Tuesday, June 25, 2013

What is the Modify Sketch Tool?

Modify Sketch

The Modify Sketch tool  is a much more efficient way to Mirror, Move, and/or Rotate an entire sketch.


To access it, you must either (a) pre-select a sketch on the feature tree OR (b) be in Sketch Mode (meaning, editing the sketch): 
Tools à Sketch Tools àModify Sketch

Drag the Modify Sketch icon to your command manager for easier access
                Tools à Customize à Commands àModify Sketch  

                Modify Sketch Dialog Box
                               

Scale:
-“Sketch origin” is the origin of the sketch, which is only visible when you are in Sketch Mode.
                -“Moveable origin” is the black origin that appears once you are in the command.
                - Re-position “Moveable origin” by left clicking on origin and drag to desired location.

                Translate (i.e. Move):
-Indicate a value for displacement.  You can include a minus sign to move it in the –X or –Y directions.
-You can include expressions!!!   (for example:  "0.5 + 1/8")

Rotate:
- Indicate a value for rotation.  Include a minus sign to rotate it in a clockwise direction.

Things to remember for Modify Sketch tool

   1.       You cannot move a sketch that has external references (dependent upon other geometry/sketches)
   2.       You cannot modify only partial entities of a sketch.  It’s all or nothing. J
   3.       Look at your cursor for clues.  You can hover your mouse over parts of the black origin to execute various functions.
a.       black origin:  RMB flips across both X and Y axes
b.      the x axis arrow of the black origin : RMB flips across the Y axis
c.       the y axis arrow of the black origin: RMB flips across the X axis
   4.       You can do more than 1 function sequentially while the dialog box is open such as translate and then rotate.
   5.       You can only undo after closing the dialog box (Close the dialog box and hit Ctrl +Z)
   6.       Before using the tool, your sketch should be ALMOST fully defined, which means that the sketch contour should be fully defined it itself, but it is only under defined because you have not indicated where the sketch should be placed relative to the sketch origin.  (if you move a point on your sketch, it should move as a whole without warping/changing shape)

   7.       Once you position it to where you want, add dimensions to make it fully defined.

Monday, June 3, 2013

How to Control Who Uses Which License

When you have a SolidNetWork (SNL) License, you might have an assortment of SolidWorks licenses to choose from, such as Standard, Professional, and Premium.  However, there might be times that the one you need to use is not available.
 
Anyone tired of having to say, or hearing others say: “I need to finish this last part of my project, but I can’t because PEOPLE keep taking MY Premium License!”

If only we could have our licenses on our server, but not let “just anyone” grab them. If you like to have your cake and eat it too, you’ll love this. We can easily do exactly that using the SolidWorks Options File.
For this example, we are going to make a list of who can and can’t use the Premium licenses, and limit the others to Professional. We are also going to reserve one seat of SimPro for the Premium user group.

Premium users: Tim, Chip, Tom
Professional users: Peter, Ronnie, Paul

Start a new text file (in NotePad or similar), starting with the following format:
GROUP <Group_Name> <user> <user> (do not include <>)

Such that:

GROUP is the FlexLM syntax to define a group
Group_Name is the name to use to reference the group
User is username. The number of user entries depends on how many users are in the group.


 

Once that’s set, you MUST save as sw_d.opt , and you must save it to the location where your license manager is looking. Typical install location shown below:

 
We need to launch the SNL manager, Modify, then Activate/Reactivate as shown.

Make sure you point to your options file as well.

 
After a quick activation, all good!


 
For a list of all the different control options, see chapter 5 of the FLexLM user guide.  You can find that you your machine, C:\Program Files (x86)\SolidWorks Corp\SolidNetWork License Manager\Docs\flexuser
 
 
contributed by Tim Strange, Progression Technologies

 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Introduction to My.SolidWorks

With over 2 million users of SolidWorks worldwide, there is an exponentially growing user community sharing a wealth of SolidWorks knowledge.  You can find information from SolidWorks Forums, blog posts, videos, and unlimited social media sources. 

While this is good to have this availability, it almost becomes sensory overload!!!  Wouldn't it be nice to have a customized portal tailored to your interests???  Maybe you ONLY work in sheet metal and don't care about ANYTHING else!  Maybe you just want to create and work in your own SolidWorks Sheet Metal cavern.  You can do this!  You can search by the words sheet metal and pull up any whisper of an article, blog post, video related to sheet metal.  Secondly, you can filter items out....so that you can ONLY pull up YouTube videos in your search...which is great if you find that reading actual text is very taxing. 

Check out Jeremy's video introducing My.SolidWorks


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Friday, December 28, 2012

SolidProfessor vs. SolidWorks Training Classes

Well, we made it past the end of the world, so that's good news.  The bad news is that your work didn't go away.  In fact, it probably piled up.  Considering your workload, plus that phantom concept of "work-life balance", who has time to get training or brush up on skills? 

You know you have to "MAKE" time, so start the New Year right by improving your SolidWorks skills.  There are a couple of great solutions and at least one of these should suit your needs!

Option One: 
You're company might be starting with a new "bank" of training dollars, so if that's the case, consider signing up for one of our awesome Training Classes in Houston, Dallas, or Austin.  Don't worry - we aren't boring..  Our instructors are full of personality and energy, while ingesting coffee and candy to fuel terrible nerd jokes.  You'll walk away with immediate increase in productivity, a better skill set, a spiralbound, color manual with all of the exercises, files (downloads), and lectures available to you at anytime thereafter.  If you don't see a class listed, email us!

Option Two:
No permission or time to get formal training?  Are the training locations too far from you?  You might consider having your company buy a license for SolidProfessor.  SolidProfessor is a SolidWorks Solution Partner delivering the largest library of SolidWorks video training and tutorial courses on the market.  While the tutorials in the help menu are a nice introduction to each topic, they don't even compare to the advantage of the video/audio combo of tutorials you get with SolidProfessor.  (Right now there's a great promotion going on - 25% off!)

See this chart below to help you base your decision.  Email us with questions at support@progressiontech.com:


  SolidProfessor Progression Training Classes
Intensity Lower intensity Higher Intensity
Pace Self-Paced by User Administered  Pace by Instructor
Topics Learn on an as-needed basis Learn a lot about a designated topic/module
Result Continuous skill development in the areas of the user's interest Immediate Increase in Productivity and Proficency in the desired topic/module
Duration 3-5 minute videos of finely segmented topics, with both
 audio & video
2 to 4 days; 7-hr days
Learning Style Short Videos (Watch and Learn) Lecture, Case Studies (group exercises), and Independent Exercises
Interaction No instructor interaction, but you can submit questions to solidprofessor.com for potential topics Q&A tailored to your application/interests with instructor
Learn experiences from instructor plus shortcuts, hotkeys, and practical application
Location At work or home, where internet
access is available
Progression Office On-Site (Houston, Dallas, or Austin)
Availability Available 24hrs a day
7 days a week
Classes are typically
Mon- Thurs 9am - 4:30pm
Cost Annual recurring cost One-time cost

Monday, December 17, 2012

The Winner of the Giveaway is....

Jennifer!  (There was only one Jennifer who entered, so you know who you are!) ;-)

Congratulations!  These are the answers to the riddle in our previous post:

1. Sin City
2. The Matrix
3. Signs
4. Mean Girls
5. Sum of All Fears
6. Snakes on a Plane
7. Looper (or possibly) In the Loop
8. Alpha and Omega
9. Exorcist
10. Iron Cross
11. Social Network
12. Vertical Limit
13. XXX (Vin Diesel)
14. Wall-E
15. Speed
16. 127 Hours
We have a lot of great (work appropriate) Videos and Tech Tips coming up on the Blog so stay tuned and make sure you have your colleagues sign up for updates too!

To all of our recent subscribers and followers of the Progression Blog, we wish you a

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Nerd Movies and a Giveaway!

You think you're nerdy, but HOW nerdy are you, REALLY??
 
Progression Giveaway:   See Rules Below!
 

Rules:
  1. Each of the illustrations above describe a Movie.  Answer all 16 Riddles illustrated above, numbered 1 to 16 in an email to support@progressiontech.com 
  2. Subject Title: Blog Giveaway
  3. Contestant must be a subscriber to our Blog (do it now --> over there!)
  4. Contestant must be with a company having an Active Technical Support Subscription
  5. All entries will be compiled and a winner will be chosen at random.
  6. Progression employees not eligible
  7. Contest Ends December 14th.
  8. The giveaway: [insert drumroll] ......................
A Progression backpack FULL of irresistable geeky goodies valued at over $50. 

Don't miss it!! 

Some answer are better than zero answers!