Category: SOLIDWORKS

Imagine captivating your audience with a presentation that transcends static images. SOLIDWORKS Composer empowers you to create dynamic, 2D and 3D visuals that bring your product or process to life. But how do you integrate these rich visuals into your existing presentations? Look no further than Microsoft PowerPoint!

This guide unlocks the secrets of embedding SOLIDWORKS Composer directly into PowerPoint. By following these steps, you'll transform your presentations from informative to interactive, fostering deeper audience engagement.

Enabling the Developer Ribbon:

1. Open a new PowerPoint presentation.
2. Navigate to the File menu and select Options.
3. Within the Options window, click on Customize Ribbon.
4. Locate the Developer checkbox and ensure it's selected. Click OK to confirm.

Inserting the Composer Player ActiveX Control:

1. With the Developer tab now visible, locate the Controls section.
2. Click on More Controls.
3. Scroll down the list and select Composer Player ActiveX. Click OK.
4. A rectangular box will appear on your slide. Resize and position it as desired.

Linking the Composer File:

1. Right-click on the Composer Player ActiveX control and choose Composer Player ActiveX Object followed by Properties.
2. Under the General tab, click Browse. Locate and select your SOLIDWORKS Composer file (.smg) and click Open.
3. In the Layout tab, uncheck all options to remove unnecessary toolbars from the ActiveX player. Click OK.

Creating Interactive Buttons (Optional):

1. While on the Developer tab, navigate to Controls and select Command Button.
2. Place the button on your slide where desired. Right-click and choose Command Button Object followed by Edit.
3. Rename the button text to match a specific view name within your SOLIDWORKS Composer project (e.g., Default, BOM1).
4. Double-click the button to access the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
5. Paste the following code, replacing "Default" with your desired view name:

Code snippet : "DSComposerplayerActiveX1.GoToConfiguration"

6. Click Save and close the VBA window. Repeat steps 3-6 for additional buttons with different view names and corresponding code.

Testing and Saving:

1. Switch to Slide Show mode to view the embedded model.
2. Use your mouse to zoom, pan, and rotate the 3D model for a fully interactive experience.

Important Note: When reopening the presentation, you might need to enable macros for the ActiveX player to function correctly. To ensure compatibility, save your presentation as a PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation (.pptm).

By following these steps, you'll successfully embed interactive 3D models from SOLIDWORKS Composer into your PowerPoint presentations. This powerful technique allows you to showcase your designs with unparalleled clarity, fostering a more impactful and engaging audience experience.

When analyzing stress on a structure, engineers rely on two key methods: von Mises stress and principal stress. While both visualize stress distribution, they offer distinct insights.

This comparison explores the fundamental differences between Von Mises and principal stress plots, highlighting their strengths and guiding you on which approach best suits your material and analysis goals.

Its bit tricky right ? Especially for New FEA Engineers. Lets dive to understand the difference

Von Mises Stress: A Distortion Energy Measure

While not a true stress, It represents the distortion energy density at a specific point. It helps predict failure in ductile materials (materials that deform before breaking).

Richard von Mises observed that even when individual principal stresses stay below the material's yield point, their combined effect can still cause yielding. He proposed a formula to combine the three principal stresses into an equivalent stress.

This equivalent stress is then compared to the material's yield stress to assess the risk of failure using the von Mises criterion.

Principal Stresses: The "True" Stresses

Principal stresses, on the other hand, are genuine stresses obtained by rotating a stress element to eliminate shear stress. The resulting normal stresses are called principal stresses. They represent the maximum normal (tensile or compressive) stresses an element can experience under specific loads.

A failure theory based on principal stresses is the maximum principal stress theory. This theory suggests that brittle materials fail when the largest principal stress reaches the ultimate tensile strength. While well-supported by experiments, it assumes equal tensile and compressive ultimate strengths, which isn't always the case.

Formula for Principal Stresses:

Choosing the Right Tool: Von Mises vs. Principal Stress:

For ductile materials, the von Mises theory is generally preferred due to its accuracy in predicting deformation. However, principal stress plots remain valuable for analyzing brittle materials and understanding potential fracture points.

Conclusion :

In general, It is considered to be a more accurate measure of a material's resistance to deformation, while Principle stress is more useful in predicting failure in brittle materials.

This blog will guide you through creating custom connectors in SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics libraries and using them in your schematics.

Storing Connectors in the Library

Storing connectors in the library allows for easy access and reuse. Once created, they'll remain in the library until you manually delete them.

Step 1: Accessing the Library

Go to Library > Manufacturer Part Management.

Step 2: Selecting the Connector Folder

The Manufacturer Part Management window displays various component categories. Select the Connector folder.

This will show connector-related manufacturers on the right side.

Step 3: Adding a New Connector

Click the Add Manufacturer Part button to create a new connector. You'll then be able to fill in details about the connector in a separate tab

Step 4: Defining Connector Properties

The Manufacturer Part Properties tab opens with three sections: Properties, User Data, and Circuit Terminals.

In the Properties section, fill in mandatory details like reference and manufacturer. Fill in optional details like height, weight, and supplier name in the scrolling section below

Step 5: Specifying Circuits and Terminals

Define the circuit types the connector can be used with by using the Circuit Terminals option.

Click the Add button to add a single circuit or the Add Multiple button to add multiple circuits simultaneously.

Step 6: Adding Connector Pins

Use the Add Multiple option to quickly add multiple pins to the connector. After adding the pins, manually assign terminal marks to each pin.

Step 7: Inserting the Connector in Schematics

Once you've created the connector for both male and female pins, you can insert them into your schematic page.

Go to Schematics > Insert Connector and select the desired connector from the options.

Step 8: Selecting the Manufacturer

A Manufacturer Part Selection tab will appear. Choose the manufacturer based on your circuit and terminal requirements.

The library will display your newly added manufacturer for selection. You can also use filter options to easily find the correct manufacturer.

Step 9: Inserting Components and Wires

After selecting the manufacturer, insert the component and choose the wires you want to connect.

You can insert single or multiple wires by adjusting the number of lines on the left side of the window. We can also adjusted the wire spacing.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can create custom connectors in SOLIDWORKS Electrical and use them to connect components in your schematics. These connectors will be stored in your library for future use.