Migrating to SolidWorks, questions

[aleseg]

Hi there

I'm actually migrating my big assembly at work from CATIA V5 R29 to SolidWorks 2021. I have some questions about solidworks:
I have a mobile workstation with an intel core i7 10750H, 32 GB or ram, SSD and an NVIDIA Quadro T2000 so the pc is definitly capable of running it.

1) The assembly is pretty big but while on CATIA V5 R29 moving the 3D isn't a problem at all (because it use GPU NVIDIA Quadro acceleration) on Solidworks it goes very slow, is there something I need to eneble to have GPU acceleration? I see in the task manager that it isn't using the GPU almost at all.

2) I have managed to import the assembly both by directly opening the .CATproduct file and also by importing the .stp file of the whole assembly. In both cases, solidoworks only saves the whole assembly file .SLDASM and not all the parts files even if I have selected this option:

3) The open assembly isn't editable at all in the various parts and subassemblies, I have looked on the internet and I have found that I would need to eneble FeatureWork package ( which I did) and then selec "recognize feature" option but I cannot find anywhere this command, why?

I hope that someone could help me.

Thanks.

 

[TheTick]

CATIA to SW (or to any other CAD app) is always problematic. CATIA is practically from another planet when it comes to data interchange.

Take a look at the export settings in CATIA. There may be settings that are causing unwanted results from the export side. (side note: it was always exceptionally difficult to get CATIA operators to even consider the problem might be on their end, though it often was.)

If CATIA has parasolid export, use that. Parasolid is the best format for importing to SW.

There are also geometric tolerance problems that are endemic to CATIA, especially with sheet metal parts. CATIA does not control parallel and perpendicular plane and axis tolerances as closely as SW (by at least a factor of 10). This often results in sheet metal parts where faces that were recognized as planar or perpendicular in CATIA are not so in SW. It took a lot of work and endless hours of frustration, but the problem was traced to the CATIA kernel itself.

One result of the import difficulty is that feature recognition does not work well with the resultant skewed geometry.

 

[aleseg]

Hi

I have solved one of the problem, basically there was this option enable called 3D interconnect as it explained here:

https://www.innova-systems.co.uk/featureworks-missing-cant-edit-step-files/

basically if you import a step assembly file inside Solidworks and then you save the assembly in .SLDASM it only save the main assembly file and skip all the subassembly and part files because it keep loading them from the .stp file which isn't the case for big assembly work in my opinion. So now I should be able to edit the single parts also.

By now I would like to understand why the 3D moving of the whole assembly is so slow and step inside solidworks while it is super fluid inside CATIA. I see that while I'm inside CATIA the usage of the Quadro GPU goes to 30% while inside Solidworks the usage of Nvidia quadro only is about 2-3%. Is there some option to be enable to use the discrete professional GPU for solidworks?

Thanks.

 

[aleseg]

Well I have red many thing about performance on solidworks and basically the answear is always bad news. I have tried to eneble openGL settings to use GPU acceleration like descripted here:

https://develop3d.com/hardware/solidworks-2019-3d-cad-workstations-hardware-gpus-cpu/

but this doesn't get any better...

In the end this man has expressed the reality:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/kzr7bd/solidworks_and_the_many_irrelevant_workarounds/

 

[SSCon]

Can you confirm you have "enhanced graphics performance" enabled.

This was a big change in the SW graphics engine which allowed the graphics card to be properly utilised. If GPU usage isn't shown in task manager when rotating a model something is wrong. Other settings on the above page can improve performance, in particular some people set the level of detail to a silly level which has a big impact on performance.

In the past SW was painfully slow with large models but is now very good. There are also now ways to work with large drawings efficiently.

 

[SBaugh]

That option in 2021 has been good for some people and horrible for others. If you have a laptop with multiple monitors and \or docking station, that option can cause you a crap ton of crashing issues. Use that option with caution.

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Dapco, INC

http://www.dapcoinc.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[aleseg]

Can you confirm you have "enhanced graphics performance" enabled.

This was a big change in the SW graphics engine which allowed the graphics card to be properly utilised. If GPU usage isn't shown in task manager when rotating a model something is wrong. Other settings on the above page can improve performance, in particular some people set the level of detail to a silly level which has a big impact on performance.

In the past SW was painfully slow with large models but is now very good. There are also now ways to work with large drawings efficiently.

I have this exactly option signed. Otherwise the alternative is to select OpenGL engine but it doesn't work any better. Discrete GPU isn't used as is showed inside task manager indeed it is almost unusable.

That option in 2021 has been good for some people and horrible for others. If you have a laptop with multiple monitors and \or docking station, that option can cause you a crap ton of crashing issues. Use that option with caution.

Yes I have exactly this scenario I have a mobile workstation with 2 monitors connected but no docking station. Nothing change if I just use the monitor of the notebook.

 

[SBaugh]

OpenGL option is mainly used for Determining Support cases. It basically turns off your Graphics card and sends all the processing to your CPU. If you think you are slow now, try using that for a while. If you have the option unchecked then the power is using your VC. If it is checked and greyed out, then you are not using a certified card, or the driver is not certified.

Turn off "Verification of rebuild" off. That will slow you down, and I have only used it when trying to diagnose issues. I used it more on customers when I was doing SW support years ago.

The only other thing I can think of doing is playing with the settings in your graphics card in the control panel. Normally I just leave those alone, but if you have the knowledge to adjust those settings it might help or make it worse.

Hope that helps,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Dapco, INC

http://www.dapcoinc.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[PatCouture]

Before comparing performance between the native file in their respective software and the same assembly exported and imported into another software, I would try importing the same file in Catia also and then comparing performances because it's really not the same working with native files versus imported geometry.

One setting that can make a big difference is the Image quality

Set it as low as you can support and it will make moving the model much faster.

Patrick

 

[aleseg]

I think the problem is pretty simple...solidworks doesn't utilize the GPU acceleration, Catia V5 R29 does.
I can open a very big assembly made of .stp file ( so not native .cat files) with Catia and have no problems at all for what about the performance of the 3D moving, the same big .stp asesmbly opened with Solidworks would be basically unusable, a lot of lag in the 3D moving and in applying feature.

OpenGL option is mainly used for Determining Support cases. It basically turns off your Graphics card and sends all the processing to your CPU

If I enable the OpenGL option all 3D parts became a giant monolithic parallelepiped unusable

otherwise if I disable OpenGL and leave the enhanced graphic card performance the 3D details remain fine but there is a very high lag.

My professional graphic NVIDIA Quadro T2000 has the drivers up to date.

In the end if you look at the use of the gpu inside the task manager, CATIA use it at 20% while Solidworks it barely reach 3%, the conclusion is that solidworks seems to have a very bad software engine for the 3d performance and my guess is that this is a commercial choice from dassault beucase if they would add decent gpu acceleration to solidworks then a lot less company would buy CATIA which cost a lot more.

 

[SSCon]

Something is broken in your setup, contact your VAR.

 

[SBaugh]

I am in agreement with SSCON, you need to contact your VAR and work directly with them to resolve the issue because it should be running far better than that.

There are many other areas that could be causing you problems as well. GDI objects, Memory... etc. Not just the video card.

I just had to go find this gem to help a colleagues PC:

https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/2017/05/warning-solidworks-resources-running-low.html

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Dapco, INC

http://www.dapcoinc.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[aleseg]

Ok I have made some progress.
I have contacted Dassault reseller, he confirmed me that the GPU support has been introduced in 2019 so until then it was all computed by 1 core of the CPU and it was a lot of trouble. Anyway I have managed to finally enable GPU acceleration, and actually when it is enable it works very well, you got some nice graphics effect and the whole assembly runs super smooth, the problem that remain is that sometimes you open the whole assembly and GPU engine is active and you got super smooth movement and indeed you see a lot of use of the GPU inside task maanger, some other times you open the whole assembly and you see it without graphic details and the GPU don't get used so you came back to CPU processing only and you got a lot of lag. So the paradox is that when you see the whole assembly full of details and graphic effect is when it's running super smooth because it's under GPU processing, when you see it in low quality it's when it lags more and more because it runs only by CPU. We still cannot understand why, without touching any option, sometime you open it and works in a way and the other time you open it, it works differently.

 

[SBaugh]

Did the Solidworks reseller say that it's a known bug or not and if it is there an SPR# we can reference to be attached to getting this issue resolved asap?

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Dapco, INC

http://www.dapcoinc.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[aleseg]

No, he says that I should send my big assemblies to Dassault which I cannot do for my company restrictions policy.

The strange thing is that when I open others subassemblies the GPU works all the time and its use go always at high values inside task manager. WHen I start open the big assemblies sometimes it works and sometimes not. Or this is a bug or there is some file inside the assemblies that bother SOlidWorks

 

[SSCon]

The strange thing is that when I open others subassemblies the GPU works all the time and its use go always at high values inside task manager. WHen I start open the big assemblies sometimes it works and sometimes not.

That's very weird, if it was varied with each time you started SolidWorks then the problem would be the GPU (integrated/ discrete) which Windows assigned to the application. There's a simple fix where you can force the Nvidia GPU to be assigned to SW.

But dependent on which assembly is open would be bizarre, can you really have two assemblies open at the same time with one using the GPU and the other not?

 

[aleseg]

But dependent on which assembly is open would be bizarre, can you really have two assemblies open at the same time with one using the GPU and the other not?

Exactly! It really seems or Software bug of SolidWorks or something inside the particolary assembly that bother the program.

 

[SBaugh]

Have you tried to make something that is big without any proprietary items being in the assembly and see if you get the same result or not? If you get the bug to appear then you can send that in and hopefully get an SPR#.

It's Odd that it's random and it seems like they should have an SPR# for such a bug especially if they are aware of the problem and giving advice on what is happening.

Scott Baugh, CSWP
CAD Systems Manager
Dapco, INC

http://www.dapcoinc.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[SpaceCadetEdelman]

Have you tried the SW SWxxxx_grafficscard_support.msi 'patch' file? you can find on the SW downloads area..