Solidworks PDM Revision Table integration and revision bubbles

One method is to create the change request that is used to start the change process and include that approved document with the updated version of the drawing.

Personally, I dislike revision bubbles - drawing changes can include unintentional ones as well as, in the case of assemblies, changes at lower levels that might not be noticed.

I took to direct drawing comparisons using overlays in Photoshop. Old drawing at 50% red in one layer, new drawing at 50% green in overlay layer, background layer black, no antialiasing on importing the drawing. Select by combined color on the red or the green to see what is no longer there or what is there that is new. Every pixel that's the same comes as the color mix.

To be sure, use either selection on a new layer and stroke the path with a wide brush - it can easily find even a case where a comma is swapped with a period in a drawing note.

Unlike typical drawing software, you can cut and paste views or move views in case the drafter has shifted a view to another sheet or new location. It can even handle a scanned original and a vector replacement.

This cuts way down on the drawing checker's job. They do the overlay and see if it matches the approved change request. There's no extra work cluttering up the drawing and then people checking to see if the drawing is correctly cluttered.

With practice or a macro it can take less than a minute a sheet, faster on sheets that have not changed.

My whole career I have never used rev bubbles. I have always added the rev table as part of the dwg template, start with rev 1 if prelim, rev A when released. Add next rev during the ECO release process.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
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