Author Archives: Fielder Hiss
PDMWorks Enterprise: Who is it for?
I have received many questions regarding the newly released PDMWorks Enterprise PDM product. · What is it? · Who is it for? · How can I learn more? Good News! The SolidWorks website has recently been updated to highlight the
... ContinuedSearch for the refined user
Back in August I wrote about the new innovative Search capabilities included in SolidWorks 2007. Many of you gave the new Search a try and found it to be a very handy tool.So I thought I’d expand on it’s capabilities
... ContinuedWhat’s Changed
Many times in the course of modifying designs you look at two versions of a design and wonder…. ‘…these look exactly alike – what’s changed?…” You could have kept a log of changes in the Design Binder or if you
... ContinuedFix it instead of throwing it away
From time to time I get some interesting thoughts shared from other product managers at SolidWorks. Below are some thoughts from Mark Biasotti another product manager here at SolidWorks. Enjoy Fielder One of the mottos that I like to espouse
... ContinuedBetter Visualization with Sketch Ghosting
One of SolidWorks forte’s is “Delete nothing – Change everything”. As you might know, you can go into any sketch which is used for a feature, for example an extrusion, and if that sketch is unconstrained (no sketch relations or
... ContinuedFocus on your Designs – a few quick tips
SolidWorks 2007 has gone a long way to allow you to focus on designing not on CAD rules One way is by dealing with two of the most commonly performed operations in MCAD: viewing and selection. Model Interaction Let’s start
... Continued3D Search
I thought this was a pretty interesting take on this new capability: https://www10.mcadcafe.com/nbc/articles/view_weekly.php?articleid=305374 Reuse is something we always talk about at SolidWorks. The ability to check existing designs for a component, based on a desired shape, to use in a
... ContinuedScreen Capture
One of the best things about SolidWorks is that improves its capabilities and utilities based on customer feedback and understanding how they work, even the little things they do on a daily basis. Sometimes, those enhancement ideas come from our
... ContinuedWhat resolution do I publish for projection or print?
I often get asked the question – what resolution or dpi (dots per inch) should I be setting my PhotoWorks rendered output to?This is a question that you should have an answer for because it could cost you unnecessary time
... ContinuedThumbwheel controls
Slider controls have long existed in SolidWorks as an quick and intuitive way to “dial in” to an approximate value without having to type in a number. But what if the value that can be inputted could be an
... ContinuedYour Feedback is Welcome
At SolidWorks we are always looking for feedback on how to improve our products. We are looking for feedback on some of the productivity tools in SolidWorks Office Professional. Take a moment to provide us your feedback: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=902122446646 Thanks Fielder
... ContinuedBulk Load Custom Properties Into Templates
Recently, Joy Garon, a SolidWorks Product Manager, shared an email with me that she received from Devon Sowell who is not only a SolidWorks user, but, someone who spends time helping other SolidWorks users. Devon, recently launched his own Blog
... ContinuedMore realistic motion
One of the big challenges in 2D is that you can’t tell how a design will interact until you build the first prototype. SolidWorks introduced Dynamic assembly motion several releases back to let you test component interaction in 3D before
... ContinuedThrow out those calipers
How often have you had physical parts that you needed to represent in CAD? Many customers spend time with calipers manually remodeling parts to use in CAD. Other times expensive service bureaus are used to save time. That was
... ContinuedStop Over Engineering
That is the message when people talk about analysis. Structural frames for machines are a classic example of this. These are big heavy machines that often benefit from weight. Things have changes though with the cost of materials continuing to
... Continued