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I love finding quirky items to display in my home office. But I seem to always find things that aren't quite complete. Like this iconic HAL 9000 replica I picked up recently (from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released 58 years ago this week). The model kit included a stand, but no wall-mount provisions, nor anything to secure the 9-volt battery. Luckily, the future is now - with access to SOLIDWORKS and a 3D printer, I have everything I need to remedy this situation. Here's how I did it!
The SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager (SNL) supports multiple license clients by distributing licenses to clients on the network. This allows the number of users to exceed the number of licenses by floating licenses. Understanding how to navigate and work in the SolidNetWork License Manager can be very confusing; this guide will cover the basics.
Each year SOLIDWORKS maintains the included software guides and the majority of these guides are available online or from inside the software located under the Help pull-down menu. However, there is a little-known guide that is deep inside the installation folders that few users even know existed. This hidden guide can be extremely beneficial for new SOLIDWORKS PDM users who could use some reference material as they get started with PDM.
In SOLIDWORKS, a circular reference can occur when two or more assembly components share an external reference. For example, a rebuild of component1 requires the rebuilding of component2, but component2 then requires a rebuild of component1, and so on.
SOLIDWORKS can use API (Application Programming Interface), which is a COM programming interface for SOLIDWORKS software. API is used to access SOLIDWORKS files without opening them, automate redundant and time-consuming tasks, and create engineering applications that can run in and outside of SOLIDWORKS. To use this tool, you must have a Document Manager API Key.
Companies often have SOLIDWORKS installed and set up long before they implement PDM. This article walks through modifying your SOLIDWORKS installation to add PDM Client. To modify your SOLIDWORKS installation, open the Control panel, and navigate to Programs > Programs and features.
In 2026, Canadian manufacturers face tighter margins, higher quality expectations, and ongoing labour shortages, but also a rare opportunity. Quality inspection is becoming a competitive advantage, not just a compliance function, and recent changes to the SR&ED program mean advanced inspection and metrology investments may now qualify for significant government support. Manufacturers that modernize their inspection processes with digital workflows and 3D scanning will be better positioned to reduce risk, move faster, and protect their margins.
Personalizing your 3DEXPERIENCE tenant can make the environment feel more connected to your company and help users feel “at home” in the platform. Two of the quickest ways to do this are by updating or changing the Platform Name and the Organization Title. Here is how to customize both.
The SOLIDWORKS PDM error message "No database is connected to this view” occurs when a PDM user tries to access a vault view, but the software can’t locate the necessary vault information in the registry. This is often due to missing or corrupted information in the registry, which results in PDM being unable to access the database and prevents the vault view from opening.