Free SolidWorks from Performance Constraints (FSWPC-13-#13)

(Modeling Methodology - Level of Detail)

There are many opportunities to display minute levels of detail with SolidWorks. Displaying this high level of detail while working with large assemblies or very complex geometry will be detrimental to performance. We have found that this issue occurs most frequently with components that are downloaded from vendors that have made their models available for easy access and configuration over the internet. Remember just because it came from the internet does not mean it is modeled correctly. It is essential that designers remove any excess detail from parts and assemblies as soon as they are downloaded in order to avoid these issues.

If feasible, CATI suggests:

• Reduce the level of detail to outer walls and mounting points.
  


• Save assemblies as parts.
  


• Combine solid bodies.
  


• Turn surfaces bodies into solid bodies.
  


• Delete any unneeded surface or solid bodies.
  


• Export and reimport files to reduce the number of features in a file.
  

There are other ways to achieve a detail free vendor part and these are just some of the ways we have used to remove excess details.

High levels of detail can also be found in manufactured components. Commonly, this is found in the form of threads being modeled into bolts and screws. Extruded text and extensive patterns are also some of the culprits that introduce these issues. When this level of detail is required, it is a good idea to have a configuration of the part or sub-assembly that suppresses the detail for use in larger assemblies and to change the options in your pattern features.

Because of the overall size of our assembly for our testing we cleaned up just the files in just the Cab Assembly. After we reduced the detail in the Cab Assembly we took a file that was 30.15mb and all the related parts were contained in a 621mb folder to a 12.74mb file that all the related parts were contained in a 554mb folder.

Note: These changes can have a larger or smaller effect on each users performance depending on how many over detailed parts are being used.

You can by looking at our deltas see that on our Practical machine we gained almost 23% total improvement. If we look at the Typical machine we can see that the overall improvement is cut in more than half at just over 54% performance gain and took over 2hours and 33min off of our benchmark time.

Please
check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our
series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All
of these articles will be stored in the category of Free SolidWorks from Performance
Constraints and links to each with their
release date are listed below:

• FSWPC-13-#1 Introduction (3/19/13)


• FSWPC-13-#2 RAM (3/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#3 Processor Cores (3/26/13)


• FSWPC-13-#4 Processor Cores for Simulation
  and PhotoView360 (3/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#5 Processor Clock Speed (4/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#6 Hard Drives (4/4/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7a Graphics Cards-SolidWorks
  Functionality (4/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7b Graphics Cards-Hardware
  Comparison (4/11/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7c Graphics Cards-Model Complexity (4/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#8 Files stored in an older version
  (4/18/13)


• FSWPC-13-#9 OS Visual and User Settings (4/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#10 SolidWorks Options (4/25/13)


• FSWPC-13-#11 SolidWorks Image Quality (4/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#12 SolidWorks RealView Graphics (5/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#13 SolidWorks  Level of Detail (5/7/13)


• FSWPC-13-#14
  SolidWorks Mates and Flexible Subassemblies (5/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#15
  SolidWorks Defeature (5/14/13)


• FSWPC-13-#16
  SolidWorks Envelope (5/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#17
  SolidWorks
  Large Design Review (5/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#18
  SolidWorks
  SpeedPak (5/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#19
  SolidWorks Save as Part (5/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#20
  SolidWorks Large Assembly Mode (5/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#21
  Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (6/4/13)

Thanks,

Josh
Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian
Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director

 

 

FeatureManager Design Tree "Favorites" Folder - New for SolidWorks 2013

SolidWorks 2013 has 2 new FeatureManager Design Tree features. One of those features is the Feature Manager Design Tree Favorites.

The FeatureManager Design Tree Favorites feature allows the user to add features to a new folder called "Favorites" to a part document. This is helpful for users to organize specific features in the design. This is especially useful when team members are collaborating on a design. Features can be added to the "Favorites" Folder located at the top of the FeatureManager Tree. Team members can easily locate specific features instead of searching the entire tree for those features. The "Favorites" folder is easily added and deleted when the design is complete.

In this example, we are going to save a sketch to our favorites folder:

 

  

 

It's just that simple!!!!

Check back on June 3, 2013 for another new FeatureManager Design Tree feature called Feature Manager Design TreeFlat Views.

Thanks!

Judy Marlo

Application Engineer

CATI St. Louis

 

Free SolidWorks from Performance Constraints (FSWPC-13-#12)

(Modeling Methodology - RealView Graphics)

SolidWorks has the capability to display designs vividly with RealView Graphics. While these features allow for a very pretty and realistic model in general they are not needed for everyday modeling. RealView Graphics and Shadows in Shaded Mode are tow setting that take a large amount of system resources and have an effect on our rebuild, refresh, open, save and close times. You can turn off RealView Graphics and Shadows In Shaded Mode in the View (heads-up) toolbar as shown below.

If you have a need for having a RealView appearance then it is best to set that as a Display State or Configuration for the part or assembly.

Note: This setting can have a larger or smaller on each users performance depending on how many parts were using RealView Graphics.

You can by looking at our deltas see that on our Practical machine we gained 2.7% total improvement. If we look at the Typical machine we can see that the overall improvement is a respectable 20.2% performance gain and took over 55min off of our benchmark time.

Please
check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our
series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All
of these articles will be stored in the category of Free SolidWorks from Performance
Constraints and links to each with their
release date are listed below:

• FSWPC-13-#1 Introduction (3/19/13)


• FSWPC-13-#2 RAM (3/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#3 Processor Cores (3/26/13)


• FSWPC-13-#4 Processor Cores for Simulation
  and PhotoView360 (3/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#5 Processor Clock Speed (4/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#6 Hard Drives (4/4/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7a Graphics Cards-SolidWorks
  Functionality (4/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7b Graphics Cards-Hardware
  Comparison (4/11/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7c Graphics Cards-Model Complexity (4/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#8 Files stored in an older version
  (4/18/13)


• FSWPC-13-#9 OS Visual and User Settings (4/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#10 SolidWorks Options (4/25/13)


• FSWPC-13-#11 SolidWorks Image Quality (4/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#12 SolidWorks RealView Graphics (5/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#13
  SolidWorks  Level of Detail (5/7/13)


• FSWPC-13-#14
  SolidWorks Mates and Flexible Subassemblies (5/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#15
  SolidWorks Defeature (5/14/13)


• FSWPC-13-#16
  SolidWorks Envelope (5/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#17
  SolidWorks
  Large Design Review (5/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#18
  SolidWorks
  SpeedPak (5/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#19
  SolidWorks Save as Part (5/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#20
  SolidWorks Large Assembly Mode (5/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#21
  Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (6/4/13)

Thanks,

Josh
Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian
Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director

 

 

Copy/Paste Sketch Based Features in SolidWorks

Have you ever tried to save time by copying an existing
sketched based cut extrude only to find out that when you pasted this new copy
that the orientation was flipped around 180 degrees from the original?  If so, I have the background information on
why this happens and how to keep this from happening in the future.

Let’s start with a simple cut extrude feature
and notice that this seed component has been sketched on this outside surface
on my sample part.

Next, simply click on the cut extrude feature in the
SolidWorks Feature Manager Design Tree. 
Choosing to Copy or CTRL-C, you can then paste this onto another planar
or flat surface as well as any plane in your model.  For example, I will select on the inside or
opposite face of my sample part.

Notice how the copied cut extrude feature has been randomly
placed with the orientation flipped 180 degrees from the original.  This is because SolidWorks is controlling
this based on how the original sketch was made on the original face.  Since we are putting this on the back face,
but it was sketched on the front face first, the orientation is backwards.

If we try this again and place the copy on the same side of
the face as the original sketch, then the result is predictable in that it
stays in the same orientation.

So if you are not sure why your copied sketches might be
flipping around on you, just take a quick second to see how the original sketch
was created and on what side of the surface, and you can help predict this
situation in the future.  Thank you.

Brian Reel

Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

 

Free SolidWorks from Performance Constraints (FSWPC-13-#11)

(Modeling Methodology - SolidWorks Image Quality)

SolidWorks has the capability to display designs vividly with extremely high Image Quality and while this feature allows for a model with extremely high resolution, in general, they are not needed for everyday modeling. Higher Image Quality is intended to give better visual definition of very small components or components that contain very fine detail. The effect of this is a model that takes longer to calculate its visual data and a significantly larger file size. The former affects rebuild and repaint times while the latter affects model opening, closing, and saving. Both affect the amount of RAM required which amplifies the performance hit.

The best place to change the Image Quality setting is at the assembly level and selecting the option to propagate that through to all the sub-assemblies and part components as the Image Quality setting is per document. We have found that the sweet spot for this setting is around 25% up from the low end.

Also one item to note is that when you change the setting at a top level assembly it will adjust all of the part file but it will not adjust the sub-assemblies Image Quality level ony the parts in those sub-assemblies.

Note: This setting can have a larger or smaller on each users performance depending on how high their Image Quality was set.

You can by looking at our deltas see that on our Practical machine where we have enough hardware to support our model it added 15% to our benchmark. Where if we look at the Typical machine we can see that we pay the price for not having enough hardware to support our model set and it cost us almost 300% and took over 14 additional hours to run our benchmark.

Please
check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our
series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All
of these articles will be stored in the category of Free SolidWorks from Performance
Constraints and links to each with their
release date are listed below:

• FSWPC-13-#1 Introduction (3/19/13)


• FSWPC-13-#2 RAM (3/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#3 Processor Cores (3/26/13)


• FSWPC-13-#4 Processor Cores for Simulation
  and PhotoView360 (3/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#5 Processor Clock Speed (4/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#6 Hard Drives (4/4/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7a Graphics Cards-SolidWorks
  Functionality (4/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7b Graphics Cards-Hardware
  Comparison (4/11/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7c Graphics Cards-Model Complexity (4/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#8 Files stored in an older version
  (4/18/13)


• FSWPC-13-#9 OS Visual and User Settings (4/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#10 SolidWorks Options (4/25/13)


• FSWPC-13-#11 SolidWorks Image Quality (4/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#12
  SolidWorks RealView Graphics (5/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#13
  SolidWorks  Level of Detail (5/7/13)


• FSWPC-13-#14
  SolidWorks Mates and Flexible Subassemblies (5/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#15
  SolidWorks Defeature (5/14/13)


• FSWPC-13-#16
  SolidWorks Envelope (5/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#17
  SolidWorks
  Large Design Review (5/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#18
  SolidWorks
  SpeedPak (5/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#19
  SolidWorks Save as Part (5/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#20
  SolidWorks Large Assembly Mode (5/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#21
  Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (6/4/13)

Thanks,

Josh
Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian
Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director

 

 

Errors in your SolidWorks title block

Recently on support I received a call from a customer that was having an issue with errors in the SolidWorks title block. When they opened a drawing, the title block had errors in it.  Hopefully, you haven’t seen this issue before but if you have it probably looked something like this.

So why do you get this message? A link error will appear when there is no corresponding property for the notes to link to.  To turn off those errors, go to the View menu and de-select Annotation Link Errors.

Once you deselect “Annotation Link Errors” your drawings will look like they should and will not have error messages all over your documents.

SolidWorks Explorer

Making changes is an integral part of the design
process.  File location and name changes
happen all the time. Often times, these changes occur in parts that have
references to other models.  When such a
change is made and this reference is not updated SolidWorks might not be able
to find the reference and that link is now broken.  In this case, you can manually update that
reference by going to file >> open >> references:

This is a fairly simple procedure but do it enough times and
it can become a pain.  If you have a lot
of part references to update, this method is no longer efficient.  In that case, utilize SolidWorks Explorer.  SolidWorks Explorer will carry all referenced
files while changing the name and/or location so you don’t have to worry about
this later.

 

You also have to option to update all instances where the
file being edited is used.

 

 

Brian Adika, CSWP
Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.