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