GoEngineer Blog

Geometry Analysis, part of SOLIDWORKS Utilities, searches for potentially unwanted model geometry and shows you where it is. It lets you specify conditions and parameters to search for so you can quickly clean up models, and it’s especially helpful for identifying problems in imported bodies. Geometry Analysis looks for insignificant geometry (slivers and small faces), sharp angles, and discontinuous geometry, all of which can over-complicate the model and put a damper on production.

SOLIDWORKS Treehouse is a standalone application designed to build and manage assembly structures before you even start modeling in SOLIDWORKS. Treehouse makes it easy to arrange empty assemblies, import and edit existing assemblies, create new configurations, export documents to SOLIDWORKS and Microsoft Excel, and save your layout for an overhead view.

SOLIDWORKS PDM 2021 includes lots of new icons for States and Transitions. Previously existing State icons have been updated as well as the icon interface. Being able to sort icons into different categories makes it easier when making a selection as well. Changing a State icon can be performed by the administrator inside the Administration application.

Web2 search capabilities are not quite as robust as a full install of PDM. In a web interface we lack search cards and favorites, which stifles us down to searching for a value in the File/Folder name, Comment and Description by default. With some tweaks to the configuration we can free us up to search across any number of variables.

A common question I receive is, "How do I get SOLIDWORKS to call out holes the way the shop floor wants them?" Let’s begin by clearly defining how SOLIDWORKS hole callouts work. When you click on the Hole Callout button in a SOLIDWORKS drawing, it does a lookup to the file location in tools, options, document properties Hole Callout Format File. SOLIDWORKS is hardcoded to look for a file named calloutformat.txt in this location.

It is sometimes necessary to search through a SOLIDWORKS part to find geometry that matches certain criteria. SOLIDWORKS has a utility for that called Power Select. Power Select allows you to search a part for edges, loops, faces, features that meet a specific criterion. You can specify criteria for edge convexity, edge angle, face color, feature color, feature type, feature name, and surface type.

While exploring Thingiverse.com, I found a file I wanted to 3D print, an Artichoke Lamp Shade by gCreate. It would fit well in my home, but I had a few issues with the model. One problem I had was that it is too large for my 3D printer, and because of this, I needed to split it into individual pieces.

When accessing a SOLIDWORKS PDM vault through Windows Explorer, all the information for the files is displayed in columns. However, sometimes the default column set does not display all the information a user could be looking for. To solve this, a custom column set can be added to the view. Multiple column sets can be created and assigned to different users so they can be customized to the individual user’s and group’s needs.

A part of most workflows includes incrementing the revision of files during transitions. Setting this up can be a bit tricky as there are many parts that must be in sync for it to work properly. This is intended as a quick guide to help you understand what is happening, when your revisions are not doing what you think they should be in SOLIDWORKS PDM.