SolidWorks:HEARD!

Today DS SolidWorks lifted the SolidWorks 2011 Beta NDA and is allowing anyone to talk about what is in the next product to ship.  Having used SolidWorks for well over a decade now, I am finding myself more focused on how new functionality will be used practically instead of just in awe that a software tool can perform a task. Sometimes the fine tuning is more impressive to "Joe User" than a shiny capability that might be used a few times a year.

Like previous releases, I am planning on doing an audio version of the What's New PDF on the podcast but I wanted to highlight the features that I feel are going to be used by many users across the board.  SolidWorks 2011 is less flashy, in my opinion, than the previous few and seems to be focused on closing some long lasting SPRs tagged to the software.  All forensics aside, it seems that many of my reported SPRs had been showing a closed status, although my primary job is not support so I could be an outlier in that respect. 

5 Enhancements That Matter:

Search...No Really...Search:

I am the first one to admit that the current SolidWorks Search in the upper right of the software has been used ... is not used as much as it should.  I think many of us just got sick of the waiting and hoping it would return exactly what we were looking for.  When setup correctly, the model and file search does work but nobody uses it.

★ 2011 SolidWorks Search can search places we all search for answers like the HELP! (finally!), the SolidWorks Knowledge Base and the newly updated SolidWorks Community Forums. This is, of course, in addition to the model and file search that existed previously.  This is when I do searches for SolidWorks, not as much for finding models (enter PDM) but for information on solving problems.  The help, knowledge base and forums are all great resources and now searching them is right inside of SolidWorks.

Note: During Beta the Web Help is not available and has seemed to be moved out of the search box.  I am assuming this will be back in the search once Beta is over.  Search terms in Help, Knowledge Base and Forums will launch the embedded browser and pass the search terms to those sites' search boxes.

Assembly & Weld Feature Expansion:

Assembly features have a few added benefits in the 2011 release.  Other than simple cuts and holes, fillets and chamfers have expanded the features that can be added in content of an assembly.  This feature is especially useful for those who design weldments and need to prep intersecting members for welding.

Weldments, since their introduction, have been a great feature but when it comes to the welding of these members, the current implementation has been very limited for complex joints.  Since a majority of users want to have welds for detail purposes only, SolidWorks 2011 redesigned the weld bead functionality to be simplified and have no impact on the performance since all welds are now lightweight.

★ Not only has the interface been brought to parity for Parts and Assemblies but the weld feature now adds a graphical representation of a weld (as opposed to a physical solid body) and can apply it to gapped members.  This was a common support inquiry from users with weldments. Welds also have an updated interface inside the PropertyManager to select weld paths, override the weld symbols, and specify weld properties like material, process, mass per unit length, etc.

Note: Now that the welds are graphical, they do not add mass to the overall structure like they did in the past.  Legacy welds will be supported and editable but new welds will take on the new graphical form.

Equations...No Hear Me Out:

Equations are one of those areas of SolidWorks that everyone is aware of but really doesn't use to much frequency. Adding intelligence to models can be done with equations but 2011 adds a few features that redefine this capability.  

The first is the addition to controll suppression states of features and parts, utilizing Visual Basic's IIF function.  Now equations can be written as an expression and have a TRUE/FALSE response that is now evaluated.  Previously this would be done in a design table using Excel's equation functionality but now is wrapped up right inside of the SolidWorks equation editor.

★ The second is one of my favorites and could possibly feed my need for further "global" automation when it comes to SolidWorks.  I am referring to the new Global Variable feature for equations. Equations and variables can now be exported from an existing model and saved as a *.TXT file.  This file can also be created from scratch and then referenced by other models globally.  Once imported, the model can "link" to this exported text file and now changes in the text file will propagate to any model that references it!

★ To push this even further, global variables can also be configured by a Design Table as well so the power of Excel is still there.  Changes to these global variables via Design Tables are within the part only and will not be pushed to all that reference this external list.  I can imagine placing this on a DropBox or shared network drive, for an entire design team to reference.

Note: In testing this feature I noticed that performing a Pack and Go does in fact grab this referenced text file and includes it as part of the reference tree.

Fast 2D Simulation:

Image courtesy of SolidWorks What's New 2011I know this is not considered a core tool but testing during design is definitely trending up and making simulation studies take less time is always a plus if, in fact, the accuracy is still in play.

SolidWorks Simulation was again a serious focus for the 2011 release, adding a number of updates including changes to mesh, boundary conditions and UI. The most prominent change was the addition of a new study option type called 2D Simulation Study (within SolidWorks Simulation Professional).

★ This new study option applies to static, thermal and nonlinear studies giving a boost to run times and performance.  The option is typically used in applications that are calculating plane strain/stress as well as extruded and axisymmetric profiles. 

The example to the left is one that is axisymmetric and would typically be sectioned into a percentage of the cross-section (1/4 or more) to reduce the number of elements needed to be used in the analysis. Now this "sectioning" approach can be taken a step further, using just a 2D representation of the cut, allowing very complex scenarios to be solved in a fraction of the time.

2D studies like this are not new in the industry, but new to SolidWorks Simulation 2011 and the fact they can be applied to the everyday static study as well as the time consuming non-linear studies, more people will opt to using it.  

Note: Another added benefit of this study type is the results can be displayed in 2D as well as 3D or can be configured to display a section of the solid as pictured above.

Install & Administration:

The installation of SolidWorks has changed dramatically over the past 10 years and with it came much scrutiny especially with the SolidWorks Installation Manager (SWIM).  Although it was an attempt to make the growing complexity of installing SolidWorks easier, there were a number of factors that caused problems for a number of users.

SolidWorks 2010 improved things by reducing the download size of service packs by around 75% which previously were always over 1GB. I am assuming this will continue with 2011 but cannot verify that since beta is always a full download and install, not a patch.

On the activation front, SolidWorks 2011 supports multi-license activation/transfer and for those who have removed SolidWorks, forgetting to transfer your license back, only to install it again to transfer will be happy.  SolidWorks now will have a standalone download of the SW Activation Wizard that will be available from the Customer Portal to avoid this hassle.

★ Administrators responsible for deployment to many users will also be happy that images of SolidWorks can be built in a selected language (save size) and can build both 32 and 64 bit images on either operating system (previously building a 64 bit image required a 64 bit OS).  Not only building the images is operating system bit ignostic but managing the options via Options Editor is also supported.

Conclusion...ALREADY!

If you have survived this far down and made it through all the other posts on SolidWorks 2011, I am curious to what features you feel are important and useful (please leave a comment).  Many of us around the SolidWorks community get excited about new features, well because they are new, however the measure of a good release is stability and practical enhancements.  I hope see more releases like this in the future where SolidWorks fills the gaps and make the product as solid as possible.  In the end, SolidWorks is a tool and anything that gets in between the engineer and a tool = a replaced tool! ~Lou

Every year I participate in the SolidWorks Beta program so I can feed the need to find, try, test and break all that is new in the coming major release. Starting last year, SolidWorks offered an easier way for those of us wanting to test out the next version of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by hosting beta vaults on their own servers.

Last year I detailed out the steps to get enrolled in the hosted vault offered by SolidWorks and when I heard that they would be extending this service to beta testers this year, I was thrilled!

Typically testing a new version of EPDM requires you to build another parallel environment, since two versions of EPDM cannot exist on the same server or client.  This makes testing quite the undertaking, especially if you want to test it on a copy of the production vault (which typically cannot be upgraded once moved to an beta build).  SolidWorks' offering removes the need to hassle with the server side, allowing you to install the beta client and test with either your own data or a dummy dataset.

I typically resort to installing the client in a virtual machine so I don't need to remove or replace the current client version.  Unless, of course,  I am testing the CAD Editor license and SolidWorks Add-in, in which I just uninstall the client and reinstall the beta client for testing (low impact to overall setup). 

Being a big fan of VM technology, I have used quite a number of solutions over the years (Virtual PC, VMWare, Sun VirtualBox) but since Windows 7 comes with XP Mode, I thought I would give that a shot.  I prefer VMWare but this is a free solution that doesn't require any extra licensing so I ventured down this route. 

Since the goal of XP Mode is to extend a simple solution to users who might run into compatibility issues with legacy applications, the install, by default, will map all your system's drives into your virtual machine's Windows Explorer for easy accessability.  This type of mapping can be detected as a Remote Desktop Connection, in the even you attempt to run an installer, such as Enterprise PDM, through this mapped drive.  To avoid the above error message, simply use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to your installation on your local machine. (i.e. \\local_system_name\shared_folder\).  This will trick the installer into thinking you are executing the installer from a network drive and will continue with your install.

Now that the secluded test environment has your EPDM beta client build installed, you can connect to the hosted vault on SolidWorks' servers and resume testing the new bells and whistles without disrupting your local production environment. ~Lou

DriveWorks, Ltd., a design automation gold partner inside of SolidWorks, has had a plugin archtecture allowing developers to build tools to further the automation procedure downstream.  This extensibility has commonly been used to allow DriveWorks to talk to PDM, automating the procedure of creating projects and checking in specification data as well as the 3D CAD outputs.

With the introduction of DriveWorks 7, the plugin for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM was built into the default installation.  This "out of the box" integration to EPDM is very easy to setup and delivers a full-circle automation loop from specification to check-in!

This can be configured in just a few steps:

1. Launch DriveWorks Administrator or turn on the SolidWorks addin and click on "Settings . 
2. Select on "Plugin Settings", scroll to the bottom, select on "SolidWorks Enterprise PDM" and click "Settings" (fill out vault name, user name, user password and what outputs to check in)
    DriveWorks 7 - SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Plugin
3. Select on "General Settings" and set the "Default Specification Folder" destination to point to the local vault view, selecting the top level folder where the clone specifications are to be sent.
   
   DriveWorks 7 - Specification Destination
4. Specify a new clone in a project, release it to SolidWorks, run the model generation and watch the models get pushed into the vault.
   
   DriveWorks 7 - Model GenerationThe setup is further outlined in the help file of DriveWorks 7 Pro, which was one of the many aspects the development group at DriveWorks enhanced in this version.  Setup is easy and it makes design automation adoption much easier for those who have already integrated EPDM into their design process.  ~Lou

At the end of June, Dassault Systemes launched the newest version of their document authoring tool, 3dvia Composer V6R2011.  This release continues the trend of V6R2010x by integrating more compatibility and uniformity from the SolidWorks' UI, as well as adding features to simplify the authoring process. 

Here are my top 5 enhancements in the 2011 version of 3dvia Composer:

1 - Assembly-level Color Mapping:

Parts imported from an assembly now inherit colors applied in SolidWorks, CATIA, and 3DXML to the part level. Colors applied at the highest assembly level in CAD will be imported into 3dvia Composer at correct part level yielding native-looking models.

SolidWorks 2010 / 3dvia Composer V6R2011 Color Mapping

2 - Multiple Actor Replacement:

Replacement and update of geometry within 3dvia Composer has always been a one to one function. 2011 now allows multi-selection of actors when performing an Update Geometry command.  This can be very useful if replacing fasteners and other groups of components when changes occur in the design phase.

3 - Per Actor Hatching:

Cutting planes, by default, would only add a uniform hatch at the plane of intersection and this can be modified now to customize the attribues per part.  Each part can now have a unique hatch angle, spacing, color and thickness, allowing sections to display more clarity between components.

4 - Interactive Storyboards:

This new addition simplified functionality from previous versions, taking a multiple step process into a simple right click or CTRL drag of an existing view.  This action creates an interactive document with clickable images in the view that modify the active viewing interface.  

3dvia Composer V6R2011 Interactive Storyboards w/ Magnet Lines

5 - Magnet Lines:

This is one of my favorite new features and I hope to see this someday in SolidWorks as well.  Magnet lines are a new collaborative actor that behave like a magnetized construction line.   You can either move the magnet line toword annotations/2D panels or move the entities to the line and they will snap to it like a magnet.  This makes movement and alignment simple, resulting in a polished layout.

The release is littered with little UI enhancements like tooltips in the mini right-click toolbars, updates to the gizmos (translation, rotation, explode, compass and view & animation modes) and uniform shortcut commands like using CTRL+A for select all.  DS seems to be on a 6 month release cycle with 3dvia Composer, releasing an "x" version in between the major "R" releases.  3dvia Composer V6R2011 refines the tool, making the experience, especially for SolidWorks users, familiar and streamlined.  ~Lou

With the launch of DraftSight, Dassault's community platform, 3D SwYm, also made it's beta debut, bringing a collaborative layer to the table. 3D SwYm, which stands for "See What You Mean", was branded under the name 3DSwYmer.com when shown at SolidWorks World Conference 2010 in February.  3DSwYm is currently in a "Technical Preview" and positioned as follows:

3DSwYm is the online service dedicated to the management of online professional communities. Creating online communities enables to gather people from different disciplines, geographies, companies and start networking, sharing information, experiences and ideas. It also allows you to put directly customers needs at the center of your product development activity by involving consumers in your communities. 

3D SwYm is governed by the DS Passport, which essentially acts as the single sign-on service to get to other web-based offerings by the Dassault. Once authenticated, users have the ability to collaborate in a forum-like environment, post rich media iQuestions and thread responses to other community members. The overall feel is very social centric, similar to LinkedIn, since it uses terms like posting your "Status" and searching for members to "Add to Network".

Currently there are 3 communities (DraftSight, SwYmers' Hall, and Building In Life) of which DraftSight and SwYmers' Hall are open, allowing users to be defaulted to "Contributors" in order to post content in the form of questions and answers.  Buildings In Life is a closed community and will prompt enquiring users to fill out a form as to why they want to join.  Buildings In Life, like DraftSight, is a community around an application offered by Dassault, extending this collaborative community around an application, similar to a forum.

In the technical preview of SolidWorks Product Data Sharing (PDS) at SolidWorks World 2010, the R&D team showed this new service running on top of 3DSwYmer.com, which was referred to as the "Enovia Framework". Since then, nothing has been mentioned about PDS or "SolidWorks V6" for that matter, despite all the chatter about CAD on the Cloud.  Now that 3D SwYm has gone into beta, I can only hope that this cloud-based, 3D CAD sharing platform is also going to go into beta sooner than later.  (details about PDS in live blog)

SolidWorks users need a service to easily collaborate on designs without complex setup and configuration.  This would not be a replacement for PDM but a collaboration "side car" of comments with access to CAD related information like configurations, assembly hierarchy, file properties, and/or version information.  This would be the first attempt to reenter the SaaS market since 3D TeamWorks launched in February 2002 (and killed shortly there after).  How would you use a tool like this, if at all?  ~Lou