Study tree feature names are now more descriptive. It used to be, unless you manually renamed your features, you had to edit a feature to tell what you had actually applied. This is no longer the case. Most features have descriptions in parentheses next to them in the feature tree.

If you hover over an item in the Simulation feature tree, an even more detailed description pops up.

Hovering over a symbol in the design window also pops up the details.

Fixtures, loads, and connectors can now be organized into folders. To do this, right click on Connections, Fixtures, or External Loads and select Create New Folder. Items can then be dragged into the new folder.. When using the Connectors dialog box, and connectors that are created while the dialog box pushpin is depressed will be placed in a new folder. If this is not wanted, the items can be dragged out of the folder back into the general connections folder.

It is now possible to group edit like features. For instance, if you have 25 identical bolt connectors, you can either ctrl select or shift select all the bolts you would like to edit, right click, select edit feature, edit a value in the dialog box, and accept the change. The change will be applied to all the selected connectors.

These may seem like relatively simple interface changes but I think they will make Simulation much more user friendly. As always, if you have any questions about any of the enhancements discussed here, the What’s New documentation is a great source or I would be happy to answer your questions on the support line.

Seth Bischoff CAE Support Engineer 3DVision Technologies

You pick the SPLINE, the FACE you want to make it TANGENT to, AND the EDGE of the face that the spline touches. THEN you get the magic “TANGENT FACE” relation !!
Piece of cake !! (when you know about it…)
(see the video for a visual explanation)

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have three DriveWorks webinars coming up in November. One each on DriveWorksXpress, Solo and Professional. Sign up for one of them -the cost is right.

Two topics – one blog. Your lucky day.

Today I ran across the “Path” class in the System.IO namespace. Where has this been all my life?! (Well since the 1.1 .Net framework.) Check out this class! GetFileNameWithoutExtension, GetExtension, GetPathRoot, GetDirectoryName, ChangeExtension, etc.

If I had all the time back that I have spent writing my own versions of these methods I’d be 12 years old.

Last week Dimension announced that they have several Demo/Tradeshow units now available at a significantly reduced price. (Imagine Black Friday one month early and only for printers.)

How significant you ask? Significant enough to get this girl excited and in this economy that’s saying a lot.

Right now you have a shot at the following, but remember, these aren’t going to last for long so I strongly encourage you to call your sales rep immediately if you are thinking of making a purchase in 2009.

uPrint Personal Printer – $11,920
BST 768 – $14,000
BST1200ES – $15,120
SST1200ES – $26,320
Elite – $23,920

Happy shopping!

Geraldo left with this item screen shot on his screen:

Since Al had a world wide business, it would be logical that he was using SolidWorks Enterprise PDM for its multi-site capabilities. Though he quickly learned each business unit had different manufacturing capabilities. For an example: some groups could not get ANSI steel or perhaps some of their ERP system had part number limitations that other did not. Thus it appears Capone created an item card for his parts that were created in other countries. If a designer wanted to use a part that was already in the system but wanted a localized part number or material, he didn’t have to bump the revision of the file to had his local information, he simply updated the item card.

I’m going to miss working with Geraldo, I though we had a good thing going there. Perhaps I can do a mini-series with Celine Dion soon.

“Welcome back from our break. Today we find ourselves in Al Capone’s server room across the street from where the Lexington Hotel once stood, examining Al Capone’s Enterprise Vault, seen Tuesdays on ABC 9:00 Eastern, 8:00 Central. It appears Al had an item card created especially for his stocked items as well, here is their item card.”

“I am sure it was very helpful to his designers to know what was available on hand. Though I notice there are many versions of each of these items, this must be due to the fact that the users had to check in/out the card every time the stock room quantities changed.  Seems a little bit wasteful doesn’t it Engineering Datra Specialist man?”

Yeah Geraldo, it would be nice if we had a special control that could be modified without checking the item in and out over and over…like a control directly connected to a database value. This is an enhancement request I have sent in several times now. However, since items are only a record in a database, checking the item in and out over and over is a small price to pay considering Al was able to get control over his stock room with a tool he already owned because it was included in his PDM system.

Geraldo? Where did you go? There is one more tab on this item card… Geraldo?!

Come on Geraldo, it is getting cold in here in Al Capone’s server room. (Kept at a cool 50 degrees Fahrenheit for maximum chip performance.)  Go to the SolidWorks models that Capone used to retrofit his famous bullet proof Cadillac. Can you find any?

“Can I find any? With Enterprise’s search features, is that a joke Engineering Data Specialist man? Yes, it appears all of Capone’s parts marked for manufacturer have an item card that looks like this:

It appears he set up the card to track not only where the parts were in his shop, but how long there were at each station. Since items can go through workflows just as any other document, Capone was able to streamline his manufacturing process with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM workflows! This show is going to win me another Emmy!”

It might Geraldo, I think this series may win a Bloggie too…anything else in Al Capone’s vault?

Okay Geraldo, what does the next tab look like in Capone’s item master?

“Well Engineering Data Specialist Man, it appears Capone had an extensive training program. Many of his training documents have an item card associated with them to track who has actually reviewed each document. In the past, I’ve seen some elaborate workflows created to accomplish the same thing but I have to remark using the item master to track this information certainly simplifies the process.”

Clever indeed Geraldo, what else can we find in Al Capone’s Enterprise Vault? …