First, you have to find the themes folder. It will be located in the data subfolder of your SolidWorks 2009 install folder. For example:

C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks 2009\data\themes

If you cannot find the folder, it was either corrupted or you’re not looking in the correct folder. If this is the case, you may download this copy of the themes directory:

themes.zip

You should then copy the themes folder to your SolidWorks 2010 data folder. For example:

C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks 2010\data\themes

Then restart SolidWorks 2010, create a Layout Presentation, and let the community know if this solved you problem.

This may also solve some of the problems users have reported with Presentation Studio Theme Editor. Specifically, the error message that claims PSTE cannot find the themes folder.

Perhaps the most important new feature of Treehouse 2 is the ability to import and modify existing SolidWorks documents. It is simple to add an existing component by opening an Explorer window and dragging the document on to the intended parent. If you want to visualize an existing assembly, drag the assembly into the Treehouse 2 workspace and you will notice that preview images will be generated. A few notes on existing assemblies:

• When you add an existing assembly into a new Treehouse structure and then export, it will reference the existing assembly rather than make a copy.
• Although you can add new components into existing assemblies and add new components, you cannot delete or modify the existing assembly structure.
• When you export your assembly tree, any changes made to existing assemblies alter those files and save the documents in the latest available version of SolidWorks. Treehouse 2 provides the option to backup these files before making alterations.

We have implemented a new menu for adding and managing configurations. You can create new configurations and derived configurations, specify the number of instances of each, and switch configurations. As you add configurations they will all appear in the Treehouse 2 work area with the configuration name shown at the bottom of each element. One quick note: Assembly configurations all must have the same number of components.

You’ll notice that we have made some attempts to improve the layout of work area elements by grouping similar documents and adding a drawer for drawings.

We have also added:

• An instance count input to easily specify the number of total instances and suppressed instances
• A Legend to describe the various colors and linetypes found in the Treehouse user interface

These changes include:

• Faster upload time
• Faster load time
• Better panning performance
• Better zooming performance with mouse wheel

We have therefore increased the drawing size upload limit to 10 MB.

Because these large files may take awhile to process, there is now a status dialog during upload.

We have also added a prompt at the bottom of the screen that provides a simple instruction to the user based on the currently selected operation.

64 bit support is now available with the same functionality as 32 bit.

COLLADA exports now contain both a physical and visual representation of your design. This is important because often the kinematics of a model are usually far less complex, and by creating a simplified configuration of the model you decrease the demand on the physics engine.

Continued support for Google Earth 5.0 and other programs which handle COLLADA transparency differently. Note: To export to Google Earth 5.0, leave the RGB_ZERO option unchecked.

Our latest improvements include:

• Support for the latest version of MS Robotics Studio
• Ability to export parts
• Ability to export assemblies without motion studies
• Limited support for SolidWorks 2008 - No motion is exported
• Better feedback messages
• Increased performance of exported models
• Greater reliability of exported models
• Support for Google Earth importing

SolidWorks now has the ability to export assemblies into COLLADA format, an open standard for interchanging 3D models between different applications.

We have created a video to demonstrate its use and give a few tips on making the most of the exporter.

We recently released Presentation Studio, which is a SolidWorks Add-In that allows you to create a Design Brief, Price Sheet, Technical Summary, Feature Review, or Product Specification in minutes.

We have created a video to demonstrate its use.

Enjoy

You can also view a QuickTime version here

We often hear from users who express frustration with a lack of organization of their design data. When asked how they are managing their data the typical response is standard windows folder or shared drives. So, how do you know if you could improve managing your design data?

Simple: have you ever found yourself asking these questions?

• Where did I put that file?
• Is this the latest revision of the file?
• I changed this part yesterday. Who overwrote my changes?
• I opened the assembly, why can't it find the part files?
• Who is working on that file?
• Where is this part used? If I change it what assemblies will I impact?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you could benefit from more organized data management.

PDM is the perfect tool to help design teams organize and secure their design data.

We encourage you to take a further look at how PDM can help you organize and manage your design data.

Today we released Drawings Tube, which is a desktop widget with the ability to manage the data used by BluePrint Now and Drawings Now. While screenshots are great, we thought that we would try using a video to demonstrate its use.

Enjoy

BluePrint Now, the latest in our collection of SolidWorks Labs applications, is an online drafting tool which can be used on any computer that supports the new Silverlight plug-in from Microsoft. This means that you are able to load, review and edit a drawing from almost anywhere on almost any computer. It also means that you can create a dwg file from almost anywhere and save your creations on our secure Labs server to share with your colleagues.

Where do I get it?

BluePrint Now is currently accessible on our Labs servers. Simply click the link on the main page, enter your SW Labs account information, and start exploring!

How do I use it?

We’ve made an effort to make BluePrint Now as easy to use as possible. The user interface is divided by functional groups.

In the top section, you’ll find standard input / output commands for controlling both your server-side and client-side data.

• Open from Labs Server
• Open from the Client Machine (local)
• Save to Server
• Save to Local (Download)
• Save as PDF
• Send Email

Just to the right of that, you’ll see the user interface for layer management, and numerical input. The numerical input box will define geometry exactly, such as circle diameters and line lengths. Note also that there is a message below the top tool bar which indicates the current command.

The last couple things in the top toolbar are login information and a print command.

On the right hand side, you’ll find view, drafting, dimensioning and snapping tools.

View section

Contains select, pan and zoom functions with which you are probably familiar. Hint: Middle mouse wheel zooms and MMB pans. This may be a more efficient means of navigating your drawing.

Geometry section

Clicking on any of these buttons puts you into that command until something else is chosen. In other words, you don’t have to click Line five times if you want to make a line. Remember that you can specify exact magnitudes using the Input box which should automatically be highlighted.

Dimensioning section

You can create aligned, radial, diametric and angular dimensions by selecting the command and the appropriate geometry, which will highlight on mouse over.

Transform section

Duplicate, scale, rotate and move are all available to you. Select the command first, and then the entity you wish to transform.

Snapping section

Used in conjunction with other commands, snapping will speed up your workflow by constraining geometry to endpoints, midpoints and centers.

Is there a particular function that’s giving you trouble or think deserves some additional documentation? Please let us know!

Enjoy!

SolidWorks Labs

Back in January, we posted a cool procedure for Adding Custom Environment Maps To PhotoWorks And RealView. Understandably excited (man, I need a hobby) I decided to test our claim that with a digital camera and HDR Shop, you can create your own spherical environment. I quickly discovered that creating your own spherical environment can be a bit more involved than that, and I hope that this post on my own experience helps you create awesome SolidWorks renderings.

Minimum Hardware

Like we said in the January post, a digital camera and a tripod is all you really need to make a 360 environment.

The quickest and easiest way to generate an HDR environment map is with a reflective sphere and HDR Shop. You can use a highly polished steel ball bearing, a garden gazing globe, or even a holiday ornament.

Holiday ornament in the center of our office

Polished steel sphere in my hallway

The tutorials for creating the HDRI are on the HDR Shop website.

I've found that the quality of the images generated from this method will not be good enough for a background image, but will work just fine for a reflective environment.

Render of a globe in a library. Note poor background quality with good reflection quality.

Recommended Hardware

Digital camera, with "M" (Manual Exposure) mode.

Wideangle or "fisheye" lens *

Tripod with a level

Plummet - I used some string and a pen

* Look online to see if you are able to rent lenses. I was able to rent a fisheye lens from California, US for a fraction of the cost of the actual lens.

Software

There are many commercial HDR panorama creation tools out there. Also, the open source community has also created some interesting apps with which I created some very nice panoramas. These are the 2 apps I ended up using:

Hugin

Autopano SIFT

Setup

Note that I've hung a plummet from the focal point of the camera. I've also mounted a level to the camera, thus creating a philopod.

Select your location and start shooting. The number of shots you need to take depends on how wide your lens is. I had an 8mm lens with 106deg field of view, and I needed to take 6 pictures.

If your intent is to create an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, take at least 3 bracketed exposures for each camera position. Later, you can use HDRShop or Photoshop to blend them together to make an HDR image.

Pixel Pushing

The workflow of hugin isn't too difficult to understand and there are a variety of tutorials found on the hugin website.

Final Results

Capitol Building of Wisconsin, USA

Download Files

Empty Office

Download Files

In the Technical Training Sessions of SolidWorks World 2008, Brian Harrison chaired an interactive discussion on SolidWorks Labs. Below are the slides presented in this session.

Using some registry settings you can enable an option to use Ambient Occlusion in any scene.

The standard “Ambient Occlusion” scene can really make your models stand out a lot more and look much more realistic.

But what if you really want to use Ambient Occlusion but keep a plain white background with the kitchen scene reflections?

Here is a model using the existing ambient occlusion scene. Notice how real the shadowing is in the wheel wells, and among all the corners, nooks and crannies.

Here is the same model using the “Plain White” scene. It looks nice, and while there is a transparent floor to catch the shadows from the first directional light, you loose a lot of the “depth” in the model. The wheel wells and other areas that are in shadow just aren’t as real as they should be.

Using the downloadable registry files, you can double click the “EnableAOForAllScenes.reg”. When you restart SolidWorks, you can apply the same “Plain White” scene but now you can edit the scene and turn on a new option for “Ambient Occlusion”.

Notice that even though I have turned on Ambient Occlusion here, it has only changed slightly.

In order to get the full effect of ambient occlusion, you need a lot of ambient light, and NOT a lot of brightness from other lights. The brightness value from other directional lights, for example, will wash out and kill the ambient occlusion shadows. So by simply turning down the brightness of my 2 directional lights and turning up ambient light (the ambient light itself or the ambient value in any individual light will do) you can get the full effect of ambient occlusion now:

Here's a detailed explanation how to take your spherical environment image and map it for use in PhotoWorks and RealView in SW 2008.

Tools required

HDRShop

Free download of V1 http://projects.ict.usc.edu/graphics/HDRShop/

nVidia photoshop .dds plugin

Free download http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

Adobe PhotoShop

SolidWorks Office (with PhotoWorks addin)

Content required

360 degree spherical environment image, there are many resources on the web for obtaining these. With HDRShop and a digital camera, you can even create your own.

Steps required

1. Starting with a spherical environment image:
2. Open the image in hdrshop (say OK to default "Specify Camera Response Curve for LDR Image" dialog)
3. Choose Image, Panorama, Panoramic Transformation
   • Source image format = Latitude/Longitude
   • Destination image format = Cube Environment (Vertical Cross)
   
4. When the conversion completes, you will have a new "vertical cross" image that will look like the following image (on the right). This corresponds to the "layout" guide (on the left) Save the resulting image and then open it in PhotoShop
5. Use the grid control to easily select and modify the layout of the vertical cross image into a row of images as follows. Take special care to get the overall size orientation of each part of the image correct.
   • New image Width = 3072 pixels, Height = 512 pixels
   • Right, Left, and Rear parts of the image are rotated 180 degrees from their original position in the vertical cross.
   Now save the image from PhotoShop as a DDS file using the following options
6. Now you can use the PhotoWorks scene editor to set this new .dds image as your environment (and background if you wish to see it as background as well)

   Environment Reflections Only

   Or Background and Environment settings together

Scene modified with custom .dds background, environment in RealView (as well as Ambient Occlusion)

Come see the presentation about Labs by Brian Harrison, Director of SolidWorks Labs. You'll learn about what has happened with Labs this past year and get a sneak peek into an upcoming release on Labs.

Look for the presentation in the SolidWorks World User Agenda at 1:30pm on Monday January, 21st.

Our latest widget, the Gallery Widget, enables you to show off all of your favorite designs... right on your desktop. This widget, just like our WatchIt Widget, requires the Yahoo Widget Engine to be installed on your system. If you have not yet installed Yahoo Widgets, you can do so by following this link. By default Yahoo will install about dozen or so widgets that they think most people will want. After the installation you can simply right-click on any widget that you do not want, and select" Close Widget". It will not open again, but it will still be in your widgets folder, usually located in "My Documents/My Widgets/".

After you have installed Yahoo Widgets, go to labs.solidworks.com and download the Gallery Widget to your widgets folder. Once the download has completed, just double-click on the file named Gallery.widget to launch it. By default Gallery will display the 2006 design contest winning models. If you place your mouse pointer over the image being displayed you will see info about that design. To start showcasing your own designs, simply drag and drop a folder containing your SolidWorks models on top of the Gallery widget. By default, Gallery will display models in subfolders as well.

Note: the Gallery widget does not just display SolidWorks documents. In fact, it will display any document that Windows knows how to create a preview for. This will of course vary by what you have installed on your system. Most image files (bmp, png, jpg, gif, etc.) can be previewed by Windows without any additional software installed. Therefore, the Gallery Widget can also display most of your image files and photos as well.

There are many options that you can change allowing you to customize the Gallery widget to your liking. To see these options, right-click on the widget and select "Widget Preferences". The following options page will be displayed.

Select Folder - Click on the ellipse "..." button to browse for and select a folder of designs to display. The easier way of course is to just drag and drop a folder onto the widget itself.

Include Subfolders - If this option is checked, then the widget will display designs from the folder selected above and all of the subfolders within that folder. Default = checked.

Change Image Every - This option lets you choose how long to display each image before moving on to the next. There are many choices here ranging from five seconds up to one hour. You will most likely find that something over one minute is most desirable. Default = one minute.

Sort Order - There are only two options, name and random. Choosing name will display each design in alphabetical order. Otherwise the images will be displayed in random order, without repeating until all images have been shown once. Default = name.

Image Size - This slider allows you to select how big the widget appears on your desktop. You will need to experiment with this a bit. There are ten settings to choose from with the smaller sizes to the left of the slider. Default = 3.

Frame - Finally, you can change the frame that is displayed around your design. Among the options here are glass and none (designs displayed frameless). We plan to release a new version soon with more frame options. Default = Gold.

Selecting the "Window" tab at the top of the preferences dialog displays the following options.

This is the standard Yahoo widgets option page that you will find on all widgets. The options are described fairly well and more information can be found on the Yahoo Widgets web site if needed.

The Gallery widget also tries to be smart about its location on your desktop. If you are displaying designs or images that are of different aspect ratios, then the size of the Gallery Widget may also be changing. The widget will always try to anchor itself by the corner that is closest to a corner of your screen. If all your images are of the same aspect ratio, you may never notice this. But if they differ, it will become obvious what it is doing.

Updating the widget is easy. Just right-click on the widget and select "Check For Widget Updates". The widget will check to see if a newer version is available and if so, will allow you to select to have it auto update itself. If you agree to the update, the widget will download the latest version and then automatically restart.

Well that's it for now. Don't forget to check out the WatchIt Widget. This handy widget allows you to keep track of files that are modified on your system or on a network drive. It is a must have for teams working from a common data set.

Have an idea for a new Widget? Let us know by posting a comment below.

On Saturday November 17th, SolidWorks will be simulcasting the Intergalactic Savage Soccer Championships from the Campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts. What is Savage Soccer? Savage Soccer is an annual robotics event hosted by WPI. In Savage Soccer, teams of students armed with a VEX kit create a robot that is able to compete in a game designed by the event staff. Anyone who has a robot kit is eligible to play and there is no registration fee.

On Saturday November 17th, SolidWorks will be simulcasting the Intergalactic Savage Soccer Championships from the Campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts. What is Savage Soccer? Savage Soccer is an annual robotics event hosted by WPI. In Savage Soccer, teams of students armed with a VEX kit create a robot that is able to compete in a game designed by the event staff. Anyone who has a robot kit is eligible to play and there is no registration fee.

The goal of Savage Soccer is to provide an exciting and educational activity that allows high school and advanced middle school students to explore robotics and have a hands-on learning opportunity.

When: Saturday, November 17th, 2007

Time: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Eastern)

Where: WPI, Campus Center, Odeuum, Worcester, MA or come to SolidWorks Island in Second Life.

Hope to see you there.

With the recent launch of Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, the difference between a PC on your desk and a PC in your pocket has been reduced drastically. Both the iPhone and the iPod Touch are equipped with a powerful browser, Safari. Because of the sheer size of it, the iPhone cannot compete with the powerful Desktop PC, but it opens up many possibilities.

This gives us the perfect opportunity to bring out something on this platform, which is useful, elegant and going to help us explore the future

We are pleased to announce the iPhone version of our Drawings Now product. Keeping the screen space availability and the iPhone capabilities in mind, we have come up with an interface which is smaller and simpler, but the right features you will need on this kind of device.

How do you get to this site? Go to Drawings Now as you have always done.

1. Go to http://labs.solidworks.com

2. Select Drawings Now product.

3. Select the Run button.

Now we will detect if you are coming from an iPhone (or an iPod Touch) and give you an interface which is custom designed for this platform.

Things you can do on this platform are,

1. Once you have uploaded a drawing to Drawings Now site, you can access that drawing anywhere in the world via the iPhone or the iPod Touch (needs a WIFI connection).

2. You will be able to login to your account and browse all the files you have uploaded there.

3. You will be able to view all the sheets for the drawings.

4. You will be able to pan/zoom the drawing you are viewing, like you have been doing on the Drawings Now page.

For panning, you place your finger on the iPhone screen, and move your finger as if you are moving your drawing.

For zooming in or out, you need two finger slide. You need to place both your fingers together, and slide them up or down on the screen.

Thanks to your comments and feedback, SolidWorks Labs has created the next iteration of our free ZoomIn product for you to explore.

The first thing you'll notice is our new method for accessing files. This interface gives you the entire screen to view previews of your models before opening or inserting them into your presentation.

We've also responded to your requests for better layout tools by adding an optional floor on which you can arrange your presentation.

Finally, we've given the entire interface a new look and amped up the music selection, materials and sample models.

Enjoy, and keep the feedback coming!

You can download the newest version of ZoomIn here.

Field Note: There are some known compatibility issues with the Vista OS User Access Control and Aero schemes.

There is a new product on the labs site called CB Model Pro. For those of you familiar with Cosmic Blobs, it may seem somewhat similar in concept. And well it should since it comes from the creators of Cosmic Blobs. Basically it offers all many of the freeform capabilities of Cosmic Blobs, but with a user interface targeted at the professional user.

What is unique about CB Model Pro is how easy it is to quickly rough out smooth organic shapes. It offers a very different approach than traditional 3D CAD. Using CB Model Pro, the user squeezes, flattens, and pulls the shape.

CB Model Pro is an ideal tool for roughing out concepts and smooth organic shapes. Conceptual design artists can use CP Model Pro for quick realization of industrial design shapes.

Let's take consider the ubiquitous TIVO remote control.

If a user were to model this shape using traditional NURBS surfacing tools. The process requires many control curves, and surface patches. While this is pretty straight forward for an experience modeler, it can be time consuming. Let alone stimulate the conceptual design process.

On the other hand, using CB Model Pro, this generalized shape can be created using a minimal set of commands and done in a very short amount of time. Thus, allowing the conceptual designer to freely express many different design iterations.

To demonstration this, we will start with a primitive shape.

Since the shape is symmetric, we will establish where symmetry takes place. We do this by using the view orientation command to orient to view.

The mirror command uses the current views orientation to established vertical axis as the desired axis of symmetry.

Next we want to turn this spherical shape into a shape looking closer to the TIVO remote. We will utilize the Flatten tool to make this sphere into an ovoid shape. The flatten tool is very versatile. Actually it is used to complete more than 80% of this shape to completion.

By using orthographic view orientations, to establish the direction of each flatten tool, quickly all 4 sides can be pressed and changed into the ovoid shape. One key to each modification is using the adjustment to the Influence Slider

This slider controls how soft or sharp the influence of the flatten tool is.

Generally the shape of the remote is an hourglass shaped ovoid. So to achieve the hour glass shape, the Neck tool is used.

Notice by adjusting both the influence and the depth slider the desired hour glass shape is achieved

Now it is time to flatten the top of the remove to accommodate buttons and controls. Because only the top of the remote is needs to be somewhat flat we off the mirror command. Again the flatten tool is perfect to achieve this top side flattening.

In addition we have added a color to the shape. Notice that is less than 1 minute, and 2 tools, flatten and neck have our basic shape!.

Other things we may want to add the indentation for the thumb and the top command buttons. The poke is perfect for this. By either adding or removing material.

And just to add a little extra conceptual visibility, any image can be added as a decal by simple dropping it on the model. Here we see the image of the buttons.

Now one of the points of creating this model in such as way is to be able to try radical concepts and multiple design scenarios. In this case we will create a model that is curved up like a banana and try this in both towards and away from the user.

The Bend tool is the command the will allow us the alter the entire shape in one step

So there we have it. After no more than and few minutes and minimal tools, we have come up with 3 different concepts for a possible new remote control. These examples can be deceivingly simple. The final shape is smooth and complete. It can be shared with clients, rendered and used to communicate 3D concept with others.

Stay tuned and we will investigate other useful techniques for CB model Pro.

In order to have transparency in your custom logo, it must be a 32-bit bitmap. Doing this process in Photoshop allows you to create a custom alpha channel for your bitmap file. (Meaning you can flatten your image onto a black background and still have transparency in your final image.)

How to create an alpha blended 32-bit BMP, using Photoshop:

1. Create/Open your desired image.
2. Make your image 71 pixels high, the width is flexible.
3. Ctrl+click the layer thumbnail to select the contents of your image layer.
4. Select the inverse. (Select...Inverse)
5. Save your selection (Select... Save Selection) with any name. This is one of the methods for creating a new channel. Your mask should be white where you want image to show, and black where it should be transparent.
6. 6) Save your file as a 32-bit bitmap file.

How to create an alpha blended 32-bit BMP, using other programs:

The downside of this method is that you are likely to see a white fringe around pixels that are semi-transparent and are not black. Black pixels (even partially transparent) and opaque pixels will not show the fringing. You can minimize this effect by giving your image a drop shadow or black stroke.

Another way to get around this problem is to matte your image onto a color that closely matches the background it will go on. In this case, R210, G210, B230. Flatten your image onto this color, then delete the matte color, so you will have no semi-transparent pixels.

1. Create/Open your desired image in the image editing program of your choice (Photoshop, Gimp, Paint Shop Pro). (Version 2.4 of Gimp will allow you to save 32-bit bitmaps.)
2. Make your image 71 pixels high.
3. Save the file as a PNG-24, making sure your background layer is turned off.
4. Open your PNG in Microsoft Paint or Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, and Save the file as customlogo.bmp (The image will probably have a black background when opened in one of those programs. To open a file in WPFV, right-click the file and choose "Open with...Windows Picture and Fax Viewer". If using Paint, save the file as a 24-bit bitmap (it will actually save it with the 32-bit data).)

Voila! Just load that bad boy into your lang\english folder (or, lang\... for example, lang\german) in your SolidWorks install, and you've got a customized logo.

We've been busy improving ZoomIn. A new version is coming in the next month for you to download and use.

ZoomIn was created to help you present your models with some pizzazz... put on some realistic materials, put it into a scene or a cool background, select some music, define an animation sequence, and then launch into the presentation.

We've read your feedback and comments on the product. The update version addresses your major concerns ... easier to use open/browse, better layout facilities with a floor, more materials, and a better interface to allow you to navigate through the tools easier.

Keep checking back... it'll be here soon. When you get time to use, let us know what you think.

Field Note: If you are having troubles installing/using the current version of ZoomIn with eDrawings 2008 installed on your machine, please note that there is a conflict between these two products. This new update will correct that problem so both products may easily co-exist on the same machine.

The SolidWorks search functionality allows you to search through your collection of SolidWorks and DWG documents by file name, feature name, parameter name or value, or by any term whatsoever in the entire file. The search is powered by an index that is created while your computer is idle, so it is quite fast. The search results are presented in the search task pane in a prioritized fashion.

By default the search looks at some of your local directories, the SW Toolbox, Design Library and 3D Content Central, and it offers you filters to narrow your results. To modify the Search path in SolidWorks, go to Tools, Options, File Locations, and pick Search Paths from the drop list.

We will have many discussions of search topics, but for today we will consider three example cases.

Find a part in Toolbox: Suppose that I want to look thru my toolbox for a bolt, say an eye bolt, that fits my needs.

Looking for " eye bolt" in the search bubble I find these results:

And I see that I have found results in multiple locations. Narrowing my results to just the SW Toolbox by clicking on the toolbox filter We see a nice listing of eye bolting in the SW toolbox:

Each of these bolts can be dragged and dropped directly into the open SolidWorks document.

Finding an assembly that uses a specific part: Suppose that you want to find a particular worm gear that you remember is in some assembly that you have created or used.

Looking for "worm gear" in the search bubble I find that I have nine SolidWorks assembly documents that match and I use the filter to narrow my results to only show me the assembly documents that contain worm gear:

By clicking on 'SolidWorks Assembly Document (9)', I arrive at a list of the assemblies that have such a part in them:

When I select the first item in this list I get a popup toolbar that offers me the options to open this assembly in SolidWorks or to open it in the search results window:

Opening the document in the search results is very much like opening a folder to see the files inside. Here we open the assembly to see the parts inside:

And there is the part, Worm Gear.sldprt.

Find and reuse a previously constructed sketch: Suppose that you want to reuse a complicated sketch from an old part on a new part you are building. In this case you built a 3D sketch for the frame of a piece of structural steel truss and you want to find that sketch somewhere in your database. All that you can remember about the sketch is that it has a couple of driving size parameter values of 50 and 100 mm. So we type "Sketch 50 100" into the search bubble and the very first result that I find is:

This shows that I can actually use parameter values to narrow down a search - and you can see the search terms highlighted in a bold font in the result. Opening this in the search results I find my desired sketch listed and when I open it in SW I see:

You can customize your version of SolidWorks by putting your company logo or some other image on the right side of the Command Manager.

To accomplish this, you need to do the following.

• Double-click the TurnOnCustomLogo.Reg file in the downloadable ZIP file
• Copy CustomLogo.bmp to lang\english (or, lang\ ... for example, lang\german) in your SolidWorks installation which you will find in the ZIP file.

Note, the CustomLogo.bmp is the SolidWorks Roadster image you see above. If you’d like to substitute your own, feel free. It needs to be a 32bit BMP file.

We launched Labs almost 4 months ago to make some of the things we do in R&D here at SolidWorks more visible to you. We look at Labs as a way to spin out product and technology ideas to gather feedback on them. Good or bad, we want to hear it. All the feedback goes right to the development team. Tell us what you think!

Take a look at Drawings Now. It’s a web service that allows you to share your DWG/DXF/native SolidWorks Drawings with anyone else in the world who has an internet connection WITHOUT requiring any software to be downloaded. eDrawings is a great way to communicate your design. But there are situations where it’s not possible for someone to get the viewer … firewall issues, email package size, lack of permission to install application software on a system, or even an older system that just can’t manage to run it. This really goes for any viewer out there today. But, if you can launch a browser and surf the net … use Drawings Now to see your designs and share them with clients/suppliers. Upload your documents you want to share and click on ‘Email a friend’ and you can share your designs with others. This allows the designs to be viewed (pan/zoomed) and even printed. By the way, we actually leverage eDrawings technology for this service … so, we still love eDrawings and what it can do for everyone. Try it out today.

You will see new offerings on the site in the coming months. We will have an update to ZoomIn, for example. More will be posted about that when it’s closer to being ready. We will see some utilities appear on the site as well.

So, check back often and see what we’ve added. With the launch of SolidWorks 2008 in the near future, we’ll post a couple of ‘hidden’ items for you to take advantage of as well.

We’d like to highlight some new features of SolidWorks 2008 which you may not find immediately but are definitely worth a look.

You don't have to use the Command Manager or other Toolbar every time you need a tool that's not in the right mouse button menu. Use the new Shortcut Toolbar... there’s one specifically for Part mode, Assembly mode, Drawing mode, and whenever you are in Sketcher.

All you need to do is hit the 'S' key to bring this up. It will appear where ever your mouse is located.

Just in case we didn't get your favorite tools right in the Shortcut Toolbar... Customize it. Simply call up the Shortcut Toolbar and right mouse button and click on Customize. You can add any toolbar button to the Shortcut Toolbar. This allows you to have 4 different custom toolbars in SolidWorks.

We’d like to highlight some new features of SolidWorks 2008 which you may not find immediately but are definitely worth a look.

SolidWorks 2008 has really cranked up the performance and the look of Real View. You’ll find a huge list of appearances you can apply to your model in the Task Pane.

To apply an appearance, open up the Real View tab in the Task Pane. Pick the look you want to apply and drag/drop the appearance into the graphics window (into the scene to apply to the entire part or onto a component in an assembly).

So, you model will look like the image on the left with edges ON and like the one on the right with edges OFF.

If you want it to look even better, use Ambient Occlusion. Open the Scenes section of the Real View Task Pane Window and click on the Studio Scenes. Scroll to the bottom of the list and you will see Ambient Occlusion as one of the default scenes.

Drag/Drop the Ambient Occlusion scene into your graphics window. Turn OFF edges and your model will look like this.

Ambient Occlusion is essentially a little more shadowing on your model to make it look more realistic. It also helps when you are looking at a face straight on when you have bosses/pockets in it that are normally washed out by the light sources.

Please note that the shadows are recalculated every time you rotate … they only take a second. Your model will always be interactive so this quick calculation is completely interruptible.

Other things to know:

• Turn down the brightness of your light sources. Then, you can turn up the ambient amount of light on one of the lights to give you the desired effect of Ambient Occlusion.
• If you turn off shadows, Ambient Occlusion will also turn off.

We’d like to highlight some new features of SolidWorks 2008 which you may not find immediately but are definitely worth a look.

SolidWorks 2008 has an option to make sketching quicker and easier. Go to the sketch tab of the Command Manager and click on the Rapid Sketch button.

Now, pick a sketch tool, like Rectangle, and move your cursor around your model. You will notice that different planes will highlight for sketching. Once the plane you want to sketch on is highlighted, just start sketching. The next sketch entity that you create will again allow you to pick which plane you want to work on.

You can quickly create sketch geometry on various planes using this new capability in SolidWorks 2008.