DriveWorks

SP1 for DriveWorks Pro 9

DriveWorks Pro 9 SP1 is now available to download.
All DriveWorks Customers with an active Subscription Support Contract and all Authorized DriveWorks Resellers can now download DriveWorks 9 SP1.  It is available from the DriveWorks Pro User Community and / or DriveWorks Reseller Community. You will find Release Notes in PDF format in each of the communities.

New UK DriveWorks Reseller!

DriveWorks  welcomes  new UK based DriveWorks Reseller into the DriveWorks Community:

Solid Applications Ltd!

Solid Applications Ltd. is based near Birmingham and specialises in the supply, implementation and support of 3D CAD, data management solutions and related products.

They have a team of highly professional, experienced and qualified Engineers all accredited to train and support their customers. They also have Microsoft Certified Engineers with proven skills to deliver solutions. All their support engineers and account managers are certified by DS SolidWorks.

 

DriveWorks Pro - in 3 minutes!

3 minutes is all it takes to watch this YouTube Video and learn about DriveWorks Pro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9YFQ2qHVuY

Keeping in touch with DriveWorks

Don't forget there are plenty of ways to keep in touch with DriveWorks to find out all the latest and most exciting news. Check out the community pages on any of our websites:

DriveWorks: Corporate Website

DriveWorksXpress Website

DriveWorks Solo Website

DriveWorks Pro Website

You can see all about our webinars, videos and helpfile information updates by following us on Twitter and on our Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find keep up to date with our software releases and find out handy 'How To' tips and tricks on the various DriveWorks blogs:

DriveWorks Blog

Maria: DriveWorks

Philip Stears: DriveWorks

 

If you are a DriveWorks Pro user then the best and quickest place to access information is in your DriveWorks Today Screen right inside the product.  You will find all our latest blog posts and a link to the DriveWorks Pro HelpFile!

The NEW Little Book of Rules DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Solo Edition

 Get YOUR copy of the brand NEW edition of The Little Book of Rules

DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Solo allow you to use Rules to automate your SolidWorks designs and we are sure you will find this latest edition of the book really useful.

This helpful pocket-sized book is full of examples of how rules can be used by you to automate your repetitive and everyday tasks using DriveWorksXpress and DriveWorks Solo.

Get your copy today!

Try it - DriveWorks 3D Online Configurator

You don't need to have any software loaded to use DriveWorks as a Sales Configurator. All you need is access to one of today's popular browsers -  Chrome, IE, Firefox.

You can access our new site here www.driveworkslive.com. I really love the look of the bright, colourful "Metro Style"  landing page - all created in DriveWorks Pro Administrator of course

There are lot's of things to explore and discover on the site so over the next few weeks I am going to feature a different one in each new blog post.

Why You Should NOT Make New Configurations Using Your SolidWorks Master Model

Why doesn't DriveWorks create new configurations in your SolidWorks master model?

DriveWorks creates brand new copies of your master files and all changes are made to these files, but why do things this way? The reasons are outlined below:

 

Issue 1

By adding configurations to your SolidWorks master model you are increasing the data stored within the file, resulting in the master assembly file getting VERY BIG, VERY QUICKLY! If you ever needed to send this to anyone, the massive file would be diffcult to move around.

DriveWorks Solution 1

DriveWorks takes a copy of your master models, the file size does not increase. As DriveWorks takes a copy of the files and works on those, the files can be easily transferred from machine to machine without having to worry about anyone else having a copy of your master data.

 

Issue 2

If you are working with your SolidWorks master models and all your automated design configurations are kept within one file - if anything happens to this file (e.g. it gets deleted or becomes corrupt during the creation of a new configuration) all your master model data could be lost.

DriveWorks Solution 2

DriveWorks does not do anything to your master models, other than take a copy of the files. This ensures you will never run the risk of corrupting or losing all of your master model data when creating new configurations.

 

Issue 3

Using configurations also limits the interaction you have with drawings.

DriveWorks Solution 3

As DriveWorks creates brand new files, it also can create brand new drawings that reference these new files, this ensures the correct models appear on the drawing. DriveWorks also gives you the tools and ability to have a high level of control of the final drawing sheet, by controlling elements such as: the scale of the drawing views, any annotations that appear on the drawing and also custom properties in the drawing.

Were you fooled?

Unfortunately this year April Fool's Day was on a Sunday, so there was no chance to trick each other in the office. We still wanted to send something out to fool the world though!

Did you see our DriveWorks Pink blog post?

Were you fooled?

Comments we received (that we hope were to make more people press download and not a genuine preference for this product!):

"Though the pink displays rather harshly on my monitor. I am quite pleased with the performance increase."

"Awesome, I can't wait for DW Fuscia"

"Well done!"

We hope you enjoyed this, and also hope there isn't too much disappointment with the fact that DriveWorks Pink does not actually exist!

 

DriveWorks PINK!

Inspired by Google's daily changing logos, we have decided at DriveWorks that with each new version of the Software, one of our developers will decide on a unique visual feature. Sarah Howlett is the first lucky developer to have been selected to make her mark on DriveWorks Pro 9.

We are therefore proud, if a little apprehensive, to announce the release of

DriveWorks PINK!

You will be able to access all of the great features and functionality of DriveWorks 9 with the addition of a pink, fluffy and sparkly interface.

Go ahead and try it yourself, by downloading it here:

NEW Look & Improved Search - DriveWorks Pro Online HelpFile

Here at DriveWorks, we want information on using the software to be as available and accessible as possible and the DriveWorks Pro HELP file has been ONLINE for some time.

Over the past 2 years it has also grown and grown and is a valuable resource that we use internally too. However, we were conscious that although it contained a wealth of useful information - finding the relevant information was not such an easy or obvious task.

Lead Developer, Philip, explains more in his blog post 'Helping us to help you', and we all felt the search facilities had not been quite up to scratch - "try searching for something like “Data Management” or “Instances” for example, and you can prepare to settle down with a coffee and wade through a list of results whose relevance is at best questionable."

After all of the hard work that goes into the creating the documentation, it was time to make sure that this valuable resource was as user-friendly as possible, so the Development team got to work!

And here it is:

The overall look of the Help File http://docs.driveworkspro.com/ has been updated and refreshed along with a new excellent search facility, which can work as follows:

 

 

 

 

1. Hit the search button

 

 

 

 

2. Type in your item to search - in this case - data management

 

 

 

 

3. Straight away you are given a selection of pages, and (with the new updated version) starting with the most relevant!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just three straightforward steps and you've found the page you wanted!

Initially we set up a beta site and asked for feedback, then Philip made the site Live. And it doesn't stop there, as always, we're still keen to hear if we can make it better. If you have any suggestions or feedback then just click on the 'send feedback' button at the top of every page.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy searching!

 

 

 

At Develop3D Live

 

What an eventful day! We set off at 12pm on 19th March, giving us plenty of time (or so we thought) to make it down to the Warwick Arts Centre and have the booth nicely set up by 6pm. However at 2pm, a serious accident struck ahead of us and we were completely stationary for 3 hours. We hope that there were no serious injuries to those involved.

Eventually the central reservation of the motorway was taken down (by The Highways Agency, not frustrated travellers), we were instructed by the police to make a u-turn and began to move again.

By the time we made it to Warwick Arts Centre it was 6pm, however luckily for us, the Develop3D Live organisers kept the exhibition space open for us to set up!

In true develop3D style the team put on a great evening event, where we had some wonderful food, followed by (lots of) beer and pool.

A very enjoyable night had by all.

The next day it was time to get down to business. Develop3D Live was superbly attended; by hundreds of industry professionals, students and educators alike, and with our ideal spot in the exhibition space we had plenty of people stopping by the booth to discuss their DriveWorks needs!

 

Plenty of people stopped by to pick up their FREE copy of the Little Book of Rules and to see all the exciting enhancements in DriveWorks 9, especially the 3D on the web and Sales Configurator developments. DriveWorks Live  

We also got to see some brilliant presentations and met lots of interesting and enthusiastic people, not just about DriveWorks, but about  manufacturing industry (and the UK too) - a very refreshing outlook!

Thank you to Develop3D for organising such a wonderful, professional and entertaining event! We look forward to Develop3D Live 2013!