Get More With SolidWorks Tutorials

I find that the best way to learn about the tools available in SolidWorks is by using them.

And one way that SolidWorks helps you to do this is by including an extensive selection of tutorials on a wide range of tools. These tutorials are fully incorporated into SolidWorks and are available in the SolidWorks resources tab of the task manager, or under the Help menu.

The tutorials are not only great examples of how to use the tools available to you in SolidWorks, they can also be used to try out some of the tools that you may not have used before such as Routing or Simulation. There is also a large section of tutorials for the newest additions to the software such as the new user interface for the Section Tool and Orientation Dialogue Box.

The tutorials are organised into easily navigated groups so that you can get straight to the relevant subject area.

By hovering your mouse cursor over the tutorial links, each of the tutorials will describe to you a rough timing for completion and also an overall description of what you will achieve upon completion.

 

 

Then to open the tutorial, simply click on the one that you want. Each Tutorial will start with an overview describing the process to be followed.

The tutorials then describe exactly what the process is for the lesson, guiding you through step by step and helping you to understand not only what you are doing, but also describing why. There are clear instructions that include images of the process that is being carried out so that you can check your progress.

When opening the SolidWorks tutorials, your SolidWorks window automatically resizes to allow room for the tutorial window to be shown at the same time. And the interaction between SolidWorks and the tutorials doesn’t end there.

In the instructions for carrying out the tutorial, if you need to use a tool, both the name of the tool and what the button for that tool icon looks like in SolidWorks are given. If you are unsure at any point of where that tool is in SolidWorks, you can simply click on the button in the tutorial text and it will be highlighted in the SolidWorks user interface.

Also contained within the instructions are links to open SolidWorks models that can be used for the tutorial content.

All of this combines to make the tutorial set that is built in to SolidWorks a valuable knowledge resource for learning more about the software that you use.

Convert that old legacy data to SolidWorks!

A lot of cutomers don’t realise how quick the process of converting legacy files into SolidWorks format has become recently. By using the tools incorporated into SolidWorks such as Import Diagnostics, Feature Recognition, and Fully Define Sketch, Legacy files can be quickly converted into SolidWorks files.

The video at the end of this blog shows a .STEP file being opened and converted into a SolidWorks file with recognised features, fully defined sketches and a drawing sheet. All of this was done in less than three minutes by using the tools available within SolidWorks Professional and Premium.

The process starts by opening the file directly within SolidWorks. This instigates the Import Diagnostic tool that is part of the FeatureWorks Add-in available in SolidWorks Professional and Premium versions. In this case, the imported geometry had no issues, but Import Diagnostics would allow opportunity and help to repair faulty geometry.

Another function of the FeatureWorks Add-in is Feature Recognition. In the property manager for Feature recognition, the types of feature to look for in the part geometry can be defined. SolidWorks will then automatically associate features with the imported part geometry and create a Feature Manager Design tree containing the required Sketches and Features.

The Sketch geometry can now be edited and dimensions and relations automatically added by using the Fully Define Sketch available in the contextual menu shown when right-clicking the graphics area in the sketch.

Once all features and sketch geometry has been defined, the part can be quickly inserted into a drawing sheet. Inserting the model items into the drawing sheet will then pick up and insert all of the dimensions onto the drawing sheet as well.

Using this process a fully defined and editable SolidWorks part and associated drawing file were created without modifying any of the original geometry or sizes, creating an exact SolidWorks copy of the original file.

SolidWorks World 2013

Join us at SolidWorks World 2013 in Orlando, Florida.  Starting January 20th at Walt Disney World, the usual action packed few days will be filled with new developments, SolidWorks training and presentations from various speakers. 

Get registered today for a cadtastic experience!

Welcome to 2013!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year from everyone at TMS CADCentre.

Viewing different sheets at the same time

I’ve had a couple of customers asking me recently about the possibility of showing different sheets from the same drawings file at the same time on screen.

It is possible by following the following process.

Firstly open the document that has more than one sheet that you would like to view.

Go to Window – New Window – this will basically open a duplicate window

You can then use Window – Tile Horizontally/Vertically to see both of the windows.

Once you can see both of the windows, it is simply a case of selecting one of them and activating the alternate sheet.

As a small note, this will function in the same as having other linked files open. This means that if you make a change on one sheet, it will automatically translate that change in the other window.

A good example of this is shown in the image above. There are two windows of the same file open, each are showing different sheets. However by making the BOM sheet active in the second window, it also activates, (but doesn’t show) in the other window.