Questions from new user

[moldcore]

After some 15 years of using Cadkey, we took the plunge and purchased our first seat of Solid Edge, v15, last week and we're beginning to do the tutorials when time permits. I won't get into this full time until next month but would like some help in a few areas before I get too far into it.

1. What's a good video card to use with SE? I currently have a GeForce3 128 meg card that works pretty good with Cadkey but SE seems to be very slow at responding in comparison. Is this a setting in SE or the card. Computer is a AMD 3000xp with 1GB of memory.

2. Are there any good books out there that would help in the training? Or, are the tutorials good enough?

3. Is there a Solid Edge sponsored forum like this for users to post question and suggestions? I didn't see any on their Web site. This was/is a tremendous help for the Cadkey users and developers alike.

4. I work with allot of imported parts from other CAD systems like Pro/e to build molds around. What is the best way to handle these when working with parametrics? Cadkey only had a limited version of Parametrics and we never used it.

Moldcore

 

[kjoiner]

Hello,

1.Regarding the video card, SE has a recommended hardware list that is also available from their website. I had a GE Force II card with 32megs on my last computer and when I ordered my new one I went with a Quadro FX 500 with 128 megs. It made a huge difference and was not very expensive. They typically recommend using cards that are dedicated to CAD/CAM work. If you're having trouble, one thing to check is under Tools, Options, View. The first pull down box has options for Graphics card driven and Backing Store. Usually, setting the option to backing store helps. Also turn down or off the hardware acceleration setting. With my new card, I actually have it set on Graphics card driven and the acceleration wide open with no problems. That seems to support SE's recommendation for the card. The site is:

http://www.solidedge.com/prodinfo/hardware_specs.htm

2. Dr. Walt has some books and cadcamtraning.com has some as well. Also there is a website

http://www.geocities/segurucool/

that has some nice tutorials for surface modeling. The tutorials that come with SE will give you a nice start. You might also wish to invest the money in one of the SE run traning sessions. Talk to your VAR about the nearest location. They're about 4 days long but will give you a head start.

3.Here's the link to the Solid Edge GTAC (Global Technical Access Center) page that will let you access the newsgroups. You will need to get a password by using your sold to ID number. Also, there are various links depending on whether your newsreader will work - mine doesn't so I access through the html interface. I was a Cadkey user (still am on limited basis) for 10 years. One thing I can tell you is that if you post an enhancement request, you will usually get a phone call as a follow up. Even better, if you post problem, you will usually get a phone call the next day or sooner. Very nice customer support. They can usually fix a problem over the phone.

4. As far as data formats, I usally get files in IGES, STEP or Parasolid. Even though the files are dumb, you can still perform operations on them. Major changes would be handled by your customer. The nice thing is that you can use associative part copies to create the molds and if your customer sends you a new file, replace the old one and the mold should update or at least greatly reduce the re-work. I'm not a mold guy but it works on other things I've tried.

http://support.plms-eds.com/html/conferencing.shtml

I have used Cadkey for about 10 years but switched to Solid Edge around 3 years ago. We still use Cadkey for legacy files but SE for all new projects. Sometimes I will even use Solid Edge to create parts for the older Cadkey models(sheetmetal especially) and then import them back into Cadkey becuase I can create parts faster in SE.

Kyle

 

[PatCouture]

Hi

I have a NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100 with 128 meg ram, and it works pretty good. It's worth the investment.

Good luck with SE

Patrick

 

[moldcore]

Thanks for advice. I ordered the Quadro4 750xgl, I'll post on how it performs next week. I've had the Geforce3 card for a couple of years so I guess it's time for a change. The 1100 card looks impressive but at twice the price of the 750... well, we'll see. A friend uses the 750 with Solidworks with good results and recomended it.

The link for Dr. Walt seems to be broken. I'm familiar with his books on Cadkey and have one around here from a few years ago. I'll do a search on the web and see what I can find.

Wayne

 

[moldcore]

As a follow-up I installed the Quadro4 750 XGL Video card yesterday without any problems and it seems to be working great. I'm still a week or two away from getting into SE full time, but from what can tell it has made a big difference in speed. Where we see a huge difference currently is in our CAM program, strangly enough. We have Surfcam and it is not a solids based program, just surfaces and wireframe. Before when working with a large file with hundreds or thousand on surfaces it would take a number of secounds, sometimes up to a minute to move, rotate, delete, or even desplay the tool path. Now it is instant. This is on the same AMD 3000xp computer with the same amount of RAM.

I used to think that most video cards today could handle CAD/CAM duties as long as they had enough memory. I couldn't have been more wrong. It pays in the long run to buy a video card that is made for CAD/CAM applications.

Wayne

 

[ITassistant]

Currently im Suporting about 8 different users who use SolidEdge v12. They all strangley enough have different cards, i have people using a Geforce 4MX 440 and it runs great, with HA cranked all the way up.
One of the newer guys just got a pc with 2.8ghz, 1gig of ram and a GeforceFX 9600 and it just looks like butt. I turned HA down all the way and its mad slow but it works, i went in and changed it from Videocard driven to the other option, and it seems to work a bit better now.
Any thoughts on why it would work on some but not others, and are there any recommended cards that arent 1000$+?

 

[swertel]

Drivers. We found that many times we had to revert to an older driver to get Solid Edge to behave properly. Sadly, the only way to tell is to load a driver, test it, uninstall it, load the next older driver, test it, uninstall it, load the next older driver, etc. until you get acceptable performance. I wouldn't bother going with driver overs 1-2 years old, though. If you can't get it to run in that time frame of drivers, it's not going to run.

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

 

[ITassistant]

Alright, Is there a place to score old drivers from Nvidia? I noticed that their website was only showing the most recent drivers for those cards.

 

[ITassistant]

Alright, i found the archive, (didnt really look all that hard at first) and ive got about 5 different mad old detonators for the cards. ill see what i can dig up.
thanks for all the tips!