Disqus - Latest Comments for paulgimbel

Re: SolidSmack Radio | The Manic Parametrics

paulgimbel — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:15:41 -0000

Swedish House Mafia "Antidote"
Moxy Fruvous - "King of Spain" or "Johnny Saucep'n"
Agent 23 - "Funk In Ya Knock"
Chicago blues like Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison
Arctic Monkeys
Ska from Buck-o-nine, Scofflaws, Reel Big Fish

Re: Design Automation with SolidWorks Macros

paulgimbel — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 10:39:18 -0000

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that you can have DriveWorksXpress run SolidWorks macros. DriveWorks Pro will automatically execute macros upon the completion of generating a part. The way to do this is to create a VBA macro (.swp) with the same name as the part, in the same folder as the part. The other key is that in this macro, you must have a method (SUB) named “MAIN” in a module named “DriveWorks”. That macro will then be executed with the completed part which has remained open. But again, I do not believe that this option is available in DriveWorksXpress, although you’re certainly welcome to try.

Another solution, however, is to create a Macro Feature. Macro Features appear in your Feature Manager™ and are executed every time SolidWorks rebuilds at the appropriate place in the Feature Manager™. So a macro embedded in the part as a macro feature will be executed every time that DriveWorks generates a part. You can find more information about Macro Features in the SolidWorks API Help file, or with a web search. If you can’t find what you need there, please feel free to contact us.

Re: Resetting ID Fields in SQL Server

paulgimbel — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:55:12 -0000

We have had mixed results with DBCC in the past, primarily for analyzing and repairing databases.

I'll have to test that particular console command, but it certainly looks like it should do the trick.

Thanks for the follow up!

Re: Ride’s Got Soul. The Sweet Fabrication of Soulcraft’s Custom Steel Bicycle Frame [Video]

paulgimbel — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:09:23 -0000

the perfect balance of high precision (height gages, mics and calipers) and eyeballing and marking with a sharpie. And with such a great film and an obviously magnificent craftsman, you don't really want to bring up the debate of automated machining versus craftsmanship. But obviously, I will. :)

So let's start the argument here. Does the term "handcrafted" imply better because it's a trained craftsperson that created it or does it imply something that is prone to human error versus the highly repeatable nature of modern manufacturing tools?

I happen to think my road bike, with its "swiss precision" rides with just as much character as my hand laid carbon frame.

Re: DriveWorks Pro. Your 3D Web Pumpin' Design Automation App

paulgimbel — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:09:00 -0000

Yessiree, those of us that live in DW are really digging the new UI improvements in DW8. These UI improvements are even sexier in the Windows area. The forms that we're making for our clients now are incredibly dynamic. We're starting to approach the iPad/Android User eXperience that we've been asking for. But you didn't mention the biggest news in DriveWorks 8, and that is the new DriveWorks Pro - 3D Preview. DriveWorks 7 brought us the ability to run inside of SolidWorks and preview the models. Now we have the same capabilities over the web.
- TheSherpa

Re: SolidWorks:HEARD! - SolidWorks:HEARD! - SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 311 - DriveWorks 8 Revealed!

paulgimbel — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 09:54:35 -0000

Great job, Lou. It's a very good point that the move from DriveWorks 6 to DriveWorks 7 is tremendous from the user perspective. But Philip was very subtle and possibly a bit understated in mentioning the amount of work that was performed on DriveWorks 7 under the hood. Philip alluded to the increasing importance of the API in DriveWorks 7 (and one can ostensibly assume DriveWorks 8). The biggest area that we have found, as a DriveWorks service provider, is that the product is now more modular, allowing us to more easily add our custom functionality. In the past, this has typically been "one-off" code to address a specific client's needs. But with DriveWorks 7 and DriveWorks 8, the product now lends itself to building more generic plug-ins for output document types, specification flow tools, and so on. We can now address the needs of our clients in a more general fashion and then make these plug-ins available to the DriveWorks community at large, rather than these efforts just being isolated.

I am certainly in the same boat as you are, Lou, very excited to get to San Antonio and get see the formal reveal. Thanks again for bringing Philip onto the "airwaves" and once again, great job!

Re: The SolidSmack 'Whatcha Got?' HP EliteBook Giveaway!

paulgimbel — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:27:19 -0000

Wow, I never thought I would have the same machine as Jeff, much less a newer one. I've got an M4300 and an M4400. Both underpowered, with not nearly enough RAM or storage or video. The only thing that they have plenty of is heat. I've cut my home heating bill by 82% simply by staying in my office. Too bad I don't get overtime for all of the hours I spend huddled around the CPU fan. It would probably all balance out with the extra A/C in the summers, so I take 4 months vacation.

I would use the new machine to solve world hunger. Chips and Dipp sockets for all!

Re: SolidWorks:HEARD! - SolidWorks:HEARD! Blog - From DriveWorks to Vault!

paulgimbel — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:06:03 -0000

We actually developed a plug-in of our own for this, then got a sample from DriveWorks in release 6 that essentially did what we wrote (and has developed into the plug-in you are addressing here). There are a few tips and tricks that we've found/developed as we've been implementing this functionality for our clients.

>>1) You will want/need to create a dedicated PDM user for DriveWorks. This user will remain logged into the system on the server. All documents will be checked in using this user's login. If you want the documents checked in under the person that ran the specification, that can be done with some coding on the back side.
>>2) GET A DEDICATED LICENSE OF PDM FOR YOUR SERVER!! A lot of folks like to use floating licenses. These are great and convenient, but you do NOT want your server to get denied a license.
>>3) We typically create a series of properties in the output files (models, drawings, Word, Excel, etc.) that is tied to fields in the PDM data cards. One is simply an indicator that tells PDM and the PDM users that this document was created by DriveWorks. This is more significant than you would think. Other properties pass specification information across to PDM, like the username of the specifier, specification name, etc.
>>4) Now that you have a variable that indicates that the document is from DriveWorks, you can control your workflows based on whether the document is from DriveWorks or not.
>>5) Not all documents are controlled by this plug-in. If you want to control everything (specification files, output documents, reports, etc.) this can also be done, but it does require some extra work.

This is, after all, a custom program that is being provided to you from DriveWorks. DriveWorks 7 is built in a very modular fashion to allow users to create their own plug-ins to augment the functionality in the product (and to allow companies like Razorleaf to become solution partners, providing more common tools). This plug-in uses both the DriveWorks and SolidWorks EPDM APIs. This means that you have access to the full functionality of both APIs to do virtually anything you want. It just takes a little programming elbow grease.

--The Sherpa

Re: SolidWorks:HEARD! - SolidWorks:HEARD! - SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 269 - DriveWorks 7

paulgimbel — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:17:53 -0000

Very nice review, Lou. One point that I would have to mention, however, is your discussion about the use of Virtualization. Razorleaf Corporation is a DriveWorks Service Provider. We have used VMWare Virtual Workstations for our development environments for the past five years. Each of our clients would get their own VM. Everything would be separated, each environment unique, and it was a wonderful idea...in theory. The problem is that neither SolidWorks nor DriveWorks are supported in VM format. We have explicitly spoken to DriveWorks about this and the reality is that the majority of the problem lies with SolidWorks. As our clients' implementations have grown, SolidWorks' ability to generate the models has become fraught with constant crashes and completely unacceptable performance. As we all know, SolidWorks is very dependent upon the graphics card, and regardless of the settings that you put in your vmx file, you really cannot virtualize an acceptable video card. We have recently moved our development over to our native 64-bit environments and performance and stability are significantly improved. The same situation happened when I was on-site with a client just last week. The IT folks had just moved the DriveWorks Server into a new VM. We were having constant crashing and a total inability to generate fairly simple models. When we moved the Model Generation Server over to the host machine that was running the VM, the models just came pouring out a lot more rapidly and a lot cleaner.

As much as I love VMWare, as someone that lives in DriveWorks 10-12 hours per day, doing many different implementations, I would really have to discourage anyone from using DriveWorks in a VM environment.

(And not to nitpick, but File Management, License Management and Migration tools have been around for a few releases now. The big deal about the new Sharing Server is that you no longer have to establish ODBC links between each client and the server. This makes life a lot easier for those of us that have to roll out the program across an enterprise.)

Re: SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 231 - DriveWorks Solo

paulgimbel — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:20:10 -0000

Great description, Lou. DriveWorks has been a Gold Solution Partner for a while, but the input interface has always been outside of SolidWorks for non-SolidWorks users. (This is where a design automation solution SHOULD be for maximum bottom-line corporate results, if you ask me.) But with the introduction of DriveWorksSolo, they've created a whole new class of DA solution, a tool for SolidWorks designers. As you mentioned, there's still going to be a huge place for companies that do want DriveWorks to drive SolidWorks, but to allow non-SW users to put their info in (through their network or the web), but this new release really does change how DriveWorks can be used and by whom. All of the features that are crazysexycool, like the preview and the expanded support for form controls within SolidWorks, are not only fun, they're also going to be huge time-savers. I'm anxious to start working with people to develop engineering-centric automations.

Paul Gimbel
Business Process Sherpa/Design Automation Consultant
Razorleaf Corporation