordering are a breeze. It only contains Sheets and Views that have balloons on them.

You can re-order your sheets with a drag and drop and all balloons update accordingly. For even more granular control, you can re-order views within a sheet the same way. (Note: re-ordering will remove any Sequences you’ve used).

Control Over Exporting

Finally, since we have the ability at the beginning to specify sheets in the Add-In, it only makes sense to have that same ability at the end for both 2D PDFs and Excel templates. Once your multi-sheet inspection drawing is to your liking, you can export your ballooned drawing as a single PDF, export sheets as separate PDFs, or even specify certain sheets to export.

The same holds true for the Inspection Report.

Wrap It Up

As you can see, SOLIDWORKS Inspection 2023 makes working with this software even better, whether you’re in the Add-in or Standalone interface. If you have any questions, or would like to learn more, please reach out to us.

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.”

Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
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.

Well, the first thing to know is that you install all of these products through the SOLIDWORKS installation manager. To download the installation manager, you will need to click the SOLIDWORKS download link.

Next, run the installation manager and enter the serial number for your products.

If you have all your licenses set up to be renewed at the same time, you may have only one SOLIDWORKS serial number for all your assets. In this case, you only need to enter a serial number under the SOLIDWORKS serial number and not each individual product.

If you have separate individual seats of Composer, Plastics, Inspection, MBD, or Simulation that are not tied to your SOLIDWORKS seat, then you will have a separate serial number for each product.

Breaking Down The Additional SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins

Let’s break down each of the tools you might be working with. Then, I’ll show you the process to follow when you’re ready to install your additional SOLIDWORKS add-ins. First up, let’s dig into SOLIDWORKS Composer.

SOLIDWORKS Composer

Composer is a desktop content-creation system that enables the reuse of digital 3D data from CAD and other sources. Easy-to-use, Composer lets you quickly create assembly and disassembly procedures, technical illustrations, interactive 3D animations, training materials, marketing materials, sales tools, and more.

Composer Capabilities

Composer allows users in sales, marketing, customer service, training, support, and manufacturing to create associated 2D and 3D product deliverables directly from digital product data – without requiring CAD knowledge or CAD training.

SOLIDWORKS Composer has the following capabilities:

• Based on a lightweight, open, XML-based architecture.
• Creates 3D interactive documents such as interactive assembly and service procedures.
• Creates high-resolution raster images including BMP, JPG, PNG, and TIF files.
• Produces 2D line art as SVG and CGM files with automatic hidden line and construction line removal.
• Adds annotations, labels, dimensions, arrows, images, and cutting planes that can be used in any way and format the user wishes.
• Controls visual consistency of content using styles.
• Imports data from many 3D CAD systems and can be maintained in the file system or in any PLM system.
• Outputs industry-standard file formats, including PDF, HTML, AVI, and graphics formats like SVG and CGM.
• Document a product while it is incomplete, push updates to all deliverables quickly and the animation timeline easily.
• Uses occlusion detection to find internal, non-visible parts on a single view, all views, or
• Uses decimation to reduce the tessellation of selected parts to reduce the size of the .smg file.

What is the Composer Player/Player Pro

Composer Player includes:

• A standalone executable (.exe) file that does not require any installation or advanced operating system permissions.
• ActiveX control that you must register during the installation (advanced operating system permissions are required for the installation only).
  • Note: The Composer Player ActiveX plug-in requires Internet Explorer.

With a Composer Player Pro license, you get all the capabilities of the free Composer Player and the following additional premium features:

• The ability to save content that has been edited in the Player. (Saving content also requires the Save Right Manager right.)
• An advanced ActiveX API that enables enhanced integration and interaction in custom applications.

Composer Player and Composer Player Pro are the same executable file. A Composer Player Pro license is required to enable Pro features.

What is Composer Sync

Sync and Enterprise Sync batch convert 3D CAD files and other 3D formats into Composer formats. Sync and Enterprise Sync automatically incorporate design changes in geometry, metadata, and product structure directly into Composer content.

Both Sync and Enterprise Sync let you configure and perform conversions from the graphical user interface. Enterprise Sync also includes:

• A command-line interface that lets you integrate with other software, such as product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. For details about the command-line interface, see the Composer Programming Guide.
• The ability to run scheduled batch conversions.

SOLIDWORKS Plastics

SOLIDWORKS Plastics is a powerful injection molding simulation tool that helps you optimize the design and manufacturability of your plastic parts and injection molds. It is fully integrated with the SOLIDWORKS application.

SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulates the injection molding manufacturing process where melted plastic material (in the form of small pellets) flows under high pressure through a heated barrel and into a mold cavity. Once the plastic material cools down, it solidifies into the shape of the mold contour and conforms to the geometry of the desired part.

Plastics is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Plastics has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you will not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Plastics serial number.

SOLIDWORKS Inspection

SOLIDWORKS Inspection software automates the creation of ballooned inspection drawings and inspection sheets for First Article Inspection (FAI) and in-process inspections. Save time and virtually eliminate errors by speeding up this repetitive manual process.

SOLIDWORKS® Inspection helps you leverage your existing 2D legacy data, regardless of whether files are SOLIDWORKS, PDFs, or TIFFs.

Inspection can be installed as an add-in inside of SOLIDWORKS or as a standalone application. If you are installing it as an add-in you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Inspection has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Inspection serial number.

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition)

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition) is an integrated drawingless manufacturing solution for SOLIDWORKS. MBD helps define, organize, and publish 3D Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) including 3D model data in industry-standard file formats. It guides the manufacturing process directly in 3D, which helps streamline production, cut cycle time, reduce errors, and support industry standards.

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition) lets you create models without the need for drawings giving you an integrated manufacturing solution for the SOLIDWORKS software. You can use SOLIDWORKS technologies such as annotation views, dynamic viewing of annotation planes, and 3D views to organize 3D PMI in a structured, easy-to-locate fashion.

Besides the native SOLIDWORKS file formats, SOLIDWORKS MBD creates output files such as 3D PDFs and eDrawings.

The SOLIDWORKS MBD add-in:

• Operates within the SOLIDWORKS environment with its own Command Manager.
• SOLIDWORKS MBD CommandManager for parts

SOLIDWORKS MBD Command Manager for assemblies

Like SOLIDWORKS Plastics, MBD is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. As well, if your MBD has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you won’t need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS MBD serial number.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation

SOLIDWORKS® Simulation is a design analysis system fully integrated with SOLIDWORKS. This provides simulation solutions for linear and nonlinear static, frequency, buckling, thermal, fatigue, pressure vessel, drop test, linear and nonlinear dynamic, and optimization analyses.

Powered by fast and accurate solvers, SOLIDWORKS Simulation enables you to solve large problems intuitively while you design. SOLIDWORKS Simulation comes in three bundles: SOLIDWORKS Simulation Standard, SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional, and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium to meet your analysis needs.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation shortens time to market by saving time and effort in searching for the optimum design.

Simulation is the same story that we’ve seen before. It is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. You may have a separate serial number for SOLIDWORKS Simulation, in which case, you’ll enter that separately from CAD.

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation

Flow Simulation is a software fully integrated with SOLIDWORKS for computing fluid (gas or liquid) flows inside and outside SOLIDWORKS models, as well as heat transfer to (from, between, in) these models due to convection, radiation, and conduction with a proved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology.

The outstanding feature of Flow Simulation is its intuitively clear and comfortable interface including a preprocessor for specifying data for the calculation (with Engineering Database on substances properties), a co-processor for monitoring and controlling the calculation, a postprocessor for viewing the obtained results, giving you more time to study the results and varying the calculations.

Designed by engineers for engineers, Flow Simulation is widely used in many industries and for various applications, where design optimization and performance analysis are extremely important, such as valves and regulators, hydraulic and pneumatic components, heat exchangers, automotive parts, electronics, and many others.

Once again, Flow Simulation is not a standalone application, so follow the same rules we’ve discussed previously.

SOLIDWORKS Motion

SOLIDWORKS Motion works inside the SOLIDWORKS window and uses existing assembly information to build motion simulation studies. By combining physics-based motion with assembly information, you can use SOLIDWORKS Motion for a broad span of industry applications like estimating peak motor torque, understanding robotics performance during operation, optimizing or minimizing the force imbalances in rotating systems, etc.

The Motion serial number could be separate from SOLIDWORKS but it is the same installation. As we’ve said for several previous applications, SOLIDWORKS Motion is not a separate tool.

How To Install Your Additional SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins

The installation process is pretty straightforward. First, launch the installation manager that you downloaded earlier. Once you get to the serial number screen, enter any serial numbers for additional products.

Now, SOLIDWORKS will validate the serial number. This can take a few seconds.

Next, you have the option if you want to upgrade a previous version of SOLIDWORKS or start fresh. You can have multiple versions installed, it just takes up more disk space.

On the Summary page, SOLIDWORKS displays all of the products that it’s adding to your installation. If the list doesn’t contain every additional SOLIDWORKS add-in you want to install, select Change under the Products header and add them from the list.

Finally, click the Install Now button.

As for the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program, it is voluntary. That said, we strongly encourage participation. Participating will not slow down your system! SOLIDWORKS automatically creates the performance log files in the background whether you participate or not. So please make sure to opt in!! This program helps SOLIDWORKS improve product quality and determine product usage trends.

We hope this series has given you insight into how to successfully install SOLIDWORKS 2023.  Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Dedicated Support Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SOLIDWORKS tools.

Blaze Johnson
Support Engineer
Computer Aided Technology,LLC.

Previously, if you wanted to utilize SOLIDWORKS Inspection Standalone for 2D drawings, you needed a non-SOLIDWORKS drawing file (PDF, DWG, etc).  This was true even if it originated from SOLIDWORKS. Now, SOLIDWORKS Inspection Standalone 2022 supports SOLIDWORKS drawing files. This means you can open your SOLIDWORKS drawing files directly and start extracting pertinent information utilizing the Smart Extract tool.  This eliminates the need to create another file first.

Additionally, SOLIDWORKS parts support was already in the Standalone, but in SOLIDWORKS Inspection 2022 it is enhanced.  SOLIDWORKS Inspection Standalone can now also directly access SOLIDWORKS assemblies with PMI information.  This adds even more to its flexibility. As of now, these parts and assemblies capabilities do require SOLIDWORKS Inspection Professional.

The last enhancement we will mention here is in the Add-In. There is now API support for SOLIDWORKS Inspection functionality in 2022. This includes automatically opening SOLIDWORKS files, creating inspection projects, exporting first article inspection (FAI) reports, ballooning drawings, and invoking any feature available in the user interface.

Hopefully with these new enhancements, you can find new ways to create your inspection documentation even more efficiently.

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2022. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2022. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2021 – Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests
Design Innovation Month is CATI’s massive “What’s New in 2022” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D printing & 3D scanning technology.  That’s six weeks of 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 next event. 

Deciding what version you want, or need, could be a little trickier. There is Inspection Standard and Professional. There are multiple interfaces: the Standalone and the Add-In. And there are also the Standalone and Network options.

Well, let’s try to clarify that a little bit here. First, whether you have Inspection Standard or Professional, you get both the Standalone and Add-In interfaces. They both help complete the same task, just in a slightly different way.

The Add-In leverages the work you have already completed in your SOLIDWORKS drawings. Within SOLIDWORKS, simply start with selecting your customizable project settings, and entering in information like part number or revision, which can even be pulled directly from custom properties, then what type of characteristics you want it to balloon and tolerance information.

SOLIDWORKS Inspection then does the tedious work.

You have a ballooned drawing and a characteristic tree with tolerances and spec limits for each. Other important criteria can be added, which can be defined for any of the characteristics, like Inspection Method or even if it’s a key characteristic.

And when you are ready, these can be exported out to a ballooned PDF and all the information you require to a standard or customizable Excel template. Ready to take your measurements.

The Standalone interface works completely outside of SOLIDWORKS. Several file types, including PDF and DWG, can be inserted, and information can be extracted. Title block information, as well as Dimensions, GD&T, and notes, to name a few, can be pulled from the drawing.

And just like in the Add-In, a characteristic tree is created, and information can be exported to an Inspection template.

Everything so far has been part of Inspection Standard. Inspection Professional provides some additional functionality, some of which involve inputting and importing measurements. Within the Standalone, you can start entering measurements right in the inspection project, manually, or with a USB measuring device. CMM data can also be imported. Color coded measurements can even help you visually see where the trouble areas may be, right in the project.

These are just some of the features of SOLIDWORKS Inspection. To learn more, check out this video:

To see if SOLIDWORKS Inspection is right for you, reach out to us at Computer Aided Technology.

Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Within the Inspection Project, simply go to the DOCUMENT tab and activate the Grid option.

A grid will show up defining your columns and rows. The quantities can be customized, as well as setting alphabetic or numeric, and ascending and descending order.

If your drawing already had a grid on it (as in the first image above), you could quantify these to match. Also, the default grid is auto fit to the entire drawing page. However, this can be adjusted as well if need be, to suit your needs, possibly to help align the Inspection grid with the drawing grid (if one is present).

The grid numbers/letters and grid lines can also be customized and turned off or on as needed.

The characteristic table can then display these locations and they can be exported to your inspection report as well.

If you do not see the column, no need to worry. It is either already there, just at the far end of the columns, or not turned on. If it is there, but not in the location you want, you can simply drag it to the preferred location, or you can change the location in the Options, as seen in the image below. The ‘Display’ checkbox here also allows you to turn it on, if it was not already.

With the grid on your drawing and the zones added to your inspection report, it will be much easier for the inspector to locate characteristics they are looking for.

Hopefully you found this tip helpful and, as always, please reach out to us if you have any questions.

Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

A first step to consider is comparing the two drawings first to see what changes have occurred prior to replacement. This can help to mentally identify dimensions that were added or changed. Dimensions that are green will be newly added with everything else being red

If for whatever reason, the drawing size changed between revisions, there are 4 nodes that can be used to realign (see below). However, this is not a precision tool and can be difficult to align. Using best practices and establishing standards of keeping drawings the same size and not moving details around without purpose is recommended to assist in the revision process.

Once you get it as close to matching as you can, we will need to go about recapturing dimensions that did not mesh up. This can be accomplished with a right click on any characteristic and selecting Recapture Characteristic. This toggles on a mode for you to go to the previous capture location and freely move any and all that you want.

Once this is done, one final double check that can be done to ensure you captured all the correct dimensions is another Compare, but this time using the older revision and reviewing the document.

If you are looking for more interactive training, topics like this are part of our SOLIDWORKS Inspection training course which can be found on the SOLIDWORKS Inspection Training page. To learn more about SOLIDWORKS Inspection or the process to establish best practices, visit us at Cati.com or reach out to your local rep!

Check out a walk through video of this SOLIDWORKS Inspection process.

David Janicki
Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Run the installation manager and enter the serial number for your products.

If you have all your licenses set up to be renewed at the same time you may have only one SOLIDWORKS serial number for all your assets. If this is the case, then you will only enter a serial number under the SOLIDWORKS serial number and not each individual product.

If you have separate individual seats of Composer, Plastics, Inspection, MBD or Simulation that are not tied to your SOLIDWORKS seat, then you will have a separate serial number for each product.

SOLIDWORKS Composer

Composer is a desktop content-creation system that enables the reuse of digital 3D data from CAD and other sources. Easy-to-use, Composer lets you quickly create assembly and disassembly procedures, technical illustrations, interactive 3D animations, training materials, marketing materials, sales tools, and more.

Composer Capabilities

Composer allows users in sales, marketing, customer service, training, support, and manufacturing to create associated 2D and 3D product deliverables directly from digital product data – without requiring CAD knowledge or CAD training.

Composer has the following capabilities:

• Based on a lightweight, open, XML-based architecture.
• Creates 3D interactive documents such as interactive assembly and service procedures.
• Creates high-resolution raster images including BMP, JPG, PNG, and TIF files.
• Produces 2D line art as SVG and CGM files with automatic hidden line and construction line removal.
• Adds annotations, labels, dimensions, arrows, images, and cutting planes that can be used in any way and format the user wishes.
• Controls visual consistency of content using styles.
• Imports data from many 3D CAD systems and can be maintained in the file system or in any PLM system.
• Outputs industry-standard file formats, including PDF, HTML, AVI, and graphics formats like SVG and CGM.
• Document a product while it is incomplete, push updates to all deliverables quickly and the animation timeline easily.
• Uses occlusion detection to find internal, non-visible parts on a single view, all views, or
• Uses decimation to reduce the tessellation of selected parts to reduce the size of the .smg file.

What is the Composer Player/Player Pro?

Composer Player includes:

A standalone executable (.exe) file that does not require any installation or advanced operating system permissions.

An ActiveX control that must be registered during the installation (advanced operating system permissions are required for the installation only).

Note: The Composer Player ActiveX plug-in requires Internet Explorer.

With a Composer Player Pro license, you get all the capabilities of the free Composer Player and the following additional premium features:

The ability to save content that has been edited in the Player. (Saving content also requires the Save Right Manager right.)

An advanced ActiveX API that enables enhanced integration and interaction in custom applications.

Notes:

Composer Player and Composer Player Pro are the same executable file. A Composer Player Pro license is required to enable Pro features.

What is Composer Sync

Sync and Enterprise Sync batch convert 3D CAD files and other 3D formats into Composer formats. Sync and Enterprise Sync automatically incorporate design changes in geometry, metadata, and product structure directly into Composer content.

Both Sync and Enterprise Sync let you configure and perform conversions from the graphical user interface. Enterprise Sync also includes:

A command-line interface that lets you integrate with other software, such as product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. For details about the command-line interface, see the Composer Programming Guide.

The ability to run scheduled batch conversions.

Enter your composer and Composer Player Pro serial numbers.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard (See our blog series for more information) and provides SOLIDWORKS with better visibility of your performance trends when troubleshooting larger issues such as repeated crashing.

SOLIDWORKS Plastics

SOLIDWORKS Plastics is a powerful injection molding simulation tool that helps you optimize the design and manufacturability of your plastic parts and injection molds. It is fully integrated with the SOLIDWORKS application.

SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulates the injection molding manufacturing process where melted plastic material (in the form of small pellets) flows under high pressure through a heated barrel and into a mold cavity. Once the plastic material cools down, it solidifies into the shape of the mold contour and conforms to the geometry of the desired part.

Enter your SOLIDWORKS Plastics serial number. Plastics is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Plastics has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Plastics serial number

Enter your Plastics serial number.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard (See our blog series for more information) and provides SOLIDWORKS with better visibility of your performance trends when troubleshooting larger issues such as repeated crashing.

SOLIDWORKS Inspection

SOLIDWORKS Inspection software automates the creation of ballooned inspection drawings and inspection sheets for First Article Inspection (FAI) and in process inspections. Save time and virtually eliminate errors by speeding up this repetitive manual process.

SOLIDWORKS® Inspection helps you leverage your existing 2D legacy data, regardless of whether files are SOLIDWORKS, PDFs, or TIFFs.

Enter your SOLIDWORKS Inspection serial number. Inspection can be installed as an add-in inside of SOLIDWORKD or as a standalone application. If you are installing it as an add-in you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Inspection has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Inspection serial number.

Enter your Inspection serial number.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard (See our blog series for more information) and provides SOLIDWORKS with better visibility of your performance trends when troubleshooting larger issues such as repeated crashing.

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition)

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition) is an integrated drawingless manufacturing solution for SOLIDWORKS. MBD helps define, organize, and publish 3D Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) including 3D model data in industry-standard file formats. It guides the manufacturing process directly in 3D, which helps streamline production, cut cycle time, reduce errors, and support industry standards.

SOLIDWORKS MBD (Model Based Definition) lets you create models without the need for drawings giving you an integrated manufacturing solution for the SOLIDWORKS software. You can use SOLIDWORKS technologies such as annotation views, dynamic viewing of annotation planes and 3D views to organize 3D PMI in a structured, easy-to-locate fashion.

Besides the native SOLIDWORKS file formats, SOLIDWORKS MBD creates output files such as 3D PDF and eDrawings.

The SOLIDWORKS MBD add-in:

Operates within the SOLIDWORKS environment with its own Command Manager.

SOLIDWORKS MBD CommandManager for parts

SOLIDWORKS MBD Command Manager for assemblies

Enter your SOLIDWORKS MBD serial number. MBD is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your MBD has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS MBD serial number.

Enter your MBD serial number.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard (See our blog series for more information) and provides SOLIDWORKS with better visibility of your performance trends when troubleshooting larger issues such as repeated crashing.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation

SOLIDWORKS® Simulation is a design analysis system fully integrated with SOLIDWORKS. This provides simulation solutions for linear and nonlinear static, frequency, buckling, thermal, fatigue, pressure vessel, drop test, linear and nonlinear dynamic, and optimization analyses.

Powered by fast and accurate solvers, SOLIDWORKS Simulation enables you to solve large problems intuitively while you design. SOLIDWORKS Simulation comes in three bundles: SOLIDWORKS Simulation Standard, SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium to meet your analysis needs.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation shortens time to market by saving time and effort in searching for the optimum design.

Enter you SOLIDWORKS Simulation serial number. Simulation is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Simulation has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Simulation serial number

Enter your Simulation serial number.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard. (See our blog series for more information).

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation

Flow Simulation is a software fully integrated in SOLIDWORKS for computing fluid (gas or liquid) flows inside and outside SOLIDWORKS models, as well as heat transfer to (from, between, in) these models due to convection, radiation, and conduction with a proved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology. The outstanding feature of Flow Simulation is its intuitively clear and comfortable interface including preprocessor for specifying data for the calculation (with Engineering Database on substances properties), co-processor for monitoring and controlling the calculation, postprocessor for viewing the obtained results, so you have more time for studying the obtained results and varying the calculations.

Designed by engineers for engineers, Flow Simulation is widely used in many industries and for various applications, where design optimization and performance analysis are extremely important, such as valves and regulators, hydraulic and pneumatic components, heat exchangers, automotive parts, electronics and many others.

Enter you SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation serial number. Flow Simulation is not a standalone application, so you will need to install SOLIDWORKS as well. If your Flow Simulation has the same serial number as SOLIDWORKS you do not need to fill in the SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation serial number.

Enter your Simulation Flow serial number.

Click the Install Now button

Choose yes to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Improvement Program. This will enable feedback functionality used by the CAD Admin Dashboard (See our blog series for more information) and provides SOLIDWORKS with better visibility of your performance trends when troubleshooting larger issues such as repeated crashing.

We hope this series has given you an insight on how to successfully install SOLIDWORKS 2021.  Please check back to the CATI Blog as the Technical Team will continue posting new series of articles every month that go further into the details of many of the SOLIDWORKS tools.

• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 1 – Individual Installation (Neil Bucalo)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 2 – SOLIDWORKS SolidNetwork License Installation (John Van Engen)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 3 – SOLIDWORKS Electrical Installation (Jason Chon)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 4 – SOLIDWORKS Composer, SOLIDWORKS Simulation – Motion, Flow, SOLIDWORKS Plastics, and SOLIDWORKS MBD (Bryan Pawlak)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 5 – DraftSight and eDrawings (Cami Florence)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 6 – SOLIDWORKS PCB (Fred Zobel)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide Part 7 – SOLIDWORKS Visualize (James Carlin)
• SOLIDWORKS 2021 Installation Guide – Part 8 SOLIDWORKS CAM (Ronnie Flaugh)

Bryan Pawlak
Sr. Support Product Specialist
www.cati.com

SOLIDWORKS Inspection Add-In:

In SOLIDWORKS 2021 you can now go into your System Options and map your Inspection Project and Report templates to a location of your choice. You can also choose an Inspection Default Export Folder. These new options give you more freedom to save your custom-made templates in a location other than a core SOLIDWORKS file location and allows you to choose a default file location where you would like your inspection reports to save out to. See Figure 1 below.

Fig. 1 New Inspection Template File Locations

VDA style inspection balloons are a lot easier to use than before. Now in SOLIDWORKS 2021 you can rotate a VDA style balloon while keeping the number in the balloon vertical and you also have the ability to adjust the font size in the VDA style balloon. See Figure 2 below.

Fig. 2 New VDA Balloon Capability

SOLIDWORKS Inspection Standalone:

In a large drawing with many balloons, it may be difficult to quickly find a particular balloon. SOLIDWORKS Inspection standalone enables you to set up a grid on the drawing and allows you to extract drawing zone locations. The grid tool in SOLIDWORK 2021 has been enhanced to give you more freedom to customize your grids. You can now change the font style and size of zone markers. You also can also choose to display your grids as dashed lines which reduces interference with dimensions. Lastly, you now can adjust the column width and row height independently which helps users create inspection documents from legacy PDF files that might not have equal spaced columns and rows. See Figure 3 below.

Fig. 4 File types that can be opened in Standalone

Fig. 3 Grid property differences

Lastly, in SOLIDWORKS 2021 Inspection Standalone you now have the ability to open SOLIDWORKS parts with 3D annotations attached to the part. With this ability you are able to read and extract 3D annotation information quickly to create First Article Inspection (FAI) report using the Smart Extract tool. See Figures 4 and 5 below.

Fig. 4 File types that can be opened in Standalone

Fig. 5 SOLIDWORKS Part with 3D annotations in Standalone

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2021. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2021. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Nick Pusateri
Application Engineer
www.cati.com

Design Innovation Month 2020

What is DI Month? We’re declaring October Design Innovation Month—again! It’s a month-long series of special events focused on what’s new in design and manufacturing technology. You’ll learn about enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2021 that deliver new capabilities for improved performance, streamlined workflows, and a connected design ecosystem. Find out what’s new in 3D printing applications and 3D scanning to integrate into your design process.

When ballooning a drawing, even a simple one, it may be necessary to have different ranges of balloon numbers. This could be for many reasons, including multiple drawing sheets, multiple machining processes, or maybe just different views. Whatever the reason may be, this can be done with Number Sequences.

To create additional number sequences, go to File –> Options –> Project Options –> Characteristic.

From there, clicking on the green checkbox allows you to add more sequences, by defining the Sequence Name and Starting Value.

To choose different sequences, back in the project there is a drop-down menu on the Home tab in the Command Manager.

From there, simply choose the sequence you wish to use. As you start ballooning characteristics, they will begin using the starting value of the active sequence. If you return to a sequence that has already been used, it will begin with the next number in that list.

Furthermore, if you decide to modify the starting value for a particular sequence, in the options, the balloons will update accordingly.

Finally, there are other options for customizing balloon numbers, such as incrementing and customizable numbering. However, they must be used independently of each other in a project.

If you add a sequence in the options, you will notice Increment options (on Ballooning tab) is grayed out, and vice versa.

If you manually change characteristic numbers in the Table Manager, you will also notice that Sequencing becomes grayed out. Furthermore, if you try manually changing characteristics in the Table Manager when other sequences exist in the options, having already been used or even if not being used, manually changing will not work as expected.

Bottom line, Sequencing is a great tool for having different ranges of balloon numbers in your inspection projects, however, it cannot be used with other options for changing from standard ballooning. The different options must be used independently of each other in a project.

Hopefully you found this tip beneficial. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at Computer Aided Technology.

Ryan Field
Sr. Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

The other difference is that Professional can import Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) results.

There are many different brands that process CMM data as well as the different software that does it. However, a good example of how the data should be organized is with columns and header titles that sort the values in formats such as text or Excel.

The basic steps of importing CMM data are:

1. Enable the option ‘Measurements Input and CMM Data Import’ under Options > Application Options > General.
2. Open customer Inspection Project or generic Inspection Project.
3. Review the customer CMM Data Report.
4. Start iterative process of customizing the template.

PLEASE NOTE: SOLIDWORKS has customized CMM templates that users are free to use upon request. Send an email to ‘support@cati.com’ and include the hyperlink to this blog and we’d be happy to help get you that ZIP file.

Templates are required when importing this CMM data and the Template Editor will be the tool to manage that.

The default location for these templates is C:ProgramDataSOLIDWORKSSOLIDWORKS Inspection 20xx StandaloneTemplates. You can decide which one to choose under Template Control.

SOLIDWORKS does provide preloaded template types that you can select from the Template Editor under General > Template Type.

These are the different types of preloaded templates that you can start with. The ones with a red star are the most common.

You can also convert to another format such as CSV, Formatted Text, Text.

I hope you enjoyed this blog on template types for CMM data. I hope you check back with us for more on SOLIDWORKS Inspection.

George Brañes
Support Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, LLC