How to model the iPhone 5 - using SolidWorks - a Solidworks video tutorial

Hi--here's a video from my Solidworks course,  how to model the iPhone 5. In this video, I'm applying the finishing appearance touches prior to the final rendering of the image.
http://youtu.be/xTTpvIeEQBM

Here's the link to our new iPhone 5 Video Tutorial - learn how to model the iPhone 5 using SolidWorks.

Our new iPhone 5 course is out - learn how to model the iPhone 5 using SolidWorks - it's a short course, and there is no wasted time. Part files let you practice on your own, and you control the speed of viewing with on-screen videocontrols.  Check it out!  http://www.video-tutorials.net/vtn/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=243

Winner of November draw for a free video course!

Fichel Tutman is the winner of our November draw for a free course! Please contact us to make arrangements for delivery. To enter the draw, you "like" us on facebook :)  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Video-TutorialsNet/181276732005151

New iPhone 5 course - out next week

Just finishing a new course on how to create the iPhone 5; it's amazing how simple these devices are! I'll publish it next week.

Using equations and variables to dimension your work in SolidWorks 2013

Video-Tutorials.Net - http://youtu.be/7U_hH-PSg6s - SolidWorks Tutorials - What's New in SolidWorks 2013 - Some nice enhancements regarding creating dimensions with equations and variables in SolidWorks 2013. (Visit our site at www.video-tutorials.net for lots of SolidWorks and CAD courses).

SolidWorks 2013 Video Tutorial - Using Equations and Variables to Create Dimensions

Repetitive stress injuries from too much mouse work...

Have a sore wrist from too much designing work? Check out this SolidWorks video tutorial to learn how you can save yourself some mouse-time using the mouse gestures tool.
 

New to Exploded Views in SolidWorks 2013

This is just one of the nice little enhancements to SolidWorks 2013...check out our video below -
www.video-tutorials.net 

SolidWorks Tip - Create an extrusion on a non-planar surface - Step by Step w/ pix

SolidWorks Tip - Basic Extrusion on a Non-Planar Surface - SolidWorks Tutorial by Video-Tutorials.Net

Last week someone sent in a request about how to create an extrusion on a non-planar surface. The surface in question was a cone-shaped extrusion. This SolidWorks user was having trouble creating the extrusion from the blue curve shown on the left.  The fact that the extrusion is based on a non-planar surface does add some complexity to the operation, but SolidWorks will definitely let you create the extrusion.  In this short SolidWorks lesson, I'll show you one way to create it.

I'll begin by creating a cone-shaped extrusion. This can be a simple extrusion with a draft applied.   Let's try it as outlined below:

1. Create a sketch on the top plane

2. Draw a circle in the graphic area. You don't need to dimension it at this time.  Exit the sketch.

3. Go to the Features tab.  Activate the Extruded Boss/Base Command.  We'll make the extrusion depth 100mm.  Press the tab key on your keyboard to register the data so you can see the preview.   While you're still on the direction 1 control area, click the Draft option on.   Enter a value of, for example, 30 degrees.  Tab to register, and you'll see the preview. Accept and you will have your cone-shaped extrusion.

4. Next we'll create a new sketch on the right plane. With the sketch selected, take a Normal-To view.

5. Draw a circle and exit the sketch.

6. Take an isometric view.

7. Go to the Features tab, then Curves > Project Curve. You can also get to this tool via Insert > Curves > Projected Curve.

8. The Projected Curve command manager opens. Select the Sketch on Face option. Select Sketch 2 if it isn't preselected. It should be.  Now select the face to which you'll project sketch 2. The name of the face appears in the selection box, as you see below.   You can click the arrow that appears in the graphic area if you need to change the direction of the projection.   Click the green checkmark to accept your changes.

9. Now I need to convert this curve to a 3d sketch.  Let's go to the Sketch tab.  Click on the menu flyout arrow of the Sketch command button.  Select 3D Sketch.    

10.  Click the  Convert Entities tool.   The circular edge, Edge 1, is preselected, as shown below.  Click the green checkmark to accept.   Then exit the sketch.

11.  We need to create 1 more sketch. This time it'll be on the front plane.Take a normal to view. Activate the line command. Draw a line as shown below.  The reason?  We'll use this line as a direction vector for the extrusion.   Accept and exit the sketch.

12. Time to create the extrusion.  Take an isometric view.  Click in the graphic area to deselect everything.  Activate the Extruded boss/base command on the Features tab.  Select the 3D sketch (the curve shown below).   Next we specify the direction to extrude.  I'll select the line I just created.  The preview of the extrusion displays as shown below.  We'll leave the extrusion depth at 100mm.   Be sure to uncheck Merge Result (in the Direction 1 control area).  Click the green checkmark to accept the extrusion.

13. To hide the cone, expand the Solid Bodies folder. Right-Click on Boss-Extrude 1 and click Hide (the glasses icon).

14. Now you should see your extrusion! Have fun.

 

Thanks! Rosanna D, Video-Tutorials.Net

 

SolidWorks Q&A - Someone asked me how to create an extrusion on a non-planar surface

Here's a video demonstrating how to create the extrusion on a non-planar surface.

 

Video-Tutorials.Net

What's New in SolidWorks 2013 - our new course is out.

What's new in SolidWorks 2013 - our new course is out! As you know, Dassault releases a new version of their SolidWorks software every year.  Usually there aren't major functional changes, but there are many tweaks and improvements that we like to tell you about so you can make best use of your license.  Check out our new SolidWorks 2013 course at the following link:
http://www.video-tutorials.net/vtn/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=241

SolidWorks Tutorials - Introduction to Weldments - Structural Member (So...

Here is a video from our new SolidWorks 2013 course on Weldments - introduction to weldments & structural members.

New SolidWorks 2013 Video Tutorial - Introduction to Routing

Here's a link to our new SolidWorks 2013 course on routing; Introduction to Routing.

SolidWorks 2013 is out!

The annual update to SolidWorks is now out! We've got two new courses already published in SolidWorks 2013: Weldments and Routing. Reminder that all our SolidWorks 2012 courseware is still applicable to SolidWorks 2013; where there are changes, we provide a summary of what's new in our update course. (This will be released by the end of October). Thanks!  Rosanna D, video-tutorials.net

What's New in SolidWorks 2013

Boy, is everyone excited about the enhancements in SolidWorks 2013! I'll be covering what's new in this blog, as well as publishing a short video course.  One little change I like: you can vary feature dimensions and instance locations incrementally for patterns. More soon.   www.video-tutorials.net

SolidWorks tutorials - the basics - new YouTube playlist

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx-VY2mDlK2FjystsMvw7prdrWemracwi

Check out this playlist of some beginner SolidWorks tutorials - this covers the interface and an introduction to parametric modeling, as well as basic sketching and part modeling. If you are new to SolidWorks, and need to get a handle on this CAD software right away, you will find this playlist helpful! Thanks.

SolidWorks Tutorials - Intermediate Level Drawing Skills - Add Sketch

SolidWorks Tutorials - Intermediate Level Drawing Skills - Add Sketch

SolidWorks Tutorials - Weldment Cut List -

New course just released - SolidWorks 2012 Drawing

We've just released our SolidWorks 2012 Drawing course; 1:44hrs, 49 video tutorials.  Creating neat, efficient sketches is how you develop error-free models that work. There's many different ways to start your modeling, and it takes some time to figure out the best way to sketch; get ahead of the crowd and cut down your own learning curve with this Drawing course, an intermediate-level course (so you need the Essentials under your belt already)

.http://www.video-tutorials.net/vtn/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=233

Stay tuned - VTN Courses coming to iPhone / iPad

Good news--we are finally working on a release of our courseware for iPad / iPhone! We hadn't in the past because, frankly, Apple (the company, not the products) is pretty difficult to work with; punitive, expensive etc. BUT naturally we need to stay competitive so here we go! Stay tuned for my timeline.

All about CATIA - part 2

CATIA basics
Does CATIA work on Windows Vista or Windows 7?

In my experience, R18 of CATIA 5 aborts during installation on a Vista 32bit operating system.  It will install and run on a Vista 64 bit operating system and Windows 7 operating system.  However, the licensing server won’t run on Windows 7 yet.  Dassault will probably sort out this problem with a release in 2010 or early 2011. CATIA v6 installs and runs on Windows 7. And yes, Catia V5 can run on a Unix platform.

 System Requirements

Here are some basic system requirements that you should follow to make sure you can install and run CATIA v5.

• Your workstation needs to be at minimum an Intel Pentium III or Pentium 4 based.

• Memory: 256 MB of RAM is the minimum recommended for all applications. 512 MB of

RAM is recommended for DMU applications. These days a Windows workstation will come with a lot more RAM, which is very helpful.  The more the better, at least 2GB to run well.

• Disk drive: 4 GB is needed for the install. You will want a lot more free space on your C drive; at least 25% of the disc free so you can run the program well.

• You’ll need a DVD Rom for installation of course.

• Display: A graphic color display compatible with the selected platform-specific graphic

adapter. The minimum recommended monitor size is 17 inches.

• Graphics adapter: A graphics adapter with a 3D OpenGL accelerator is required with

minimum resolution of 1024x768 for Microsoft Windows workstations and 1280x1024 for

UNIX workstations.

 How is CATIA organized?

CATIA V5 is organized into what are called workbenches.  A workbench is a working environment with a specific set of tools appropriate to the dominant task of that workbench. 

 CATIA has a number of basic workbenches—

1. the sketcher workbench,
2. the part design workbench,
3. the wireframe and surface design workbench,
4. the assembly design workbench, and
5. the drafting workbench.

 Think of each workbench as a place where you perform a certain task, like drawing, or solid modeling, putting your parts together so they work as a whole (that’s what the assembly environment is about), etc.  Let’s take a moment to define what each workbench does:

·         The Sketcher Workbench is where you do your drawings.

·         The Part Design Workbench is the parametric, feature-based environment where you create solid models.

·         The Wireframe and Surface Design Workbench, like the part design workbench, is also parametric and feature-based, but in this workbench you create wire frame models or surface models, as opposed to solid body models.  A surface is like the “skin” of a solid, but it has a zero thickness value.  The tools in this workbench are similar to those of the part design workbench, but you have additional functionality for creating and manipulating surfaces. 

·         The Assembly Design Workbench is where you assemble the components you’ve modeled, constraining them so they work together properly and accurately. There’s two methods for creating assemblies, top-down and bottom up. 

·         The Drafting Workbench is where you document your work, for example, by creating detailed drawing views that you’ll be sharing with your customer or suppliers/vendors. When we talk about drafting later on, we’ll be learning about the two methods of drafting, interactive and generative.

 

CATIA file extensions

·         CATPart – this is the file extension for the files you create in the Sketcher, Part Design, and Wireframe and Surface Design workbenches. 

·         CATProduct – this is the file extension for a CATIA assembly. 

·         CATDrawing – this is the file extension for the files you make in the Drafting Workbench.

 

Some important terms you should understand before we start…
Feature-based Modeling

In 3d CAD design, you start with a sketch, and then turn it into something 3D, either a solid or a surface—these are features.  A feature is defined as the smallest building block that can be modified individually. Then you put your features together into parts, and your parts together into assemblies.  A model created in CATIA V5 is a combination of a number of individual features andeach feature is related to the other directly or indirectly.

 

Parametric Modeling

This is a term that’s really easy to understand, actually, but seems confusing at first. Basically, you create your 3D models using sketches that have parameters like size (length, width, area etc) and relationships (parallel lines, equal sides etc).  The relationships are called constraints in CATIA.  These parameters can be changed anytime during the design, modeling and documenting process fairly easily, so that you don’t have to start from the beginning if you want to make a small change. This is the single most cool and time-saving functionality of computer aided design, as distinguished from paper-based design, where you’d have to rebuild the whole thing from scratch if you wanted to see how a small change works.

 

Bidirectional Associativity

This basically means that your work updates across all CATIA environments; if you make a change in one workbench, you won’t have to duplicate it elsewhere; CATIA does that for you.  The bidirectional associativity ensures that if any modification is made in the model in any

one of the workbenches of CATIA V5, it is automatically reflected in the other workbenches

immediately.

Specification Tree

The specification tree appears on the left of your screen, and keeps track of all your operations, in a nested format that lets you see how you made a feature. Each sketch and feature, etc, has its own branch or node in the tree, and if you expand a branch, you can see of what that branch is comprised.  The specification tree that appears when you start a new file under the Part Design workbench.

 

Compass

The CATIA compass is a tool that is used to manipulate the orientation of parts, assemblies, or sketches.  You can also orient the view of the parts and assemblies.  By default, it appears on the top right corner of the geometry area.  All the 3D CAD programs have something like this; in AutoCAD it’s called the UCS, or User Coordinate System; in Inventor, you have the View Cube also.

 

Constraints

Constraints refer to the relationships among your geometric entities, or drawing elements. In the sketcher workbench, you use geometric constraints to define the size and position of your drawings, and then you apply numerical dimensions to precisely define the size.

 Constraints also refer to the relationships among your parts; these are called assembly constraints and they are available from the assembly design workbench.

All about CATIA - part 1

About CATIA

CATIA stands for Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application.  It is also how you say “Kathy” in Russian or Italian, but you pronounce the software name “kah-TEE-ah”.

This is the software that’s used by the big automotive and aeronautical companies.  Boeing, AirBus and Bombardier use CATIA for their planes.  Both the 777 and 787 were designed in CATIA.  Lots of auto manufacturers use CATIA – Bentley, BMW, Citroen, Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Peugeot, Renault, Tata, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and more.  CATIA is also used by GoodYear, and the United States Navy for shipbuilding.  World-renowned architect Frank Gehry used CATIA to design his many curvy buildings.

 Generally CATIA isn’t taught at the college level and isn’t used by small businesses because the licensing is pretty expensive, more than an individual can generally afford (like $25,000).  When you learn it, it’s usually in-house by private trainers that cost your company quite a bit. There are quite a few books on CATIA, and one private company that offers a good low-cost CATIA course (video-tutorials.net). Otherwise you pay hundreds a day for in-house training somewhere.

CATIA version 4 is unix-based, and some companies are still using V4, but in the last few years even most of the big guys started switching to V5, the Windows-based version of the software. The kernel of V4 and V5 is different, so sometimes conversions result in a loss of data. You can imagine what a pain in the butt this must have been for a company like CERN or Boeing.  The versions are of course are not backward compatible; you can’t open a V5 file in V4. None of the products have backward compatible capability (of course!)

 CATIA has already got a Version 6, still Windows based, but generally CATIA  is so expensive that not many of the big companies have migrated to it, and not much training material is available. CATIA v6 has a 2011 release currently, and Dassault continues to improve the V5 release (R20 these days).

 CATIA was developed by a French aircraft manufacturer, Avions Marcel Dassault, in 1977. It was written in C++. Back then, it was used via mainframe.  A mainframe is a huge computer that individuals connect to with local terminals.  Dassault decided to market and sell the software in 1981.  Boeing became a user of CATIA in 1984; they were the largest customer of Dassault.  In 1988 CATIA was ported from mainframe to UNIX workstation.  (For you young’uns, the personal computer (PC) in 1988 was still a long way from being ready to host this resource-intensive application). CATIA was adopted by aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries pretty quickly.  CATIA’s V5 came out in 1998, which is wow, already ancient history for computer users!  The support for Windows NT and XP was provided in 2001.  The 2008 v6 runs on Windows, Linux or AIX platforms, but Dassault only provides support for Windows platform installations.

 You can customize CATIA, too. V4 can be customized using Fortran and C. CATIA V5 can be customized using Visual Basic in the Visual Studio environment, or C++.  It’s not like you have to write raw code anymore; the object-based environment of Visual Studio and the CATIA help files let you get by pretty well without much programming experience.

 Don’t the fact that a Frenchman was at the heart of CATIA put you off; it is generally considered to be much more versatile and flexible in the domain of surface modeling and design than the other products.  For example, if you’re trying to model something like an irregularly shaped tomato with a bruise, it’s a lot easier to do in CATIA than using the free-form surfacing tools in SolidWorks or Inventor. 

 Keep in mind that 3D software breeds cliques that put teenage girls to shame: CATIA users really turn up their noses at Inventor and SolidWorks.  CATIA is the preferred tool for creating what are called Class A surfaces. This is a term used in automotive design to describe freeform surfaces which look great, work well and are of high-quality (technically they need at least G2 and preferably G3 continuity, whereby, for example, two body panels on a car transition smoothly together with a continuous rate of curvature between the two sections, so that they appear connected and smooth).

Personally, I find that for surface design and modeling, CATIA is far superior to SolidWorks, specifically in terms of free-form design and surface manipulation.  There are just more tools for working with surfaces, more ways to execute your vision.

 

If you're looking for CATIA tutorials, CATIA video tutorials and CATIA training, for your company, for you personally, or for your school, please visit us at www.video-tutorials.net.

 

Above is a CATIA video tutorial from our CATIA course; it's available on disc, for download, and via online streaming. 

SolidWorks - new eDrawings Pro for iPad just released

SolidWorks - new eDrawings Pro for iPad just released - this makes it easier to collaborate & share work. The app is available on iTunes, and the interface is in English only right now, but it supports eDrawings files in all languages created with eDrawings publsihers, SolidWorks and Draftsight. There are some improvments to the user interface. You can view view cross sections of models from more axes and drag the section plane more easily across the screen. You can create markups--text, free hand, dimensions, pictures and more.

What's the difference between SolidWorks, CATIA, and Inventor? Which one for me?

What’s the difference between Catia, SolidWorks and Inventor? Which one for me?

I am often asked what is the difference between the major 3d modelling software on the market, which is easier to use, and which can get me a better job. I’m writing this article to provide some information about these topics to new users of the software, or to people interested in learning one of the other products. I provide SolidWorks training, CATIA training, Inventor training, AutoCAD training and Visual Basic training via www.video-tutorials.net.

 Currently, 2D and 3D design software often has pompous names like 3D Product Lifecycle Management Suite.   There’s a few different stages a product goes through that have different acronyms you may have seen before:

CAx – computer-aided CONCEPTUALIZATION

CAD – computer-aided DESIGN

CAM – computer-aided MANUFACTURING

CAE – computer-aided ENGINEERING

 

The software packages available today fill some or all of these needs in the “lifecycle” of a product—conceptualization, design, manufacturing, engineering, testing, deployment, etc. For example, AutoCAD is primarily a design tool, and generally not used for manufacturing or the product lifecycle, but it’s perfectly suitable for many aspects of civil, architectural, mechanical, and electrical engineering.  CATIA is strong on the conceptualization and design but on the post-processes generally companies go to third party products.

 Let me take a few minutes to talk about the products I am most often asked about.

About CATIA

CATIA stands for Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application.  It is also how you say “Kathy” in Russian, but you pronounce the software name “kah-TEE-ah”.
 

This is the software that’s used by the big automotive and aeronautical companies.  Boeing, AirBus and Bombardier use CATIA for their planes.  Both the 777 and 787 were designed in CATIA.  Lots of auto manufacturers use CATIA – Bentley, BMW, Citroen, Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Peugeot, Renault, Tata, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and more.  CATIA is also used by GoodYear, and the United States Navy for shipbuilding.  World-renowned architect Frank Gehry used CATIA to design his many curvy buildings.

Generally CATIA isn’t taught at the college level and isn’t used by small businesses because the licensing is pretty expensive, about $25,000 per seat. When you learn it, it’s usually in-house by private trainers that cost your company an arm and a leg.

 CATIA version 4 is unix-based, and some companies are still using V4, but in the last few years even most of the big guys started switching to V5, the Windows-based version of the software. The kernel of V4 and V5 is different, so sometimes conversions result in a loss of data. You can imagine what a pain in the butt this must have been for a company like CERN or Boeing.  The versions are of course are not backward compatible; you can’t open a V5 file in V4. None of the products have backward compatible capability (of course!)

 

CATIA has already got a Version 6, still Windows based, but generally CATIA  is so expensive that not many of the big companies have migrated to it, and there is just now more . CATIA v6 has a 2011 release currently, and Dassault continues to improve the V5 release (R20 these days).

 

CATIA was developed by a French aircraft manufacturer, Avions Marcel Dassault, in 1977. It was written in C++. Back then, it was used via mainframe.  A mainframe is a huge computer that individuals connect to with local terminals.  Dassault decided to market and sell the software in 1981.  Boeing became a user of CATIA in 1984; they were the largest customer of Dassault.  In 1988 CATIA was ported from mainframe to UNIX workstation.  (For you young’uns, the personal computer (PC) in 1988 was still a long way from being ready to host this resource-intensive application). CATIA was adopted by aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries pretty quickly.  CATIA’s V5 came out in 1998, which is wow, already ancient history for computer users!  The support for Windows NT and XP was provided in 2001.  The 2008 v6 runs on Windows, Linux or AIX platforms, but Dassault only provides support for Windows platform installations.

 You can customize CATIA, too. V4 can be customized using Fortran and C. CATIA V5 can be customized using Visual Basic in the Visual Studio environment, or C++.  It’s not like you have to write raw code anymore; the object-based environment of Visual Studio and the CATIA help files let you get by pretty well without much programming experience.

 Don’t let the fact that a Frenchman was at the heart of CATIA put you off; it is generally considered to be much more versatile and flexible in the domain of surface modeling and design than the other products.  For example, if you’re trying to model something like an irregularly shaped tomato with a bruise, it’s a lot easier to do in CATIA than using the free-form surfacing tools in SolidWorks or Inventor. 

 Keep in mind that 3D software breeds cliques that put teenage girls to shame: CATIA users really turn up their noses at Inventor and SolidWorks.  CATIA is the preferred tool for creating what are called Class A surfaces. This is a term used in automotive design to describe freeform surfaces which look great, work well and are of high-quality (technically they need at least G2 and preferably G3 continuity, whereby, for example, two body panels on a car transition smoothly together with a continuous rate of curvature between the two sections, so that they appear connected and smooth).

 

I have a good CATIA video tutorial at www.video-tutorials.net, and you can see lots of sample videos at our youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/videotutorials2.

About SolidWorks

SolidWorks is a 3D CAD program that runs on Windows.  It’s the most widely used 3D CAD program on the planet, because it’s quite a bit less expensive than CATIA, ranging in price from $6000-$10,000. AutoDesk’s Inventor is a competitor for SolidWorks, but it’s newer and hasn’t tackled SolidWorks’ market share, at least not yet! AutoDesk is of course working hard on this.

 SolidWorks was introduced in 1995 by an American company, SolidWorks Corporation.  Dassault, which owns CATIA, promptly and cleverly snapped it up in 1997.  Now, Solidworks gets a new release featuring minor nips and tucks every year. The last full face-lift was in the 2008 release. But basically the 2008 through 2010 releases are pretty much the same, with several little improvements in how some tools work.

SolidWorks is used by a greater number of industries in the product design and manufacturing sector simply because it is more affordable.  As you can see, Dassault has basically got the market cornered for 3D-design.  You’re able to buy SolidWorks through a local distributor or reseller rather than via Dassault directly.  SolidWorks has a student version, so with appropriate credentials you can get a working version of the software for as little as a couple hundred dollars, and you can study classes at your local technical college or university and get a certification that may greatly increase your marketability.

 SolidWorks was the first product to use the “End of Part Marker”, where you can easily roll back through the history of your part to make changes and add more features.  Inventor and CATIA use this now, too. SolidWorks introduced advanced and cool mates like gear, followers & cams, which let you model the movement of gear assemblies.  Inventor incorporates this now, too. 

 SolidWorks includes a number of add-on utilities that can be purchased separately from the main license.  These are so common that I’ll take a moment to explain what some of them do.  The Design Validation products include:

• Simulation, which lets you test how your models behave as physical objects, and Simulation Premium, which basically lets you do the same thing even if you don’t have a chemical or mechanical engineering background. Simulation used to be called Cosmos / Cosmos Express. There’s also a Simulation Express.
• Motion is a virtual prototyping tool that lets you see your model in action, to ensure it works properly.
• Flow Simulation tests fluid-flow and thermal analysis on your virtual prototypes.  
• Sustainability measures the environmental impact of your models.

Then there’s the PDM, collaboration & communication tools (PDM stands for Product Data Management). 

• Workgroup PDM is a client-server based setup where 10 or fewer users can work on designs at the same time.  Enterprise PDM is for larger groups. 
• eDrawings and SolidWorks Viewer let you share your designs with your client even if they don’t have SolidWorks
•  

You’ve probably heard of many other SolidWorks utilities. I’ll just describe them briefly here so you know what they do:

• ToolBox is a part library with cool ways of placing and sizing the parts.
• Utilities is used to identify differences between two versions of the same part, and to make modifications.
• FeatureWorks is a feature-recognition utility that lets you import and improve 3D models created with other software into SolidWorks.
• Routing is used for electrical mapping.
• MoldFlow Xpress is a mold design validation tool
• MoldBase is a catalog of standard mold base assemblies and components

You can customize your SolidWorks tools using Visual Studio, also. We publish an enormous SolidWorks video tutorial library at www.video-tutorials.net, and you can see lots of sample videos at our youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/videotutorials2.

About Inventor

Inventor was created by AutoDesk, the CAD pioneer who started AutoCAD in the early 1980s. AutoCAD is easily the most widely used 2D CAD design tool in the universe. Everyone from interior decorators to astrophysicists uses AutoCAD, in hundreds of countries.  In the mid-1990s, AutoDesk started releasing specialty CAD applications targeted to specific industries –AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Architectural etc. 

To get a foot in the rapidly expanding 3D modeling market, AutoDesk developed and released Inventor in 1999.  In that time, Inventor has had at least a release per year, and currently is much more stable than it used to be.  AutoDesk continues to gobble up smaller specialty companies to this day to corner a greater share of the 2D and 3D design, manufacturing and post-processing software market.

 What’s very cool about AutoDesk is the AutoDesk Developer Network.  Publishers and developers can access beta versions of products and current releases so that we can develop third-party tools and publications about AutoDesk products.  This definitely helps drive users to AutoDesk products.  Dassault allows no such thing for CATIA or SolidWorks!  Inventor has free student versions and free trials of its full products, also. 

You can also customize Inventor using Visual Studio to create your own custom tools & macros etc.  Video-Tutorials.Net publishes a very large Inventor video tutorial library at www.video-tutorials.net, and you can see lots of sample videos at our youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/videotutorials2.

Which one for me?

Like CATIA, SolidWorks and Inventor are parametric modellers.  Parameters can refer to measurements, like the length of a line, radius of a circle, angle between two lines, etc, or to the relationships between geometric entities—for example, whether two circles are equal in size, tangent to each other, concentric, etc.; other types of geometric relations (these are called constraints in Inventor) are coincident, parallel, horizontal, vertical, etc. The parametric design lets you make changes to a part later on and have other parts update automatically based on the relationships they share. 

 

All the 3D modellers build parts in the same way.  You start with a sketch.  It’s best to keep your sketches simple, creating more than one sketch for a part rather than a really complex sketch. This makes troubleshooting easier later on. You add dimensions and relations or constraints to the sketch. Then you turn your sketch into a feature—for example, an extrude, a cut, sweep, or loft.  The features are the building blocks of your part. You work in the solid model environment or the surface model environment. Then you put your features or parts together into subassemblies and assemblies. You use “mates” to position your parts in the right place within the assembly. You can animate your assemblies to show how they work.  You can also generate drawings from your parts or assemblies; all the software offers a variety of views automatically generated from your model. You can also annotate your drawings and generate photorealistic representations.

If you’re wondering which product to use, keep in mind that CATIA and its sister products (with the ugly stepsister names of Enovia, Delmia and Simulia) were developed as tools for huge aerospace/automotive companies, focusing on 3D modeling & prototyping as replacements for engineering drawings, whereas SolidWorks and Inventor give you a broad variety of 2D and 3D tools for mechanical engineering.

AutoDesk and Dassault work hard to prove that they are the  top selling 3D parametric modeller…both companies are elbowing at each other in an attempt to dominate the high schools, colleges and university market.  So far, more colleges and universities teach SolidWorks, but Inventor is gaining ground fast, because AutoDesk can slip Inventor through the door where AutoCAD is currently taught (eg, in every Architecture program in the world). Since “Project Lead The Way” is a national curriculum program that AutoDesk managed to secure, Inventor is now gaining footing in classrooms fast!  And did I mention that AutoDesk has a free trial of Inventor Professional, as well. Nice!

 

What about of stability? In the past, if you were working with huge assemblies, many SolidWorks users complained of unworkable instability. SolidWorks now has ways to reduce the load on your CPU so that your computer will crash less often. The current SolidWorks 2010 release is more stable than the 2009 release. Same with Inventor, although I personally find it to be a bit quirkier.

 

Many Unigraphics users feel that even CATIA v5 is barely production-ready even now, and that Unigraphics is much more stable than CATIA v5.  Unigraphics built the math engine behind most 3d modellers, including SolidWorks, but not CATIA; CATIA’s kernel is proprietary and closed to easy data communication.  Unigraphics has a little,affordable brother, SolidEdge, that many users prefer to SolidWorks, and that is fully compatible with Unigraphics, whereas Dassault has gone out of its way to keep SolidWorks from opening CATIA files, in order to drive business to CATIA.  This fact has long annoyed SolidWorks users and basically everybody. Even Inventor now reads CATIA files, whereas SolidWorks doesn’t.  SolidWorks has more compatibility with NX, Pro/E and Inventor than it has with Catia.  What can I say? You can be a jerk when you’re on top.

 

Which is easier to learn? SolidWorks has so many more learning resources for it than Inventor or CATIA, and, notably, many more that are translated into languages other than English.  There are tons of books and self-study video tutorials for SolidWorks.  You can check SolidProfessor (expensive), IGetIt (good price), or Video-Tutorials.Net (very good price).  This makes SolidWorks more attractive to users outside the USA, for sure. Once you know basic CAD principles, the idiosyncracies of the software are learnable pretty quickly. Naturally I recommend our video tutorials! We have Solidworks tutorials, CATIA tutorials, Inventor tutorials, AutoCAD tutorials, and Visual Basic tutorials at www.video-tutorials.net

 

Which is easier to use? You might be wondering which software is easier to use…first of all, before you start 3D-modelling, you need to understand how a part can be created from its component pieces as 2D sketches.  You don’t need expertise in AutoCAD per se, but some general understanding of how you’d go about building a model of a bottle, a car, a cell phone, video game etc is a must. If you don’t have this general know-how or experience, you will be mystified by all the available software and experience the identical frustrations with all products.  Fortunately SolidWorks and Inventor have so much internal learning support, and all three products have excellent online communities and forums where you can get ideas.

 

That said, the drawing and modeling tools are pretty much the same. You start with a sketch, then you make it 3-dimensional by extruding, cutting, revolving, etc. You can cut or extrude holes or irregular shapes etc. During this process, you choose whether to create solids or surfaces. A surface is the “skin” of your geometry.  CATIA is a surfacing specialist, and offers more and better tools for creating surfaces (as is appropriate for designing cars, boats, turbines, and spaceships!)

 

You must keep in mind that a 3D modeller is like a toolbox containing tools you use to create something.  The question of “which is easier” is not really appropriate here.  The modellers are not like MS Word, which is essentially one tool, a typewriter, just dolled up to print labels, too.  It’s not like an HTML or programming editor, which is of course easier to use than raw code and simplifies coding greatly!  Programmers of the past, had to write raw code, find and fix all the itty-bitty-boo-boos, and compile it.  Now, there are object-based programming tools like Visual Studio which let you manipulate the Visual Basic language without doing all the raw coding and syntax error checking. So, clearly, using Visual Studio is easier than writing and testing all your code without an editor. 

 

You need to think of the 3D modellers differently.  Your software is a tool box containing hundreds of sculpting tools.  Each sculptor has different ways of using applying the tools to get different results.  Sculptors can use different tools to get the same results, too.  Practice and experience make the greatest difference in ease of use.  CATIA simply has way more tools than either Inventor or SolidWorks, but you may not need all these tools depending upon the industry in which you work.

 Essentially SolidWorks and Inventor are identical programs. There are also some small hardware differences--Inventor can work on most consumer systems as-is, but SolidWorks usually needs an AMD or NVidia video card.  The current Inventor release has an awesome Content Center full of parts and features; Design Accelerator let you build gears, pulleys and springs more easily. Also, Inventor supports DWG files with more fidelity than SolidWorks, so this might be important if you’re bringing in a lot of data from AutoCAD.

 There are small nuance differences in the way the tools work, of course.  But overall, there is so much customization in the way you design, based on your own personal experience, that it is only natural for a user with even intermediate skills in one software to find it more intuitive, easier to use, more flexible; less searching through toolbars, easier to manipulate parts and make edits, etc.  If you’re used to SolidWorks, you’ll find that some of the AutoCAD-like functions in Inventor will feel “klunky” and designing is just slower. If you’re used to Inventor, you might find SolidWorks confusing.  All of this is pretty much subjective.

 The question of which is easier to use definitely shouldn’t come into your decision making process. Instead, you need to base your decision on what you need your output for, your budget, your client base, etc.  If you are a small company that provides design services to the aeronautic and automotive industries, you probably need CATIA.  Inventor has a lot in common with AutoCAD, so if you’re used to AutoCAD and need more 3D modeling capability than AutoCAD currently offers, Inventor will be a natural fit.  Also, these days, you can get AutoCAD free when you buy Inventor from AutoDesk.  If most of your product development chain (suppliers, vendors, clients etc) use SolidWorks, you will need SolidWorks, too. 

 

Both AutoDesk and Dassault release annual updates to Inventor and SolidWorks that require about a $2000/year subscription so they can milk as much as possible from their client base.  Both companies offer a lot of free training and support online now to keep you as interested as possible in spending this amount on a subscription.

 

Which can get me a job?  Unfortunately in this economy, there are plenty of good engineers who are unemployed or working part time for the census bureau for $12/hour.  Currently many more companies require SolidWorks experience than Inventor experience. Automotive / aeronautic companies will require CATIA experience.  Every time Boeing gets a big contract I see a boost in our CATIA sales.  I’m not sure how the Gulf oil spill mess will affect the automotive and aeronautic industries in that area; I don’t expect good news from that. 

 
Most of my customers who are retraining to remain competitive are learning SolidWorks.  Most of my CATIA customers are experienced V4 engineers moving to V5.  Most of my Inventor customers oddly enough happen to be European; perhaps Inventor is gaining more ground there than in the USA.

I hope you found this article to be helpful and informative. Good luck with your studies.

Kind regards,

Training Dept, Video-Tutorials.Net
For SolidWorks tutorials, CATIA tutorials, Inventor tutorials, AutoCAD tutorials, and Visual Basic tutorials, please visit http://www.video-tutorials.net

 

 

 

 

What are SolidWorks Sketch Relations?

SolidWorks Training by www.video-tutorials.net

If you are reading this article, you are one of many people who are wondering and have asked me, “what exactly are sketch relations in SolidWorks?” For some reason, many SolidWorks students have some difficulty grasping this essential building block of parametric modeling, at first! As soon as you get it under your belt, you will be free to model, model, model!!  The only reason I can think of regarding why this question remains so persistent is that while there may be a ton of books that explain SolidWorks sketch relations, but perhaps not in a way that is easy to understand or remember for people new to SolidWorks or for that matter to 3D parametric modellers. 

 By the way, I often use the term geometric entity in this article.  That basically means a piece of geometry, something you draw—like a line, a circle, a point, etc.

 
First of all, what are relations and what are they for? Why does SolidWorks need relations?
First of all, what are relations and what are they for? Why does SolidWorks need relations? In graphics-editing software, you layout your material, text and images on a screen representation of the paper you’ll be printing them on, for example. You can use a grid, like an onscreen ruler, to line up the images you import, the text you place, etc. 

 Three-dimensional object design, like with SolidWorks, CATIA, or AutoDesk Inventor, requires more precision than does graphic design. That’s because even if something looks, to your naked eye, like it’s in the exact right place, unless you mathematically position it there, you could end up with a production problem.  In fact, the biggest cause of errors in 3D modeling is sloppy sketches that don’t make proper use of dimensions and relations.

 How you draw in SolidWorks is different than in a graphics program…

How you draw in Solidworks is different than in a graphics program, like Photoshop, or Illustrator.  In SolidWorks, you don’t need to position your geometry while you’re actually drawing it.  First you drop your geometry onto your workspace—a line, some circles, a spline, what have you.  Then you organize it mathematically using what are called relations. That is, you apply relationships. (In AutoDesk Inventor, relations are called constraints). Let’s say you need the center of your circle to be the starting point for your line.  To make that happen, you apply what’s called a coincident relation between those two points.  And you need another line to be parallel to that first line.  Instead of trying to draw a line that seems parallel, you just activate the parallel relation command, and then select both entities.  You have just applied a parallel relation.

 But it looks straight, right?
While you might think it’s easy to draw a horizontal line, or a vertical line—“it looks straight, right?”—that’s actually not precise enough for 3D modeling. If you want a line to be vertical, that is, parallel to the Y axis, you need to apply a vertical relation. If you want a line to be horizontal—parallel to the X axis—you need to apply horizontal relation.

Relations first then dimensions…

Generally you’ll apply relations first, and then the dimensions.  The relations organize the geometry in appropriate locations, and the dimensions determine the size of the geometry. For example, you define a line or radius length; the area of a rectangle, the distance between two points, etc.

 This is the essence of parametric modeling!!
What’s seriously cool about using relations to position your geometry is that you can change the size later on without having to reposition or re-dimension the geometric entities later on. Let’s say your line’s starting point is coincident with your circle’s center point.  If you change the size of the circle, the line’s starting point will move accordingly, to maintain that coincident relation.  This is the essence of parametric modeling; this functionality is what makes it a heck of a lot easier to do 3d modeling with parametric computer software than on paper or with a 2d CAD program.  (A 2D CAD program works like an infinite piece of paper—although many 2D programs are offering some 3D and parametric capability to remain competitive.)  Basically, with parametric modeling—when you create parameters like relations and dimensions to determine how to position your geometry--it’s WAY easier to edit later on!!

 

What are the sketch relations in SolidWorks?
Here’s a list of the relations in SolidWorks, and what they mean:

Coincident – applying this relation makes two points occupy the same coordinates, or the same place.  Coincident relations are available for point-to-line relations and point-to-arc relations.  The mathematical term coincident is different than how we use this word normally to mean similar “his version of the story was coincident with the police report.”  The mathematical term coincident obviously shares the same Latin root as the word coincidence, which is very commonly used and means something quite different as the occurrence of events that happen at the same time seemingly by accident but that have some connection.  The Latin root is your clue here: coincider means “exact correspondence.”

Colinear – applying this relation makes two or more points lie on the same “virtual line.”  You’ll also see this word with two L’s (collinear).

 
Concentric – applying this relation makes two arcs or circles share the same centerpoint, no matter their size.

Coradial – applying this relation positions two arcs on the same “virtual circle.”  This means the arcs have the same radius length and centerpoint.

Equal – applying this relation makes two entities, for example, two lines, the same length. You can apply an equal relation between the sides of your rectangle to create a square. If you, for example, increase the length of one side, the other sides will increase accordingly to maintain that equal relation.

 Fix – applying this relation to an entity, like a point, line, circle, etc, means that this entity won’t change when you are moving and changing other entities.  This will completely define an entity, and it will appear in black line.  Sometimes you might not be able to figure out why your geometry remains under defined.  In this case, you might just need to apply what’s called a fix relation. This locks a point or vertex in place, whether the center of your circle, or a corner of your rectangle. However, sometimes this can get you into trouble later on when you need to move that geometry.

Horizontal – applying this relation makes your line parallel to the horizontal axis, usually known as the X axis.

Midpoint – the midpoint refers to a point which lies on the exact middle of a line or arc.  Arcs also have midpoints.  You’ll often use this relation to position the starting point of another geometric entity.  entity (ie on the midpoint of the line).

 Parallel – applying this relation makes two lines or, for example, two sides of a rectangle, parallel.  Two lines are parallel when every point on the line is equidistant, or an equal distance apart at every point on the line.

 

Perpendicular – applying this relation makes two lines meet at a 90 degree angle.

 Tangent – this means touching at a single point without intersecting. It comes from the Latin tangere, to touch.  You can apply a tangent relation between lines and arcs, or between arcs & arcs (by arc, I also mean circle; after all, a circle is an arc of 360 degrees.

 

Vertical – applying this relation makes your line parallel to the vertical axis, usually known as the Y axis.

  

Which type of relation goes where?

In AutoDesk Inventor, you choose which constraints to apply to which entities. All the relations are available at all times on the sketch toolbar.  In SolidWorks, the relations property manager appears on the left side of your screen as you create geometric entities.  Certain relations are only available to certain entities. I’ve grouped them below:

 

Single line relations:

• Horizontal
• Vertical

 Point-to-Line relations

• Coincident
• Midpoint

Point-to-Arc relations

• Coincident
• Concentric
• Midpoint

Line-to-Line relations:

• Equal
• Collinear
• Parallel
• Perpendicular

 Line-to-Arc relations:

• Tangent

Arc-to-Arc relations:

• Concentric
• Coradial
• Equal
• Tangent

How do I know my sketch has the relations it needs?
This largely depends on what you’ll be using the sketch for when you’re creating a feature from it.  As your skill level improves, you will figure out which relations cause fewer errors later in the modeling process, or which relations work better with certain features. 

 When a sketch has enough relations and dimensions for SolidWorks to create a model without confusion, it is called fully defined.  So how do you know your sketch is fully defined? This is easier to determine.  In the status bar (that’s at the bottom of your interface, under the graphic area), you’ll see a messages letting you know whether the sketch is under defined, how many dimensions are left to define, and when it’s fully defined.  When your sketch is fully defined, your sketch will change from blue line to heavy black line. 

 

What does it mean if my sketch is over defined?

The status bar will let you know if a sketch has been over defined also.  When a sketch is over defined, this means it has too many relations and dimensions; SolidWorks won’t know which parameter to use to compute your model.  For example, let’s say you’ve applied a length dimension to all three sides of a right triangle. Since the length of the hypotenuse is based upon the length of the other two sides of the triangle, you don’t need this third dimension. 

 

You can display it as a what’s called a driven dimension – this means it is not used to calculate any geometry, but rather, is calculated by the associated geometry.  If you try to leave this dimension as a driving dimension (and SolidWorks will let you choose), you will over define your sketch and get an error symbol next to this sketch in the feature manager design tree. SolidWorks provides you diagnostic tools to solve this problem; fear not!

 I hope this short article about sketch relations and basic dimension concepts in SolidWorks was helpful.

 

Thanks,
Nik Grey, www.video-tutorials.net