1. Tips & Tricks
Elton Smith
Territory Technical Manager
DS SolidWorks

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

4. Survey Results
38 Replies
45%

5. Survey Results
38 Replies
34%
32%

6. 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%

7. 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

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

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

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

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

12. Computer Hardware
Graphics Card
Hard Drive
RAM
Processer

13. Graphics Card

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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?

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

18. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

26. SolidWorks System Options

27. SolidWorks System Options

28. SolidWorks System Options

29. SolidWorks System Options

30. SolidWorks Document Properties

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

32. Modeling Practices
Assemblies solve serially in this order

33. 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

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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

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

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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)

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

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

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

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

47. Further Education

48. 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

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