Tips & Tricks Elton Smith Territory Technical Manager DS SolidWorks

Tips & Tricks 1 Survey Results 2 Computer Hardware 3 Large Assembly Performance

Survey Results 38 Replies 45%

Survey Results 38 Replies 34% 32%

87% Survey Results 38 Replies 2 answers: “I do a lot of ‘top-down’ design so I mainly edit parts in assemblies” “part, assemblies, optical simulation” 87%

Survey Results 6 replies 38 Replies Fireman: always putting out a fire Magician: somehow magically meet the deadlines Wizard: master of most functions in SolidWorks, rarely ever challenged Ninja: often complete tasks more quickly than mortal eyes and brains can process Godmode: people often wonder if you communicate telepathically with your computer 6 replies

Survey Results 7replies 38 Replies, 67 answers Prototype Management Optical Design Engineer Industrial Design Consultant Instructor I manage others engineer 7replies

Survey Results Thank You! Fresh topics Meaningful to everyone New survey out soon

Tips & Tricks 1 Survey Results 2 Computer Hardware 3 Large Assembly Performance

Mike Cripps: Mark Johnson: Graphical Applications & Hardware Certification Mark Johnson: SR. Technical Support Engineer

Computer Hardware Graphics Card Hard Drive RAM Processer

Graphics Card

Graphics Card Open GL is a must NO: SLI, CUDA, Tesla, etc… More onboard RAM, is it worth the extra cost? Multi display capabilities? Do a little homework, ask around http://www.spec.org/ http://www.tomshardware.com/

Hard Drive Solid State (SSD)? RAID Configuration (0 for speed) ? SATA II vs. III RAID 0 (block-level striping without parity or mirroring) has no (or zero) redundancy. It provides improved performance and additional storage but no fault tolerance. Hence simple stripe sets are normally referred to as RAID 0. Any drive failure destroys the array, and the likelihood of failure increases with more drives in the array (at a minimum, catastrophic data loss is almost twice as likely compared to single drives without RAID

RAM Dual, Triple or Quad channel? Match architecture of processor Do not mix match (ex: one 3GB & one 2GB) Fill all open DINs? Match accordingly If dual then 2,4,6, etc… in pairs If triple then 3,6,9, etc… in trips Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory?

Processor i7 vs. Xeon Sandy Bridge vs. Ivy Bridge Multi Core vs. Multi Processor Hyper-threading?

Solid State Hard Drive Graphics Card Processor RAM Mike Cripps Mark Johnson Processor RAM Multiple processors and more cores isn’t really going to help you unless you: Run lots of FEA studies Create lots of photo renderings Spend the $$ on: Better single processor More RAM Better graphics card Extreme high end card is probably not necessary and in a lot of cases a waste of money Get as much of the fastest you can afford Motherboard and processor support must be considered Good for mobility Too expensive Unstable Xeon all the way Dual Channel ECC a must Triple Channel ECC a waste of $$ A must have Cheap Fast i7 or Xeon, doesn’t matter

http://mysolidbox.com/solidworks/

Tips & Tricks 1 Survey Results 2 Computer Hardware 3 Large Assembly Performance

Large Assembly Performance What is a “large” assembly? SolidWorks Settings Modeling Practices User Tools & Features

What is a “large” assembly? Any assembly that is complex enough to: Max out your system resources Hinder your productivity

What is a “large” assembly? Symptoms? Slow performance: Open & save Rebuild Drawing creation Rotation and viewing Mating

Performance Contributions SolidWorks control: ~30% User control: ~70% Combined effort: Proper Technology Correct Implementation

Large Assembly Performance What is a “large” assembly? SolidWorks Settings Modeling Practices User Tools & Features

SolidWorks System Options

SolidWorks System Options

SolidWorks System Options

SolidWorks System Options

SolidWorks Document Properties

Large Assembly Performance What is a “large” assembly? SolidWorks Settings Modeling Practices User Tools & Features

Modeling Practices Assemblies solve serially in this order

Modeling Practices External References Great for modeling Impact on rebuild times Consider ‘locking’ or ‘breaking’ the references Use a macro to save you time Parents are unaware of child references

External References How do I know? In context: -> Out of context: -> ? Locked: -> * Broken: -> x

Modeling Practices Assembly Mate Performance Solve order, fastest to slowest: Fixed Relation Mates: (coincident, parallel, etc.) Logical Mates (width, Cam, Gear) Distance Mates Limit Mates Avoid / Reduce Total number of top level mates Flexible subassemblies Over-constrained geometry

Modeling Practices Avoid circular references Common during in-context design Some common symptoms more than 1 rebuild Rebuild symbol will not go away Mating to components in a pattern

Modeling Practices Consider assembly skeletons Layout Sketches Reference Planes Defined work zones for individual users Makes top level assembly modeling less cumbersome Reduces top level mating

Modeling Practices Work locally Opening from a network is: Much slower than locally Extremely risky Poor practice / bad habit Consider a workflow that allows you to copy locally Pack & Go? Better yet, consider using a data management software Local copies are automatic Revisions are automatic Permissions are automatic

Large Assembly Performance What is a “large” assembly? SolidWorks Settings Modeling Practices User Tools & Features

User Tools & Features AssemblyXpert Analyzes assembly performance Number of referenced documents Top level mates Depth of assembly Ensure all files are converted to Latest version of SolidWorks

User Tools & Features Feature Freeze Reduce or eliminate rebuild times Still allows geometry updates Can be turned on or off at will Tools, options, System Options, General

User Tools & Features Defeature Remove unnecessary detail Reduce file size & number of referenced documents Can be set to utilize assembly mates Remove sensitive intellectual property Tools, Defeature (in assembly)

User Tools & Features Isolate Quick hide of everything except item(s) of your selection RMB (on a component), Isolate Ctrl + select multiple components

User Tools & Features Assembly Visualization Display by criteria Any custom property Material Weight Rebuild time

User Tools & Features Display States Alternative to Configurations(?) Controls Component visibility Display mode Texture Transparency Located under the configuration manager tab

User Tools & Features Other performance gaining utilities Large Assembly Mode Lightweight Large Design Review SpeedPak

Further Education http://store.solidworks.com/cgi-bin/SolidWorks/PMT1253-ENG.html

To Do List Try suggested settings Utilize suggested tools Document What works What doesn't WHY? Build best practices document Share it with your co-workers

Don’t forget Incorporate pest practices Document issues Get your VAR support team to assist