SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
(OP)
I'm wondering if anyone has some good SLDDRW tips for reducing 2d file size. Part of my group is detailing an assembly with 150-200 parts (including hardware). The Assy Drawing is exploded, and has item bubbles, BoM and centerlines for assembly guides.
The 2 sheet drawing is coming in at 9.3gb, and it is taxing the computer's resources. It's a Dell Precision 620 with 1g memory. The natives are getting restless, and they are on the verge of saving the drawing as a .DWG and doing it in AutoCad 2000. They are using SWX2001, SP5.
Thanks all.
The 2 sheet drawing is coming in at 9.3gb, and it is taxing the computer's resources. It's a Dell Precision 620 with 1g memory. The natives are getting restless, and they are on the verge of saving the drawing as a .DWG and doing it in AutoCad 2000. They are using SWX2001, SP5.
Thanks all.
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."






RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Most of my designs involve a large number of parts. I have just looked at the statistics for one of them. It is an 8 sheet GA including 4 ISO views 2 plan views section views and BOM's. The original assembly contained 890 Parts (87 unique parts). The drawing file is 12.7 MB.
I do not use Rapiddraft drawing which may effect your performance if you are using them. They are designed to open quicker but do create a much larger file and take longer to create in the first instance.
Beware of splines/helix feature. They can seriously effect the performance of 2D drawings. When I first started drawing with SW I created a true helix spring. Creating a 2D view of a drawing with just 6 spring took over 15 mins to create.
Even for the large assembly above I would not expect to wait for more than 3 mins for a view to be created.
PS I am running a PIII 850Mhz, 768MB Ram, Elsa Gloria II for perfomance guidelines.
I have just installed SP7, but I have not yet created new drawing views at this level.
Regards
Kevin
kevin@ketd.co.uk
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Thanks for confirming that some SW drawings can get extremely large. We aren't using RapidDraft either, nor are there any helix features (just sheetmetal parts and hardware and purchsed items). I'm wondering if you manually draw centerlines of exploded parts? Most of our assemblies are tricky to assemble and having these centerlines (as guides) is "almost" a requirement. This is where the down time is coming from.
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
I do not manually draw Centre Lines.
Regards
Kevin
kevin@ketd.co.uk
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Example: Instead of showing true involutes in your Gears. Show the Gears as just Circles at Max OD.
Hope this helps,
Scott Baugh, CSWP
George Koch Sons,LLC
Evansville, IN 47714
sjb@kochllc.com
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Crash 'Try it, you'll like it' Johnson
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Problem:
1- SWX is a 3D modeler, first and foremost. It wants to live, be happy, and raise it's children in a 3D environment.
2- Creating these massive 2D drawings goes against everything that SWX wants to do. These 2D line segments that are manually drawn in are nothing more than band-aids.
Solution:
Create your exploded assembly model configuration, and insert a 3D Sketch, using the centerlines to show how the parts go together.
Theory:
Once these 3D Sketches are in the assembly, you can now rotate the assembly and the 3D Sketches will also move, saving tons of time in having to redraw all the centerlines in the 2D drawing if you need to show another view for clarity of assembly. When you collapse your assembly, you simply hide the 3D Sketch, since it doesn't change with switches to different configurations.
Roadblock:
These darn 3D Sketches don't show up in the 2D Drawing!
Anyone have any further suggestion? = ) I thought we were on the right track...
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
This seems to work rather well now. I'll report back when this is used on a large assembly drawing we have to make (380+ parts).
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
How can I draw a helix? Namely, I'd like to present disorder molecular chains, then their helical conformations, and after that how they pack into helical assemblies?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
ANITA
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
1) You start a new a sketch
2) In that sketch you make a circle.
3) Close the sketch
4) Pick either helix icon from the curves toolbar or Insert\Curves\Helix
5) You have your choice of the way you can control your helix:
a) Pitch & Revolution
b) Height & Revolution
c) Height & Pitch
d) Spiral
Pitch => is the degree or angle used to control the helix
Revolution=> total # of Revolutions per
Height=> works like pitch except in inches.
Spiral=> a horizontal helix
I hope these are good enought Definitions for you.
And I hope that helps you with your Helix,
Scott Baugh, CSWP
George Koch Sons,LLC
Evansville, IN 47714
sjb@kochllc.com
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
I have a lot of problems with handling drawings.
I dont use cut-views , and i convert them to rapiddraft.
But when i change somthing in the model and i return to load up the drawing , it cost a lot of time.
How can i reduce the size of my drawings (i used also unfrag)
Do u have a solution for me please ?
thanks
michael
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
You're not alone in your frustrations dealing with SW Assy Drawings. Unfortunately, no matter how much we've pissed and moaned at the A.E. from our VAR and the Tech. Marketing representative from SolidWorks who occasionally accompanies him on his regular visits to our company, SolidWorks doesn't seem to get the point that the primary output of the software for a large number of companies (at least in my experience), is 2D DRAWINGS! Although to be fair they have come a long way since I started using SW97Plus.
I understand 100% when you say that your guys are on the verge of exporting to ACAD in order to get the assembly drawings done without all the headaches. In fact I have actually done exactly that before on occasion. I don't know how much time you're losing but I worked on assembly drawings that took nearly an hour just to open up on a workstation with dual P3-850 processors, 1Gb SDRAM, Oxygen GVX1 graphics, running on NT4.
Aside from exporting to ACAD though we've attempted a couple of different things at my company in order to squeeze as much speed out as possible -
1. Similar to exporting to ACAD we've exported jpeg files and bundled them along with exported BOMs into "assembly procedures" (done in MS-Word) and used these in lieu of SW Assy drawings. This can turn into a fair amount of work as well but it can be slightly less painful although clearly at the expense of losing the automation afforded by SolidWorks.
2. I don't know how much hardware that you're using in your assemblies but we've found that minimizing hardware in models can add a significant boost in performance. This is seemingly a no-brainer but I figured it worth mentioning.
3. The other idea that we're exploring currently is liberal use of sub-assemblies/kits with the idea being that smaller sub-assemblies that leverage the automation of SW might go faster. From a manufacturing standpoint this makes out for slightly less intuitive assembly structures (for example hardware that would normally appear in a top level assembly BOM is pushed down to the sub-assembly level where the part count impact is diminished). This might not make sense for your product but we suspect that this will help performance without foresaking SolidWorks automation as we have previously.
4. I saw this mentioned earlier in the thread as well but wanted to repeat it because it is significant. Assembly Section views leech performance incredibly and should be kept at a minimum.
Chris Gervais
Mechanical Designer
American Superconductor
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Before anyone tones in with the paperless "electronic-age" and CAM systems (that don't need paper), please be prepared to answer how to specify tolerances on produced parts? That is the question we haven't found an answer to yet either.
Then, be ready to answer how the Assembly Shop will put the machine together w/o prints? Some of those guys are not computer proficient enough to navigate around windows, much less the cost of training them all on SW (and the added $$$ for more computers and software licenses out on the shop floor).
Obviously a couple parts here and there will be done on our remaining seat of SW (complex 3D shapes) and converted back to AutoCad to be inserted into our Assembly, but those will only be a couple parts per machine (which could be composed of 100's of parts).
If anyone knows ways around these obstacles I would be glad to hear them, b/c I am not looking forward to going back to soley 2D either.
Ken
bolen.16@osu.edu
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
In spite of SWX's weaknesses with drawing performance, I still find it hard to believe that 2D AutoCAD designs can be more efficient overall. If you take into consideration your entire design process (part creation, assembly mating and drawing creation) is it really true that AutoCAD can outproduce SWX? I can sketch much more quickly and efficiently in AutoCAD, but I definitely cannot design more quickly. I certainly cannot design with more confidence when working in 2D. My products typically contain 500-1500 parts and include a mix of purchased components, plastic parts and sheet metal.
I am in the same situation as you. I am required to produce drawings for all of the individual parts. Assembly drawings are also made which document each assembly step. These assembly drawings are always made using exploded views with explode lines created using the new 2001+ tools. Here is what I do to minimize the slow rebuild times:
1) Work locally as much as possible - working over a network is probably the greatest cause of slow loading and saving times. If at all possible, I strongly recommend working from your local drive. Obviously this gets complicated if you have several different people working on the same project. However, if you can do it working locally instead of over the network will make a HUGE difference in performance.
2) Proper use of subassemblies - you say that you have to show the production people how to put the machine together. I don't know what your product is, but typically most machine assembly situations involve several layers of subassemblies which then all go together into the final assembly. Create the assembly instructions from the subassemblies as much as possible so that you minimize the amount of time which is spent working with a drawing of the entire machine.
3) Proper use of configurations - if you follow step 2, you will be assembling several subassemblies to make up your main assembly, instead of assembling hundreds of individual parts. As a result, when you bring the subassemblies into the main assembly you often don't require all of the detail. So create a configuration in which all non-essential parts are suppressed (not hidden) and use this in the final assembly. The details of how the subassembly was put together are documented in the assembly drawing for that subassembly, but in the main assembly everything that you don't need to supressed.
4) Don't sketch in the drawing - I do not add anything other than notes, dimensions and balloons in the drawing. If there is any 2D sketching to be done I do it in the part/assembly and just show the sketch in the drawing. Sketching in a SWX drawing is just evil. Put any 2D sketches in the part - performance is much better there.
5) Minimize the detail in your parts - this is especially critical for parts which are used repeatedly such as hardware. Make the models as simple as possible - use just enough detail to make things clear but no more. I'm really referring to parts which are purchased where cutting corners on the level of detail in the part won't affect anything.
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
You can have a simple configuration of components and simple configurations of the assemblies. It reduces size and resolves much faster. If you have an assembly of 500 components you probably are not intersted in the fillets on some inner bolt.... Yes, it might takes sometimes to create those configurations but it saves you a lot of time at the end of the day!
You can also use advanced select (or advanced Show/Hide) tools to create those configurations or to temporary hide components for quicker drawing views.
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Unfortunately we're in a situation at my company where we do not have a "proper" PDM solution and pretty much are forced to work exclusively over the network in order to maintain SW models' design integrity. Our "solution" is akin to a running battle with network performance. We continually work with our I.S./network guys who luckily for us understand our (seemingly) insatiable need for bandwith and do everything in their power (which has been surprisingly quite a bit) to squeeze as much speed from our network. The reason I mention this is that I understand that for some people working locally isn't an option but there are sometimes options for increasing performance.
I also liked Stoker's mention of good sub-assembly management being part of the solution to large assembly management. This is also something that can't be understated either.
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
I forget to mention that our AutoCad is no where near "out-of-the-box". We literally have 1,000's of man-hours into VB customization and creating Library Parts. Everything is automated (complete BoM creation/handling, layer management, new part drawing file creation, drawing of basic shapes, material specifiction and common sizes available, our own "Hole Wizard" that works better than SW's, etc...) We hardly ever have to draw a purchased part in AutoCad, and everything in the library has a common handle so we can bring in previously drawn parts all relative to a handle and I get all three views with the parts laying next to each other in correct location and orientation. An example would be a Shock Absorber Assembly, I can drop in a shock, stop, locknut, and mount by just going thru the Library menu routine (for each part) and pasting them at that common handle. In SW I have to find out IF we have each part drawn, CREATE a copy of or DRAW it, CREATE a subassembly, DROP the parts in, then MATE them. In AutoCad I'm done before I even know if a SW part exists.
Granted we do have a PDM that has helped, but it is hard for anything to compete with our existing AutoCad setup.
As far as your statements:
1) PDM copies parts/assemblies to our Hard drive when we open the file. Stays on our hard drive until we decide to put it back on the network.
2) I use TONS of sub-subassemblies(LEVEL 4) in my design. Those sub-subassemblies are usually simple things like shock absorber mount/hardware, bearing block/bearings/spacers, etc... Those sub-subassemblies are put into what we release to the Machine/Assembly Shops as subassemblies(LEVEL 3) and they get one set of prints. Those are composed of usually 5-50 parts. Those subassemblies (usually 2-8) make up the assembly(LEVEL 2). Then the main machine assembly(LEVEL 1) is composed of those assemblies (usually 2-10 of those)
I do all 3D work in the LEVEL 4 and 3 assemblies. Levels 2 and 1 have all of the lower level assemblies mated at the origins so I never have to do anyhting in those larger assemblies except maybe open them to get a relation to another subassembly (say one LEVEL 3 to another LEVEL 3, or possible the LEVEL 2), but we have ways around that as well).
I spend all my 2D time in LEVEL 3 and LEVEL 2. We only do the LEVEL 1 once, if we can help it.
3) Haven't tried configurations were parts are hidden. I'll have to look into that, but I guess I'm not sure where to draw the line (what I need to see at those higher levels and what I don't).
4) Drawings only contain notes, dimensions, balloons, and BoM. We gave up sketching in there long ago. We do any necessary sketches in the part file too.
5) We DO minimize detail in purchased parts as much as possible. But taking detail out of manufactured parts leads to interferences, unless user remembers all fillets/cutouts that are "hidden" in that configuration, so that is a user choice there. I like the idea, but envision myself (if I remember hidden features exist) constantly opening those parts, unhiding the detail to check it's size/radius, hiding it again, then going back to my assembly to do whatever I was trying to do to the mating part in the first place.
We don't put any fastener hardware in anymore, and the Assembly guys are pretty p.o.'d about that, as well as the possibility that it can lead to design interferences as well. Some designers put in a BLANK part called "1/4-20 X 1in long.SLDPRT" (with no mates, or FIXED) just to get the BoM right, but if something changes they usually forget to go thru and update these files, so the BoM is wrong again.
Stoker and Eranz,
I will look into creating more configurations were I can hide uncritical parts, but again I have to figure out WHAT is uncritical and WHERE?
Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it. Anything I do in SW now is on my own time, but I DO want to find a way to make it work. If we had ANY bare-bones 2D package, then SW would win hands down. But to be honest I think it's too late for SW at our company.
Again thanks, and PLEASE post any other ideas you may have about this in the future.
Ken
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
I missed a couple of your points:
"These assembly drawings are always made using exploded views with explode lines created using the new 2001+ tools."
-->I didn't know about this I will look into it, but since we stopped making Exploded Views in SW b/c of the time involved, it is probably a mute point.
"I can sketch much more quickly and efficiently in AutoCAD, but I definitely cannot design more quickly. I certainly cannot design with more confidence when working in 2D."
-->Yes and no. What do you do if there's a major change in Design Intent? How far down do those changes propigate? If a part size or feature location changes then a Parametric Design is great, but what if you want to add a part in the middle of a big jumble of parts in you assembly OR you/your manager decides to use a lift instead of a pick-and-place? How many Mates and Relations have to broken and how many more created in their place? Thats the real Design Time loss we see...Changes in Design Intent in a 3D Assembly take much more time to change than in 2D.
Just some more of our roadblocks. Thanks again for the input,
Ken
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Re. library parts - I understand that you had a full library of parts created in AutoCAD, but from the sound of your post the SWX library was not complete. It is difficult for many companies to spare engineering time to create one when they convert to a 3D modeller. I think this is an excellent opportunity to hire a student from a local college or university for a semester or two. You get the work done for less than it would cost to pay an engineer and the student gains valuable work experience. In order to get the greatest benefit from library parts they should be set up with mate references so that they automatically get mated when they are inserted into the assembly. I find that using hotkeys allows me to mate faster than by using the feature manager. If you need help creating a mating macro, you can download some samples at http://www.frontiernet.net/~mlombard/
Re. your point 3 - when using simplified configurations, the parts which are not required should be suppressed, not hidden. When a part is hidden you will see a slight performance gain because the component does not have to be displayed. However, the software still solves the part. When you suppress a part it is completely ignored - no repainting, no solving mates, no solving equations. Suppressing is the way to get the best reduction in rebuild times.
Re. your point 5 - I have found that creating two different versions of purchased parts (a simple version and a realistic version) is just too complicated and confusing in a multi-user environment. I just put in enough detail to ensure that the part will be understood, but try to eliminate a lot of the unnecessary, cosmetic features such as fillets, threads etc. I will model most purchased components as single parts, even when they are assemblies. If it comes in the door as one solid piece it is modelled as a part, which reduces the file size and load time.
For suppressing non-critical parts, the place to start is with components that are not seen, either because they will not be visible due to the angle of the drawing view or because they are enclosed. In large assemblies it may be easier to use envelope parts to accomplish this.
As far as exploded views go, I think the new explode lines work really well. It is very easy to generate them and they make the assembly drawing much easier to understand, especially when you are showing a lot of parts being assembled. I have found that once the exploded view is created, quite often the lines need to go from one end of the screen all the way to the other. I usually use the split bar and create two windows. In this way you can be zoomed in to both parts at the same time so that it is easy to pick out the edges which define the start and end of the routed explode lines.
For dealing with changes in design intent, I try to delay working on drawings until the parts are ready for production. This minimizes the lost work when major redesign is required. You say its easier to deal with this in 2D? When you change a 2D design you usually have to rearrange components three times - once in each of the views. Mistakes are far more likely in 2D.
There are a couple of other things which I have found to reduce load times:
1) Sketched text = evil. Many people use extruded text to create screen printing and labels. This should be avoided at all costs. Once the design is frozen, export the part to be printed at 1:1 dxf, import into a graphics package such as Illustrator and create the label there. You can then import the graphics file and show it in a sketch if you want to see it in the part, or better yet use PhotoWorks.
2) Always work in shaded mode. Graphics refresh quicker when working in color. Although I have not had a chance to do any comparisons, I do know that some people create and work in shaded drawing views and just switch to hidden lines removed before printing.
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Having read and learned (with great interest) about your company's significant investment in AutoCAD automation I have to ask the question, why did you guys switch to SW at all? Forgive me for saying so but it sounds as though (and I certainly don't know the whole story) that this decision was force-fed to (at least some) users who were happy with 2D ACAD in the first place given the level of automation already existing. Also I'm curious what kind of training did users undergo and is there anyone in-house with prior experience switching a group from 2D to 3D design? It goes without saying growing 3D experience from within without prior knowledge or outside help is going to be more painful than having someone onboard who's "been there and done that."
Also it must have been clear in choosing to switch to SW that duplicating the level of automation existing in your ACAD setup was going to require significant effort. Not to mention have some kind of significant interim cost where productivity was concerned in comparison to ACAD. Was there a plan in place to mitigate this (i.e. phase in SW) and how or when did you plan on automating SolidWorks to extent of your ACAD installation? SW has a significantly greater amount of automation out-of-the box than ACAD but assuming you've captured many years of product/manufacturing knowledge and incorporated it into ACAD that's still clearly going to make for a decent amount of effort expended in order to transfer knowledge into the SW environment.
In any case, I have to take you to task on your rebuttal to Stoker's comment on designing faster in ACAD vs. SW. To be clear I want to let you know that before my entry into the world of 3D (ProE & SW) I was and still am an ACAD "black-belt." Even in the world of "one-off" designs, major changes in design intent are faster in 3D and less prone to errors than 2D I've found (as I suspect a large majority of others have as well). And, with proper understanding of modelling techniques working in 3D you can double the number of iterations in a given amount of time. I can't tell you how many times I've had to "add a part in the middle of a big jumble of parts" because it was deemed necessary and in each and every case I can honestly say hands down 3D was and is faster.
Tools are available to you in SW that make things go faster. However the one that I've found most helpful is "on the fly" sub-assembly management (this allows for moving components in, out, and between sub-assemblies with minimal impact on mate definitions) and in-context part design (allows for you to "add a part in the middle of a big jumble of parts" just as easily as AutoCAD).
Obviously I'm speaking in generalities here without seeing specifically an example of how you arrived at the conclusions about changes in design intent. But the bottom line is (and I think you'd have to admit this much) many companies design groups are working quite well and accomplishing much with SW. It stands to reason that your group can as well, in my opinion.
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Sorry for the long delay, (but I expected this reply to take awhile).
Re: Library Parts
We do have people working on those in between projects, and have had interns on it here and there for a few weeks at a time. But it would take a LARGE commitment in time (and more importantly $$$) to really make a dent in getting enough drawn to match what we already have available.
Re: “Hotkeys”
Use them all the time. Don’t really care for having “mating” hotkeys tho. Half the time it gives me Aligned when I want Anti-Aligned. Since I usually know which one I want (Aligned or Anti), I just choose the one I want and Accept it (don’t bother with the “Preview”).
-I REALLY like them for Sketch Constraints. I use [Shift]+a key for all of my Sketching hotkeys (Vertical, Horizontal, Collinear, Concentric, etc…)
Still looking to try out Suppressing some parts.
Couldn’t figure out how to turn the Explode Lines on.
Re: Starting 2D to soon
I put it off until the last possible moment (for parts and assemblies).
Re: Dealing with Design Intent.
Yes 2D means changing 3 views and manually changing recreating holes and related features, but 3D requires all this as well as probably having to draw (more) parts not in our library, and redefining/making new mates which takes longer than repositioning in 2D.
Re: Shaded views, no Wireframes or HLR.
I do this in Drawings as well. Mainly b/c it’s easier to tell parts apart (for both me and the assembly guys). In AutoCad, all parts are different colors (as much as possible) and plotted in Color as well. The assembly guys also prefer the AutoCad drawings and say they are much more easier to work with too b/c of the automation in there that we haven’t gotten SW Drawings to match yet, and believe me we’ve tried.
*******************
Anyone know how to automate the customization of balloon numbers to match a part of the filename or a standard File Property?
*******************
I’m still chugging away here trying to make this work and really appreciate all your input.
Ken
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Sorry for the delay, this’ll be a long reply too.
Re: Why did you guys switch to SW at all?
It seems like the logical progression, plus there are the other benefits of 3D.
-Easier for the others/customer to look at/comprehend.
-3D model for CAM use
-PDM possibilities (tracking/releasing comparable parts, parts database)
-Easier to draw complex parts.
Re: Decision was force-fed
Not at all. All of the designers want to use SW (we’ve all got it on our Resume’s now too).
Re: Training
We have a dedicated in-house guy. He does the training and all the SW programming. He did much of the automation in AutoCad. Very sharp, tho I don’t know if he has any 3D experience outside of the training he has received since the whole SW ordeal started. I doubt there is much that he isn’t experienced with (2D or 3D) for our product line, Industrial Automation and Integration.
Re: SW Phase-In
Expected some time for SW to reach our AutoCad automation level. Been phasing it in for about the last 2 years. Right now, we have about half our dept. trained/running both SW and AutoCad (about 12 of 23). We have continued to process AutoCad jobs while separately running SW jobs.
-We’ve just reached the “after all the time we’ve put into this SW project and we’re more behind now than when we started” point.
Re: sub-assembly management (this allows for moving components in, out, and between sub-assemblies with minimal impact on mate definitions)
-Isn’t this only possible if the component part(s) you are moving in-and-out were created from the SAME part? Otherwise the mates and in-context relations won’t transfer from one iteration to the next? Right?
Re: SW comments
I AGREE with your comments. I also agree that it WOULD work. Your reasoning/rational ARE many of the reasons FOR our switch. BUT it just can’t compete with our EXISTING system/standards. YES there are hard heads resistant to change, but there complaints and the complaints of others FOR SW are justified. It would be no contest for ANY 3D package if we didn’t have the automation in AutoCad that we do. The designers prefer SW except for the Large Assembly and Drawing speed issues, and time it takes during design changes.
Here’s the complaints I here/see:
-Computers too slow opening/manipuating/saving large (most) assemblies and ALL assembly drawings.
---Running Dell 2.0GHz, 768MB RAM, Nvidia Quadro Video (64MB I think?)
-Can’t seem to match the existing AutoCad automation.
-Drawings not laid out as well as our AutoCad style.
---COMPUTER TOO SLOW.
---Exploded Views to slow/hard to work with.
---BoM generation won’t match our standard. SW’s BoM is nice, but not what we want.
---Harder for Assy. Guys to read/understand even if we spend 2X the time on the SW Drawing as the AutoCad Assy. drawing. Can’t justify spending even more time than that?
-Design time (and design change time) literally 25-50% slower in SW.
-Machine build time slower as well.
-Spend more time creating configurations/mates/relations, when in AutoCad we just Copy/Paste and change a Layer. And/or run the AutoCad “Hole Wizard”.
Possibilities:
-It’s not a lack of commitment. We have put much time (and $$$) into SW customization and PDM customization.
-I guess that our existing system and our “one-off”product line just don’t mix with change (including to the 3D world). I don’t understand why we aren’t seeing the benefits that SW (or 3D in general) offer.
-Maybe our expected level of design confidence is a good enough trade-off for faster design speed? So we’re settling for good enough….I just don’t know??
Thanks for your time and input, I’ll be sure to pass your views along,
Ken
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Look at it in this basic way: You have a new tool (3D CAD), so you're going to have to make some changes to the way it is implemented (change your company standards a bit).
You can't use a screwdriver like a hammer and expect optimum results until you change the way you work and start using the screwdriver as a screwdriver. I like analogies, sorry. = )
There are a lot of hidden costs involved with switching over from 2D to 3D. One of the biggest costs in hardware and network upgrades. Your IT Department might/should look into setting up your Engineering Department on thier own switch if they haven't done so yet.
We had some speed concerns in the early days ('97-'99) but those have all been fixed now. Currently, my company operates with the master assy on the network, nothing is done on the local drives. We work with assamblies with about 1500 parts, weighing in around 8-10mb. We used to have to wait 15 minutes for this to open across our network, but have brought this down closer to 4 minutes.
As for your comments about your assembly guys having a harder time understanding your SW drawings, I'm confused about this. How are your AutoCAD drawings so different from your SW drawings as to cause this confusion?
The hardest part our users had to deal with was to learn to stop trying to make SW work like AutoCAD. After they began to use SW as SW, things went much smoother. Now, if we could get Simplex Text in SW, yoiu wouldn't be able to tell our SW drawings from our old AutoCAD drawings.
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Re: "Now, if we could get Simplex Text in SW, yoiu wouldn't be able to tell our SW drawings from our old AutoCAD drawings. "
-Do you know how to make lines in a SW drawing different colors (say, each part have it's own color)? 1500 parts all shown in black is hard to differentiate between, but working in shaded has helped the Assy. guys out too. It's more the time involved to GENERATE the drawing in SW that is causing the problems...designers taking shortcuts or skipping steps to get it done in a reasonable amount of time. With our AutoCad setup these steps aren't skipped and the resultant drawing gets done faster.
Ken
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
We've almost always plotted things in black only, just providing more isometric exploded views to help assembly (which are very easy to create in SW). I haven't had the need to investigate the use of Layers in SW, but this sounds like that might help you. I think you can assign different colors to specific layers. Sounds like you might have to assign individual parts (or subassys) to specific layers to get it to work (just a hunch, like I said, I've never used SW layers).
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
Do you usually display your drawings in Wireframes, HLR, or Shaded?
Do you make multiple Exploded Views, or just multiple (isometric) views from different angles of the same exploded view?
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
We use HLR for assembly drawings, sometimes adding a shaded view strictly for a "this is what it should look like when you're finished" view.
We make different configurations with seperate exploded views, and make multiple views of the same exploded view from different angles (mostly configs of different exploded views).
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
"Couldn’t figure out how to turn the Explode Lines on."
- This is done after the view has been exploded. Turn on the routing toolbar and select new explode line sketch. This will turn on the "route line" tool, which will allow you to select the items at the start and end of each explode line. After you select an item (a circular edge for example) a small arrow will appear showing you which way the explode line will go. You can click on the arrow to reverse the direction. There are more detailed instructions in the help under exploded views. This tool is new in SWX2001+. Are you using an older version?
"Anyone know how to automate the customization of balloon numbers to match a part of the filename or a standard File Property?"
- the answer is in the FAQ's
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
You will see "Forum", "Keyword Search", "FAQ", "Links"
IHTH,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dmca.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/
*When in doubt always check the help*
RE: SWX 2D Drawing Tips?
My assembly has about 200-250 parts in it. Some parts are right under that assembly but most spread out in subassemblies and multiple nested subassemblies. It takes around 3-5 minutes to open the 15MB whatever.sldasm file. Looking at the Task Manager shows that SW is using ~450MB. The 9MB whatever.slddrw takes AT LEAST 2-4 times longer. It has 3 normal views and an isometric view (all shown in Shaded mode). The Task Manager shows that SW is again using ~450MB.
Immediately after opening the whatever.slddrw, after waiting all that time to load the assembly/component part data, the Cross-hatches show up over everything and I have to Rebuild before I can do anything. Then, when I save I often get prompted that the Assy. needs to be rebuilt before saving (so I answer Yes). At the completeion of the save, the Cross-hatches pop back up over everything and I have to Rebuild it (and wait) again.
Just wondering if this sounds normal (both Task Manager stuff and Drawing actions) to everyone else out there?
Thanks,
Ken