Mike Puckett's Blog

Solidworks 2009 Service Pack 1 EV

Customers participating in the Early Visibility program for Solidworks can now download the EV version of Service Pack 1.0 for Solidworks 2009.  Typically the full release of the service pack is two weeks after EV is released.  Given that time line, it would put the first full service pack for 2009 at just about 6 weeks after its initial launch.

Subscription service customers can join the EV program, and download the files in the customer portal.

Free 3D PDF Creation Software From Solidworks Labs

The mad scientists over at The Solidworks Labs have released another free tool.  Their latest offering is Presentation Studio.  The program is a 3D PDF creation tool thats inbedded into the Solidworks software as an add-in.  What it does is allow you to create a 3D PDF of a part or assembly in a more graphical look as opposed to just a plain 3D PDF.  With just a few clicks you can create a pretty nice looking presentation file that anyone can read.  Here is a walk through of setting up a file:

Before you start you need to download and install the Presentation Studio software.  It can be found via this Link.  I would also highly recommend visiting the Presentation Studio Page for a brief overview, and sample video.  Once installed, you need to go to Tools > Add-ins and check the check box for the presentation studio.

Step one of course is to select a file to use.  In this case I'm going to use the ball valve assembly thats used in the Solidworks Tutorial for FloXpress:

If you checked the add-in, you will have a new tab in the command manager named Presentation:

Step two is to click the Layout button.  Here is the top portion of the resulting feature manager:

Under theme you have the option of selecting from one of four preset layouts.  They include Metal, Red, Silverlight 1, and Silverlight 2.  There are slight differences in the actual layout of each theme, and the color changes for each one.

Next are the Output Details.  The first option is where you want the resulting PDF file to be saved.  Clicking on the radio button will allow you to select the appropriate place.

Under that is the Title.  Whatever you type in this box will appear as a title to the document.  Whatever you type in Summary and Description will also appear in the document.

Right below that is Enable Assembly Explode.  If you are setting up on an assembly with an exploded view, you can check this box and the explode steps will then be placed into the document.  I went ahead and set up a quick exploded view of this assembly for demonstration purposes.  The person viewing the document can then play, rewind, and play forward the explode of that assembly:

Notice the playback controls in the bottom right corner.  Here is the exploded view:

You will also notice that realview shades and materials carry over into the PDF file.  The second part of the feature tree contains the following:

The first section, Enabled Views, is where you check which standard views you want to include in the document.  All the standard views are selectable including your active view.  In testing I was not able to set up a custom view, and then have it appear in the list.

Here is what the section of the document relating to what you check in the Enabled Views will look like based on the choices above:

By clicking on one of those views you will then see that view in the main window of the document.

Next is Components To Highlight.  This option is only available when creating a presentation of an assembly.  You select the parts that you would like the end user to be able to isolate in the main view window.  Here is what the interface will look like in the document:

Basically every component you select will then show up as something that can be isolated in the main view window of the product.  Here is what you would see if you were to select the red handle:

Notice how the other components are ghosted out.

So after you make your component selection, you hit ok, and Solidworks goes to work creating your 3D PDF document.  You can then send that to anyone who is able to view a PDF file.  Here is how my Presentation Studio file looks:

You can download the file from this link to see it for yourself: Download ball_valve.pdf   

One note is I had to download Adobe Reader to view a 3D PDF.  I was using Foxit Reader which at this time doesn't support 3D PDF files.  Also, this current version of Presentation Studio only supports 32 bit operating systems.  No word if 64 bit support is in the works.  It should be noted that most 'labs' projects are almost the same as beta products, so future upgrades and support is anyones guess!

Solidworks 2009 Enhancement

Sometimes it really is the small things that make the software more pleasant to use.  Such is the case for this new enhancement.  How many times have you had to scroll up in a feature manager just to hit the accept check mark?  The hole wizard is a famous one because its interface is so long.  Well in Solidworks 2009 the accept and cancel button remain at the top of the window regardless of the scrolling.

  If you notice in this image, I am actually scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the hole wizard interface window, but if you notice the green check mark and the red X still appear at the top of the manager window.

Solidworks 2009 Roll Out Event Live Coverage

Wonder What Happens At A VAR Roll-Out?

Well tomorrow Tuesday October 21st you can find out!  I will be attending the Solidworks 2009 roll out event being hosted by Go Engineer which is one of the VAR's here in Southern California.  For those interested in following along, all you have to do is visit My Blog Homepage to follow along with me live durring the entire event.  The schedule start time is 9:00am Pacific Coast Time.  You will be able to follow along via text and comments, and can also interact via the Cover It Live interface.  So if you have some free time, follow along, and drop in to see the happenings from time to time.

As a note, Go Engineer is not the VAR our company buys Solidworks from.  They have always gratiously invited us to many of their events, and they always put on very technical events given by very knowledgeable people.

Loosing Your Tools>Options Settings Changes After A Crash?

Then Solidworks 2009 will fix that for you.  A commenter to the blog recently asked about adding an Apply button to the Tools > Options dialog, so once you make a change, it would get written to the Windows Registry immediately.  That way if you crashed before exiting Solidworks, your changes wouldnt get lost.

I thought that was a very excellent question, so I posted it on the Solidworks forums in the User Interface section.  John Sweeney who is the Senior Manager for Core User Interface Development at Solidworks provided this response about the issue:

"I took a look at this and found an inconsistency in our code. When you hit OK, we actually do write the new registry values immediately if a document is currently open. However, if you use Tools-Options with no documents open, then we don't write the values until you exit SolidWorks (the changes are kept in memory for your working session). So, if SolidWorks were to crash then the changes would not be saved to the registry, and thus the settings would not be restored on restarting SolidWorks. Does this sound like your scenario?"

He went on further to describe steps that have been taken to resolve this issue:

"This problem was fixed in SW2009 Alpha and the registry values are saved immediately on hitting OK for both scenarios. Please let me know if this doesn't cover the cases where you see lost option settings, or if you still this issue in SW 2009?"

Now I dont have a known repeatable meathod to crash Solidworks, so it's hard to test it on a moments notice.  Perhaps someone who reads this will see if they experiance anything different.

Well further down in the discussion Jarod Pulo raised the same issue, but in regards to toolbar and command manager customization:

"This is also the case for toolbars and shortcut keys. We've only just installed 2008 and found that if Solidworks crashes before being closed properly they are lost as well.

Most unimpressed after tweaking hotkeys for 30 minutes."

That would be extremely frustrating!  Here is John's reply to Jarod:

"Good point. It looks like we also have a similar inconsistency in the Tools Customize dialog. However, in my testing of 2008 SP3 and 2009 SP0, I found that any Menus, Keyboard or Options tab changes are saved immediately, while the Toolbars and Commands tab changes are not saved until exiting SolidWorks. Your keyboard shortcut changes should have been saved for your next session of SolidWorks even if SolidWorks crashed at some point after your changes... Do you recall if keyboard changes were lost too, or just toolbar and toolbar button (commands) changes?

I've written up SPR 457083 to address the problem with the "Toolbars" and "Commands" tab. I realize how frustrating it can be to lose all the customization work you may have done during a session... If this can be safely fixed in a 2009 service pack, we will get a fix in as soon as possible.

Thanks for your input."

That is great news if it can be done and implemented in a future service pack.  I'll contine to follow along with this issue, and keep an eye out to see if this SPR makes it into a future service pack.

On a side note, this is another good example of why getting people involved in the Solidworks Forums is important.  There are numerous Solidworks Employees that read the forums daily, and reply to users questions.  When this issue first came to me, I figured it would be better handled in the forums, instead of screaming about it in a blog post.  It seems like it worked out just right.  Thanks to John Sweeney for taking the time to reply to the questions, and to also get a fix underway.  This kind of direct interaction with Solidworks users is something that I hope Solidworks Management will continue to encourage.  Also, thanks to the other forum members that contributed to the conversation. 

If you are not already a member of the forums, head on over and get registered via The Solidworks Website.

Writters note: I appoligise for any misspelling in this post.  For some reason Typad's spell check is not fucntioning today!

Buy Solidworks for $199 a Month

Now here is an interesting deal.  Solidworks announced today a new program that will allow you to buy your very own copy of Solidworks for as little as $199 a month for 36 months.  The total cost after three years of payments would come to $7,239.00 US Dollars.  This total cost includes three years of subscription fees, and a $75.00 "Documentation" fee.  You are also required to pay a security deposit when you sign up, but it's not clear if thats an additional cost or not.  I would imagine it comes off the total cost. 

I was recently talking with someone that would like to start his own design company, but sees the initial cost of software to be part of the challenge to do so.  Well an offer like this certainly makes it easier for him to do that.  If you would like to take advantage of this offer, you can click This Link to access the page to get more information.  The offer is good through December 19th 2008, and your first payment would be due 90 days after you receive your license.  Here are some of the terms of the offer:

And here are the products being offered as part of the deal:

Contact one of your local VAR's for more information also.

Solidworks Installation Tip

If your going to be upgrading a computer from a previous version of Solidworks to Solidworks 2009, here is a tip to help make it easier.  You do not need to transfer the license before you start the uninstall of your current version.  Your Solidworks serial number resides in the Windows Registry, so the Solidworks Installation Manager should find it in there during the installation of the new version.  Here is the warning you will get during the uninstallation of the older version:

Now of course if your getting a whole brand new computer, then you will need to transfer that license before hand.  As far as the Installation Manager locating your serial number automatically when you begin installing the new version, I have seen it find it, and have also seen it not find it.  If your using stand alone licenses, it's a good idea to maintain some sort of list that shows each serial number you own, the name of the computer its installed on, and the license expiration date.  I have a simple Excel spreadsheet that contains all our companies software serial numbers thats stored in a secure location.

In case you run into a problem where you receive a warning about exceeding the number of available activations, you can contact your VAR, explain the problem, and they should be able to help you clear it up.

More Hidden Changes to Solidworks 2009

Last week when I posted about the change to the printing interface, you may have noticed an additional button on the print interface:

The Preview button.  Again, this is one of those simple changes that basically makes life just a little bit easier in Solidworks.  In Solidworks 2008 and earlier, if you hit the print button, and then went in and made a change to either the properties, or page setup, you would then have to hit cancel and then print preview to make sure your changes were correct.  I used to do this all the time when someone in the shop would change the paper size on a drawing for some strange reason, and then save it.  Now in Solidworks 2009, I can make a change, and hit the preview button to see my changes much faster than I could in Solidworks 2008.  I no longer have to cancel out, then hit print preview.  In fact this was the sole reason I added the Print Preview button to my shortcut bar to help save some clicks and time.

Again, a very simple change to the interface, but one that saves time, and makes the software work more like a user, than a computer.

Some Misc Solidworks News

First, today is the deadline to receive the $200 off earlybird deadline for Solidworks World 2009.  Up until midnight tonight, you can get $200 off the conference cost.  To register, click this LINK.  Solidworks World 2009 is shaping up to be quite an event.  The location is great to start with.  Add in the offsite event being held at Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Discount Disney Tickets, along with some other changes being planned to the event itself (Kerri Dunne would kick me in the shins if I revealed any), and this is one event you do not want to miss.  The expected attendance is supposed to top 5,000 for the first time ever, but I think the economy may unfortunately have a say in that coming true.

Solidworks 2009 DVD's have begun to arrive.  The guys and gals in those cool yellow DHL vans and trucks have begun to drop off a slimmer cardboard box containing a slimmer plastic DVD case.  The case contains two DVD's, one for 32bit XP and Vista, and the other for 64bit XP and Vista installs.  Also included in the case is a printed version of the End User License Agreement, a nice letter from CEO Jeff Ray thanking you for using the Solidworks Software, and a very short getting started instruction card.

Solidworks 2008 Service Pack 5.0EV is available for download in the customer portal.

Thats about it for this week, stay tuned for more news and updates as they become available!