SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 456 - WN2014 - Electrical, EPDM & Flow Simulation

WN2014 - Electrical, EPDM & Flow Simulation: 

This series of podcasts dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new functionality in SolidWorks 2014 with tips, tricks and insights into the new major release of SolidWorks' product line.  Topics covered in this show:

Chapter 12: SolidWorks Electrical:
- Integration with Enterprise PDM
- Replace Microsoft Access with SQLite
- Report Templates for Electrical Calculations
- Support for Mixed Schema
- Additional Features

Chapter 13: SolidWorks Enterprise PDM: 
- Automated Cache Management
- Consolidated Delayed in State Notifications
- Dynamic Notification Recipients Filter
- Extracting Hidden SolidWorks BOMs
- Flexible "Always work with latest version of files" Option
- Flexible Retrieval of Referenced Files During Check Out
- Increased Workflow Performance
- Navigating Tree Structures
- User Defined Custom Columns
- Version Comparison of Referenced Files
- Version Free Variables and Workflow Transitions
- Visibility of Child Quick Information Warnings in Parent Assemblies

Chapter 14: SolidWorks Flow Simulation:
- CircuitWorks and SolidWorks Flow Simulation
- eDrawings Support
- Mesh Control
- Mesh Parallelization
- Parametric Study Mode
- Usability Improvements

SolidWorks Electrical, Enterprise PDM and Flow Simulation, covering chapter 12, 13 and 14 of the What's New PDF,  outline changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2014 What's New, providing an efficient way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2013 content to come!

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter and  Facebook.

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SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 411 - WN2013 - Workgroup & Enterprise PDM

WN2013 - Workgroup & Enterprise PDM:

This podcast dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new functionality in SolidWorks 2013 with tips, tricks and insights in the new major release.  Topics covered in this show:​

Chapter 12: SolidWorks Enterprise PDM:​
- Administration Tool
- File Explorer and SolidWorks Add-in

Chapter 24: SolidWorks Workgroup PDM:
- Limiting Export to Files in the Current Revision Scheme
- Vault Service Management

​SolidWorks Workgroup and Enterprise PDM covering chapters 12 and 24 of the What's New PDF,  outline changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2013 What's New, providing a quick way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2013 content to come!

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

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SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 398 - Windows Azure

​Windows Azure:

This podcast covers a process that I started this week to offload any SolidWorks services to a new hosted service provided by Microsoft called Windows Azure.  Topics covered:

- What the heck is Azure?

- What services does this provide?

- What does this have to do with SolidWorks?

- What circumstances does this service make sense for companies.

- My trials with Enterprise PDM and Azure

- Other SolidWorks services might make sense?

After a busy week of EPDM migrations, working remotely and having to use various services for access to internal servers, I decided to use this as an opportunity to dig into the new service by Microsoft.  I have been reading/listen about Microsoft's next platform move to compete with the hosted services provided by Amazon for years.  

With Microsoft's service coming with a 90 day trial and access to all the offerings for a whopping $0, I thought I should test out what can be done.  With so many industries moving to the cloud for many of the server side products, I wanted to test the idea of moving Enterprise PDM to test things like performance and simplicity of deployment.

I can imagine Azure and services like it could provide options to other SolidWorks products like SolidNetwork License manger, WPDM server, Flow Simulation install for batch solving, etc.  I  also recently updated my laptop and installed Office 2013 and share my results of that. ~Lou

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SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 397 - Workgroup to Enterprise

Workgroup to Enterprise:

This podcast discuses the challenges and preparation when considering the move from SolidWorks Workgroup PDM to Enterprise PDM.  Although this transition is common, not every transition is the same.  Topics covered:

- When to consider migrating

- How the major differences in the two PDM products factor in

- What is involved in migrating data

- How to prep the move to EPDM

- Types of migration to consider

- Post migration activities

The dynamics of design are changing.  Remote teams, larger data sets, complex change processes, ERP/MRP systems, etc and with that the task of tracking data during design grows in importance.  PDM (Project Data Management) tools have often been looked at as a final resting place (therefore the nickname VAULT).  But as teams work together and data is constantly changing, tracking of file versions and revision schemes during design has become more "In-Process" management.

In the SolidWorks family of products, Workgroup and Enterprise PDM are two products that are used and the question of when to move from WPDM to EPDM is considered when the design process outgrows or strains the workgroup mentality.  Although migration from WPDM to EPDM is a common activity, the process and result are vastly different depending on a number of factors.

Since I am performing a major migration this weekend, I thought it was worth discussing this process and what I see when I work with companies that take this journey.  Migration is not a perfect process but there are a number of things that one can do to ease the stress and allow for a smooth rollout.  ~Lou

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 356 - SW2012 What's New - Document Management

SW2012 What's New - Document Management:

This podcast dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new features in SolidWorks 2012 along with other tips, tricks and tidbits in the new software. Topics covered in this show:

Chapter 11: SolidWorks Enterprise PDM

- Administration Tool:

- Menu customization and administration

- Full user name options

- Replication enhancements

- File Explorer & SW Add-in:

- "Browse to" changes

- BOM export enhancements

- Search extended into more dialogs (Open, Save-As)

- Version toggle for "Where Used"

- New and modified toolbars

- Product support changes (CAD, Microsoft products, 64 bit supported area)

- Performance updates (Templates and CopyTree)

- Web client for Editor licenses

Chapter 24: SolidWorks Workgroup PDM

- Metadata rebuilding

- The return of the vault browser in Windows Explorer (Vista/Win7)

- Pack and Go updates (progress bar and Cancel button access)

Document Management, covering chapters 11 and 24 of the What's New PDF, outlines changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2012 What's New, providing a quick way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2012 content to come!

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 343 - Toolbox, EPDM Friend or Foe?

Toolbox, EPDM Friend or Foe?:

This podcast covers the various ways of integrating SolidWorks Toolbox and Enterprise PDM in order to properly manage those non-revisioned parts created by this hardware generation tool. Topics covered:

- Toolbox options for single and multiple users

- Toolbox part generation options

- Supported methods for integrating Toolbox (full & partial)

- A partial method using EPDM's Dispatch and Toolbox copy parts mode

- Pros and Cons of all methods

SolidWorks Toolbox is one of those add-ins to SolidWorks that users want to use for the idea of it but end up running into issues properly implementing when working with teams of users.  This post is not focused so much of Toolbox's functionality or lack there of but more on how it can be integrated with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.

Since 2010, EPDM has had integrated support for Toolbox to be fully managed inside the vault, allowing users to share a single Toolbox dataset with the option of replicating it to all sites using EPDM.  Now in a "day forward" approach this sounds great but let's face it, most companies that are moving to EPDM do not have a "day forward" business and want to put their data into EPDM and continue the move forward.  Depending on how Toolbox is currently deployed can have a major impact on the easy on integration.

The one important thing to remember is if you have a group using Toolbox, the first step is to get everyone using the same Toolbox folder and not everyone using their own Toolbox dataset.  This is typically the hardest part since everyone is using their own and selecting which one is going to be the new seed Toolbox is hard.  There is no way to just merge them so someone will win and the rest lose.

Enterprise PDM supports a couple of ways to use Toolbox effectively and one is not supported officially but works OK for the most part so I will share that with you as well. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 330 - Workgroup to Enterprise Migration

Workgroup to Enterprise Migration:

This podcast covers the options and migration questions that typically come up for those looking to move from SolidWorks Workgroup PDM to Enterprise PDM.  There are tools available to assist with migration from Workgroup which can ease the pain of a platform update.  Topics covered:

- Quick overview of the major reasons many decide to migrate

- SolidWorks Workgroup migration tool

- Other migration options available when moving to EPDM

- Migration aftermath - steps to take

- How EPDM's add-in framework can come to the rescue

- History versus "day-forward" approach

Although I use all the SolidWorks products, since 2001 I have been using Conisio, which is today known as SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.  In 2006 when SW purchased Conisio and made it a major branch of their product line, I have spent a lot of time talking with companies about processes and document management options.

Workgroup PDM, included in 2 of the 3 SolidWorks bundles, is not extensively used among SolidWorks customers but there are enough out there that are looking to increase the involvement of their PDM tool in product design.  Although many will move from Windows file management techniques to EPDM, those that adopted WPDM as a local tool are faced with a few questions when considering the move to Enterprise.

SolidWorks offers a few tools to assist in the migration of data that resides in another PDM product, however many times these tools will get you there if you decide to use EPDM in the same exact manor.  I encourage companies to first setup EPDM in the most ideal configuration and then plan the migration path to meet those goals.  Garbage in, garbage out so why not draw a line in the sand and take the opprotunity to do it right and build migration paths to get to the "ideal" PDM environment. ~Lou

Remember to check out SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEARD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 325 - Enterprise PDM Dispatch

Enterprise PDM Dispatch:

This podcast covers an automation scripting tool inside of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM called Dispatch.  Dispatch is one of those tools that tend to slide under the radar. Topics covered:

- What is Dispatch?

- Where to find it and how to turn it on!

- What is possible with Dispatch

- What skills are required to use it

- Limitations of Dipatch

- Examples of how Dispatch can be used

Jeff Sweeney of 3D Vision and I talk about this hidden gem in EPDM to automate certain operations within the EPDM environment. Jeff and I have both used Dispatch for years as a first stage to adding automatic functionality before resorting to coding an add-in via the API.

Not only is this tool part of EPDM but it brings this power by way of a WYSIWYG interface which requires not programming knowledge at all.  In fact, as Jeff states "It is more of a macro tool than a language" and becasue of that, the barrior to entry is much lower.  Personally I like it since it is easy to build, test and deploy without any complex re-registration of dll's or other client side requirements. Once the Dispatch add-in in added and deployed to the client base, any routine added to it is immediately deployed!

I hope to follow this up with a blog post soon on using a few of the options discussed by Jeff to provide a visual of some of the capabilities of this cool little utility. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 324 - SolidWorks & IE9

SolidWorks & IE9:

This podcast covers the current status of the SolidWorks product line and the newly launched Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.  With IE being so tightly integrated in the Windows operating system, it is not surprising when certain aspects of other products stop working as intended! Topics covered:

- SolidWorks' statement on SolidWorks & IE9 in the Forums

SolidWorks & IE9 in the Knowledge base:

- Interaction issues with IE9 and 3D Content Central (workarounds)

- SolidWorks Search script errors after IE9 Installed

- SolidWorks customer portal issues with downlods (workarounds)

PDM & PDF issues:

- WPDM & EPDM PDF viewing problems

- EPDM Web Client and IE9 needing compatibility mode

This past week Microsoft released their 9th build of Internet Explorer and since IE has always been tightly integrated with Windows, it was not surprising that some technologies ran into compatibility issue after installation.  

Unfortunately, many of these issues are just annoyances but have surfaced right after SolidWorks releases service pack 3 for SolidWorks 2011.  This means that some of the problems that SolidWorks is facing, although minor, will probably not be addressed till SP4.  Most of the issues that are correctable by SolidWorks themselves and currently have a workaround article posted in the knowledge base in the customer portal.  There are, however, a few related to the PDF previewing in Workgroup PDM and in the 64bit version of Enterprise PDM that are due to compatibility with IE9 and Adobe (and Foxit for those running 64bit EPDM).

IE9 is argueably the best browser that Microsoft has shipped, finally competiing on the front of web standards and speed along side the heavy competition of Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome.  Unfortunately due to IE's tight integration into Windows, many product are forced to rely on IE for certain aspects of their own offering and an upgrade of this magnitude is bound to cause an error or two! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 294 - 2011 What's New - EPDM, Import/Export, Grids & PhotoView

2011 What's New - EPDM, Import/Export, Grids & PhotoView: 

This podcast is an audio version of the What's New PDF included with every major release of SolidWorks. Topics covered:

Enterprise PDM

- File Explorer & Addin

- Administration Tool

- API & Install

Import/Export

- *.IFC Files

- DXF/DWG Import Wizard

- Exporting sheet metal to DXF/DWG

Large Scale Design

- Walk through tools

- Grid systems

Model Display

- New DisplayManager

- Appearances, Scenes, Decals now in SolidWorks Standard

- PhotoView 360

This covers chapters 13-16 of the What's New PDF which outlines changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2011 What's New so users can have a quick way to evaluate the features that have been changed/added/removed in SolidWorks' product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF in September before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2011 content to come! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!