Gabi Jack's Blog

3DConnexion's SpacePilot for SolidWorks 2009

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This is really a post that began a few weeks ago, when I was kindly given the opportunity of trying out one of 3DConnexion’s new 3D mice for SolidWorks 2009, the SpacePilot. For those of you that haven't heard of it or don't know what the big deal of a 3D mouse is, this device allows you to manipulate 3D models and scenes using six degrees of freedom, which is practically impossible to do using an ordinary mouse.   I must confess that I was curious about it, given that I had heard so many people talking about  the benefits of having one these, how much easier and faster it was working with it when compared to  an ordinary mouse, etc., so I was very excited when the opportunity came for me to finally try one.

After plugging in the device and installing the software, I was a bit overwhelmed reading the instructions on how to use the SpacePilot to manipulate parts and assemblies in SolidWorks.  I tried the mouse first on a 360° image that is provided as a practice example, but panning and tilting didn’t seem to go according to how the instructions said it would be.  I was beginning to wonder if I had done something wrong, but when I finally opened SolidWorks 2009 it all became clear to me, as I realized that the instructions referred more specifically to how to use the 3D mouse inside SolidWorks 2009.

The SpacePilot is fully integrated with SolidWorks 2009. As soon as I opened SolidWorks, a welcome message showed up in a window, and more instructions on how to use and configure the unit were also provided. 

A new toolbar had also been added on top of the command manager.

An extra menu, 3D Control, in between Tools and Window menus, was added as well, and a small icon in my systems tray, from which I can access the 3DConnexion Control Panel to configure the device for preferences on speed, buttons, which movement in the mouse (the cap part of the 3D mouse) you want to associate with zooming, etc. I can also obtain help from here.

Moving and rotating objects using the Spacepilot takes some time getting used to, especially when you are right-handed, like me, and are not used to operating anything with your left hand, but once you do, you don’t seem to notice it anymore. It blends so nicely into SolidWorks 2009 and the control and precision you have with this device is certainly something I didn’t think possible. Plus, you still have the use of your 2D mouse for other design operations. It was hard to envision working with both at the same time, but it really doesn’t take that long to get used to it.

It’s amazing how sensitive to the sligthless movement of your hand this device is and how fast and smooth the movement of parts and assemblies can become when you use one of this. No more “hiccups”, like with an ordinary 2D mouse!  Push the cap a bit and your part or assembly pans down, pull it and it pans up,  tilt a bit and the part rotates, twist it and the part spins. In the beginning, I found the device was at times a bit too sensitive for me, so it was very convenient that the sensitivity can be decreased using one of those buttons in the toolbar. I found that by doing this it was a lot easier to get used to it. You can also configure the device in order to limit the rotation to only one dominant axis or disable zoom or pan, thus facilitating the use of the 3D mouse even further.  So far, I haven’t done that, although I realize it may be convenient at certain times.

There are a couple of things that I particularly like about the SpacePilot. One of them is that you can easily select a point in your model (like a vertex or the center of a circular face or edge) and rotate the model about that point, or you can also select an edge, a line in a sketch or a temporary axis and designate it as the new axis of rotation for the part or assembly simply by using the buttons in the toolbar. I don’t know about you, but I find it tremendously helpful to be able to select any axis, line or edge on my model and be able to rotate the model exclusively about that axis.

My second favorite (although not necessarily in that order) is the programmable buttons that come with it. Button Mapping, as they call it. This SpacePilot has six different buttons that can be associated with macros that match your keyboard shortcuts or with practically any command available in SolidWorks as easy as dragging and dropping from a list to each of the buttons in the Button Mapping Panel (access this panel by clicking on the icon in the toolbar).  I know a lot of people love their hotkeys and shortcuts. I don’t usually use them, because I have an awful memory for remembering them. I would probably need a list of them pasted right next to my computer and then look for the one I need in that list… and that would defeat the whole purpose of the shortcut keys altogether. This device makes it a lot simpler, just programming a few buttons with some of your most commonly used commands and macros, and their names always get to appear in the SpacePilot’s LCD screen, to remind you what each button is for.  I know what you’re thinking, six buttons isn’t really that much. Perhaps not, but you can create (and save) multiple configurations, each with six different commands and/or macros, if you wish.

 

Another neat thing of this device is that, when working with assemblies, you can toggle between manipulating the whole assembly and manipulating only a part or component in the assembly, simply by pressing a button in the toolbar. If you are moving a part in the assembly, the rest of the assembly remains anchored in place. When you are done, simply toggle back to moving the whole assembly. Really nice! Oh, and it can also detect collisions between parts and components while rotating them, although I still struggle manipulating the component of the assembly when this option is turned on. I find that the movement is not as smooth, even when I don’t select the option to stop the movement when collision is detected.

So, as far as I’m concerned, everything I heard about it was true. The praises were all for very good reason. This is an extremely useful device for anyone that works with SolidWorks. Sure, it’s also fun with Google Earth, but in integrates so beautifully, that it seems as if it had been especially made for SolidWorks. It really makes your life easier, but be careful because once you try one of these, you get hooked, and you really don’t feel like going back to 2D mouse and keyboard ever again!

For more information on the 3DConnexion products, visit their web site located at www.3dconnexion.com

Save your time, money and sanity with Print3D for SolidWorks

This is a free plug-in for SolidWorks, offered by Print 3D Corporation. I learned about it just last night, and I wanted to share with you here because it does seem like a great tool that can save your sanity, as well as your time and money.  Print 3D allows SolidWorks users to get secure and offline quotes for plastic and metal prototypes directly from SolidWorks, without having to upload any STL files to service bureaus and then get pestered by their representatives, trying to get your business.  With Print 3D, users can obtain quotes any time they need to, as many times as they need to, without ever compromising to actually order or buy anything, until they are absolutely sure that’s what they want. Isn’t this something? I mean, with this service, you can actually obtain a price for every single change you make to your design. This can aid you tremendously in making a decision if cost is a priority for you. No hassle, just click a button and there you have it! And when you are ready, just order your parts, and they will deliver them to your door, usually the next day. This sounds easier than ordering pizza!  What do you think? Too easy? Have you tried it yet?

For more information about Print3D, the kind of prototyping services that they offer, and for downloading the plug-in totally free of charge, visit their website at: www.print3Dcorp.com and then tell me what you think about it.

And now that you've had some time to try it...

By now, many of you have probably been playing with the new PhotoView  rendering application for a while, enjoying its ease of use, and creating all kinds of cool photo realistic images with it, haven’t you?  Well, how about sharing  what you think about it with SolidWorks?  By filling out a small survey, you can  let them know not only how you like it, but also what you would like to see in future versions of the product. So, go ahead and fill out the survey today. It’s only eleven questions!  And, when you are done with it, you can take a look at the gallery of cool images created by the PhotoView Community.

A little taste of design automation with TactonWorks

If you remember, back in the month of June I wrote about the second Tri-Valley SWUG meeting, which was all about automating SolidWorks. During that meeting in particular, we were graced with a visit by Brian Titus, from Zeometric LLC, who shared with us several strategies and tools that could help us in achieving our goals for design automation,  whatever big or small those goals may be. From macros to part and assembly design tables, smart mates, smart components, and even a few KBE tools, Brian went over explaining and demonstrating each one of them for us.  We all had a great time and learned quite a bit that day. Towards the end of the meeting, I remember seeing him casually playing with what appeared to be a Sudoku game right inside of SolidWorks. The little thing was so smart, that it would quickly find a solution for the game regardless of the number entered and position chosen. That's a really big number of possible combinations to keep track off!

When asked if he had put that one together using one of his special design tables he had just demonstrated earlier, the answer was a definite no, for he had used something completely different, something called TactonWorks.  Back then there was no more time for Brian to go over what TactonWorks was or what it could do, so I had to wait a while for an opportunity to meet with him and see it in action. Well, lucky for me that opportunity arrived today (yesterday?), and it was definitely worth the wait.

TactonWorks is a SolidWorks gold partner and, as they call themselves, the first state-of- the-art product configurator integrated inside a 3D CAD. What does it mean? Well, it means that it can help you generate made to order configurations of your parts and assemblies, but unlike other solutions such as design tables, data bases and other similar products, you  don’t need to define and program every single scenario, you don’t need to anticipate and  provide the solution for every single problem or situation that may arise.  All you need to provide is a master part or assembly and a few rules, and TactonWorks will actually do all the crunching behind the scenes  to find a suitable solution for you, according to your needs. For me, the analogy that comes to mind is a memory of my days in college, writing a little program that would calculate the thermal properties of a mix of gases, based on the mathematical expressions that described their behavior. Once the program was ready, we were able to find the properties of the gases at any point along the curves.  This was definitely not the same as if we had made a program that contained a table or a database or even a set of “if-then” sort of rules, with predefined values, where all you’ll ever get is simply whatever you put in.

Most of the time, TactonWorks will provide you with the ability to change requirements and choose within a range of possible solutions, like in the following example, where all the valid options for surge protection I can still choose for this configuration to work are colored in green.

I can choose the requirements in no particular order, but once I choose a value for one or more of them, this will reduce my options for the rest, of course, and TactonWorks will automatically determine for me what are my options still available and show me the solution according to the requirements and parameters I choose.

If at some point I choose as a requirement an option in orange, among the ones that are not valid matches for the other requirements I specified before, TactonWorks will warn me that this can be solved, but I will need to change some of my previous choices.

This is how it turns out after accepting the changes.

 

Everything can be easily configured and made to order, even drawings!  And the files are not tied up by any kind of in-context references or anything similar. It’s really impressive, and it doesn’t seem to be too complicated either. Brian showed me how the rules were defined in TactonWorks Studio and I was surprised to see that you don’t really need to learn any kind of programming language in order to do this; TactonWorks guides you through the whole process thanks to a very friendly user interface and practically writes the rules for you based on the options you choose. And they are really simple rules, also! This is a screenshot of TactonWorks Studio, where you can appreciate the rules at the bottom right of the screen.

Very convenient also is the fact that configuration states can be saved, shared and loaded, to work on them later, in case changes need to be made (and they always need to be made, don't they?).

Plus the fact that, similar as in COSMOSWorks, information about the configurations made in TactonWorks is stored inside the same SolidWorks file.

Brian also showed me another product that is meant to be included in a website as an aid for visitors and customers when selecting and ordering products or equipment. Imagine that your customer is able to create different made to order configurations of whatever it is you’re trying to sell them, right there on your website, and without even having SolidWorks. Neat, huh?

I’ll leave you with a video I found in Viddler about TactonWorks. Take a look at it and/or visit their website at www.tactonworks.com and you’ll see what I mean.