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  • Chris Serran 10:05 am on November 6, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , ,   

    I have a project that has disappeared from WPDM. The project folder is there, but there are no documents contained in it.
    - A search for some of the documents brings up nothing.
    - My vault gets validated every night after it is backed up.
    - I can see the data folders when navigating to the vault data on the server.
    - Searched the server log file to see if it was deleted…nothing
    - Server SP and client SP are at same major SP (SP4)

    I’ve submitted the issue to my VAR, just wondering if anyone here has some insight.

     

    • afee451 10:13 am on November 6, 2009 Permalink

      could be something fluky with permissions. Have you tried logging in as admin?

    • Chris Serran 10:18 am on November 6, 2009 Permalink

      Yes, tried many different users.
      Also unchecked “Hide projects with no access” to no avail.

    • Chris Serran 10:48 am on November 6, 2009 Permalink

      The files necessary to create the tree for that project are missing and/or blank (tree.pdmw & treeinfo.pdmw)
      Checked backups and nothing is showing up.
      Now to find out how they went missing.

  • Chris Serran 6:50 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: SolidWorks 2010   

    Anyone install SW2010 yet? Thoughts?

     

    • ivanl 7:12 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      … same question here. Also, I’ve heard 2010 is surprisingly stable with minimal bugs… is anyone using it for production right off the bat instead of waiting for SP’s for 7 yrs?

    • Ben 7:32 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      I haven’t yet either. I am waiting to hear from others. The reviews from all the bloggers are quite good possibly I will upgrade in the next few days but I do not believe that anyone that would not have in the past use it off the bat instead of waiting for a SP or two. Old habits (Safety nets?) die hard.

    • Chris Serran 7:47 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      I have it downloaded, just hesitant on pulling the trigger.
      The sheet metal and weldment cut-list upgrades will be really handy.

      Maybe Friday I’ll install and tinker with it.

    • Ben 8:07 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      Then do a dual install…. I am sure you know how to do that and keep everything in order.

    • A_Delorme 8:46 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      What PC configuration are you using with SW 2010? Here I have P4 3.6 Ghz, 4 gig of ram, Nvidia FX 1400 (128 mb) with XP 32 bit.
      Some users have dual core with a better graphic card.
      Will it be enought?

    • A_Delorme 8:46 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      Actually we have SW 2008

    • Chris Serran 10:22 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      I’m using:
      Dell Precision 490 (dual 3ghz)
      8gb ram
      Quadro FX4600

      Will yours be enough? Depends on how large your assemblies are.

      Dual install is the plan.

    • CBL 6:20 pm on October 21, 2009 Permalink

      I’ve installed it at home and will probably install at work some time next week if testing goes well.

      So far so good. I’m not too keen on the Mouse Gestures, but it’s very early days yet.

    • Brian 9:45 am on October 22, 2009 Permalink

      We’ve installed it here for production where I work onsite. It’s only been a couple of days since we’ve started running it, but no issues yet. It seems to be fairly stable and faster compared to 2009.

  • Chris Serran 1:01 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: photoview, ,   

    New to photoview 360, is there a way to create a transparent background? Can anyone suggest a good workflow for rendering? IE. should I setup appearances in SW then open in PV360?

     

    • admin 2:12 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      What I have done in the past with making a transparent background is choosing a green (Chroma Key) that is not used in the render and then open the rendering in a photo or image editor and choose the green and delete it…

    • RobRodriguez 3:10 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      If you save as a tiff file the background will be on an alpha channel or you have the option to save he alpha channel when you save the rendering (there is a button of the right that says rendered output with a drop down).

      If your appearances have textures then you have more control over them if you apply them in SW first.

    • Chris Serran 4:29 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      Thanks Rob!
      I tinkered around a bit and found out that both png and tiff come in without a background, unless I just got lucky!

      I’m rendering a large assembly, so I have found it easier to do the appearances in SW then just open it in PV.

    • Chris Serran 4:42 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      engine-rendering
      Click on thumbnail for larger version…

      I’m loving this program!
      Result of the rendering

    • RobRodriguez 7:53 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      png supports transparencey only and tiff supports the alpha. The alpha gives you a couple more options than just teh transparencey but both will work for what you are trying to do.

      For large models with lots of appearances applying in SW is probably easier. I wish PV360 had a SW feature. It would make applying appearances easier for models like this.

    • RobRodriguez 8:13 pm on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      Chris, Anyway you can share the model (or a similar one) in that image? If you can shoot me an e-mail, @robrodriguez.com">rob@robrodriguez.com

  • Chris Serran 3:00 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , , Geometric Tolerance, Tolerance   

    Every time I try to insert a Geometric Tolerance to a drawing, SW crashes to the desktop. Has anyone seen this?
    SW09 SP01 XP64

     

    • JeffM 3:32 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink

      Hell, just about any time I’m working in drawings I’ll CTD. I thought it was just me…

    • Chris Serran 3:49 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink

      It works fine on our other machine, virtually same setup just different video card and less ram.

    • Chris Serran 4:34 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink

      It instantly crashes too, almost like SW knows I’m going to hit okay and has a split second to laugh before closing.

    • g3nut 7:31 am on January 8, 2009 Permalink

      Sorry! but it all works fine for me.

      SW09 SP1.0 x64 on Vista x64 8Gb ram – Quadro FX3700

  • Chris Serran 11:21 am on December 23, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: Bulletin, FYI, network license, SNL   

    FYI, a bulletin was released yesterday regarding 2009 SNL Customers and redownloading the license file.

    http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/CustomerBulletins.html

     

  • Chris Serran 9:43 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , Stock size   

    In my parts I add reference dimensions to show stock sizes, I then link those 3 dimensions to custom properties. In my drawing I reference this property for my stock size.
    The issue I’m having is when I do this for sheet metal parts. I’ll flatten the part, put my dimensions on but when I unflatten the pattern the ref. dimensions change.
    Unless I always keep the part flattend through configurations, the drawing will show the stock size of the part as if it were folded.
    I’m trying to get away from manually typing in the stock size, does anyone have a workaround for this?

     

    • CBL 9:56 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      When creating the dimension in the Flat, do not select an edge across which a bend is made. If possible select two vertices or two parallel edges representing the overall size of the part.

    • Chris Serran 11:00 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      I run into problems when there is a bend on every side.
      Flat:
      http://screencast.com/t/Ub4oPfQ4Xd
      Folded:
      http://screencast.com/t/eN1CRyVpu

    • Setsudo 11:16 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      I worked at this for a long time, the only workaround that works at all is to sketch your part in a top-of-tree layout. Then you can trace it in your sheetmetal base feature (do not convert entities, use coincidents) fold up your base feature and then dim the layout instead. Of course that will only work for something modelled flat and then folded up. If you want to do the reverse there is a way, but it is so convoluted I won’t go into it. Short answer is…it’s always less work just to type them in.

    • CBL 11:19 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      Chris, I think you missed my point. The dimension can be placed across an area which has bends, but the dimension itself should not be created by using an edge which gets bent.

      Select vertices or parallel edges instead.

      http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1372/vertexselectionpt9.png

    • Chris Serran 11:24 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      Thanks Kelvin! The dimensions are dangling when folded but I can live with that.

    • CBL 11:29 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      If the dimensions are placed on the Flat Pattern annotation view, they will not show up on any other annotation view, so the ‘dangling’ property will not be seen when folded. Having the correct dimension in the properties is the critical goal.

    • Setsudo 11:37 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      Ooops, my method wouldn’t have any bend deduction… I just tried it, I’ve been doing wire that way though, since I have to calculate bends manually anyway.

    • Adam_B 3:09 pm on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      another option is to do a sketch on the flat pattern (aftet the flat pattern feature in the feature tree. Put your dimensions in that sketch. the Sketch will be supressed when you re-suppress the flat pattern, but the custom properties will still keep the correct dimension. A colleague seemed to think that you have to select the fixed face to sketch on rather than one that folds, but i’m not 100% that this is the case.

  • Chris Serran 8:29 am on December 5, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , , reporting, where used   

    Is there anyway to add a header to the Where Used in PDMWW? I see you can right click on the header and unhide a column, however it is blank. I would like to add fields like Customer, etc.

     

    • JeffM 8:41 am on December 5, 2008 Permalink

      In the vault tree, if you RMB on a name and select options, you can choose to show 1 custom property to display (in the labels tab). I’m not sure, though, if it’ll show up in the where used.

    • Chris Serran 8:46 am on December 5, 2008 Permalink

      I tried that, unfortunately it doesn’t work.

  • Chris Serran 8:40 am on December 3, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: Backwards Compatibility,   

    Before anyone asks, we might as well address the question now….
    At this time SolidWorks CANNOT open native files from newer versions. IE. SolidWorks 2006 cannot open native files from SolidWorks 2007, 2008 or 2009.

     

    • admin 8:52 am on December 3, 2008 Permalink

      The biggest reason is backwards compatibility of the features. i.e. a compund sheet metal bend was not introduced until 2008 so 2007 and later cannot resolve this feature. I know it is a weak argument but that is the line I am fed every time I chat with SolidWorks personel.

  • Chris Serran 8:26 am on November 28, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: answer, ,   

    If you post a question and a solution has been found, either on this site or by other means, please post to let everyone know. That way when someone searches here they know what suggestions work.

     

    • behnt 8:54 am on November 28, 2008 Permalink

      There are also stars under each comment . If the commenter's answer helps you rate the answer…

  • Chris Serran 9:48 am on November 27, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: anchor point, regression, , , SPR 464547, tables   

    Since SW08, a regression in table positioning has been found. The stationary corner is not saved to the template like it was in 2007 and before.
    This results in possibly having to change the table orientation if your table isn’t in one of the 4 corners.
    IE. I have a revision table that is inserted near bottom middle of our title block. I cannot save the rev block table orientation (top left) to the template. It always gets inserted into the drawing with bottom right orientation.

    If this affects you, submit a service request through your VAR with SPR 464547 attached to it.

     

    • behnt 10:40 am on November 27, 2008 Permalink

      Great use of SolidJott!

  • Chris Serran 11:34 am on November 25, 2008 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: ,   

    Can PDMWorks Workgroup manage revisions for Autocad drawings like it does for SolidWorks documents?
    I’m migrating our electrical schematic drawings (all done in acad) to our PDM vault and am hoping it does.

     

    • Kevin 12:28 pm on November 25, 2008 Permalink

      Yes, PDMWW can manage non-SolidWorks files like Office files or AutoCAD data. You can even have the attributes from a dwg file map over to PDMWorks properties.

    • Chris Serran 7:52 am on November 28, 2008 Permalink

      Thanks Kevin.
      I knew about the attributes which is handy, just unsure of how it handled revisions with non SW files.

      I also realized I should have had “Allow latest revision overwrite” unchecked this whole time if I want to open previous revisions.

    • whynotdesign3d 9:08 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink

      My 2009 PDMW is hosed after upgrade from 2008. I find attachments no longer check out with the parent document. ie my .dxf files dont check out with my .sldprt Solidworks is working on my vault data now to try to resolve? anyone else see this?

    • Chris Serran 9:16 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink

      Have you noticed if any settings changed after the upgrade? Might want to look at the Check Out/Open options, http://screencast.com/t/GdYeMgdp, in PDMWorks settings.
      The screenshot is from 08, I haven’t moved up to 09 just yet so it may differ.

    • whynotdesign3d 9:21 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink

      No settings changed, SW Corp can’t figure out why yet? for now I must maually get any files that should be attachments.

    • Chris Serran 9:23 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink

      I’ll be making the switch soon, I’ll report if I see anything similar.

    • whynotdesign3d 6:13 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink

      Solidworks did reproduce the problem as a regression from 2008 to 2009. They’ve also given us an SPR number for this particular problem:

      This seems to be a regression for 2008 to 2009. It is not always repeatable on a second attempt. Clearing the working directory, closing SolidWorks, restarting the pdmworks service and retesting will repeat the error. The SPR is: 467559 “ SolidWorks Workgroup PDM Check-Out does not recognize attachment revision when using “Get latest” resulting in error/ failed check out.”

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