PSA for anyone looking to upgrade to SOLIDWORKS 2021.

[ChipSplitter]

Just a bit of a warning, I would recommend waiting until at least SP3. They do have some significant bugs, but will hopefully have most of them under control by then. I upgraded at SP0 and immediately regretted it. The good news is that they are putting more emphasis on stability in the next few rollouts (so we're told...).

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I'm not knocking them, just trying to do a public service.

 

[Herding Cats]

Good to know as I about to upgrade from 2020 SP4.0

I shall wait

 

[g-coder05]

Due my snap decision on a new computer last year I wound up with a new Macbook Pro with only a 512 GB HD. I knew it was small but it was the only one in stock in the middle of Covid crisis so I figured a would get it an order bigger HD. Nope, Apple decided the new MacBooks should be all integral motherboard and nothing is upgradable now. Not even RAM.

By the time I installed a Vm for windows 10 along with Featurecam and SW2019 and general office software Solidworks would constantly crash. I had to resort to Win7 and SW2016 just to get stable.

Guess I'll have to wait a few more months before I get to upgrade to something that will drive a little better...

 

[ChipSplitter]

Due my snap decision on a new computer last year I wound up with a new Macbook Pro with only a 512 GB HD. I knew it was small but it was the only one in stock in the middle of Covid crisis so I figured a would get it an order bigger HD. Nope, Apple decided the new MacBooks should be all integral motherboard and nothing is upgradable now. Not even RAM.

By the time I installed a Vm for windows 10 along with Featurecam and SW2019 and general office software Solidworks would constantly crash. I had to resort to Win7 and SW2016 just to get stable.

Guess I'll have to wait a few more months before I get to upgrade to something that will drive a little better...

As long as you have at least 256 GB available (preferably SSD), SolidQuirks should run fine.

AFAIK the latest compatible Win7 version is 2019. It's pretty stable too.....

 

[Herding Cats]

Just a bit of a warning, I would recommend waiting until at least SP3. They do have some significant bugs, but will hopefully have most of them under control by then. I upgraded at SP0 and immediately regretted it. The good news is that they are putting more emphasis on stability in the next few rollouts (so we're told...).

SOLIDWORKS Forums

The home for the SOLIDWORKS Forum. REAL People, REAL Experiences, REAL Knowledge.

forum.solidworks.com

I'm not knocking them, just trying to do a public service.

Let me know when it is worth the update

I've been toying around with the idea getting a high end work station laptop, so swapping license keys to a new computer for CAD and CAM would probably be a good time to update.....I think...right?

I finally got fast internet so it's not a huge deal.

 

[ChipSplitter]

Let me know when it is worth the update

I've been toying around with the idea getting a high end work station laptop, so swapping license keys to a new computer for CAD and CAM would probably be a good time to update.....I think...right?

I finally got fast internet so it's not a huge deal.

Are you paying maintenance? If you're not pushing the envelope, working with large complex assemblies, or seeing a lot of instability, it's not worth upgrading or paying maintenance IMHO. For smaller issues and how-to questions, the SWX forum is an awesome solution. Watch for people there like Deepak Gupta, John Stoltzfus, Paul Salvador, Rob Edwards, Josh Brady, Dan Pihlaja, and Artem Tatureychem (sp?). They are some of the most gifted CAD users and macro scripters I know.

The most major bug in 2020 that I recall was Chain Patterns in assemblies. It would calculate spacing incorrectly (Measuring shortest distance instead of around the path). If you didn't see that problem and you don't have a use for the 2021 enhancements like equations in File Props and locking rotation in Slot Mates, I'd recommend staying with 2020 for awhile.

 

[Herding Cats]

Are you paying maintenance? If you're not pushing the envelope, working with large complex assemblies, or seeing a lot of instability, it's not worth upgrading or paying maintenance IMHO. For smaller issues and how-to questions, the SWX forum is an awesome solution. Watch for people there like Deepak Gupta, John Stoltzfus, Paul Salvador, Rob Edwards, Josh Brady, Dan Pihlaja, and Artem Tatureychem (sp?). They are some of the most gifted CAD users and macro scripters I know.

The most major bug in 2020 that I recall was Chain Patterns in assemblies. It would calculate spacing incorrectly (Measuring shortest distance instead of around the path). If you didn't see that problem and you don't have a use for the 2021 enhancements like equations in File Props and locking rotation in Slot Mates, I'd recommend staying with 2020 for awhile.

I think I have about 4 months left. My intentions were to not renew SW maintenance but to continue SC maintenance as the instant phone support is worth it alone.

It is my understanding that after a couple years SW is known for waving backed maintenance fees so I'm thinking that is the way to go. I rarely work with large assembies.

 

[ChipSplitter]

As a little update, Dassault just announced that they will be killing the current SWX forum and moving it to 3DSWYM.com , less affectionately known as "the 3DSwamp" due to the horrible interface. This takes effect April 2 and all content will supposedly be moved over. The major catch; none of it will be indexable by Google, therefore virtually useless. Talk about burning 15 years of user input!

Last week, Matt Lombard of SOLIDWORKS Bible fame started a new forum at https:/cadforum.net/. It has a heavy SWX emphasis but there are also guys there from Siemens and Onshape. That is where most of the serious SWX and API brain-power has migrated already. (I don't feel bad posting a link because it really doesn't compete with this site.) If you have a difficult problem, that's the place to find help. If no one there can figure it out, you're just SOL.

 

[Mhajicek]

Speaking of shutting down forums, eMastercam recently closed their off-topic section, thereby losing most of it's userbase.

 

[g-coder05]

(I don't feel bad posting a link because it really doesn't compete with this site.)

This is exactly the kind of link I would like to see here. The whole purpose of this board is to actually help each other out rather than bash a newbie.

 

[ChipSplitter]

This is exactly the kind of link I would like to see here. The whole purpose of this board is to actually help each other out rather than bash a newbie.

Yes. These two places actually have a lot in common. Both were spun off from a much larger, archaic site that had serious problems with management, etc.

 

[Herding Cats]

So I recently upgraded my Solidworks license and ended up updating to 2021 SP3.0 at the same time.

So far so good......

 

[Mike1974]

Fairly new solidworks user, is there a setting to make it import ALL files 1:1/?

I get random 1:2 2:1 etc drawings... I know how to change, but would prefer not to do it on each file...

 

[Mud]

Total Hail Mary here - When creating new views in SE, I learned that the mouse wheel rotated through view scales when placing a new view, which saved me from going in and setting the scale after placement or clicking on menus. Wasn't in any documentation that I found, I learned it from a tech guy while asking about another question. Is this any help?

 

[Mike1974]

Total Hail Mary here - When creating new views in SE, I learned that the mouse wheel rotated through view scales when placing a new view, which saved me from going in and setting the scale after placement or clicking on menus. Wasn't in any documentation that I found, I learned it from a tech guy while asking about another question. Is this any help?

I'll give it a shot... but I don't notice the scale normally until I "import" the solidworks .sldprt into the drawing file... that make sense? I have a saved template I use for making setup sheets... (drawing file with setup notes, program files/tools, material dims...)

 

[lobust]

Fairly new solidworks user, is there a setting to make it import ALL files 1:1/?

I get random 1:2 2:1 etc drawings... I know how to change, but would prefer not to do it on each file...

In the System Options under Drawings, there is a checkbox called "Automatically scale new drawing views". It is on by default.

Turn that off and it should put all new views at 1:1 by default

 

[Mike1974]

I keep seeing (well, just turned the notice off) a notification that the solidworks background downloader has downloaded SP3.0. When I click install it does nothing. Done this several times now, am I missing something, or is this a bug somewhere?