SolidWorks World Recap

by Evan Fader

Less than one week from SolidWorks World and I am already excited for SWW12.

As a VAR participant at SW World I was previewed to a bit more than the average user, but only by a day or two. There are a few things coming down the pipe that we can get excited about; one will be here very soon.

No, Dassault Systems did NOT announce SolidWorks running on a Mac, though I did notice that SolidWorks employees all had iPhones and many had an additional iPad to match. There was, however, the continued talk of running SW in the "cloud", which means that for you Mac users, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Running SW in the "cloud" does cause for concern for many users, but don't worry, SolidWorks made sure we all are aware of the fact that users will NEVER lose the ablity to have SW run locally.

Speaking of running in the "cloud", SolidWorks announce their first cloud base product will be available for purchase later this year. What product is this you ask.... formerly called SolidWorks Product Data Sharing, then later SolidWorks Connect, and now, finally n!Fuse.

Based on the previous names I am sure that you can guess what the product does. You guess it....PDM. A web based PDM meant to collaborate with suppliers, manufactures, customers, colleagues, or who don't have access to company files. n!Fuse plugs right into SolidWorks so you can upload your file right inside SW. You can attach comments and see the entire comment chain. No more sorting through old emails looking for the history of your design. You can access n!Fuse outside of SolidWorks in most internet browsers, to preview and download files. Though unlike Enterprise, previewing files will only give you a 2D image. Creating workspaces for people you want to have access to the files looks to be easy to set up and manage.

How much you ask..... well I am not that SW has set the price firm yet but lets just say it is so low that I am unsure that SolidWorks can even make a profit. Maybe that is not the point though.

My first thought when I heard about n!Fuse was that it was going to replace Enterprise or that it was going to be very much like Enterprise only web based. No, that is not the case. n!Fuse is a very basic PDM tool, but I still am very excited to help our clients with this very affordable product.

As I said before this is going to be released later this year, which you can be a beta tester by contacting nFuzeBeta@solidworks.com. Just send your name, company name, and contact information, and when the beta program is ready to start, they will contact you with program details and instructions.

I just sent mine in, you should too.

Oh, if you’re wondering where SolidWorks World 2012 will be.....
drum roll please…..

…San Diego, CA.

Free is for ME!

by Ryan Zeck

PART 2 OF 2 BY RYAN ZECK
I’m back for the second round of free programs to make your life easier! This go ‘round we will explore a few pieces of software that will impress your friends and co-workers. Last time we talked about Synergy, Search Commands, and Speed Launch. Today I would like to expose programs named Duplicate Cleaner, Chrome, and Google Voice. All of which are FREE!

Let’s get it started by taking a look at Duplicate Cleaner. From time to time you might create some back up files in a different location, say on the server or on an external hard drive. Then later you might modify (on accident, of course) the backup copy and not the original. So how do you tell which one is which? That’s easy right?

Of course it is for one file, it’s a simple RIGHT CLICK, properties or look at the details of the files and compare them. However what happens if you have thousands of files and you don’t remember which one you have change and which you haven’t? Now what? Well that’s where Duplicate cleaner can help out.

The interface is straight forward and easy to understand. Tell it where you want to look for duplicates and it will go and find pairs of files. How does it know which is a duplicate? You must tell it the kind of search criteria to use. You have several options: content, file name, size, or date. You also can use a file type filter (see image). You can find the download here:

Duplicate Cleaner

Do you ever browse the internet? Ok, dumb question since you are reading this on the internet, but what program are you using? Internet Explorer? Safari? Firefox? How about Chrome? Everyone should know about the browser Microsoft offers called Internet Explorer, but have you ever heard of Google Chrome? Now I must admit I haven’t used Internet Explorer for several years now but only recently, made the switch to Chrome.

During the transition period between IE to Chrome I used Mozilla Firefox. Firefox has a ton of great features and even more add-ins, but it had several drawbacks that pushed me to look elsewhere. One of the problems was how slowly it loaded every time I wanted to start it. It wasn’t something I ever realized until I started using Chrome. Chrome loads almost instantaneously. You can find the download here: Google Chrome

Another issue I had with Firefox was the inability for it to handle my Google Voice add-in. Google Voice you ask? Well that is the next program I would recommend.

Google now offers phone numbers to whoever wants one for FREE. The phone number is yours after you get to choose what number you want. The best thing about Google Voice (along with Chrome) is an add-in (which is also free) that turns every phone number in your browser into a hyperlink. When you select the hyperlink a couple things happen. One thing is it calls the phone of your choice (i.e. your office phone, cell phone, or your computer through Gtalk) and then it dials the phone number that you clicked! It’s like having a secretary to get someone on the phone for you!

There are several other benefits from using Google Voice, like being able to forward your calls to different numbers based off the caller ID. Get it here: Google Voice
Thanks for taking the time to read about these three programs. I hope you enjoy Duplicate Cleaner, Google Chrome, and Google Voice.

Feel free to email me at rzeck@trimech.com or find me on Linked In at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanzeck

Inalienable Rights

Uselful Tech Support Tips from Tech Support Lead, Lisa Hughey

Appropriate user privileges are essential to a successful SolidWorks product installation. Although the Help files do not cover this topic well (as they are geared towards functionality), the Installation and Administration Guide as well as the SolidWorks Knowledge base discuss these requirements in detail. Both are accessible within the SolidWorks Customer Portal.

https://customerportal.solidworks.com/

Below are the 5 most missed permissions resulting in tech support cases, in no particular order…
1. SolidWorks installation without local admin rights
2. SolidWorks installation with UAC (User Account Control on Windows 7 and Vista operation systems) fully enabled
3. Toolbox installation without write access to the database (swbrowser.mdb)
4. Administrative Image without write access to the image folder and network share
5. SolidWorks Workgroup PDM installation without administrative Log On permissions specified for the Workgroup service

As always, TriMech Tech Support wants to assist you with any technical issues you may have so please feel free to reach us at support@trimech.com or 1-888-TRIMECH.

DraftSight Hub Bub:

by Robert F Stoklosa-Applications Engineer, TriMech

I was recently tasked with presenting a webinar regarding the new DraftSight software application. For those that aren’t aware, the former 2D DWG Editor for SolidWorks was replaced with the DraftSight application recently. The webinar was a great opportunity for me to get acquainted with the ins and outs of the new software.

I have used AutoCAD since I was in 7th grade! It was my first experience with CAD (as for most of you I’m sure). I believe it was AutoCAD Release 9, the software that originally coined the term “Osnap” before the kids used it in mainstream conversation. Almost instantly I remember thinking that Computer Aided Design was going to be part of my life, SOMEHOW! I picked it up very quickly, almost as if it was prewired in my head. That feeling of comfort and confidence was the same thing I felt the first time I opened DraftSight. It was like an old friend. The interface was laid out very similar to AutoCAD. There was a button with a fire cracker on it (we all know what that is)….and a command line.

In my previous life, I worked for a national AutoDesk VAR. I was always shocked at the cost to purchase and maintain a seat of AutoCad. I mean, we are creating lines arcs and circles here!!

How much would you pay to do that?

How about Free!! The most amazing part of DraftSight is that it’s FREE!! I know, usually with free you have to sign up for some sort of credit card, or call a toll free number you saw on TV at some late hour. But this is truly legit! Check it out for yourself
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/draftsight-overview/

In summary, I think this is going to be a great avenue for those users looking to get into 3D Modeling with SolidWorks, or for those users that are just trying to save some $$$ in a tough economy. 2D design will never go away and it definitely has its place in the design world, but 3D Parametric Modeling has now taken the place as the defacto standard engineering design tool.

My advice….Put your money in the future, not the past.

Copy DriveWorks Pro 7 Projects

By Michael Jolley

As a DriveWorks Administrator, there are many times where you may want to work on a project, but do not want to expose your development work to end users. At the same time, you still need end users to be able to generate specifications without interruption. There are a couple of ways to achieve this in DriveWorks 7 Pro.

This first method involves having a Test Group (database) and a Production Group. In this case, there is a great Help topic accessible from the web-based documentation: http://docs.driveworkspro.com/HowToCopyAProjectIntoAnExistingGroup.html
This will take you through, step-by-step, how to copy your project from one group to another existing group. The process is similar to what the DriveWorks 6 Deployment Tool would do for you. Although this is a manual process, it is quite straightforward without the black magic of the now defunct deployment tool.

While the aforementioned process works well, there is often times no real need to have a Test Group. With the onset of DriveoWorks Pro 7, we can choose to hide a project from non-administrators while we debug or develop it. While a project is open for edits in DW Administrator, simply change the settings for the project to "Hide project from non-administrators."

Now you can work on your test project without worrying about someone accidentally running specifications on it. When you get your test project ready for others to run, just uncheck this box.

Obviously, there will be times when you need to edit a project that end users are already using. Assuming that you cannot take the project offline while you make your edits, you may want to copy the project within the same group. The process is very similar to copying between groups. Naturally, there will be a few differences versus the two-group approach.

To copy the project, simply follow the procedures within the help file link that I mentioned above, but you can skip the steps related to importing the required components. This will mean that both projects will use the same SolidWorks files. With the new, copied project, change the project setting to hide it from non-administrators. Now you can modify your project till your heart's content.

When you are finished with the edits, you could turn off the non-admin access to the new and turn it on for the old. If you named your new project creatively, this might be all you have to do. For example, if my original project was called "Window Frame" and my copied project is named "Window Frame v2," then everyone will know that it is an updated copy. Of course, you could always delete the old and rename the new to match the original name so no one knows how many iterations you're going through. Naturally, you will need to make sure that neither project is in use prior to deleting and renaming.

Rapid Prototyping Saves the Day for Dad

One of the greatest things about working here at TriMech (outside of Bagel/Donut Day on Friday) is the exposure to a wide variety of tools. From the Entire SolidWorks Suite of tools to the 3D Printers and PDM Systems, we get to work with a lot of cool technology. Professionally, it's great exposure. Personally, it can bring some benefit too.

Case in point, My daughter has a battery-powered truck she inherited from her older brother.

She was driving the truck around on Saturday when I heard it making an awful crunching noise. Apparently, it's been doing that for a while. I did some investigative work and determined the problem to be a stripped gear in the gearbox. It was missing 7 teeth along the outside. Thinking that I couldn't readily run down to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up a power wheels rear end gear, I thought I would utilize the tools around me to find a solution to this devastating problem.

On Sunday, my 8-year old son and I took the bad gear and sat down with a pair of calipers; we modeled up a replacement gear utilizing SolidWorks 2011 and saved the file out as an STL. On Monday morning, I used the Fortus printer we have at TriMech to run a replacement gear. We happened to have a blue color cartridge in the machine, which makes the picture showing the replacement gear even easier to visualize.

The Blue gear was inserted into the train and it fit beautifully on the first try. I added a little grease, sealed it back up and had the truck running within 15 minutes. Although this was a personal use of the technologies we sell and support at TriMech, it's very indicative of the way we should be utilizing existing technology as Engineers to make better products and to cut down on LONG production cycles.

And now the kids think I can fix about anything...added bonus.

Free is for ME!

PART 1 OF 2 BY RYAN ZECK

Please write the check out to me, as I am about to show you some programs that will save you so much time you won’t believe it! Okay, now that I have your attention, the programs are free (but donations are accepted!). I love to learn new programs especially if they will help me do my job quicker and more efficiently so from time to time I look around the web and find a simple program to fill a specific need.

My hope is for these few programs to help you in several areas of YOUR job and to impress your friends or co-workers. In no way am I saying these programs run flawless as there is no software that can promise that. I have been using most of these for a while. Some of them work better than others, but I can’t promise they will work as I describe them as they are just freeware.

The first program I use EVERY day. In fact, it is the first program I use when I boot up my laptop. It is called Speed Launch. You can find it on the Microsoft Labs Website where all the Beta programs are shown. You may want to poke around on that website to find other programs to fit your own needs. I did test the “forgotten attachment detector” without success. However, the Speed Launch program has worked very well for me as I start up four different programs at one time. Some days I teach people how to use SolidWorks and have to start it along with my 3D Connexion program and my EPDM vault.

To explain it a bit further, it is a way to open a document, program, or website with the flick of a finger. Check it out here: http://www.officelabs.com/projects/speedlaunch/Pages/default.aspx

The next useful program is “Search Commands,” also found on the Microsoft Office Labs website. So let’s be honest, when I started using Office 2007 (excel or word), I was a bit confused on where all my buttons went that I always used. This was also echoed by many of my friends who felt the same confusion and frustration. Let it be known that Microsoft also realized this problem and you can download “Search Commands” to help assist you to find the button you desire. It is a simple tab on the ribbon where you get a box to search like you would on the internet. As you type the buttons available change and narrow to what is most relevant. Pretty cool if you ask me, you should check it out here: http://www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx

Synergy is a program a co-worker found and told me about. At first I didn’t think it was really needed but after using it, hands down one of the most cool things you can do with a computer….or really two computers. How many people still have their old computer? It still works, right? But you don’t have a KVM switch to get them to talk to each other, plus those switches are NOT free. So to use both of those computers you have to keep both keyboards and mice on the desk. I’m not sure about you, but in my opinion having to switch mice is kind of a pain.

Synergy takes this to a new level, as long as those two computers are networked, you can have one mouse and one keyboard that controls both computers with nothing more than a small program running. You do need to have the old monitor to make this work though.
Not only do they have a version for Windows 32 and 64bit, but they also have one for Linux, and Mac.

Find this program here: http://synergy-foss.org/pm/projects/synergy/tabs/welcome
So in Part 1 we talked about Speed Launch to get things started, Search Commands to keep us going and help find lost buttons, and Synergy to make use of our two computers and to impress friends! Next time we will take a look at a few other programs.


Feel free to email me at rzeck@trimech.com or find me on Linked In at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanzeck