Being a Smarty Pants Can Be a Good Thing

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If you read my last blog, you know I’m a fan of browser-based applications, including the SOLIDWORKS browser-based design roles, such as 3D Creator and 3D Sculptor. Today I want to share my favorite features with you that reduce redundant tasks, enable you to reuse existing designs and more, to help you work smarter and faster.

  1. Design Assistant for Mate Creation – save time and clicks on duplicate components.

The Design Assistant tools use artificial intelligence (AI) to offer design guidance based on your workflows, which speed up time-consuming and redundant tasks, such as making selections and inserting duplicate components.

The Design Assistant for Mate Creation lets you add fasteners on an assembly quick and easy with just one click of a button as the Mate Helper automatically inserts multiple instances of components into your assembly by recognizing and suggesting locations to replicate components. This reduces time spent installing duplicate components, such as fasteners and screws.

The Design Assistant for Mate Creation reduces the need to manually add components, such as fasteners, by automatically inserting them for you.

 

  1. Design Assistant for Selection –speed up your selections.

This is a great tool for repetitive tasks, such as making multiple selections for filleting and chamfering part edges.

The Design Assistant for Selection offers a suggestion on what you should select next, based on the work completed so far. It’s a great companion for picking edges, fillets, or chamfers, as it will identify other edges that are similar or symmetrical, are of a comparable length or are located nearby, and predicts what other edges you are likely to select. If you add another manual selection, the prediction is refined. If you agree with the prediction, one tap gives the go-ahead, and it automatically picks all suggested edges.

The Design Assistant for Selection reduces the need to manually select geometry, such as edges for fillets, by automatically selecting them for you.

 

  1. Insert Sketch –save time byquickly finding and reusing an existing sketch.

The Insert Sketch tool is another great timesaver as it enables you to import and reuse an existing sketch. Just hit the Insert Sketch option from the Sketch toolbar on the Action bar, and that will give you the option to search for your sketch using the 3D Search capability and easily insert that sketch into the model you are working on.

The Insert Sketch tool lets you reuse existing components in your design by keeping reference to the original. This significantly reduces your time to redesign mostly any standard components that you often reuse.

 

  1. Insert Geometry – easily reuse existing geometry.

The Insert Geometry tool lets you import and reuse an existing Physical Product Body in your design model. Once you insert your desired Physical Product into your design, you can position it the way you want using the Move Body feature. The anchor point for moving the inserted body can be its origin. First, I usually create a point sketch in my model for the location of the inserted geometry. Then using the Move Body feature, I can easily drag and drop the Physical Product Body on the point sketch location.

Because of the point sketch, I don’t have to worry about putting the exact three-dimensional coordinates into the Move Body command for the desired location of the inserted geometry. Just hit the Insert Geometry option from the Feature toolbar on the Action bar, and that will give you the option to search for your component using 3D Search and easily insert that component into your model. You also have the option to pick any revision or configuration that may exist with that component.

  1. PartSupply – find and reuse standard parts.

PartSupply is a free online parts catalog that offers ready-to-use, source-able 3D parts from more than 1,700 providers. It provides a quick and easy way to find reusable “standard” parts, you know the parts that can be reused across all your design projects and assemblies, such as fasteners and brackets.

Plus, you can easily launch and access PartSupply right from your design environment in 3D Creator and insert standard parts into your models. It’s as easy as dragging and dropping a part. Check out my colleague’s blog here to learn more.

Easily access PartSupply and drag and drop parts right in your design environment and validate them.

 

This is just a handful of my favorites. What are yours and what would you like to see in future updates? Let me know in the Comment section.

To learn more, contact your local reseller and check out the SOLIDWORKS Cloud Offer and 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio.

Soumitra Vadnerkar

Soumitra Vadnerkar

Soumitra is a new member in SOLIDWORKS Product Management team. He manages SOLIDWORKS Inspection and SOLIDWORKS Cloud roles. He has Masters and Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and has been a CAD enthusiast since he started his academics. Soumitra has 5 years of work experience in sheet metal, rubber, and plastic industries. His expertise lies mostly in stamping and injection-blow molding tool design but currently he is also improving his new skills in Product Design using SOLIDWORKS Cloud applications. Besides work, Soumitra likes to keep himself busy learning about new technologies in computer hardware and AI.