CAD Forum

colt

Hello, I am on sw2018 I have an assembly with about 300 parts and want to check if it is fully symmetric about the center plane. My first attempt was to run a basic assembly level symmetry check. This did not meet my needs because if a symmetrical part had its symmetry plane coincident with the symm...

colt

You can use a face mate reference if you edit the chamfer of the dowel to 31° so as to match the angle of the cone. Of course the depth will be slightly off...

colt

This is a little script that recursively replaces the model appearances of the active document with that of the p2m file of the same name. It will not replace textures. I created this so that my models are guaranteed to have one material for every appearance p2m file when exported using the Free_Sol...

colt

For anyone else struggling to get the speedpak graphics circle to show up. I noticed that the system option was disabled and changing the setting under [view>display>display speedpak graphics circle] had no effect. On the old forum there was a post that mentioned this was a symptom of unsupported gr...

colt

Hmmm, when I use -1 it opens the document as [Viewing] [Read-only]. When Empty it loads as if I had the silent option. I made sure to allow all dismissed messages in options. I am on 2018, so maybe it works in newer versions.

colt

Whoops, I had this question open in another tab. Must have submitted by accident without giving all info. Was trying to get this dialog when a referenced part is missing from the drawing dialog.jpg using this code Dim swApp As Object Sub main() Set swApp = Application.SldWorks Dim err As Long Dim wa...

colt

How can I trigger the browse for file popup if using openDoc6?

colt

Doing assembly cut "up to surface". This one is hidden unless you know the trick for parts: double clicking on a surface will select the end condition of "up to surface". I don't think this is technically supported because there is no formal item in end condition dropdown menu. D...

colt

Thank you for sharing your computer specs. My pc is not as powerful in the cpu, but is similar. There must be something wrong with my install. I opened up a brand new drawing and put in a text box. Just having the textbox activated ready for typing causes solidworks to max out a core. This is true e...

colt

How has performance improved in the newer versions? I use envelopes and section views fairly often, but have noticed that they tank performance on drawings. Zooming and panning the drawing, adding notes, or typing text will max out one core at 4.5 ghz. Is this normal? I am hopeful about the new deta...

colt

Not sure if it is a setting, but might only be available while performing an auto insert... https://help.solidworks.com/2017/English/api/sldworksapi/SolidWorks.Interop.sldworks~SolidWorks.Interop.sldworks.IView~AutoInsertCenterMarks2.html Add together the options you want from swCenterMarkConnection...

colt

I was mistaken. Today I got the popup and it was unable to find the macro. It is looking in the wrong place. It has reverted to looking in the solidworks install folder instead of my macro folder that I set in file locations. I found where I think it stores the full path to the macro files but every...

colt

Interesting. Did that automatically fix it for you or did you have to reassign?

colt

Solidworks says it can't find my macro at "x" file path. The macro is at "x" file path. I have to reassign the macro to my hotkey every time this happens. It seems to happen at random intervals (months). It seems to be able to find about 50% of my assigned macros. Anyone else had...

colt

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 12:36 pm I'm confused.

Yeah sorry, I attached the wrong version of the part. The one I attached was after I replaced one half the profile just to try to get rebuild.

@AlexLachance That would get the job done. For my case, I would rather keep it self contained to one feature.

colt

If you are still having this problem you could match file modified times. Use last modified of the variables.txt. Then perform a windows search for assembly or part that was modified at the same time. Example search: datemodified:‎5/‎13/‎2022 ext:.sldasm other ways to narrow the search -> https://do...

colt

I have a simple extrude thin that I want to split into two bodies. BEFORE TRIM.JPG I perform the trim. The preview is there. TRIM.JPG I get this error. ERROR.jpg Deleting the extrude and recreating does not solve the error, so the problem lies in the sketch. I was able to get a rebuild if I fully de...

colt

I have macro that makes sure every item in the bom is ballooned. I want to select the rows in my bom containing the unballooned parts. This will cause the parts to be highlighted in the drawing viewport. Is there such a command to do this? Or is there a better way to highlight the parts in the drawi...

colt

That sounds like it could get me into trouble, I don't think I want to allow multiple contexts. Do you know how solidworks would deal with the "edit in context" menu command with that option enabled?

colt

Is it possible to auto close this popup? I understand what I am doing and do not need to be notified every time I move my mouse 1 pixel. Capture.PNG I saw this macro where they seem to be operating on the solidworks gui rather than native api calls. https://www.codestack.net/solidworks-api/document/...

colt

I ended up going with a combo of your suggestions. I used a 3d sketch to create a surface sweep and then a cut with surface. The result looks great. Thanks everyone for your ideas.

colt

Why do you say that the flex feature destroys your model tree? In my real part I have a lot of other features that are constructed on top of a boss extrude. If I were to replace the boss with the flex then all those features would need to be redone. If there were an easy way to apply it at the end ...

colt

I have an existing part that I made using my standard methods. Now I want to remove material from the top surface to make it more streamlined. However, the only way I can think to generate this geometry is to use the flex command. This is not an option because it would destroy my model tree. Below i...

colt

Maybe I have lost it, but I thought that when replacing a component the filter in the explorer window would default to the extension of the component being replaced. Somehow mine has gotten flipped. Replacing a .sldprt defaults filter to *.sldasm and replacing assembly defaults to *.sldprt Changing ...

colt

I am trying to make a macro that will rotate my model about each axis. So far I have it working with the following code. Eventually each axis will be assigned its own hotkey so I can nudge the rotation of my model with high precision. Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2 ...

colt

Maybe I used it wrong, but getValue3 function returned an empty value for me instead of the expected array. Tried setting "Config_name" to empty as well as the name of my derived config. I did get a result when I used swInConfigurationOpts_e.swThisConfiguration. Instead I was able to test ...

colt

I have a part with multiple derived configurations. I sometimes make the mistake of editing dims inside the derived config thinking I am in the parent. I want to make a macro that will check that all dimensions in my derived config are linked to the parent config. So far I am able to check if the di...

colt

Another way is to create massless part that you can mate to the cg. Then you can mate to that object. It seems to follow the cg accurately on rebuild.

colt

Did not seem to change the behavior. Thanks all for looking at this.

colt

I set my scene background to a photo that was taken by the customer. I then created a camera and positioned it so that my model's perspective and scale match that of the scene background. Now if it was possible to edit the model while inside the camera I could simply drag surfaces and edges around u...

colt

I found a workaround that requires making an assembly to house a camera and your actual working assembly. Then you can open your subassembly in another window to perform edits and it will not pop out of the camera in the top level assembly while also showing edits on rebuild.

colt

I want to edit my model while in camera view. It keeps popping me out of the camera every time I try to change geometry. I've tried using multiple viewports & multiple windows. I would even be happy if it reactivated the camera view after the edit was complete.

Anyone figured this out?

colt

In the video I was hitting ctl-q before hitting rebuild button. I do not have approved graphics card so that could be a factor. Saving and reopening the assembly still shows the pictures in same locations. My part had 20 configs so I ended up making a separate part in the assembly to house my sketch...

colt

@mattpeneguy I downsampled my video to 1920x1080 and created gif using ffmpeg but it was still massive. I will look into screen to gif. So the only way to embed mp4 would to be to upload on another site and then point the media element to url?

colt

Thanks for the help. dpihlaja I have the same exact version and only lose synchronization when I edit the sketch picture from the context of different configs. It was very confusing as I was not expecting it. The gif takes a while to load out.gif Side question, is it possible to embed mp4 in viewer?

colt

Today I found out that a sketch picture's position, scale, and rotation are automatically configured. Anyone know how to control this or force all configs to have the same picture parameters?

colt

When I need to lose virtual components I found the quickest way is to utilize multiple assemblies. Converting an assembly to virtual that contains virtual components itself is a pretty sure bet. I am able to do it in 2018 without a restart using the technique below.

colt

Yeah, that still throws the same error.

colt

Good info, thanks for the warning. It is too bad because the gui pack and go does everything I need it is just way to clunky and slow. My ultimate goal was to use the swDocumentManager to build my own pack and go in autohotkey but the doc manager is having an even harder time in ahk. I was planning ...

colt

I have converted most of my macros over to autohotkey, but am having trouble with the GetPackAndGo command. Autohotkey is an untyped language that can run vba macro code with only a few syntax changes. I kept getting the error 'parameter not optional' in ahk and 'argument not optional' in macro. 'Di...

colt

Today I found a solution that it will always reattach mates, even if the assembly is constructed manually, as long as the assembly ID of the component is the same in both modules. The problem is that older assemblies we made had IDs in the teens because we deleted and added the connector rather than...

colt

Yeah I figured it would not be retroactive. I was hoping though.

It seems like if using mate references it is more stable. I will have to look into the named entity feature.

Attached is example of problem.

Thanks for looking at it.

colt

I have multiple assemblies that mate using the same connector. In the beginning we made modules from scratch that used this connector. As time went on we used pack and go to progress these products. Now when we replace the module in an assembly it may or may not keep its connector mate depending on ...

colt

Again thanks everyone for your input. I will probably run with the broken speedpack strategy. If they are clever enough and want to mess around converting from stl, so be it. we are aware that people will then figure out a way to either copy us I am probably being too paranoid. We've had designs bla...

colt

They just need the file to put into their assembly to plan their layout make sure there is no interference with their product (visually only). AND the end customer will eventually see their model/rendering and need to be impressed with our sub-components. Disabling those options in edrawings was rea...

colt

Thanks all. I am on 2018 and they are on 2019. Unfortunately, most of our ip comes from major features and overall dimensions. It would not be that hard for them to measure our product or trace over the raster drawing. I am just trying to make it as difficult as possible while giving the best repres...

colt

One of our clients is requesting models of our products so they can build a prototype assembly for their customer. Our client has a similar product line to us and would would be considered a competitor in some regards. It is in our best interest retain all information in the model so that the end cu...

colt

Instead of hover snapping try selecting both using ctrl. Then select coincident. Macro recorder gave me this. boolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectByID2("Point3", "SKETCHPOINT", -4.79110246381096E-02, 1.79666342392911E-02, 0, False, 0, Nothing, 0) boolstatus = Part.Extension.SelectB...

colt

Yeah, that is exactly what I want. Good find. I wonder if you need to have integrated pdm or if this is running off raw file set.

colt

How does sw explorer access file details so quickly? It looks like it can access the assembly component list without fully opening the file. Can this speed be harnessed in a macro or external application? I would like to write a program that reduces the time it takes to do the solidworks file shell ...

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