One hurdle often encountered is the need to find design information as quickly as possible. Also very important when making changes to an existing design – which parts, assemblies and drawings are affected by those changes. Of course, Solid Edge has some ‘out of the box’ tools that allow you to search for information and find where parts are used. The problem with these tools however is that they tend to be cumbersome and slow when running in an unmanaged environment.

When customers are faced with these data management issues, we always discuss the benefits of using an appropriate data management or PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solution. This technology brings many high level benefits (beyond the scope of this article) as well as some excellent side benefits such as fast searching and where used. This is down to the fact that the information is stored in a database.

Solid Edge and Siemens have two data management solutions available, these are Insight and Teamcenter. Whilst these are great solutions in their own right, depending on the circumstances of the customer, they are not always the right fit. They are sometimes just ‘too heavy’ and over complicated. Like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut! In addition to this some companies just don’t have the budget or IT infrastructure available to invest in and support Teamcenter or Insight.

We recently surveyed the Solid Edge community in an attempt to find out what users really needed from a data management solution. What were the big ticket items that were slowing them down when working with Solid Edge? Looking at the results it was clear that users wanted a solution that provided some of the tools that Teamcenter or Insight deliver (such as instant search and where used) but without the overheads associated with those solutions. They need something that is quick and easy to install, configure and maintain, as well as being good value for money.

This valuable feedback has driven us to develop an elegant solution that fits these requirements.

Introducing File Control for Solid Edge

File Control is a Solid Edge application that provides simple, efficient and effective management of all your Solid Edge data. Most importantly it does this with virtually zero customisation. File control will automatically build a live database enabling almost instant search queries on any property, instant where used reports, instant where drawn reports and much more. File Control gives many of the benefits that are a result of implementing Solutions like Insight or Teamcenter but at a fraction of the cost.

Some File Control Benefits and Features are:

• Instant search on any Solid Edge file property
• Instant ‘where used’ results
• Instant ‘where drawn’ results
• Reporting of interpart links
• Batch editing of property data
• Reporting and BOM capabilities
• Built in viewer
• Installs in seconds with virtually zero configuration

File Control is available to buy from the IngeneaSoft website where you can also find more information about it.

In addition to being able to purchase File Control as a stand alone product, you may also be interested to know that it is available for free as part of a Solid Mastermind membership. Gold and Platinum members have free use of the application as part of their monthly subscription. This is a very cost effective way of using file control with the added benefit of all the other training material you have access to as a Solid Mastermind member.

Solid Mastermind not only provides the very best Solid Edge video tutorial resource available today, it now also provides some excellent utilities that deliver real world benefits. Together these resources will help you become more profitable, efficient and productive with Solid Edge.

The video below shows File Control in use.

Top Edging
Jon Sutcliffe

There is still some fantastic ST3 technology that we still cannot talk about until the official launch announcement from Siemens. But, over the next few weeks, we’ll cover some of the more high level enhancements. We’ll start today with some of the interface changes.

When the first version of ST was released back in August 2008 with its shiny new Office 2007 look and feel, it received both positive and negative responses from existing Solid Edge users. This can be expected following any major change to the GUI on any application. Some of the more long term Solid Edge power users felt it slowed them down and certain tasks just required more mouse clicks. In addition to this people felt that the Command Bar (which used to be the slick Smart Step Ribbon Bar in V20) took up too much space and interfered with the EdgeBar.

Solid Edge ST2 took some small steps in a positive direction with the introduction of a wide screen format which meant more commonly used commands were on the main ribbon This meant not having to switch to the other ribbons quite so often.

However, it looks like the interface changes in ST3 just about tick all the boxes for all users whether they be experienced or not. We have already covered in a previous post the fact that ST3 will now have the Office 2010 capability to completely customise the command ribbons so that users can put commands wherever they like.

One other thing that the above post alluded to was the possibility of a radial menu, although information on this was lacking at the time. We can now say that there WILL be a fully customisable Radial Menu that will be invoked with a simple right mouse button drag. It is completely customisable and will hold 16 of your most commonly used commands. The customisations can be easily distributed to other machines and be maintained during product upgrades in the future. An example is shown below.

Radial Menu

Something that will really please some of the more experienced users is the re-introduction of the ‘V20 like’ Smart Step Ribbon Bar which will be used by default instead of the ST2 Command Bar. However unlike V20 this new Ribbon Bar operates in a similar way to the QuickBar in the Synchronous environment in that it can be positioned anywhere in the graphics window or be magnetically stuck to the window boundary. More importantly it frees up valuable space for the PathFinder and takes up minimal space in the graphics area too. There is an optional vertical representation that can be switched on if necessary. This will probably be useful for new users as it provides additional feedback.

Smart Step Ribbon Bar

Another enhancement focused at freeing up precious graphics space is the introduction of a transparent mode for the pathfinder as shown in the image below. This too can float around the display or can be magnetically stuck to the window boundary like the Ribbon Bar. Importantly since it has the transparent background it enables geometry to display and be located through it, this allows for a much larger graphics area.

Transparent PathFinder

The Live Rules panel in the Synchronous environment also sees some similar attention and now boasts a ‘Heads-up Display’ which has improved visual feedback. When the Live rules are needed they pop up in the graphics window in a floating UI. Since this allows the EdgeBar to be collapsed this too frees up more graphics area.

Heads-up Live Rules

Some final interface enhancements worthy of note are the new on screen edit handles which are appear when features are selected, The switch windows command now shows thumbnails instead of just filenames and the close / save dialogue also displays thumbnails.

Edit Handles and Thumbnails

Until next time

Top Edging

Jon Sutcliffe

Why not visit Solid Mastermind THE Community for Solid Edge Professionals.

For more information please take a look at the about page.

I looked at my hard drive. The area where I store my data was 101GB in size containing 4,806 folders and 37,279 files.

It took me over 30 minutes to find the right file, using Windows search and opening and closing files in Solid Edge.

… and actually that’s extremely embarrassing.

You see we have been supporting and educating Solid Edge users since the product was first released in 1996 and I’ve lost count of the number of times we have emphasised the importance of structuring your data and avoiding duplicate files.

I need to practise what I preach but it’s difficult if you don’t have access to Insight or Teamcenter.

Anyway this got me thinking.

All the Solid Edge users out there must have some ideas for managing Solid Edge files.

So please help me with your best tip. I’d also be interested to know if there is anything that could help you with your management of Solid Edge data.

Here’s the details:

Click here to submit your tip

By way of a thank you we will provide you with a complimentary gift.

Not sure what this will be yet but it will be useful for everyone who uses Solid Edge.

There has been an awful lot of discussion on the Solid Edge Newsgroup (BBS) regarding this. It is generally recognised that things are looking very positive and moving in the right direction. If you are not a member of the newsgroup, then why not head over there, sign up and take part in the discussion. All you need to login are your Solid Edge WebKey details.

Solid Edge Newsgroup.

One of the first great things to come from this new drive is the launch of a global Solid Edge survey. Siemens are hoping to get a big picture overview on the way you use Solid Edge and more importantly how satisfied you are with the tools you have at your disposal today. This will help them to decide areas to focus on in development.

This is your chance to have your say on where you would like to see future enhancements in Solid Edge.

Take the Solid Edge Survey NOW.

Top Edging,

Jon Sutcliffe

Why not visit Solid Mastermind THE Community for Solid Edge Professionals.

For more information please take a look at the about page.

The first impressions of Solid Edge ST3 are that it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

During the presentation, Dan Staples stated that over 2000 customer enhancement requests were satisfied in ST3. These are in the areas of drafting, part modelling, sheet metal, assembly, frame design, user interface, data management and architecture. It really looks like there is something for everyone.

Here are a few additional high level items courtesy of Mark Burhop’s post on the Siemens Blog.

• ST3 will make it easier for users to adopt Synchronous Technology in bite-size pieces.
• Solid Edge Simulation gets more load and constraint options.
• Insight will support Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010.
• The ST Command bar will return as a horizontal Smart Step Ribbon Bar (sounds like V20 Smart Step).
• As we know already the Command Ribbon interface will be fully customisable like Office 2010.
• New customisable Radial Menus will be available which also support mouse gestures.
• New transparent pathfinder which allows the assembly structure or feature tree to be visualised without obscuring the graphics behind it.
• Sheet Metal gets more options for defining corner conditions.
• New algorithms for weld bead creation.
• A new Configuration Manager to control Display Configurations which promises to be “phenomenal”.

More detailed information on Solid Edge ST3 coming soon.

Top Edging,

Jon Sutcliffe

Why not visit Solid Mastermind THE Community for Solid Edge Professionals.

For more information please take a look at the about page.

Even though there is no information publicly available just yet, we were lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of one enhancement courtesy of Dan Staples VP of Product Development for Solid Edge. Dan was kind enough to post a video on the Solid Edge Newsgroup. This specific enhancement will no doubt please many Solid Edge users out there who have recently migrated from Version 20 to ST or ST2. This concerns the ability to customise the new Ribbon interface that was introduced at these versions. Previously the only customisation available was that of the Quick Access Toolbar. The ribbons themselves were completely fixed.

Well it appears that the Solid Edge development team are taking advantage of some new tools available in Office 2010 that now allow the Command Ribbons to be customised to suit your specific needs.

The process of customisation looks very simple indeed and is initiated by right clicking on the Ribbon and choosing ‘Customise the Ribbon’

This will reveal the Customise dialogue where the specific Solid Edge environment to be changed can be selected from the drop down menu at the top. Then the pane on the right hand side will display the existing structure of the Ribbons along with the different tab names, the groups they contain and the commands within them. As you can see from the image below it is possible to either add or remove Groups, Commands and Separators and even add new Command Ribbon Tabs allowing full customisation of this area of the interface.

In addition to adding and removing commands it is possible to control the command button size as well as whether text is displayed for it. This is being shown with repesct to the Smart Dimension below.

Once the customisations are complete they can be saved as a specific Theme Name

Swapping between themes is as simple as right clicking on the Ribbon again and changing the one that is selected under the Ribbon Themes section as shown below. The one thing that remains to be seen is whether or not the themes are portable so that they can be shared amongst multiple users. Now that would be cool but I guess we will have to wait until the official product launch before we find out. One thing we do know right now though, is that any customisation WILL now survive from version to version so nothing will be lost during an upgrade. Great news.

One interesting thing that may have been spotted by some of the more keen eyed readers concerns an additional tab on the Customise dialogue that is titled ‘Radial Menu’. Now this is purely speculation but could this be similar to some of the heads up context sensitive menus that we have started to see in other competitive products? Only time will tell but we promise to keep you posted.

To finish this post I’ll leave you with a short video that shows all this new customisation in action. Enjoy.

ST3 Interface Customisation Video

Top Edging

Jon Sutcliffe

Why not visit Solid Mastermind THE Community for Solid Edge Professionals.

For more information please take a look at the about page.

So what is Solid Mastermind all about?

Solid Mastermind is THE community for Solid Edge professionals. Think of it as The International Association, Alliance, Federation, Guild, League, Order, Society or Syndicate of Solid Edge Professionals.

Solid Mastermind is about you. In fact Solid Mastermind is all about the COMMUNITY

Solid Mastermind includes the very best self paced training and support solution for Solid Edge whilst also providing a community framework for Solid Edge professionals to interact, share experiences and ideas.

Solid Mastermind is invaluable for everyone who is either:

• Using the free Solid Edge 2D Drafting product.
• Evaluating Solid Edge.
• Already a Solid Edge professional owning and using the product.

and this applies whether you are a corporation, an individual, or anywhere in between.

Why not visit Solid Mastermind and explore the site.

For more information please take a look at the about page.

Top Edging,

Jon Sutcliffe

When Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology was released last year it came complete with a brand new user interface based on the Microsoft Fluent standard. This brought about a great new streamlined way to interact with the Solid Edge design environment. Based on feedback from existing users there have been some subtle changes made to the interface. We’ll concentrate on some of these changes here.

Wide Screen Mode
Solid Edge will automatically check the display resolution being used and set itself in wide screen mode if necessary. This will use some of the empty space that was to the right of the home ribbon for additional commonly used commands that exist on other ribbons. For instance in a traditional part this includes some of the PMI dimension tools as well as certain view commands. The Switch windows command is now always displayed on the home ribbon regardless as to whether it is in wide screen mode or not. The image below shows the home ribbon in part in its wide screen state.

In addition to this it is also now possible to increase the size of the icons in the interface. This can be especially useful on monitors with a very high resolution since the icons in these situations can be very small.

Reorder Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) was a welcome addition to Solid Edge ST since it allowed the interface to be customised and commands added to the QAT so they were right at your fingertips. In ST2 it is now possible to reorder the QAT in order to move commands around so that they are not simply placed in the order they were added. You can also now put seperators on the QAT in order to differentiate between different groups of commands. Another important enhancement is that when re-installing or installing new versions of Solid Edge the QAT customisations will be kept intact so there is no need to re-create them.

Cursor Feedback
There is now much more graphical feedback on the cursor. For instance when selecting geometry or manipulating the veiw an appropriate glyph will appear next to the cursor indicating the curent action. some examples of this are shown below.

Some other notable enhancements concerning the interface include:

• Fresh new startup screen
• Subtle changes to the QuickBar in the Synchronous environments
• New improved steering Wheel handles and operation
• Changes to the Live Rules interface

These enhancemants and more will be covered in future posts.

Keep an eye open for more information on Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology or subscribe to our feed for automatic notification.

This is all great but what about our existing Solid Edge projects that were started in an older version of the product. These are are going to be traditional history based designs. Now, obviously we can open them up in Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology and continue to work on them. Using this method means that they will remain as traditional history based models.

However, did you know that it is possible to convert traditional models to Synchronous models. They then behave just like designs that have been created from scratch in the Synchronous environment. We have had many users attend our Synchronous training sessions and leave at the end of the course - inspired to convert some of their existing designs that were proving difficult to modify. Once converted they were able to make those modifications simply and easily.

The conversion process is very simple and is started by using the command which can be found under the Application menu as shown above. Once launched it prompts you to select the file(s) you want to convert and then lists them in a convert dialogue which gives feedback on the process and provides the ability to override whether or not you want to convert a file. For instance you may have selected to convert an assembly but it contains some files that you would rather leave as traditional models. Finally just hit process and the conversion is done.

One thing that you will want to be aware of is that the conversion process overwrites the existing files instead of making copies so it is good practice to make sure your existing data is backed up first.

I have created a short presentation on the conversion process and what is possible after the conversion as been done. Enjoy

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Unified 2D & 3D
Steering Wheel
Live Rules
PMI Dimensions
Editing Imported Data

However all of these examples focus on the creation and manipulation of geometry within the part model itself. I now want to illustrate some of the capabilities we have with regards to making design changes directly within the assembly.

A synchronous assembly will allow us to manipulate a parts geometry using the Steering Wheel, PMI dimensions and Live Rules, all without the need to in place edit the component. This ultimately speeds up the design process for us since we can make modifications to multiple part simultaneously.

The video below will demonstrate these capabilities but first of all I would like to set the scene…

The scenario is that we have a partially completed design of a garage door opener. A supplier who uses a different 3D CAD product (this could be SolidWorks, Inventor or any other 3D CAD application) has designed a couple of parts and sent them to us in order to be used in the final assembly. Once we have brought them into our design we then find out they need some modifications in order to fit and function correctly. In the past this would have involved getting our supplier to make the required changes and re-sending the new files. This of course would have a lengthy turnaround time associated with it as well as certain communication barriers that may need to be crossed. This would not be the case If we used Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology, these changes can be implemented in minutes rather than days as we shall see below.

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