When editing workflow or folder permissions for Enterprise PDM vaults, there are many settings that will be common to multiple groups. Rather than edit each group individually it is easier to select a series of groups and apply the settings once. After the common settings are applied it would then be appropriate to return to each group on an individual basis and set the unique permissions for a given group.

To set permissions for multiple groups first launch the Enterprise PDM Administration application. Navigate to the Group section on the left, right click on the Group section label and select ‘Open’ without expanding or selecting a specific group.

The list of Groups in the vault will be listed. Multi-select using the typical CTRL-select method common to most Windows applications. Once the groups are selected right click on a selected group name and select Properties.

The standard Groups Settings dialog is shown except the Group Name text will show <More than one group is selected>. Apply the Administration, Folder, State or Transition Permissions that should be common to the selected groups.

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If you run a Simulation study you can export the resultant model’s deformed shape as a different configuration or as a separate part file if you have Simulation Professional or Premium.

To do this right-click on the “Results” folder and choose “Create Body from Deformed Shape.”  You will then choose between the configuration icon or the part file icon.


If you have chosen to create a new part file, the new part file will be saved in the same directory as the original model under the name entered.  If saving an assembly the deformed shape will be saved as a multibody part file.  This functionality will save deformed bodies for studies involving solid meshes, shell meshes, or mixed meshes.

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If you have ever wanted to check for Interference in between multiple weldment structural members in a SolidWorks Part, you will discover that there is no interference detection tools available while working on a part.  Any attempt to add the interference detection icon to your toolbar results in a greyed out button*(unavailable).  Now what?  Well with this tip, you will discover that you have 2 options for checking for interference on a weldment part:

1) Simply create an assembly with your weldment part *(no other parts are needed) and run Interference Detection from the pull-down Tools/Interference Detection or from the Evaluate tab on the CommandManager.  Make sure to use the following option, ‘Include Multi-body part interferences’.

2) In the weldment part file you can use the Combine Feature to check between 2 structural members. From the pull-down Insert/Features/Combine, simply select the ‘Common’ option and select 2 structural members to check if there is any overlapping volume between them.  You can use the Preview button in the command and you will see if there is any interference.  If there are none, you will get the following message: “Unable to create single body common to the input bodies” which would mean that there is no interference.

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If you’re learning to use Composer you’ll find the benefit of ‘Styles’ as a way to quickly set up multiple properties for geometry and collaborative actors. This also helps with creating consistency from actor to actor and document to document.  Once your ‘Styles’ are established you would want to ‘protected’ them from unintentional changes.  This can be achieved by modifying a value in each ‘Style’ setting file (*.smgStyleSet).

Step 01) Find where your ‘Styles’ are stored – Composer File menu, Preferences, Data Paths, find the Profiles path for where your ‘Styles’ are stored.

Default location is:
(3DVIA Composer)  ”C:\Users\{user name}\Documents\3DVIAComposer\User\Profiles”
(SolidWorks Composer) “C:\Users\{user name}\Documents\SolidWorks Composer\User\Profiles”

Step 02) Open one of your ‘Style’ files with notepad or equivalent *.txt program.
(Note: ‘Style’ files have a .smgStyleSet extension)

Step 03) Search for a value of “Profile.Modifiable Value” (quotes removed)

Step 04) Change <Profile.Modifiable Value=”1″/> by change the “1″ to “0″ <Profile.Modifiable Value=”0″/>
Again a value of 1 means that the style can be changed, a value of 0 means that the style will be locked and read only.


This tip will work for 3DVIA Composer and SolidWorks Composer.
The ‘Style’ settings files are written in xml and can also be modified with an xml editor.

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When repairing imported surface models it is sometimes necessary to patch holes in the surfaces. There are many tools and techniques available and each have their own trade-offs. If a surface has a hole in it that does not cross into another surface region using the Delete Hole feature will provide the most seamless patch.

In the example shown in the image below it can be seen that the surface has a hole which does not run into another surface region. This can be easily patched by selecting the edge of the hole and tapping ‘Delete’ on the keyboard. A dialog box will be presented with the choice of ‘Delete Hole’ or ‘Delete Feature’. Selecting the Delete Hole option will delete any hole created with a sketch, the Simple Hole, or the Hole Wizard features and create a seamless patch.

An alternate method would be to create a Surface Fill feature over the hole. This always creates a seam around the Surface Fill feature which may not be desirable.

The image above shows the results of a Delete Hole feature and a Fill Surface feature. Notice that the seam on the left is from the Fill Surface feature while there is no seam from the hole which was to the right.

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