In this SOLIDWORKS Licensing 101 on-demand webinar

Watch as TriMech Application Engineer, Ben Colley, covers the SOLIDWORKS licensing landscape as it stands today, and tackles some of the common questions related to the topic and, hopefully, make your process of choosing the right SOLIDWORKS package a lot easier.

During this Webinar you will learn:

• SOLIDWORKS License Types: Perpetual, term, standalone, network, named-user, SOLIDWORKS Cloud… what’s the difference?
• What changed with SOLIDWORKS this year?
• What does “Cloud Services” mean?

I closed my model, opened up xShape in the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, and got to work. Check out the results in the video below:

Master Modeling Technique

I wanted to reverse engineer my headphones case using master modeling. This would be a pull configuration of the technique, meaning I’ll insert my master model into a new part file and my xShape file will create the overall size of these components. The boundary and surface lofts with all the underlying sketches would’ve taken a bit, but in xShape, I was able to just insert three primitives, do some minor pushing and pulling to adjust the curvature and positions, and it was ready to go, all in only a few minutes.

3DEXPERIENCE Master Model

In xShape, I sculpted the overall enclosure, the cavities that make room for the headphones, and created an offset surface for the top. To ensure things were at the scale I wanted, I set the dimensions of the bounding box for the exterior, and changed the transparency of the outer enclosure to ensure my internal features were within its bounds.

Headphone case master model

After saving this file, I then just dragged the model from bookmark editor into SOLIDWORKS. This downloads my xShape model locally and displays it in the SOLIDWORKS interface, where I can modify it and add parametric features to it.

Download xShape model and display in SOLIDWORKS

I made my modifications to create the top and bottom half using the bodies and surfaces I created in xShape, and then selected the option Save As New from the 3DEXPERIENCE panel in Task Pane. Like it sounds, this would allow me to save out my top component as a new part, and then I would repeat this process for the bottom as well.

Save as new

Master Modeling Conclusion

This is the same as master modeling techniques that don’t use the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform as well, so since our parts were created in the same model, they will automatically be dropped into an assembly with a common origin and will already be in the position we want them to be when our design is complete, which is perfect if we need to create in context features like a hinge or clasp. Also, any changes made in xShape will trickle down to our parts since our master model is the parent part.

In this post, we’ll talk about accessing data on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Once you have data in your 3DEXPERIENCE platform tenet, there are some best practices for accessing the data, based on its file-type (CAD, non-CAD, Microsoft-specific, etc.), and what level of access you need, whether you simply wish to inspect the data – something that can usually be done within the web portal – or you need to make modifications to the data and advance it down a product design lifecycle. In this post, we’ll cover finding data and accessing data.

After we’ve covered these principles, we can finish the story of basic data management with a conversation about protecting and sharing data.

Finding Data

Bookmark Editor

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series we addressed how we can use Bookmark editor to create access points for files and organize them into Bookmarks. Logically, then, one simple way of accessing your data is to navigate through your Bookmark Editor as you would in a Windows Explorer environment.

Organize files into bookmarks in 3DEXPERIENCE

If your dataset is well-organized, or you make use of the Favorites folder for current projects, then navigating through the Bookmark Editor is an adequate way to locate data.

Relations

As discussed in Part 2 of this series, the Bookmark Editor includes a number of tools to aid in locating files without having to include individual entries. Dependent items like subassemblies, constituent parts, etc. may be viewed by simply expanding the top-level item (refer to Part 2 for instructions to enable expansion of items). Beyond this capability is a more robust tool called Relations. The Relations app gives you a graphical representation of all upstream and downstream related items to any given file – where the file is used, and what the file contains as references.

3DEXPERIENCE Relations App

The types of relations displayed may be configured in the Relations app setting. By default, only CAD relations are shown, but you can set visibility on all possible related items that exist on the platform such as bookmarks, or attached items like PDFs, images, or Word documents.

The Relations app may be accessed from the Compass, or from the Relations icon in the ribbon at the top of the Bookmark Editor.

3DSearch

One of the motivating ideas behind data storage on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is to avoid the hours spent hunting for data that you get in a typical Windows environment. The Bookmark Editor provides more flexibility for locating data than Windows Explorer, but if you rely solely on the Bookmark Editor, you may find yourself in the familiar place of wading through folders trying to find a file.

Therefore 3DEXPERIENCE, being a robust data management tool, includes a quick and powerful search engine for locating files that exist in any of your Collaborative Spaces. 3DSearch is integrated into the basic user interface as a search bar along the top, but also exists as a standalone app that may be accessed from the compass. 3DSearch allows you to search by file name, or by any metadata associated with the file, like description text, author, product release state, 3DSWYM posts, etc. A general search will dive into all forms of metadata to give every possible return for the query entered.

3D search on 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

You can take advantage of the What / Who / When / Where filters along the top of the search page to group the results into helpful categories such as file type, creator, or location.

Filters in the search bar of 3DEXPERIENCE

These filters help to break up the search results into quantifiable groups that are easier to scan through than a flat listing of every item related to the query. To zero-in on the exact file you’re searching for, however, your best option is 6W Tags.

6W Tags

To the right of the search bar is a label-shaped icon that enables 6W Tags – a metadata filtering system rooted in categories of:

• What
• Who
• When
• Where
• How
• Why

Each category is a root for more specific subcategories that let you dig into all kinds of metadata, such as modification date, modeling program used, lock/unlock status, maturity state (in work, frozen for approval, released…), Collaborative Space, etc. Any combination of filters may be selected to narrow down the search results to the exact file you’re looking for.

Subcategories in 3DEXPERIENCE CAD data management

For locating files that may not be a click away in a convenient bookmark, the 3DSearch tool in combination with 6W Tags is the best option, by far.

Accessing Data

There is a number of ways to access the data you have on the platform, whether for view-only, inspecting online, or downloading locally to edit.

3DPlay

3DPlay is the Platform’s primary tool for viewing data on the platform. It can be opened as a standalone tool, but is most effective as a dedicated widget on your dashboard. We recommend pinning it alongside a Bookmark Editor widget. 3D Play can be located in the Compass, and dragged over onto your dashboard.

To view data in 3DPlay, just drag and drop a file from a bookmark or search query into the 3DPlay window.

3DPlay is an active viewer, allowing you to view file data in detail, regardless of file type. CAD files may be inspected with zooming and panning, and even measured and marked-up, similar to the functionality found in eDrawings. Microsoft documents and PDFs may also be read directly from the viewer, without having to download and open the files locally.

Product Explorer

If you need to view CAD data in greater detail within the web browser, the Product Structure Explorer app gives you additional investigating tools for digging into particular CAD file sets. Product Explorer can be used for investigating the structure between drawings, assemblies, subassemblies, and models; export Bills of Materials, create CAD packages (akin to Pack and Go) for collaboration, and deep-dive into assemblies with a variety of filtering options.

3DEXPERIENCE Product Explorer

Once you open CAD files in the Product Structure Explorer app, you’ll be presented with a tree listing of the CAD assembly structure, similar to the FeatureManager in SOLIDWORKS, and an integrated preview (3D Navigate). The tree listing has a fully configurable detail column set to provide a wealth of information about each item.

Open CAD files in the Product Structure Explorer app

6W Tags, used in the context of Product Structure Explorer, allows you to filter down the assembly to particular parts of interest, or with the Colorize option, to visualize the assembly by any properties of interest, such as part maturity.

Filter down the assembly to particular parts of interest

These tools give a lot of power to Platform users to carry out design operations on the web that would typically require desktop software access.

Design with SOLIDWORKS

When actual design changes are needed, it’s probably time to go to SOLIDWORKS. The Design with SOLIDWORKS app (for traditional Desktop SOLIDWORKS users) or the SOLIDWORKS Connected app (for Cloud-installed 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS users) provides full interoperability between the Platform file management system and SOLIDWORKS. (Note, this article is geared towards SOLIDWORKS access to Platform files, but the workflow is essentially the same for connectors to other non-SOLIDWORKS CAD applications).

Once the CAD connector app is installed, platform files may be accessed through the 3DEXPERIENCE add-in. As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, we recommend launching SOLIDWORKS straight from the app in the Compass while logged into your tenet. Alternatively, a connection with the platform may be established simply by turning on the 3DEXPERIENCE add-in while in SOLIDWORKS. Either method creates a new tab on the Task Pane (on the right side of the SOLIDWORKS window) for 3DEXPERIENCE. This add-in provides the necessary platform saving and opening tools, as well as local access to the entirety of the platform within the SOLIDWORKS interface.

Once the 3DEXPERIENCE add-in is enabled, there are three fundamental ways to open platform files in SOLIDWORKS:

1. Click and drag from the web browser
2. Navigate bookmark editor from the add-in
3. File-Open

Web Browser

With your platform Tenet open in one window, and SOLIDWORKS open in another, CAD files may be opened in SOLIDWORKS by simply dragging and dropping files from the web browser window into the SOLIDWORKS workspace.

Alternatively, you may also right-click the file in Bookmark Editor, and select Open With > Design With SOLIDWORKS.

Add-In

To access Bookmark Editor (or any other 3DEXPERIENCE app) directly from the SOLIDWORKS Add-In, expand open the 3DEXPERIENCE tab on the Task Pane (1), click the Compass for available apps (2), and select Bookmark Editor (3). From this point, you can click and drag models from the Bookmark Editor to the SOLIDWORKS workspace, just like you would from the web browser.

Access Bookmark Editor from SOLIDWORKS

File > Open

A new button exists in the Open dialog to give you local access to 3DSearch (and Bookmark Editor). Simply go to a File > Open, and in the bottom-left corner of the dialog is an option to “Open from 3DEXPERIENCE”. This will launch the 3DSearch application, complete with the option for 6W Tag filtering. Once the relevant file is located, just select it and open.

Launch the 3D Search application

Non-CAD files

As discussed before, many file types may be fully previewed within the Platform using 3DPlay. If you need to access a file on your local machine, however, non-CAD files are even more straightforward to access than CAD files. If you right-click on a non-CAD document, the in-context menu that pops up includes the option to download the document. This will save a copy of the file to a local folder. The download option also shows up in the ribbon along the top of the Bookmark Editor.

Viewing non-CAD files using 3DPlay

For Microsoft Office documents such as a Word or Excel, the download option is available, but there is added functionality if you use the Collaboration for Microsoft plugin, which was discussed briefly in Part 2 of this Series, “Organizing Data”.

From the 3DEXPERIENCE tab in the command ribbon that spans the top of any Microsoft Application, an “Open” button brings up the same type of opening access as we saw in the File > Open method in SOLIDWORKS. Opening and saving Microsoft files with this method allows you to apply the same data management principles to Microsoft documents as you would with CAD documents, such as lock/unlock, revisioning and maturity.

Access Microsoft files using 3DEXPERIENCE

Accessing Data – Conclusion

Once you’ve mastered the principles discussed here and in the first two parts of this series, you’ll be well on your way to using the platform effectively for data management – for saving, organizing, and accessing files. Beyond these posts, we cover most 3DEXPERIENCE tools in-depth in dedicated articles and videos, so be sure to search our blog and tech tip channel if you’d like to delve deeper into any of the topics discussed.

Be on the lookout for the fourth and final installment of this series, where we’ll discuss protecting and sharing data.

All files on the platform are stored in a Collaborative Space – a flat, unorganized repository. Files can be organized with Bookmarks – the platform equivalent to Windows Explorer folder directories. When files are added to a bookmark, they never leave their actual location in the Collaborative Space; they just have a new quick access point from the bookmark.

One of the benefits of data management with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the opportunity to get away from the experience of chaotic folder structures, duplicates, lost files, and hours of searching associated with a “data management-free” environment, such as Windows Explorer. (Data management is occurring in Windows Explorer, but without the tools to effectively keep the data under control.) For the Platform to live up to its promised goal of getting data management under control, some good practices around Collaborative Spaces and Bookmarks need to be established at the user-level. We’ll cover some good practices below, along with general principles of organizing data with Collaborative Spaces and Bookmarks.

Collaborative Space

The first step of organizing data in 3DEXPERIENCE is choosing which Collaborative Space – which holding vault on the Platform – your data goes to. Depending on your company policy around data vaults and the permissions granted to you as a user, you may have access to only one Collaborative Space or too many. It is good practice to limit the number of Collaborative Spaces to a minimum (if you are familiar with a SOLIDWORKS PDM environment, think of each Collaborative Space as a PDM vault). Each Collaborative Space is associated with specific read & write access and with specific users or user-groups, so choosing the correct Collaborative Space is essential for ensuring appropriate accessibility or restriction for team members. The more Collaborative Spaces you have, the more complicated it becomes to juggle access and permission to users, and the higher the likelihood of human error.

It is also good practice to save files to a Collaborative Space directly from their native application if the program has a connector add-in for 3DEXPERIENCE. For non-CAD files this is more somewhat optional; but for CAD files (SOLIDWORKS, CREO, Inventor, etc.) this is essential.

Organizing into Collaborative Spaces – Non CAD

As we covered in Part 1 of this series, Terminology and Saving, saving to a Collaborative Space can be carried out for non-CAD files by interacting directly with the 3DSpace App. In Microsoft applications, you also have the option to save to the Platform through a 3DEXPERIENCE plugin called “Collaboration for Microsoft” (included with the Collaborative Industry Innovator [CSV] Platform role). This brings the full functionality of 3DEXPERIENCE file management to Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel.

To choose which Collaborative Space you wish to save files to in Microsoft applications (and save to the Platform):

1. Navigate to the Collaboration for Microsoft icon in your Windows tool tray
2. Left or Right-Click the icon
3. Select “My Credentials”
4. Choose the Collaborative Space where you want the file to be stored
5. Navigate to the 3DEXPERIENCE tab on the upper ribbon of the Microsoft application and select Save As
6. In the Save As dialog on the right side of the screen, enter the file name, and if desired, a bookmark in the “3DEXPERIENCE Location” field.

Choose which Collaborative Space you wish to save files

Organizing into Collaborative Spaces – CAD

CAD documents need to be saved to the Platform from within the respective CAD application. Technically, a CAD file can be drag/dropped into a Collaborative Space like any other file. However, without the handshake of a CAD Connector (i.e. Design with SOLIDWORKS, SOLIDWORKS Connected), the CAD file’s geometrical properties and metadata leveraged by the Platform will not translate, and the benefits of 3DEXPERIENCE as a CAD-centric data management system are curtailed.

The process of saving SOLIDWORKS files to a Collaborative Space on the Platform were outlined in Part 1 of this series, but for convenience, the steps are restated here. To choose a Collaborative Space and save from the SOLIDWORKS 3DEXPERIENCE add-in:

1. Open the 3DEXPERIENCE tab from the Task Pane. It is usually the bottom tab.
   

   Open 3DEXPERIENCE from the task pane

2. Check the active Collaborative Space to make sure you are saving to the vault that you want. To check this, click the dropdown arrow at the top of the tab (2).
3. Click the gear icon (3) to Edit Preferences.
4. Click in the Credentials field to select the desired destination Collaborative Space. Save preferences.
5. Right click the model name and select Save. This will push the model up to the platform, into the Collaborative Space.

Moving Files (see below)

If files need to be moved from one Collaborative Space to another, this can be done from within the Bookmark Editor. The steps are outlined at the end of the discussion about Bookmark Editor below.

Bookmark Editor

Also covered in Part 1 of this series, Bookmarks, created in the “Bookmark Editor” app, allow us to create a folder structure reminiscent of Windows Explorer for organizing files. The Bookmark Editor is the Platform’s primary means of organizing data, in the sense of visually grouping related items on a user-by-user basis. As stated before, the true location of any given file is a Collaborative Space, and the Bookmark Editor acts as a directory of shortcuts to files available to the specific user. As an implication, a user may put files from multiple Collaborative Spaces within the same bookmark.

Bookmarks are not mandatory for finding files; the Platform has powerful search tools to make it quick and easy to locate any file (keep an eye out for Part 3 of this series on accessing data). This being said, it is still good practice to put files in a bookmark. The Bookmark Editor plays the primary role in data management on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. The Bookmark Editor, in addition to arranging files in a folder structure, contains tools for:

• Uploading files and folders
• Moving and deleting files
• Check-in/check-out
• Revision control
• Process maturity control
• Relation investigation
• Sharing and changing ownership of files
• And more

If any data management actions will be done on files aside from simple storage, they will need to be seen from within the Bookmark Editor.

All of that being said, one of the strengths of 3DEXPERIENCE as a data management tool is that referenced files may be accessed instantly. This applies to assemblies with related parts, subassemblies, or drawings; or even to relationships to non-CAD documents. If you have a PDF document that pertains to an assembly, or an image or Word Document that pertains to a spreadsheet (etc.), these relationships may be defined on the Platform. These relationships make it unnecessary to create individual bookmark entries for every file. Rather, a bookmark may just contain a top-level assembly, and perhaps some related files that are accessed frequently. This allows for a much cleaner file structure than we are accustomed to in Windows Explorer, where all related files would live in the same overstuffed folder, or get lost in a maze of subfolders.

Now, let’s look at some organizational principles with Bookmarks.

Creating a Bookmark Structure

A bookmark structure can be ordered according to the same logic as a Windows Explorer folder structure, going as deep into subfolder bookmarks as needed (keeping in mind the principle of referenced files, making the use of extensive subfolders less necessary). To create a bookmark folder, just enter the Bookmark Editor app and either click the New Bookmark icon from the top ribbon, or right click under the Bookmarks structure on the left side of the app, and select New Bookmark from the menu. This will create a Bookmark folder within whatever folder level you create the bookmark from, whether at the top level root or as a subfolder within a directory.

Organizing CAD data

Viewing Dependent Items

As seen in the image above, only top-level assemblies (and one component) are included in the bookmark. Visibility on subassemblies and components is just one click away. To see constituent parts of an assembly, just click the expansion “+” icon next to the top-level assembly. If the expansion icon is not visible, a quick one-time change will need to be made to your settings:

1. Click the Menu dropdown at the top-right corner of the Bookmark Editor.
2. Select “Preferences”
3. Check the box next to “Enable expansion of products”. Save settings.
4. The expansion “+” icon should now appear next to any files with other file dependents.

Viewing dependent items and organizing data in 3DEXPERIENCE

Revisions

Another strength of organizing files in 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the principle of file revisions. Instead of seeing separate entries for every design iteration of a part, one entry can represent the full history of logged changes through revisions. Therefore, it’s good practice to keep bookmark entries of differing revisions to a minimum, as the full history of earlier revisions may be accessed in only a couple clicks.

Two of the Bookmark Editor’s standard columns (columns may be added or removed according to user preferences) give information about the revision currently in the Bookmark:

1. Revision. This column simply states the revision letter (or number) of each item.
2. Is Last Revision. The Bookmark Editor, by default, keeps a snapshot of whatever item you added. This means, for instance, that if you added Rev. B of a part to your bookmark, it will not update to the latest revision when new revisions are made. The Is Last Revision column gives you a visible cue if the revision in your bookmark is outdated, and allows you to quickly update the bookmark with the latest rev, if desired. Clicking the red X (denoting an old revision) or the green checkmark (denoting the latest revision) will open a “Replace by Revision” dialog, where you may replace the bookmarked revision by any existing revision of the file.

Revision window in 3DEXPERIENCE

For a more exhaustive discussion on the Bookmark Editor, including topics like revision control, column headers, and comparison tools, check out our post, “Deep Dive the Quintessential 3DEXPERIENCE App: Bookmark Editor”.

Moving Files – Change Bookmark

If you as a user have permission to move files, this can be done in the same drag & drop manner as Windows Explorer, dragging the file from the old Bookmark to a new one. This may be easiest to accomplish with two windows, having the source folder open in one window and the destination folder open in another. You may also copy files from one Bookmark to another without creating duplicates (again, because the source file is in the Collaborative Space, not the bookmark).

Moving Files – Change Collaborative Space

If a file needs to be moved to a different Collaborative Space (i.e. to give access to the file to members of the target Collaborative Space), this can be done from the Move command in the command ribbon at the top of Bookmark Editor. Select the file(s) you wish to transfer, click the Move icon, and type in the name of the target Collaborative Space. Naturally, you will need the appropriate permissions to transfer files out of the source and into the target.

3DEXPERIENCE file revisions

Organizing Data in 3DEXPERIENCE Conclusion

Once we understand the method of file storage employed by 3DEXPERIENCE and the interplay between Collaborative Spaces and Bookmarks, the principles of organizing data in 3DEXPERIENCE are straightforward and even familiar in some ways. Understanding that relationship makes the benefits of a vault-driven data management system become apparent. There’s no need for overly-cluttered folders or endless black holes of file directories, and no ambiguity on whether or not you’re looking at the latest version of a file. And as we’ll see in posts to follow, files are easily accessed, but secure from unwanted tampering. Keep an eye out for Part 3 of this series where we’ll look at Accessing Data in the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform.

A mistake that some users make is to jump right into the platform before they understand the foundation and basics – the structure of the platform, where their files go, how permissions work, etc.

To help you avoid some of those headaches, we’ve put together a short series of blogs that cover these foundations of CAD data management on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. In this tech tip we cover some basic 3DEXPERIENCE terminology and how to save data to the Platform.

3DEXPERIENCE Terminology

The biggest area of confusion for new 3DEXPERIENCE users is vocabulary. There are many new terms to learn to operate in the platform effectively. In many cases, these terms can be likened to equivalent terms in other systems. In other cases, they correspond to principles unique to 3DEXPERIENCE. A full glossary of terms wouldn’t be practical in this post, but a definition of key terms will add some clarity to the discussion that follows:

Tenet:

A tenet is a company’s overall account with 3DEXPERIENCE. If you work for ACME Sprockets Inc, then you operate in the ACME Sprockets tenet.

Collaborative Space:

Files are stored in Collaborative Spaces. These are similar to SOLIDWORKS PDM vaults, having product lifecycle (PLM) and revisioning capabilities. The owner(s) of a Collaborative Space grants access to the vault to as many users or user groups as necessary with varying degrees of permissions. A company may create as many Collaborative Spaces as they need, but it’s recommended not to create more than a few.

Some unique aspects of Collaborative Spaces:

• Collaborative Spaces are flat repositories, having no folder structure (all files exist in the same “folder”).
• Collaborative spaces have no local installation; they are online only.
• Members of an outside organization (a different tenet) may be given access to a Collaborative Space by invitation.

Collaborative Spaces are created and managed from the 3DSpace web app.

Bookmarks:

Bookmarks are how files are organized on a user-by-user basis. Bookmarks give what appears to be a folder structure to files. The items in the folders are not the actual files, however. They are only shortcuts to the actual file locations in their respective Collaborative Spaces. Some implications of this:

• Files from multiple Collaborative Spaces may exist in the same Bookmark folder
• Users may arrange their view of the files without affecting other people.
• The same file may be visible in multiple bookmark folders without any duplicates of the file being created.

Bookmarks are created and managed in the Bookmark Editor web app.

3DDrive:

3DDrive is an alternative file storage option without PLM capabilities. This could be compared to Dropbox or Google Drive. 3DDrive allows for a typical Windows Explorer type of folder structure, and gives users a local install option that syncs with the online location. Like other simple cloud-based storage systems, 3DDrive folders are shareable with other users. For more information about 3DDrive, check out our blog post, “Designing for Today: SOLIDWORKS Cloud 3DDrive”.

Dashboards:

Dashboards are the visual arrangement of web apps. All operations on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform are carried out through a handful of web apps. These can be arranged in a manner that makes sense on an individual basis, or created by an administrator and shared with a group.

Compass:

The Compass is where you access all of your 3DEXPERIENCE apps. Click the Compass to expand out a full listing of apps available to you as a user, and to your company. Click and drag apps from the Compass and arrange in your workspace to set up your Dashboard.

Saving to the Cloud

The first step to managing data on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the initial transfer of data onto the platform. The primary destination for files on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a Collaborative Space (defined above). There is a number of ways to get files into a Collaborative Space, and the best method depends on the type of data being transferred. Non-CAD files can simply be drag & dropped into the appropriate Collaborative Space and bookmark. This can be done with CAD files as well, but it’s not recommended. For the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to give the best return on CAD files – allowing for model and assembly interrogation and management from the platform – CAD files need to be saved to the platform through a CAD connector. Let’s look at Non-CAD and CAD situations below.

Saving Non-CAD Files

One very simple way to transfer non-CAD files such as image, PDF, or text documents, is to drag and drop files from a Windows Explorer window into the desired Collaborative Space.

Again, this entails no organization of the data into a folder structure; it simply adds the file to the repository. Open a Collaborative Space by clicking the 3DSpace app from the Compass, or access 3DSpace from a Dashboard, if it has already been added as a widget.

The 3DSearch tool at the top of the Platform window can be used to locate the file later and add it to an existing bookmark.

A more useful option is to add files from the Bookmark Editor. This allows you to immediately include some organization of the new files, and makes it possible to bring in an existing file structure from Windows Explorer.

3DEXPERIENCE upload files options

Using this method, files are still stored in a Collaborative Space. The destination Collaborative Space is determined by which Space is active in your Bookmark Editor Preferences (accessible from the dropdown arrow at the top-right corner of the Bookmark Editor widget). Be sure the correct Space is chosen before uploading any files or folders.

Bookmark Editor preferences

If files are mistakenly uploaded to the wrong Space, they may be moved to a different Space later.

Saving Files and Managing CAD Data

To make use of the PDM/PLM capabilities of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, CAD files are saved through a CAD connector in the native CAD software. Connectors are available for all of the major CAD systems (SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, Inventor, CREO, etc.).

If you use Desktop SOLIDWORKS, the connector is accessed through the “Design with SOLIDWORKS” app in the Compass, and launches as an add-in within SOLIDWORKS.

If you use the Platform-driven 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS as your 3D CAD system, the platform connector will open automatically when launching SOLIDWORKS Connected.

CAD Data is what the Platform was built for. While non-CAD files generally don’t need a robust system of metadata, CAD files are greatly enriched by internal properties, such as revision, lifecycle maturity, owner, references to other files, etc. (Some non-CAD documents are served by metadata-rich processing… but that’s a topic for another post). Without the stops put in place by a CAD connector, 3DEXPERIENCE would not give the user as much power as it does for building a lot of valuable information into CAD data on the front end.

Saving CAD Files (Design with SOLIDWORKS connector): Single-Part Workflow

The workflow of 3D modeling in SOLIDWORKS is mostly unchanged by 3DEXPERIENCE. You will need to have the 3DEXPERIENCE Add-In active to save to the Platform. The 3DEXPERIENCE Add-In can be enabled from within SOLIDWORKS from the “Add-Ins…” menu. Or, a more preferred option is to launch SOLIDWORKS directly from the Design with SOLIDWORKS web app for the smoothest integration to the CAD connector.

3DEXPERIENCE Add-ins

When you are ready to save a part, you have a few options to push the part up to a Collaborative Space on the platform:

• Save To 3DEXPERIENCE:

Save to 3DEXPERIENCE

This option is the quickest way to name the file and save it into the currently-active Collaborative Space vault on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform.

• Save As…

Save As

While the 3DEXPERIENCE CAD connector is active, a Save-As action will direct you first to the temporary My Work cache folder.

Local Disk (C:) > 3DEXPERIENCE > MyWork(user)

From here you can save to MyWork, to a local user-defined Windows Explorer folder, or next to the “Save” button is the same “Save to 3DEXPERIENCE” option mentioned above.

• Save from the 3DEXPERIENCE Task Pane tab.

When the 3DEXPERIENCE Add-In is enabled, a new 3DEXPERIENCE tab becomes visible on the Task Pane, on the right side of the screen. The 3DEXPERIENCE tab offers the most functionality for interfacing SOLIDWORKS to the online platform, and becomes more integral to the CAD workflow when dealing with assemblies and data management actions, such as revision and access control. To save from the 3DEXPERIENCE Tab:

1. Open the 3DEXPERIENCE tab from the Task Pane. It is usually the bottom tab. Once open, it may be pinned visible if desired.
2. Check the active Collaborative Space to make sure you are saving to the vault that you want. To check this, click the dropdown arrow at the top of the tab (2).
3. Click the gear icon (3) to Edit Preferences
4. Click in the Credentials field to select the desired destination Collaborative Space. Save preferences.
5. Right click the model’s name and select Save. This will push the model up to the platform, into the Collaborative Space.

Once the program finishes syncing to the Cloud (an internet connection will be needed at the time of saving), the model will be accessible online, and can be used and explored by any other users who have access to the Collaborative Space.

Saving CAD Files: Assembly Workflow

The same general process for saving CAD applies to assemblies, but there are more things to account for once you have components that relate to each other. Are you working on the latest revision of the assembly? Are any of the components released or outdated? Does someone have a subassembly locked (checked-out) or frozen for approval? These are the kinds of things you’ll see at a glance in the 3DEXPERIENCE tab.

In the case of an assembly being saved to the cloud for the first time, you may not be dealing with any of those questions yet. Until you save the assembly to 3DEXPERIENCE, the assembly exists only in your local cache and has the same properties (and limitations) as any other locally-saved CAD files. Such a case is evident in the image below where the only information visible to the current assembly is the basic component/subassembly structure, and Status icons indicating that none of the visible files have been saved to the platform yet.

Assembly workflow files in 3DEXPERIENCE

To save the assembly to the Platform, you may begin by choosing the “Save to 3DEXPERIENCE” method outlined earlier, but the more robust option is to “Save with Options” from the 3DEXPERIENCE tab. To do this, right-click the top-level assembly in the 3DEXPERIENCE tab and select “Save with Options.”

The Save with Options window gives you a number of file management options that can save you time later. You can bump up the revision, export a BOM, comment on the Save action, and select a bookmark destination for the files. An existing bookmark may be chosen, or a new bookmark may be created.

Select Bookmark

Because all of the files are going to a vault, and the bookmark only creates a view of the files, it is good practice to save only the top-level assembly to a bookmark. The assembly may be expanded-out to see all child components and subassemblies, so it is unnecessary to clutter up the bookmark with all of the constituent parts.

Once the assembly is saved, file management information is populated into the 3DEXPERIENCE Tab session columns. Among other information, we see:

• The Status column indicates that all changes have been saved to the Platform.
• The files (in this case) have been unlocked, so that any team members may now access the files from the cloud and work with them.
• The revision is indicated (in this case, A.1, the initial Rev)
• A column indicates that the open documents are all on the latest revision.
• The Maturity State for the files is “In Work”. They have not been released or submitted for approval.

3DEXPERIENCE Demo Space

At this point, the saving work is done, and managing CAD data (and non-CAD data) has become so much easier. Because the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform vault is internet-based, it will likely take a few minutes for the files to fully index, but their presence on the platform can quickly be seen in the browser when navigating to the Bookmark Editor, or through a 3DSearch.

3DEXPERIENCE Search

Conclusion

Once we see how the 3DEXPERIENCE platform integrates with SOLIDWORKS, the structure of the platform and the necessity of a CAD connector makes more intuitive sense. It’s convenient that non-CAD files can simply be dropped into place, and only reasonable that checks would be put in place for CAD files in a way that non-CAD files don’t require.

That concludes Part 1 of the series, managing CAD data in 3DEXPERIENCE. Keep your eyes open for Part 2, where we’ll look at principles of organizing and accessing your data on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform.

If your copy of SOLIDWORKS is linked to the platform through SOLIDWORKS Connected or the Design with SOLIDWORKS Connector, you can import and export packages from the 3DEXPERIENCE tab in the task pane under the Tools menu:

Import a 3DEXPERIENCE CAD Package

When you launch the package export, right away you’ll see some capabilities that you don’t see in Pack and Go. For one, it keeps track of the revision state of each of the files. So, it’s not losing that lifecycle that you’ve been maintaining for your file set. In fact, when you receive the package back, you’ll be able to run a comparison of the before and after states and apply the changes to your original files if they pass inspection.

Export as package in 3DEXPERIENCE

The second thing you’ll notice is the ability to set a purpose for the files, which will allow you to control the Read & Write access for each of the individual files. This ensures that there won’t be any unintended changes to files that you want to preserve. You can choose, read-only, or edit.

Choose read-only or edit

A feature that’s been added in FD03 is the ability to include drawings. This will search for any drawings that are referenced by the models and will include them in the exported folder. Here we can see that two drawings were found, one for the vice assembly and one for the saddle component. Again, we can set these to read-only or edit. We are now ready to export this .sldpkg file.

We have the option to save the package to a local Windows folder, which would be a logical option if we wanted to attach the file to an email. Or we could sync the package to our 3DDrive folder. A benefit to doing this is the ability to create a share link which may be more convenient than having to deal with a file attachment.

On the end-user side, if the recipient is connected to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, they can import the package from the same 3DEXPERIENCE tab that we used to export the package. If the end-user is not connected to the platform, that user can open the package using the free 3DEXPERIENCE Exchange for SOLIDWORKS Add-In, which can be downloaded from SOLIDWORKS.com. Once they’ve made changes to the desired parts, they can use the same Add-In to export the package again.

Import package in 3DEXPERIENCE

Another feature that’s new to the FD03 release is the ability to export packages from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the web without ever having to open SOLIDWORKS. This can be done from the Product Structure editor, which comes with the Enovia 3D Product Architect role.

Export a 3DEXPERIENCE CAD Package

To export a package, as before, under the Tools menu, select the dropdown next to export and select CAD file. You can choose to include associated drawings before exporting. From here you can download your zip file to a local folder and keep track of the history associated with exported packages.

Export as a package on the web