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SolidWorks 2010 has many improvements and new features that can help engineers and designers create and documents their designs more efficiently.  As is often the case in life, it’s the small things that matter, and small, simple improvements can make a big difference when designing or detailing a design.

SolidWorks seemed to have spent more time this go-around on polishing rough edges and speeding things up.  The themes for this release were user experience, reliability, and performance.

Below I have listed just a few of my favorite improvements in SolidWorks 2010 that I think can help make a big difference in improving users’ workflow:

USER INTERFACE (UI)

Consistency in PropertyManager/Graphics Area Controls

The SolidWorks 2010 PropertyManager has been made more consistent by retaining settings and values in the same commands across SolidWorks sessions and using round numbers for default values.  The control focus in the PropertyManager now transfers automatically to the next input after a selection has been made.

In the graphics area, right-clicking for ok or to advance through multiple PropertyManager controls when required works more consistently.

Mouse Gestures

Along with keyboard shortcuts and the shortcut menu (S-key), mouse gestures is yet another shortcut way to access commonly used commands.  Users can choose to have four or eight shortcuts on the mouse gesture guide, which appears by right-clicking in the graphics area and dragging the mouse to the desired command.  The gestures can be customized independently for any commands in the sketch, part, assembly, and drawing environments.  If desired, the mouse gestures guide can be deactivated by going to Tools|Customize and unchecking the option on the Mouse Gestures tab.

Heads-Up View Toolbar Customization

The heads-up toolbar can now be customized differently based on what environment you are in (modeling or drawing).  You can also choose to simply hide the toolbar.

PARTS

Multibody Part Materials

You can now assign materials to individual bodies in a multibody part.  Now users can model assemblies of say, a library assembly of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) item, in a multibody part.  The individual body materials are honored in mass properties, drawing section views, and in SolidWorks Simulation.

Display States in Parts

SolidWorks 2010 allows Display States to be used in parts in the same way as assemblies.

Standards in Cosmetic Threads

Now, cosmetic threads can be defined using the standard sizes from the Hole Wizard database (FINALLY!).  There is a new option, Standard, in the Cosmetic Thread PropertyManager that gives users a selection of all available standards to choose from.  I know that this is a small improvement, but it’s one that I know I personally have wished for every time I’ve had to add threads manually.  The information has always been there, there just wasn’t a way to access it.

ASSEMBLIES

Make External Components Virtual

In SolidWorks 2010, external components of an assembly can now be made virtual.  Existing reference to the component is ignored, the component is renamed, and there is no link back to the original external part.  The virtualization can be done at the time of insert or after the component has been inserted into the assembly.  The only use I see for myself for this tool is converting a library assembly into a part.

Assembly Component Instance References

SolidWorks 2010 now allows users to assign different values for each component instance in an assembly.  When component instances have different reference values, they can be shown in a BOM as discrete line items and can be linked to balloon text in drawings.  This enhancement will also help immensely if you use SolidWorks Routing, as previously you needed to uncheck “Update component names when documents are replaced” in the System Options|External References dialogue to avoid issues when components were replaced.

Assembly Visualization

SolidWorks 2010 has a new tool called Assembly Visualization that enables users to display and sort components of an assembly based on custom properties.  In the image to the right, for instance, you can see the mass distribution in the components of the assembly.  This information is critical to have if trying to hit a weight bogey, and this tool helps easily identify the heavier components.  It could also be used to find a cost distribution.  The colored display is reminiscent of the SolidWorks Simulation reports, and can be customized.

Assembly Mirroring

Mirroring components within an assembly has been enhanced in SolidWorks 2010 with the addition of the MirrorComponent feature.  This new feature is added to the FeatureManager to maintain the position of all the mirrored components relative to the seed components.  It is an editable feature, and has the option to just mirror the components about the selected plane or to create opposite-hand versions as derived configurations in the mirrored components.

DRAWINGS/DETAILING

Rapid Dimension Tool

SolidWorks 2010 has a new Rapid Dimension tool that enables users to quickly add evenly-spaced dimensions to drawing views.   A glyph, called the rapid dimension manipulator, appears whenever you have selected an entity to dimension, and allows the user to place the dimension in the correct orientation, even when zoomed in tight on the view.

In addition, if you delete a dimension, SolidWorks 2010 can be set to automatically readjust the remaining dimensions to eliminate any gaps that may be created.  This setting is a document property.

Parametric Quantities on Balloons

You can now add parametric quantities to balloons in the industry-standard way as shown in the image to the right.  No more having to manually add a note, and then group it with the balloon, and having to remember to update the quantity if it changes!  The quantity can be shown to the right, left, top, or bottom of the balloon.

Annotation Attachments

New handles have been added to annotations, such as Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) and surface finish symbols, that make it easier to attach and detach annotations to other annotations and dimension witness lines.

Drawing Center Mark Improvements

SolidWorks 2010 will now add a gap between center marks and dimension witness lines, whether the holes were dimensioned before adding the center mark, or dimensioning a hole with a center mark already placed.  Previously, you would have to add the center mark and then dimension to that instead of the hole to have the witness lines show the gap.  By dimensioning to the hole, the center mark can be deleted without leaving the dimension dangling.

Dimension Palette

SolidWorks 2010 now has a new heads-up dimension palette that appears whenever you insert a new dimension or select an existing dimension.  It lets the user access most of the formatting options available in the Dimension PropertyManager without having to mouse over to the side of the screen.

Notes Improvements

In SolidWorks 2010, borders can now be added to selected portions of notes.  This should make referencing flag notes and the like easier to format.  In addition, you can now drag notes into other notes, and they will be appended to the end of the note.  In the case of numbered drawing notes, the dragged note will take on the next sequential number.

GENERAL/OTHER

Reference Planes

SolidWorks 2010 allows creation of more types of reference planes, such as mid-plane (FINALLY!).  The interface has changed somewhat and may take a little getting used to.  New users should have no trouble picking it up, but old-timers may have a little trouble with it, as you don’t get the various plane options until something is selected.  After a selection is made, it then shows the available plane options and attempts to choose the option best-suited to what has been selected.  At first, I was kind of turned off by the new interface, but after using it for a while, it grew on me and I found it quite intuitive and it generally seemed to select the plane option I was after.

Online Help

Starting with SolidWorks 2010, the Help file system is now hosted online.  Now, the help files can be updated on an as-need basis instead of waiting for a service pack.  It should also help with localization.  And expect more resources to be available in the future.  For systems that cannot be connected to the Internet, the standalone files will still be delivered during installation.

Multibody Sheet Metal Parts

SolidWorks 2010 adds functionality to sheet metal parts by adding multibody support.  Now, you can have sheet metal and weldment parts in one file!

You can also perform sheet metal operations on two separate bodies and combine them by adding an edge flange between them (provided, of course, that both bodies have the same thickness).  In addition, you can now use the Mirror Part command on sheet metal parts.

Find Similar Material

I have posted previously about the new SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress and Sustainability products, and the Find Similar Material tool included with it looks to have real potential.  Even if you aren’t interested in designing green with sustainability in mind, this tool can still come in handy.  Every version of SolidWorks comes with SustainabilityXpress, so check it out!

SUMMARY

Of course, this isn’t a complete list.  It’s just the new features and improvements that impressed me the most and the ones that I think will help me become more proficient in my work.

To see more of what’s new in SolidWorks 2010, you can access the What’s New in SolidWorks Version 2010 document at Ricky Jordan’s What’s New Guides repository.

Some images courtesy of SolidWorks and the What’s New in SolidWorks Version 2010 document.

Now we’re getting more into the SolidWorks Premium offerings – Part 4 of my SolidWorks 2008 Preview focuses on the enhancements made to COSMOSWorks Designer.  This is also the last preview that focuses on SolidWorks’ first goal of helping users "Focus on Design, not CAD"…

Bolt Connectors

The first enhancements to COSMOSWorks Designer is Bolt Connectors.  You can now define a bolt connector for a single bolt or for a hole series pattern with a mouse click and all information needed to define the bolt is automatically added.  Bolt connector allows more than two parts to be fastened together, and countersink bolts can be defined.  The connector definition allows for mass properties to be calculated and included in the analysis for more realistic representation.

Design Scenarios

Design Scenarios now allow direct cut-and-paste access to tabular data from programs like MS Excel and Word.  The input window can be resized and parameter values can be automatically filled in using linear, exponential, or uniform data fills.  Coordinate system-dependent output has also been added to the Results Summary.

I don’t do much analysis, but I’m sure that these enhancements to COSMOSWorks Designer will help users to focus more on their designs instead of running the CAD system.

The next part of my preview where we see what SolidWorks has done to help meet their second goal of helping users "Reuse Existing Designs to Save Time".  There are some very interesting improvements in this area, so tune in!

Along with the new large assembly management additions I spoke of in Part 2 of my SolidWorks 2008 Preview, SolidWorks 2008 also features several nifty BOM and drawing enhancements. Drawings have always been one of the things in SolidWorks that gives me fits, so I am really glad to see some really useful enhancements in this area.

Virtual Components

First off, SolidWorks has added a new assembly feature:  virtual components.  This will really come in handy for those of us who have items in their BOMs, such as paint, grease, oil, etc.  Virtual components allows you to create a new component in an assembly without having the file management overhead.  The component is shown in the assembly FeatureManager tree, and shows up in the BOM, but there is no actual part file created.  There is the option to save it out to an actual part file, which is handy, as all parts created in context of the assembly will start out as virtual components.

Bidirectional BOM Editing

I don’t know about you, but a lot of times when designing parts, the part number and description fields (among many others) of my parts and assemblies don’t always get populated.  Then when the BOM is placed on a drawing, there are empty cells where there are missing properties or incorrect entries.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply double click in a particluar cell and type the correct information and have that pushed back into the part or assembly file?  Well, in SolidWorks 2008, that is the way the BOM works with the new bidirectional BOM editing.  You can quickly add properties that are associative in the more natural environment of the BOM table instead of having to switch back to the component file.

On-Screen Table Controls

Tables in drawings can now be manipulated easier and quicker than before with the new drag-and-drop functionality.  This works exactly as you would expect – no more slow funky dialogue to rearrange rows and columns.

Copy Sheets

Finally, you can now copy entire drawings sheets in a drawing or into a separate drawing using most of the standard copy and paste procedures, including right mouse button menus and Ctrl+dragging sheets across tiled windows.  This works with both PropertyManager items as well as sheet tabs.

Switching Sheets

Drawing performance when switching sheets in a drawing is vastly improved over earlier versions.  SolidWorks states "virtually instantaneous" switching to "a previously viewed sheet".  I haven’t done enough testing, but the "previously viewed" caveat leads seems to indicate that the first time you switch sheets in a drawing will still be somewhat slower, but I believe that is to be expected.

Exclude Ribs From Section Views

You can now exclude ribs from sectioning in drawing section views in the same way that assembly components can be excluded.  This allows users to be able to create drawings that more closely adhere to their particular standards.

The BOM enhancements are some of my favorite additions to SolidWorks 2008, and I feel that they will definitely help users work more efficiently.  I know they will definitely save me some time and frustration!

In Part 1 of my SolidWorks 2008 Preview, I talked about the new user interface and some of the new SWIFT technology.  In Part 2, I will focus on the large assembly management tools that SolidWorks has introduced to make working with large assemblies easier.

Quick View/Selective Open

When opening an assembly in SolidWorks 2008, there is a new option called Quick View/Selective Open.  Enabling this option when opening a large assembly allows almost instantaneous viewing of the assembly, and the user selects on the fly what components they wish to work with to simplfy the assembly.  All other components are then hidden and not loaded into memory.  However, all mates are honored so that you can work on an assembly as if everything is loaded.

Here where I work, we use a default blank configuration in our assembly template here so that we can quickly open large assemblies and then unsupress what we want to work on.  With the new Quick View/Selective Open option, this large assembly tip looks to be obsolete now!

Display States

You can also open an assembly by selecting a specific display state.  When using this option, you can decide if hidden components get loaded into memory.  The link between display states and configurations can now be broken, which will turn the display state into a Global Display State.

Search and Filter the FeatureManager

You can now search the FeatureManager tree for features of parts or assembly components.  You can filter your search by any of the following:

• feature type
• feature name
• sketches
• folders
• mates
• user-defined tags

Note the last filter option listed above.  Yes, you can now add tags to any item in the FeatureManager!

Tagging is a very cool concept that lets you easily and quickly add keywords to your sketches, features, etc. that can be searched on to quickly find specific items.  This concept will be familiar to anyone who uses Flickr, del-icio-us, CADJunky, YouTube, or any of the other similar sites that use tags to quickly bookmark items.

I am very impressed from using the large assembly management tools that SolidWorks has implemented in 2008, and they are some of my favorite enhancements in SolidWorks 2008 (along with some of the new drawing features – more on that later!).  I know that they will all come in handy here where I work, as we are starting to have some issues dealing with very large assemblies.  They will definitely make my job a little easier!

One of the first major changes users are going to notice is that the UI has had a major overhaul.  They have reduced the number of mouse clicks required by adding customizable pop-up toolbars to access most functions.  The Command Manager layout has also changed:  tabs are now used for accessing the different task Toolbars.  I know some people have mixed feelings on these changes.  Personally, I like it – once you get used to the changes.  And I also use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, so some of the UI changes don’t affect my workflow as much.  Hopefully, you will be able to customize the entire UI to suite your tastes.

Also a major change in the UI is the capability of modeling in a more realistic environment, using real-time materials, lighting, reflections, and shadows.  The new RealView engine provides these capabilities, along with the ability to use pre-made scenes to approximate realistic enviroments.  This can be a nice option to have when one is staring at a computer monitor all day, but if you have an older system, a video card upgrade will probably be in order to take full advantage of RealView.

Although I actually like most of the changes to the UI, I can see it causing a few issues, especially with users who are generally adamant about change.  I’m sure I will get several questions and complaints from my users here when we roll out SolidWorks 2008.  Although with time, I’m sure most will grow to love the new interface.

SolidWorks has also added more functionality into the SWIFT suite.  One enhancement that looks interesting is the new Instant3D capability, which enables users to easily create and modify geometry by dragging most features and dimensions in real time.  When dragging one of the drag handles that appears when a face/egde/dimension is clicked on, a ruler pops up to give you dynamic dimensional feedback with snaps.  Click here to see a demonstration of Instant3D in action.

There is also an extension to Instant3D, Live Section, which is similar to the existing SolidWorks dynamic Section View.  The difference in Live Section is that one can drag section profile edges in order to change the design intent while in the command.

Another SWIFT updated technology is the SketchXpert.  It now displays dimensions and relations to be deleted with a strikethrough and cycling through different solutions is faster.

DimXpert has been updated to work with parts.  Now, users can apply automatic geometric dimensions and tolerances according to the ASME Y14.41-2003 3D specification.  These dimensions and tolerances can then be automatically placed in the 2D drawing and manipulated like any other annotation.  DimXpert will show you if your model is fully-, over-, or under-constrained by highlighting the model in green, red, or yellow, respectively.  Click here to see a demonstration of the new functionality in DimXpert.

The AssemblyXpert will analyze your assemblies and make suggestions to help improve performance.  In some cases, users can have SolidWorks make the changes for them.

FilletXpert has been updated with Corner Alternatives and Edge Selection.  The Corner Alternatives option will present users with different types of corner blends possible and make the necessary changes to the feature order in order to obtain the selected blend.  The Edge Selection option will allow for easy and intuitive edge group selection for the Fillet command.

I personally am excited about the additions to DimXpert and FilletXpert.  I know that I will defintely put them to use in my work.

SolidWorks SWIFT technologies does seem to help users focus more on their design and less on the CAD system.  SWIFT also seems to level the playing field, so to speak, between power users and new/casual users.  Some folks think that this is a "dumbing down" of modeling.  In a way, it is; I only hope that it doesn’t discourage the use of good fundamental modeling practices.

Check back soon for Part 2 of my SolidWorks 2008 Preview.  It will focus on more of the new and updated tools to help you "Focus on Design, not CAD", including tools to help with large assemblies, and drawing and analysis enhancements.