Category: Model Assembly

SolidWorks 2011: Defeature Feature

There’s a new tool in SolidWorks called Defeature. Although the Defeature feature has a seemingly counter-intuitive and oxymoronic name, this new tool garnered the most excitement from the Press at this year’s SolidWorks 2011 Launch Event.  Defeature creates simplified versions of models or assemblies that are easier to share, use, and also protect design details which may represent intellectual property.

Defeature for parts

In a part, Defeature allows the user to replace details (such as features and surfaces) with dumb solids (solids without feature definition or history).  With a model open, goto Tools pulldown>Defeature.

Defeature part

Defeatured model - before and after

The Defeature tool workflow may be straightforward for simple parts.  However, the selection/deselection process can be laborious for complex parts.  Once the user has selected the preserved features, they may save the results to a new file or upload the model directly to 3D Content Central.  The new file will not be linked to the original file.  It will only contain one feature called Imported1.

Defeature for assemblies

If Defeature only simplified individual models, it wouldn’t be all that impressive.  Defeature also works with assemblies!  It has several options that facilitate the selection/deselection process.  With an assembly open, goto Tools pulldown>Defeature.

Defeature_kitchenv6

Defeatured assembly - before and after

The assembly Defeature workflow allows the user to select/deselect whole components based on certain criteria, including the removal of all internal components or components that are less than a certain percentage of the overall assembly.  There’s more!

Defeature allows the user to preserve motion within the assembly, even with a significant number of details removed from the assembly.  For example, an assembly model of motor may be heavily simplified while still allowing its parts to move in the same fashion as they do in the original fully detailed assembly.  This well help suppliers provide fully functional assembly models while protecting their designs from competitors or other copycats.  The Defeatured assembly may be saved in the same manner as parts.  Components will be saved as virtual parts within the assembly file.

What others are saying about Defeature

  • Josh Mings on his blog awarded his Best New Feature Award to Defeature tool for parts and separately for assemblies.  He also stated on SolidWorks Heard! that the Defeature tool “prolly has the most buzz out of all the new stuff that’s being added” in SolidWorks 2011.
  • Brad Holtz noted in his tweet, “SolidWorks 2011 defeaturing does not lose mates, rotation, and other operational data,” and separately speculated, “looked like it came from 3Dvia composer.”
  • Ricky Jordon declares, “this tool allows you to convert an assembly to automatically create a ‘dumbed down’ model” on this blog, and also tweeted, “Defeature might just end up being the most under appreciated feature of the SolidWorks 2011 Release. Lots of capability!”
  • Kevin de Smet off-handedly commented on Dezignstuff.com, “…I can see Defeature as a useful addition to the software…”.
  • Alex Ruiz lamented in his tweet, “I think the defeature tool would be really cool with a slider that goes from more or less features and you see the change dynamically.”
  • Jon Larrea celebrated Defeature in a tweet, “La opción ‘Defeature’ es asombrosa… y necesaria.” This roughly translates as, “The tool ‘Defeature’ is amazing… and necessary.”
  • Brian McElyea briefly mentioned the tool in this first blog post about the SolidWorks 2011 launch.
  • Guilherme Kastner states, “…a SolidWorks muito está se preocupando em ajudar quem está interessado em publicar arquivos para biblioteca Web.”  This very roughly translates as, “SolidWorks is concerned with helping those who wish to publish their models to libraries on the Web.”

SolidWorks 2011 official launch

SolidWorks 2011 launch is now official.  The funny thing about launches is that this doesn’t necessarily mean the product will ship right away.  That comes later.  For this launch, SolidWorks Corp invited a panel of bloggers and journalist to their headquarters in Concord, MA yesterday and today to get a first hand look at SolidWorks 2011.  As a matter of disclosure, my accommodations, travel and most meals for this event are covered by SolidWorks Corp.  No one has made any requests regarding article creation nor content in connection with this event.  Some material (such as images and basic information) was derived from the SolidWorks 2011 What’s New (beta) file.  The content of this article is solely of my discretion.

As with each year, there are a number of enhancements in SolidWorks 2011.  Here are a few, briefly covered.  More detailed articles will follow over the coming month.

Assemblies

Chamfer and weldOne area of note is that SolidWorks now supports fillet and chamfer features within an assembly.  Though these new features can be useful by themselves, their is another feature enhancement that helps set a theme.  Fillet welds will no longer be necessary as components within an assembly.  Instead, simplified weld beads is a new feature that is a simple representation of a weld contained within the assembly itself.  These additions and changes will give users more abilities in adding welds and weld specifications to assemblies and drawings.

Design Checker

Design Checker is one of those functions that has a more stealthy existence in SolidWorks.  Well, maybe not stealthy, but under-utilized.  It is a function that sees incremental improvement each year, but without much fanfare.  In the past, I’ve been a little critical of this function’s lack of functionality.  SolidWorks 2011 has eight enhancements for Design Checker.  The enhancement that I feel is most important is the ability to create standard files (.swstd) from existing SolidWorks file formats.  This is step beyond the Learn Checks Wizard currently available.  This allows the user to create a new set of check rules based on an existing file.

Drawings

Scale on viewFor some reason, SolidWorks never had an automatic way to add a scale label to orthogonal views.  There is a macro (that I helped create) which gives the user a non-dynamic method to add scale.  The limitation of this macro is that if the scale of the view changes, the macro must be re-run.  SolidWorks 2011 now gives the user the ability to add a true scale label to orthogonal views.

The macro may still be of use if there is a need to add pre-established labels to drawing views.  For example, if view is pictorial or isometric, the macro provides a quick way to add that label.

ASME drawing standard

ASME Y14.5 2009I’m not really sure why SolidWorks still calls ASME by the other name ANSI.  The switchover to ASME happened like 20 years ago.  Either way, SolidWorks 2011 claims that it now “supports some of the requirements of ASME Y14.5-2009”.

One of the important areas of support is geometric tolerance symbols.  ASME Y14.5-2009 expanded the role of the ALL OVER modifier to a Profile feature control frame.  With this expansion comes a new symbol (the double circle leader).  Also included are the new Independency symbol (encircled I, which declares an except to Rule #1) and the Continuous Feature symbol (oddly boxed CF, which applies Rule #1 more broadly).

Parts and Features

More end conditions are now available with the Revolve feature: Up to Vertex, Up to Surface, and Offset from Surface.  These can be specified separately in each direction (clockwise and counter-clockwise) of the revolve.  These new end conditions are available in Revolved Boss/Base, Revolved Cut and Revolved Surface.  This allows for better control and more flexibility in the use of Revolve features.

New Revolve end conditions

More enhancements available

These are just a few of the enhancements available in SolidWorks 2011.  The What’s New file for SolidWorks 2011 has a fairly impressive list.  However, none of the improvements this year seem monumental.  I am impressed to see minor improvements continue on the Workgroup PDM product.  There are improvements to Sheet Metal functionality, Motion Studies, and a new Walk-through function to expore or create a video of 3D geometry in large scale designs.  More details will be discussed on later dates.

Book Review: SolidWorks 2010 No Experience Required

 

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SolidWorks 2010 No Experience Required (“SW2010-NER”) is a new book by Alex R. Ruiz that takes a detailed approach to teaching SolidWorks to new users.  Though the book is structured as a tutorial, it is also a reliable reference guide to fundamental aspects of SolidWorks.  Ruiz provided me with one copy of his book for the purpose of this review.  This review is my own content without input of others.

For experienced 3D CAD users, much of SolidWorks user interface and functionality is intuitive, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be covered in a book designed for new users.  SW2010-NER takes a detailed approach to learning SolidWorks.  It is so detailed that even some experienced users may learn something by browsing its pages.

Where the SolidWorks Help file tends to take a spartan approach to describing SolidWorks functions, SW2010-NER gives more detail that provides context.  It does a good job of linking related ideas together in a logical manner.  For example, the FeatureManager (one of the primary user interface areas) is frequently discussed in the context of its use within each particular area.  This helps the reader gain real understanding of its value as they perform certain tasks.

As SW2010-NER addresses each topic, it thoroughly covers every detail of the choices presented to the reader.  This gives the reader a clear understanding as to why they choose one option over the other within the tutorial tasks.  This adds significant value to this book as an actual reference guide.  The reader learns more than just how to go through a simple step-by-step process for one exercise.  They learn how to use SolidWorks for any design project.

Content

SW2010-NER is 17 chapters.  It starts out by covering every detail of the user interface in chapter 1, including customization techniques.

Chapter 2 covers many practical aspects of how to interact with SolidWorks.

Chapters 3 through 6 cover the fundamentals to create parts, drawings and assemblies.  This provides a solid foundation for the use of SolidWorks in the real world.  This is were this books shines.  The reader learns how to create different types of documents and how those documents interact.  In the SolidWorks Help file, functions are described as separate entries.  In SW2010-NER, the tutorial brings all the functionality together in a way that provides context to the reader.  This gives the reader a stronger understanding of what they are doing.  This should allow the reader to use that knowledge for any other projects.

Chapters 7 through 10 cover the advanced interaction.  It goes into creating assembly drawings, more complex modelling techniques and editing documents once they are complete.

Chapters 11 and 12 are entitled “Putting It All Together”.  These chapters go into advanced functions such as Design Library, advanced mates, flexible assemblies, BOMs within assemblies, and exploded assembly views.

Chapter 13 then carries on by taking the reader through the process of creating a top level assembly drawing.

Chapter 14 covers an area that is often forgotten about in other training sources.  It is entitled “Sharing Your Documents with Others”; it discusses how to provide your drawings and models to others who may not have SolidWorks or may require your information in a separate form.

Chapters 15 and 16 cover the often confusing topic of document templates and sheet formats, their definitions and how to create them.  These chapters also provide tips to improve efficiency with highly automated templates.

Chapter 17 covers how to make your product look good on the computer with PhotoView 360 (included with SolidWorks).

Purchasing options

SW2010-NER is a widely published book that is available from any book store that covers CAD topics.  It is available on Amazon.com, currently for under US$30.  The files for the book’s tutorials are available from Sybex.

Findings

This book does an excellent job of covering necessary elements to use SolidWorks to create 3D models, drawing and assemblies.  It takes such a detailed approach in describing each area, some experienced users may even be able to use this book as a general reference guide.  However, sometimes the detail may be too much in the context of a tutorial.  For example, chapter 1 teaches the reader about the SolidWorks user interface, but it also provides information on how to customize that interface.  Perhaps a chapter on editing the user interface might be better at some later point in the book (or even in another book)?

Even still, this book is a great source to learn SolidWorks for new users.  Academia might find this book very useful in their 3D CAD courses.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have this book available in any company that often hires people that may not be completely familiar with SolidWorks.

This book is not for advanced or expert SolidWorks users.  CAD managers should not buy this book thinking they will learn something new.  It is an education tool for new users, and a reference guide for others.

Tutorial: Tag your features

tagsclipartIn this article, I’m covering a topic of tags, which I briefly addressed in my recent breakout session at the SWUGN Summit – San Jose.  What are tags?  This website has tags that are assigned to most of its articles.  Not just blogs, but many types of documents have tags which are used to increase searchability and enhance content filtering.  SolidWorks added tags functionality in SolidWorks 2008.  In SolidWorks, tags can be assigned to documents and features.

Instructions to assign tags to features:

  1. In the view pane or FeatureManager design tree, select any feature.
  2. In the status bar, at the lower right of the SolidWorks window, click the Tags icon.  tagsmall
  3. Tags box will pop up near the icon and will include any tags already in use for that feature.
  4. Type new tags into that field, separating each with a semi-colon.  (Once a tag is typed, it is applied.  There’s no “OK” button to accept.)
  5. (Click on the Tags icon again to close the Tags box.)

Tag Location

Then, to use the tags:

  1. In the filter field (at the top of the FeatureManager design tree), type-in the desired tag.
  2. This will automatically filter out all features which do not contain that tag nor match that text in their description.
  3. To redisplay all features, click cancel x in the filter field.

filterlocation

Deleting a Row from General Table

This question came up on the SolidWorks Forums today and after answering it I thought of sharing it up.

You have inserted a General table in the SolidWorks drawing and accidentally added one extra Row. Now you want to get rid of that line. As usual you’ll right click on the specific Row you want to remove from the table and clicked on the Delete.

But to your surprise, you can only see the option to delete the entire table and no Row. You may feel bit frustrated with that.

Now here comes the trick to delete the Row from the General Table.

1. Click on Table and you’ll see some thing like in the picture below.

2. Click these small arrows to show the Table Header. (Check, the pointer has changed).

3. Your table should like this.

4. Click on the table again.

5. Select/ highlight the Row (by clicking on the number. See the color change). Now right click on the row number, go to Delete and select Row.

6. Hurray, the unwanted Row has gone. If you want to hide the table header, click on the table again. Now click on those small arrows (look at step 2) again and your header will hide.