SOLIDWORKS 2013
And The Award Goes To… SolidWorks!
Roll out the red carpet–awards season is upon us! This February, we are pleased to announce that SolidWorks products such as SolidWorks 2013, SolidWorks Electrical, and SolidWorks Plastics have been recognized for three different awards: Control Engineering’s Engineers’ Choice Award,
... ContinuedSolidWorks Composer: An Easy Way to Rotate Actors
I have to credit this trick to Scott Lidgey. When you are rotating an actor in SolidWorks Composer, you can control the amount of revolution and make sure it rotates at a constant velocity. The trick to this is to
... ContinuedSnapshots of PhotoView 360: Lighting
There are several different types of lights that can be utilized in SolidWorks.
... ContinuedSolidWorks World 2013–My Take by Chris Scott
Four days have come and gone so quickly. From guest speakers, roller coasters, new technology, inspiring stories, and an artificial flying bird, SolidWorks World 2013 delivered. For me, this was the first time I have attended SolidWorks World, and
... ContinuedSolidWorks World 2013: The CEO’s Perspective
This year marks the 15th anniversary of SolidWorks World. In 1999, when we had our first SolidWorks World in Palm Springs, there were approximately 800 people, 60 partners, and 70 technical sessions. I was there, and I remember thinking how
... ContinuedHow to Add a Custom Hole Size to the Hole Wizard Database in SolidWorks
SolidWorks Hole Wizard is pretty complete when it comes to industry standards for hole sizes, but what happens when you want a hole size that isn’t in the list? Not a lot of people are familiar with SolidWorks ability to
... ContinuedSnapshots of PhotoView 360: Appearances
Read the entire series: (Part One: The Basics, Part Two: Appearances)
Appearances are usually one of the first properties added to produce a rendered image. They can add a color, texture, or illumination settings to an assembly, component, face, feature, body, or part. Applying appearances works in a hierarchy; assembly appearances will always override component appearances, and component appearances will override face appearances, and it continues down the list.
TIP: Adding appearances does NOT add mechanical properties.
When dragging and dropping appearances onto a part from the task pane, pressing ALT while dragging and dropping will enable the property manager for that appearance. This gives you the option of choosing your settings without having to edit the appearance to enable the property manager of that appearance.
SolidWorks Simulation 2013 – Two of My Favorite Additions
SolidWorks Simulation 2013, like in previous releases, has been loaded with enhancements. Two things I particularly like in this release include Sub-Modeling, a huge time savings in solving large scale problems, and Parametric Optimization inside Flow, a DOE scheme for fluid flow optimization. Let’s talk about them one at a time…
... ContinuedCreating Drawings for SolidWorks Multi-body Parts
When you have a multi-body part in SolidWorks the question that comes into play at some point is how do I make a drawing for each of the different bodies “parts”. The answer to this is like many items in
... ContinuedMake A Single Body with Multiple Open Contours in SolidWorks 2013
SolidWorks 2013 has a great new set of behaviors with thin feature extrusions. In the past, if you wanted to work with open contours, only one open contour was allowed. In SolidWorks 2013, multiple open contours can be extruded as
... ContinuedUsing SolidWorks to Create a Helical Pattern
SolidWorks has many different flavors of pattern features that can aid you in your design process. On top of the extensive capabilities available in the traditional linear, circular and mirror patterns, we can also create patterns utilizing data from curves,
... ContinuedSomething Intersecting in SolidWorks 2013: Join Your Parts to Find Volumes
This is yet another trick to find the volume of a fluid, air, etc in SolidWorks; I seem to get asked this often, so I’d like to share all the different tips and tricks you can use to make your
... ContinuedThree New Simulation Functions in SolidWorks 2013
From CAPINC's What's New Segment, here are three new SolidWorks Simulation functions in 2013.
Shell Edge to Beam Bonding
The bonding of shell edges that belong to surface or sheet metal bodies to beams, commonly used to simulate gusset plates connecting beams, is supported through manual contact set definitions.
This functionality is available for linear static, frequency, buckling, and linear dynamic studies.
To create a shell edge to beam bonded contact, in the Contact Sets PropertyManager, under Type, select Bonded. For Set 1, click Beams and select the beam from the graphics area. For Faces, Edges for Set 2, select the shell edge.
SolidWorks Materials: Manage & Customize
You can add materials you often use to your favorite list for faster access.
... ContinuedHow do I buy SolidWorks or get a trial version?
Here at SolidWorks, we work hard to make our products easy to buy, learn and use; however, two of the most common questions we receive are: How do I buy SolidWorks? How do I get a trial version of SolidWorks?
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