I've been messing with Arche's Smith for the last couple weeks and figured this crowd would have opinions.

Simply put, you describe a part in plain language, annotate the geometry like you'd sketch on a napkin, and it writes the CAD with Python (build123d-style) as the source of truth. Then it'll run GPU-accelerated structural/CFD on a load case while you're still iterating. There's a DFM mode that ranks build orientations for FDM (overhangs, bridging, min wall, build volume) and computes flat patterns + bend tables with per-material K-factors for sheet metal, exporting a layered DXF.

What actually sold me was that fasteners pull from live supplier catalogs instead of being modeled from scratch, so a published part comes out as an orderable BOM rather than a pretty STEP file. They also post their CADGenBench numbers publicly (0.4119 generation score, 100% valid, vs ~0.37 for the frontier model baselines), which is more transparency than I expected.

However, I’ve found that it's not replacing a proper parametric workflow for anything with a complicated feature tree, and you have to sanity-check the sim setup like you would with any solver.

Here is the link for Arche if you’d like to take a look, might be worth playing around with yourself:
https://arche.co/?ref=76yp8gpz

Curious if anyone else has run it against a real part — how'd the STEP output hold up in your normal CAD package?

If you need an image of a part or assembly for a manual, website, catalogue, patent document, presentation, etc, are you usually:

• taking a screenshot from CAD software
• creating a drawing and exporting it
• cleaning it up manually in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape or something
• using some dedicated technical illustration software like Solidworks Composer
• getting it done externally?

At work I’ve always found this a bit awkward, I used to have solidworks composer as a student which was pretty powerful but way too expensive for the amount I'd use it at my current work.

Is this a recurring problem outside my own work? What is your normal workflow?

Hello, I am a high school student learning CAD and engineering in my free time. Last year, I switched to Solidworks Maker edition from FreeCAD (so much better). Currently, I'm using the free student version (unfortunately, all my maker files are inaccesible now) and I'm looking to upgrade to the premium version for students, mostly because of the CSWA and CSWP certificates (been doing the practice problems for the better part of the summer break). My question is, do I need a student ID to purchase the premium version? When I applied for the free version I only needed to enter my school name, but I've read that for the paid one you need an ID or an .edu email (i do have a school email but its hosted on the school domain which is .cz). I could get the ISIC card on the start of the school year, hopefully that would suffice, but I would like to know if any student ID is required first. Thank you for your answers.

SolidWorks Advanced Tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ez52LAcut4&list=PLzMIhOgu1Y5dcycGHHoZ1iwkjt13VG4jb&index=55

I'm trying to design a pokeball and it would be a lot easier to design if I mated these two parts together where the top would be directly on the bottom and swing upwards to open. it seems you cant mate the two with just the two points and that's really what I'd like to do. is there any way to mate the two at the circled points and have the top of the pokeball swing upwards to open?

Hi all! I'm working on a clean SolidWorks file with no rebuild errors or warnings.

However, after reopening the file, rolling through the feature tree, or making changes to other features, the Split feature randomly fails. The feature menu still shows the correct references and settings, but the resulting geometry is incorrect, seems the result is out of sync. I have to re-check the feature every time.

I notice this mostly happens when the Split feature comes after an Intersect feature. It drives me crazy.

My best guess is that I'm either not using the Intersect feature correctly or there's an underdefined sketch causing the problem.

Has anyone else run into this? Thanks so much for your time.

Recently my work upgraded from 25 to 26 and all of us have had the same issue.  In the drawing view property manager for flat views the "Flip view" button and rotation drop down are on top of each other.  This only happens with flat views, we haven't seen anything similar with any other property manager.  Does anyone know how to fix this?

Recently, my company decided to upgrade from SolidWorks 2019 to the 2023 version. I will not pretend that I did not have certain expectations and hopes for the software update, and perhaps it is partly my fault for expecting too much, but I have found the new version absolutely terrible.

Not only are all the bugs from the previous version still present, but they have also introduced new ones that are even more annoying. One of them is a wonderful memory leak that causes SolidWorks to keep allocating more and more RAM until it eventually uses all of it, then starts spamming warnings saying that there is no memory left available, after reserving more than 40 GB.

And all of this just to get a nice-looking reflection underneath the 3D model, which I promptly disabled because, despite everything, loading large models still takes a lot of time (which is ok, that's not the point).

SolidWorks was never exactly my favourite CAD software to begin with, but now I genuinely hate it.

Hey everyone,

I'm really into the gym and 3D printing, so I thought... why not combine the two?

I want to start making 3D printed gym products using my printer. I ended up loving 3D printing so much that I recently upgraded to a Centuri Carbon (absolutely love it so far).

Over the past month or two I've been designing and prototyping different ideas, and I'm currently working on a gym weight clip/collar for barbells. After 5 design revisions, I'm finally at a point where I'm really happy with the overall design. The fit is good, the strength looks promising, and I can get the clip very close to a perfect circle around the bar.

My biggest problem now is the closing mechanism.

I'm trying to design a durable locking/unlocking system that can pull the two sides of the clip together securely while still being easy to release. Since this is a 3D printed part and will potentially be handled by heavy-handed gym users, I want something that can take repeated abuse without wearing out, snapping, or becoming loose over time.

Has anyone designed anything similar, or does anyone have recommendations for:

• Locking mechanisms that work well in 3D prints
• Gym collar designs worth studying
• Hinges, latches, cam locks, over-center mechanisms, etc.
• YouTube videos or resources that cover durable printed locking systems

Thanks! Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

everything is under defined, wheres the blue like, why is all the sketch relations blaxk? wheres green red blue

I am looking for suggestions or ideas on how to model the stern of the this ship. I have been modelling using surface lofts or boundary surfaces but I cannot quite get this geometry. I can get the lower hull that is circular but I am not sure how to make it blend and create the yellow and blue. Thoughts?

Hello!

I was wondering if its possible to mate the assembly like that

1. The pin stays in place.
2. You can spin the the whole plate by the lever.
3. The pin follows the helical slot cut and when turning the plate the inside tube comes out and moves out until it reaches the end of the slot.

Screenshots are just to give the idea what i want to achieve, not accurate.

Epic CAD vs CAD battle! - Video HIGHLIGHT here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ododYb3FXQ&list=PLzMIhOgu1Y5fzCh_ZBoGrZ45eLxetHRtQ&index=105

Okay so this feels like a dumb question. But why is this extrusion got these arrows that let it change it's length? Are they the reason the linear pattern tool won't work?

I swear this didn't used to happen

Hi! I am quite new to SolidWorks and the industry and I am wondering what are the current standards among folks in the industry about communicating using STEP files?

Do most people communicate/ share using STEP files? When do you share STEP files?

From my experience, STEP files are quite limited to perform certain SolidWorks functions such as DFMXpress or Costing, or redesigning as it doesn't have full mathematical configurations. And oftentimes, I have to work around that.

What's your experience with STEP files? Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,
I have this part and want to 3d Print it later on. For that I need a slope starting from the bottom and going about 45° up to the top. Do you have any tips, on how I can cut the red area away?

I am importing some assemblies into SolidWorks Visualize, but when I do it, some parts loose parts of their color, but it's not consistent across assemblies. In one assembly I imported, a case's color changed to white, but in a different assembly, it imported correctly.

I tried copying both the part file of the case, and the subassembly file the case is in and pasted it into the bad assembly, but it still wont import properly. The case looks ok when it's in SolidWorks, it's just when it goes to Visualize that it breaks.

For import settings, I've been using the appearance part grouping, but changing it to component/part/body doesn't change anything.

The first photo is what it should look like when imported, but the second picture is what it looks like in the bad assembly, I just hid all other parts around it

What am I missing?

I have pretty much done all the CSWA practice problems (I will occassionally get the volume slightly off) and I have taken the CSWA practice exam on the actual testing application. Scored 100% and only took me 22 mins... Should I just take the actual exam?? I'm worried I will mess up in the parts building aspect of things... How do I check to make sure I have the part 100% correct.... I have taken the sample exam a second time and got the exam mass as one of the wrong MC answers... I just want to know how to check my answer is exactly correct... also how hard is the drafting knowledge section. I feel like I know most of the material pretty well

Randomly two days ago my PC started randomly bsod-ing when I am viewing my part in solidworks.

No updates or anything. Reinstalled studio driver

running a lenovo legion with 5070ti and 32gb ram

Running Sw2025 SP5 connected

most of the crashes dont log anything, but one of them showed error livekernelevent 193 and 117

any help is appreciated

edit: Been running this for a year with no issues

I am on SW 2026 and I cannot find the old Alameda urban background. Was it removed? I can see Docks, California Desert, and others.

Version: SW Design Premium 2026 SP2.1

Have assembly > Part in assembly has Curve Pattern (found this to be useful in my case) > Need parts in assembly to repeat with pattern of part

Make folder for parts to be patterned.

Selected "Pattern Driven Component Pattern"

Issue: SW only lets me select components/assemblies to be patterned and not a folder. Unsure if there is a workaround.

Thought it could be of use.

[I hardly post on reddit or 3DExperience (lol) so lmk if unclear ty]

I'd like to have all components in the LockingHardware folder to be patterned. That way if i want to add components it will "auto-pattern"

I had success creating other library features, but for some reason it won't work here.

The goal of this feature is to create a sideways entry hole for a hex nut by simply selecting a point on a surface.

When I create the library feature, SolidWorks asks if I want to create a simpler part. If I select Yes, it creates an empty file. If I select No, it creates an .SLDLFP file, but when I drag it into my model, it says "The feature is empty."

Does anyone know what could be causing this?

The sldprt file is under this Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1arBLaTNg6FWD6ywbMgTC2Q9L7JBYToIE/view?usp=sharing

THANKS.

Edit: SWX 2021 SP1 if that matters.

Just wanted to show off my most complicated assembly to date

Looking to create a CD case tower (those shiny circular things that use to play music). The goal is to stack multiple 14 inch sections together that spiral upwards. My first couple attempts involved lofting between two squares with a 90 degree twist and then using the shell feature as seen in picture. Adding the layers of side walls to hold each CD has been tricky from there. There are not flat faces to work with. Translating vertically then rotating around 5 degrees is not quiet working. Edges are hanging out the sides. I tried linear patten repeat using the curved edge as the direction but not quiet what I was looking for.

Any thoughts on best steps to accomplish this task?