Animating SheetMetal
Animating SheetMetal
(OP)
Has anyone found a way to make an animation of a sheetmetal part opening and closing? thanks
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site






RE: Animating SheetMetal
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. FAQ559-520
RE: Animating SheetMetal
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
RE: Animating SheetMetal
I just did a test, but using Windows Media Player, it played the AVI so fast you could hardly see it.
I remember a year or more back someone posted a short video of a sheet metal part in a post here, but no idea what it was about, so cannot search.
Hopefully someone else may remember or know of a better way to do what you want.
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. FAQ559-520
RE: Animating SheetMetal
I thought I have seen it before also, but wasn't sure.
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
RE: Animating SheetMetal
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Animating SheetMetal
http://www.mikejwilson.com/
If it is a simple part, then you can "Save as JPEG". But if it is an assembly, such as the sheetmetal between the die and punch being formed, then make configurations of the different degrees of the bend stages, and save each configuration as a jpeg.
Flores
RE: Animating SheetMetal
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. FAQ559-520
RE: Animating SheetMetal
There is an example of rebuilding configurations in the api help. I added a pause loop to also slow down the bending. You can find the best combination of bend angle change per configuration / PauseTime to get a smooth animation at the desired file size. Change PauseTime to suit your taste. Paste this into a new macro and you can create these animations in 5 minutes with no hassle
Enjoy...
_______________________________________________________
Option Explicit
Sub main()
Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
Dim vConfNameArr As Variant
Dim sConfigName As String
Dim i As Long
Dim bShowConfig As Boolean
Dim bRebuild As Boolean
Dim StartTime, PauseTime As Single
PauseTime = 0.5
Set swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")
Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
vConfNameArr = swModel.GetConfigurationNames
For i = 0 To UBound(vConfNameArr)
sConfigName = vConfNameArr(i)
bShowConfig = swModel.ShowConfiguration2(sConfigName)
bRebuild = swModel.ForceRebuild3(False)
StartTime = Timer ' Set start time.
Do While Timer < StartTime + PauseTime
DoEvents ' Yield to other processes.
Loop
Next i
End Sub
RE: Animating SheetMetal
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. FAQ559-520
RE: Animating SheetMetal
CBL, I will check it out. I think I had an old version before. I will update it.
Stoker, thanks I'll try it.
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
RE: Animating SheetMetal
Making the best use of this Forum. FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. FAQ559-520