Hello to all,

Welcome to the new edition of the SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News!  This monthly news blog is co-authored by members of the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support teams worldwide.

Equations in Assemblies Part III

By Mario Iocco

This month we continue to explore equations in assemblies, we are going to explore how to use the fourth row from the top from the Equations in Assemblies from the SOLIDWORKS online help

Here is a visual demonstration of how to achieve this:

SOLIDWORKS Configurations Support in Visualize 2021

By Richie More

Exporting SOLIDWORKS Parts and Assemblies to Visualize is simply a click on “Simple export” within the Visualize Add-in Tab. However what if we wish to add many configurations of the same part/assembly to the Visualize Project?

What’s New in SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2021 is the ability to import any or all configurations to the same visualize project. This short Tip will explain how we proceed to get the project ready, importing multiple configurations and pushing it to Visualize, finally rendering the same.

Step 1– Open part or assembly file into SOLIDWORKS 2021.

Step 2– In the Configuration Manager, Right Click and Add Display Data Mark to configurations which you wish to export to Visualize Project.

Step 3 – Save the Assembly file.

Step 4 – Click on Export Simple, to export the Assembly file to automatically create a Visualize Project.

Notice that Configurations with Add Display Data Mark appears in Model Set list.

Now you can set the Viewport as per required appearances, environments, cameras and get the render output of multiple configurations within the same Visualize Project.

Using this new capability will enable user to reduce multiple project imports and setting the scene/appearances/camera processes, saving a lot of productive work hours.

Embedding DraftSight® drawing files in Microsoft Excel

By Nav Mahajan

Embedding DraftSight® drawing files in Microsoft Excel is highly useful in passing the restricted information of a drawing from one user to another. Also, it can be helpful when you want to present a new product or architectural design along with a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet breakdown of costs.

The drawing files from the DraftSight® can be embedded into Microsoft Excel by following the below steps :

1. Open DraftSight® and select the Drawing or the portion of Drawing to be embedded.
2. Right click on the selected Drawing, select ‘Copy with Reference Point’ and specify a reference point of the drawing.

3. Open a new document in Microsoft Excel, right click on any cell and select ‘Paste Special’ .

4.Select the option ‘DraftSight Document Object’ and click OK.

5. DraftSight® drawing is now embedded in Microsoft Excel .

To open the drawing in DraftSight®, simply double click on the embedded drawing in Microsoft Excel, it will open the Drawing in DraftSight®.

Noteworthy Solutions from the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base

Is there a SolidPractices document available on the topic of “Working with Imported 2D Data”?
Yes, The attached SolidPractices document in Solution ID: S-078802 examines use cases and workflows for SOLIDWORKS® customers to work as efficiently as possible with 2D CAD data. It also covers how to import and convert 2D designs to 3D parts, validate designs and data, and edit files in their native DXF/DWG format.

When opening a SOLIDWORKS® file, what is the meaning of the message ‘This file was created in SOLIDWORKS 2007 or earlier. The model contains Surface fill and related features…’?
Effective with the release of SOLIDWORKS® 2021, the application includes additional geometry verification. To get more information, see Solution Id: S-078872

Why does the SOLIDWORKS® PDM Database Server service report the following error in the Application log? ‘Connect to server ‘[Hostname]\[Instance]’ Failed…’
This error indicates that the SOLIDWORKS® PDM Database Server service cannot connect to the SQL Server® hostname or instance. To get more information, see Solution Id: S-078843

That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading this edition of SOLIDWORKS Support News. If you need additional help with these issues or any others, please contact your SOLIDWORKS Value Added Reseller.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome. You can enter them below.