If you are active in the CAD world and haven’t heard of Al Dean and Develop3D, then you are seriously missing out.

Al does a great job of looking at the MCAD Industry as a whole and his latest article lays out what I think is a spot on prediction of the future of SolidWorks.  This is a must read for all SolidWorks users!

SolidWorks World 2010 – Next generation picture starts to clear

Stay tuned…more to come!

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One of the things that attendees look forward to the most when attending SolidWorks World is the sneak peek of the next version of SolidWorks. Attendees were treated to TWO previews this year since the SolidWorks Cloud technology was shown on Monday. Wednesday’s General Session has in recent tradition been the day where we get to see some new features in the software that we will have later this year.

Last year SolidWorks went away from doing their traditional “skit” but it made a triumphant return and was as funny (if not funnier) than ever. This year’s skit was the “Super CAD Smack Down”. It had a “Sportcenter” feel to it as Darren Henry & Neil Cook did play by play while Jeremy Regnerus and Ian Hogg tried to one up each other by showing off new features of SolidWorks 2011. Mark Schneider joined them as the “referee”.  Ok…on to the new features….

Reliability & Performance

According to SolidWorks, 50% of the overall effort going into SolidWorks 2011 is going to be focused on improving the reliability and performance of the software. This goes back to the common message of the conference in that their focus is on solving the everyday problems of the common user. Users will certainly appreciate this if some gains can be made without negative effects in other areas of the product. The performance improvements shown include better memory management. A graph was shown that indicates better overall memory utilization which result in as much as 460 Mb LESS memory used by SolidWorks. (I do not know what the overall memory utilization was when they measured the 460 difference but will try to find out.)

Up to Surface Revolve

This one is almost self explanatory. SolidWorks has added an “Up to Surface” end condition to the Revolve command. I would assume this command would be available with both extrude & cut options, but only the extrude option was shown.

Defeature

The Defeature tool allows users to take assemblies with large amounts of internal components and convert them to part files. This may not sound like a big deal but there are some nice options with this. You can set which components are removed by the setting a physical size filter in the PropertyManager. In the gearbox example shown, the assembly file was converted to a featureless part file with no internal components or cavity. Only the outer surfaces were preserved. This is a great tool for users who are trying to put assemblies like the example show up to 3D ContentCentral but don’t want to share the details of the internal components for various reasons. In fact there is an option in the Defature tool to upload the model to 3D ContentCentral. Also noteworthy with this feature was the fact that you could come back in and REDEFINE the Defeature and change it at any time. This feature appears to be similar to features in some other CAD packages that are often called “shrinkwrap”.

More Appearance Options & Better Integration with Photoview 360

With PhotoWorks being phased out in SolidWorks 2011, Appearances seem to have received some additional settings which appears to be similar to some previous settings in PhotoWorks. You have more fine tune control over the appearance and you can easily pull up a PhotoView 360 preview window within the SolidWorks software. This will allow users to quickly compare what the PV360 rendering will look like as they are applying and tweaking Appearances where in the past the PV360 program had to be launched separately just to see the preview window. Also announced was tighter integration between PV360 and SolidWorks along with the introduction of rendered motion into PV360.

Planar Simplification in Simulation

Using the simplification tools, you can chose a section of a model and run the FEA on the section itself. With the right scenario, this tool can be used and will save a tremendous about of time since the calculations are only performed on the section. You can then take the resultant plots of the section results and project them onto the 3D model.

Improved Model Item Dimension Insert in Drawings

The Insert Model Item tool in Drawings now places the dimensions in a much more intelligent fashion which should require the user to do less relocation of dimensions within a view and from one view to another. Nothing was shown on how this intelligence is set and if it is configurable.

Spacing Multiple Dimensions

You can select multiple dimensions and more intelligently set the spacing and placement of them using new tools included in the Dimension Palette.

Dual Dimension Display in Hole Tables

When creating a Hole Table in Drawings, the table can now display dimensions using both the primary and secondary units of measure.

Design Checker integrated within Enterprise PDM (EPDM)

The Design Checker tool is fully integrated and can now be run as part of the EPDM Workflow approval process. (Note: If you don’t use EPDM, I’m sure the standalone option will still be available.)

Assembly Features: Sweeps

A swept cut can now be performed at the Assembly level. As an assembly feature, it will not effect the individual component files. The feature only exists in the assembly.

Assembly Features: Fillets & Chamfers

You can now add fillets and chamfers at the Assembly level. As with the swept cut, the fillets and chamfers only reside inside the assembly and do not effect the component features.

Assembly Features: New “Lightweight” Weld Bead tool in Assemblies

If you have opened the weld bead command in the assembly environment in previous versions, it was one of the few features left sporting the old “separate” dialog box and no FeatureManager integration. Previously, the Weld Beads had to be saved off as separate files and couldn’t even be made virtual. (Yuck!) All of that will change in SolidWorks 2011. The Weld Bead feature is a lightweight feature that works much in the same fashion as the fillet weld tool in the multi-body part environment. The welds are completely virtual and are stored in a folder located at the top of the FeatureManager. I was unable to see if the tool would support multiple types of welds. I’m really hoping that it will. Also – I would like to see a similar if not the same interface in both this tool and the weld tool in the multi-body part environment. We will have to wait and see on that. The new Weld Bead feature supports full weld symbol annotation generation in Drawings as well.

Weld Table in Drawings

You can now insert a Table of all the welds contained in an assembly (or maybe multi-body part too?) in a Drawings.

Routing: Piping Weld Gaps

The Piping part of the Routing tool now supports the addition of Weld Gaps. They can be easily added while editing the route and of course will automatically adjust route lengths when used.

New Camera: Walk Through

A new type of camera is being introduced which allows the user to “Walk through” a model. It appears that you can even place an image in the screen to for user reference as you walk through the model. The image is just something to make it appear that you are following someone through the walk through. There was an interface shown at the bottom of the screen while the camera was active that included several types of control buttons which would appear to let you navigate the assembly while the camera is active.

Feature Lock!

Why is there an exclamation point beside this one? Well, this has been one of the higher ranking enhancement requests among users for the past few years. I can remember Charles Culp posting it to the SolidWorks World 2009 Brainstorm site. This feature will essentially allow you to “Freeze” the feature tree for every feature above the point you place the feature. The features that are “locked” will not rebuild until you unlock them. This tool will have its best usage for models with MANY features. Many folks who do complex surfacing will fall into this category.  Proper placement of this feature can REALLY cut down on rebuild times!

That is all for now…but stay tuned for MORE post SolidWorks World 2010 coverage!

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This is just the first post of many to come on this. I’m going to try and hit the highlights and then we will get into some of the details later. Today at the first General Session of SolidWorks World 2010, SolidWorks previewed some new technology that they have been working on now for the past three years. In involves the integration of several technologies into an application that runs “in the cloud”. Yes…you heard that correctly….on the internet. There are obvious concerns that many folks will have with this, but for the time being, let’s hold off on that discussion and save it for a bit later.

Before I get into what was shown too much…this is a preview only. No product announcements were made (just yet) but Jeff Ray said that they are “close” to having things where in place. Jeff was joined on the stage for this product demo by Joe Dunne, Mark Schneider, & Mark Biasotti.

The SolidWorks Cloud system runs on ANY operating system…yes ANYTHING. Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Netbooks. It is operating system independent. OK..now that you have picked yourself up off the floor….lets continue.

The problems that they have set out to solve with this system include installation times, rebuild times, tedious sketching, overly complex models, & and long simulation calculations. Real-time communication and collaboration was also shown as a major problem to solve.

Communication of Design Data

Since you are in the cloud, you can work realtime with others from the design team. So collaboration can be taken to a whole new level since all of the input is coming to a central server (in the cloud) The shot below shows the Cloud application with collaborative flyouts in action.

Modeling

When it comes to modeling, Jeff Ray said the two biggest complaints heard from customers include the lack of data reuse & modeling speed/ease of use.

In demonstrating the product, you could see that the files were not opened…but instead called up by using searches. A sketch was shown where several “template features” were placed into an existing sketch by searching for existing template profiles in the online library. The shapes were brought in and trimmed on the fly in the sketch. There were no relations or dimensions added directly to the sketch…but things were able to be “dragged” using manipulators that came up on the screen which still allowed for precision control of the sketch profiles.

I could not tell if the sketch had any parametric properties or not. But directly after showing this sketch, Joe discussed the fact that Parametric design is powerful and will still be around for a long time. But…direct editng is ALSO integrated into the SolidWorks Cloud application which allows for users to use BOTH technologies.

The Cloud application will also break down the barriers between parts, assemblies, and multi-body environments by bringing all of them into a unified environment that will allow BOTH Parametric and Direct Editing capabilities.  (Wow…I’d love to know more about this!)

Another problem that often plagues SolidWorks and other CAD systems is the lack of “real-life” performance with certain types of components. These components include springs, gaskets, & orings. Basically applications where the components need to stretch. SolidWorks in the Cloud was able to insert a spring into an assembly and then PROPERLY stretch the spring to the correct length based on the posts that the spring were “snapped” to. They were then able to move the jaws of the assembly and the spring length dynamically updated real time!!

Performance

Many of the problems in the performance area include the ability to open and work in large assemblies. In the Cloud, you can “access” large assemblies almost instantly without having to “load” the assembly. So there is no waiting for the file to open! The assembly shown and “visually navigated” in the cloud application was said to be a 100,000 component assembly.

Also demonstrated was rendering in the cloud. A rendering was produced WHILE you work in the cloud application. The Cloud server just let’s you know when the rendering is complete!

Reliability

SolidWorks in the cloud is much less resistant to data loss when the client application crashes. They demonstrated a tool that purposely crashes the client application. The server application was unharmed and the data was not lost in the cloud! In theory…you can never lose your data when you crash.  (unless the cloud server crashes)

Wednesday General Session

On Wednesday SolidWorks will announce a new product that involves SolidWorks & Enovia V6 that works in the cloud.

There is a lot more to write about with this technology.  Here are a few questions off the cuff.

Is this just a “Cloud Technology”?  The fact that I could see “new features and methods” of modeling integrated within this approach leads be to believe that the answer might be no.  While we could still see features listed in the tree in some of the examples, the tools shown clearly demonstrate that building models and modifying models are quite different in the “Cloud App”.

Will everyone “truly” be able to use a web-based Cloud App?  I can answer this one easily.  NO.  Anyone working on projects that have anything to do with the US government understands this.  I’m sure SolidWorks knows that and will be prepared at some point to address that.  One scenario would be for a company to setup the “Cloud Server” on computers internally inside the corporate firewall.  Google Wave has recently allowed users to install their Wave software on servers…so I certainly could see it being possible.

Will this application interface with CATIA data?  YES.  I believe it will.  Bernard Charles (CEO of Dassault Systemes) made his first appearance at SolidWorks World today and gave a presentation on stage.  The 10 year plan for DS is to have “some” transparent access for SolidWorks users to other Dassault Products.  It was also mentioned that the Cloud app was a joint project between SolidWorks R&D and Dassault R&D.  The new SolidWorks “Mission statement” which aligns with the DS ten year plan is “3D for Professionals” which certainly opens up the possibilities of just where SolidWorks can go as a product.

Well..that is all I have time for now…will have much more on this later.

Stay tuned…much more to come!

LATE PM UPDATE: Deelip has written a couple of articles with some interesting comments and I have provided links to them below.  Deelip was able to talk to Jeff Ray about this a little and I personally heard Jeff address questions regarding this Technology at the SWUGN Summit this evening.  Many of Jeff’s comments were similar to his answers to Deelip’s question.

Deelip.com – SolidWorks World 2010 (Day 2) – Direct Modeling

Deelip.com – SolidWorks World 2010 (Day 2) – More Direct Modeling

Deelip.com – SolidWorks World 2010 (Day 2) – A Discussion with Jeff Ray

Deelip.com – SolidWorks World 2010 (Day 2) – Some Cool Stuff

We are looking at TWO “platforms” for SolidWorks software in the not too distant future.  The “Cloud” platform and the “Traditional” platform.  Jeff Ray mentioned tonight the “Traditional” platform will still have at least 10 more years of continuation and that users will not be “forced” to switch to the new platform anytime in the near future.

I think the goal is that SolidWorks is trying to solve many of the common problems users face on a daily basis with the “Cloud” platform.  These are the type of problems that can be addressed in the most efficient manner in the new platform such as the many “subject” I listed in the article above.  With that said, the “Traditional” platform will still be fully supported for quite some time and will continue to be enhanced.  We are set to see many of the new enhancements in SolidWorks 2011 in the General Session on Wednesday.

That’s all for today on this….much more to come! – Ricky

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Well, Sunday has now wrapped up and everyone is getting geared up for the first General Session tomorrow morning starting at 8:30am PST.

The rest of my day included a few more Roundtable Sessions followed by the opening of the Partner Pavilion.  To me, this looks like the BIGGEST Partner Pavilion ever!  As usual there are a lot of great products that were designed in SolidWorks  on display and MANY partner products that perform a variety of tasks which include machining, 3D printing, simulation, & reverse engineering.  There were also several hardware products on display which included Dell & HP.

I wrapped up the day by attending the User Group Leader Dinner (cudos to Randy Lennox for putting on a great event) & the SolidWorks Tweetup (thanks to Matthew West of SolidWorks for organizing this event) over at the House of Blues.  Here’s the shirt my wonderful wife found on the net that I wore to tonight.  You can’t see it, but it actually has my Twitter username on it!

Tomorrow I have several excellent technical sessions on my Calendar which should provide some GREAT information for some of my future work.  Tomorrow afternoon we will have the 10th annual SWUGN International User Summit which is put on by Richard Doyle who is the man behind the SolidWorks User Group Network.  Tomorrow night we have the CSWP event which will feature radio controlled cars from Team Associated.

Below is the Video Summary I put together for Sunday.  I tried to show a little bit of the facilities supporting this year’s conference which included the convention center and Hilton Hotel.  There is also some quick video showing the Partner Pavilion.

Stay tuned….much more to come from SolidWorks World 2010.

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Well…I’ve got a small amount of time between sessions here so I thought I would post a few pictures of the convention center areas.  Below is the Convention Center entrance.  Nice Sign!

Here’s a further out shot from the street showing just how big this convention center is!

According to Al Dean over at Develop3D, we are looking at over 5,000 attendees this year.  Simply put, THAT IS AMAZING.  I’ll have more to say about this later.

I have attended several Roundtable Discussions today focusing on CircuitWorks, Toolbox, and Business Challenges.  I am due to head out in a few minutes for a session on Electrical Routing.

Stay tuned….more to come!!

I’ve got some more video (of course) and will upload that later.

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One of the interesting things on the press agenda for SolidWorks World 2010 is a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning regarding a “New Product Announcement”. This is the only reference I have seen anywhere on this so I don’t really have anything else concrete on what this may be.

So what do you think the new product announcement could be?  If you want to take a shot a guessing …then leave a comment!

Stay tuned…more to come!

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With the start of SolidWorks World 2010 now officially 1 day away, I’m finalizing my schedule, planning my coverage, and pondering just what exactly we might see at the biggest MCAD event in the industry.  One curve ball has already been thrown my way as my 6:15am flight for tomorrow morning was canceled.   I am now booked on a little later flight which will put me getting to Anaheim between 4:00 and 5:00pm rather than 11:00am.  The weather here in Huntsville (Alabama) is questionable tomorrow morning with some freezing rain possible…so I’m hoping for the best and my re-booked flight will leave on time safely.

For the fourth year in a row, I’ll be covering SolidWorks World as a member of the “Blogging Press”.  I’ve got a few new devices at my disposal this year that will allow me to bring a little more of the conference experience to YOU!  Having my HP Mini 110 should help me shuttle around from place to place without having to look for a charging outlet and will allow me to take more “direct notes” during the sessions and events.  I’m also going to have a Flip Video Ultra HD camera ready to roll at all times!  While I can’t take videos during certain events, I plan to try and show more “behind the scenes” type stuff by talking to Users, SolidWorks employees, and Solutions Partners.

The event itself is shaping up to be as big or perhaps bigger than any other SolidWorks World.  James Cameron is one of the highest profile speakers to date (Richard Branson was pretty darned good as well).  As usual, the preview of the next version of SolidWorks is certainly going to be on most everyone’s mind as they arrive at the conference.

This subject gets me thinking about my trip to SolidWorks in August of 2009 for the Blogger Press Event.  I couldn’t help but notice just how “giddy” Jeff Ray was in our meeting with him every time he talked about the new things that the R&D group were working on.  That thought has stuck with me in the months since, so I’m especially anxious to see what the folks in Concord have in store for us in the coming years.

So, now I’ll open it up to you guys and gals that are going to be reading all the coverage of the event across the net.  What type of things are you most interested to see discussed or reported on from SolidWorks World 2010?  Leave your comments here and help shape the coverage!

Stay tuned….much more to come soon!!

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While browsing through my Twitter feed today I came across this link from Mike Puckett at SolidWorks.  Could this be the future interface for CAD?  While I’m sure the main purpose of the video presently is to show the forward thinking motion of the company, I can’t help but wonder if just maybe the folks at SolidWorks R&D are giving us a hint of some future functionality.  I guess I’d better start making room for that big glass monitor in my office!    The embedded YouTube video is posted below

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As reported here a few months back, SolidWorks 2010 introduced an option for Online Help.  The Online Help has some enhanced search features which includes sorting by subject and links to the Knowledge Base.  In addition to that, because it is web based, it is guaranteed to always be up to date.

Here is something new that you may not know.  SolidWorks Help is available via your favorite Internet Browser! Just go to http://help.solidworks.com and you are off and running.  (Note that you need to Click on “SolidWorks” to access the SolidWorks Help.)  There are no logins or registrations necessary!  Help files for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, SolidWorks Workgroup PDM, SolidWorks eDrawings, & SolidWorks installation are also available.  Having the help available online all the time and accessible outside of the SolidWorks application will be a great benefit to users around the world.  The online help is currently available in 12 languages.

Something else to look out for is the “Feedback on this topic” link at the top right side of every page.  This is a great way to give instant feedback about the Online Help content to the SolidWorks Documentation team.

Stay tuned…more to come!!

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Today we are going to take a look at perhaps one of the most underrated new features of SolidWorks 2010, the Mouse Gesture Wheel.  While this new tool has gotten some good press in recent weeks, its hard to gauge how useful this command can be until you actually use it.  The Mouse Gesture wheel can be invoked by simply holding down the right mouse button and moving the cursor in any direction.  The wheel is available in two configurations: 4 Position and 8 Position.  Below you’ll find an image that shows off both configurations.

The great news about the Mouse Gesture wheel is that is it FULLY configurable.  You can add virtually any tool that has a toolbar button icon to the wheel.  To access the controls, go to Tools->Customize->Mouse Gestures (Tab).  The Mouse Gesture Wheel can be configured differently for Sketches, Parts, Assemblies, and Drawings.  The user interface to program the buttons is very similar to the interface for programming Keyboard shortcuts.  Below is an image of the Mouse Gesture programming panel.

Using the Mouse Gestures can be a little confusing for some at first, but once you realize the intent of the tool, the behavior makes perfects sense.  The Mouse Gesture wheel is designed to be a quick select tool.  Users will gain the most efficiency in its usage if they memorize the commands at the positions.  When the Mouse Gesture Wheel is invoked, you can move the cursor about the inside of the wheel to highlight the different options in the quadrants.  Once the cursor enters one of the segments, the command is immediately invoked.  The user does not have to release the Right Mouse Button to go to the command.  What this does is it allows you to quickly gesture your cursor in the desired direction to invoke the command.  So basically the most efficient use of this tool is to gesture in the direction of your desired command without looking at the wheel itself.  To better demonstrate this, I have posted a video showing the Mouse Gesture tool in action.  Click on the image to play the video.

Stay tuned…more SolidWorks 2010 Features to come!

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