SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies Bible - Matt Lombard [124]
SolidWorks also considers 3D Content Central (3DCC) to be part of the library. The 3DCC component is an online repository of parts created over many years by both users and vendors. You can search and use this online content directly from the Task Pane interface, or from your Web browser, by going to www.3dcontentcentral.com. You may need to log in to take full advantage of this resource.
Setting Up a Library
SolidWorks libraries are specific folders in Windows where you store commonly used components. You can easily access these components through the Design Library interface in the Task Pane. Figure 15.1 shows the interface with some sample content.
FIGURE 15.1
Libraries exist in the Task Pane to the right of the graphics window.
Although the default SolidWorks installation includes some sample content for your library, it is not very extensive and not specialized for different industries. As a result, you will not be able to rely only on the sample library that SolidWorks provides. You should also move the library from its default location to a place where it will not be removed or overwritten when software is installed, updated, or uninstalled.
You may find it difficult to manually browse to the default content. It is placed by default in C:/ProgramData/SolidWorks/SolidWorks 2011/design library/. The ProgramData folder is hidden by default. Your SolidWorks installation can see the folder and the files it contains, but you cannot manually locate the folder. In order to show hidden folders, go to Control Panel⇒Folder Options⇒View⇒Show hidden files, folders, or drives.
Caution
File management issues are important with libraries, and may affect how you manage your libraries. If you use a library between multiple versions of SolidWorks, you need to make sure that older assemblies are not required to access newer versions of library files.
People who have been using the software for a long time may already have accumulated a nice library. You can also purchase libraries for specialized components. Regardless of where your library components come from, it is a good idea to put them all into a single location. This location will depend on whether you just use the library for yourself or you share it with several other users. You can locate libraries locally or across a network. You can even use remote locations if that option works best for you. Local copies are always faster, but speed is not always the most important factor to consider in a design process environment.
If you do choose to use a network location for your libraries, it is preferable to use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names rather than mapped network drives. For example, if your server name is Jupiter, and your library data is in a folder called CAD models, then you should use a path such as \\Jupiter\CAD Data\ rather than a mapped designator for Jupiter such as R:\CAD Data\. This is because mapped drives can be inconsistent from one client computer to another. For example, what is called R: on one user's computer might be E:\D\Engineering\ on another computer; however, from anywhere on the network, the path \\Jupiter\CAD Data\ will always point to the same folder on the same machine.
Note
You may require some assistance from a system administrator to establish the correct shares between computers. Remember that shares do not always have to point to top-level drives, and shares may have associated access restrictions such as read-only access for some users. For most library users, read-only access is sufficient.
Figure 15.2 shows the location in Tools⇒Options where you set up the folders used for libraries. Note that each path entered in the list represents another top-level folder in the library.
FIGURE 15.2
Adding folders to the library
Building the Design Library
SolidWorks has two items called Design Library. The first is the tab in the Task Pane that you click to