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.

If you are interested in participating in SolidWorks usability testing, check out the post on the SolidWorks Blog for details.  They are looking for folks from all skill levels to do exploratory, free-form usability test on development builds of SolidWorks.

Most of the time, the tests are done online, and you will get to see possible new functionality and have input on the direction of the software!  Sign-up is free and all you have to do to sign up is fill out a short survey.

Image courtesy chabster.

If you haven’t noticed, people are different.  They have different tastes in clothing, food, and music.  You say tomato, I say ‘mater.

So it follows that designers will have different modeling methodologies.  Sometimes, even circumstances or desired design intent dictate how you model something.

Take for instance this simple part with an o-ring groove in it:

I had a new SolidWorks user approach me a while back with the question, “How do I create something like this?”

I responded by showing them several different methods to achieve the same result.

One approach would be to do a Cut Revolve:

Another method (and what I believe a lot of folks would do) would be to offset a plane from the end and sketch the profile to cut:

Then, simply do a Cut Extrusion:

 
I’m not really a fan of this method, unless your design intent requires the plane for something else (i.e., aligning the o-ring), as I try to have as clean a Feature Manager as possible.  Sometimes, work geometry can clutter up things…

Another option, which is similar to the last yet may be unfamiliar to you, eliminates the creation of an offset work plane.  You simply create the sketch on the existing end face and then do a Cut Extrude, offsetting the start of the cut.

All of the above methods yield the same result, albeit with varying features and number of features:

Of course, there are multiple other ways that this could be accomplished, perhaps some better than these.  The o-ring groove could even have simply been modeled in the original sketch, although that may not be considered a “best practice” by some…

All of this is to say that there isn’t really a right and wrong way to model.  But sometimes one method is better than the other – and that is your call to make.

(Download SolidWorks 2009 file here.)

After hearing of SolidWorks’ new sustainable product tool, code-named “Sage”, at this year’s SolidWorks World conference, I decided to learn a little more about it.  So I contacted Mr. Rich Chin, Director of Product Innovation at SolidWorks.

After a few rounds of email tag over the last few weeks, I am pleased to bring you this dialogue on the day that SolidWorks Labs has released SustainabilityXpress.  I hope you find it informative!

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CADFanatic:  Hi Rick, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Before we begin, could you please tell us a little bit about your background?

Rick Chin:  I’m a 23 year veteran of the CAD space. I’ve worked for UG, PTC, Pratt & Whitney (as in-house CAD expert), SolidWorks, and Xpress3D (my own startup). Jon Hirschtick hired me in 1995, and I left in 2001 to start Xpress3D. I returned in 2005 when SolidWorks acquired the FeatureXpert technology from me. eDrawings has been one of the most notable achievements I have been involved with. Currently, I am working with the team that is developing our new SolidWorks Sustainability product.

CF:  How did you become involved with SolidWorks?

RC:  Prior to joining SolidWorks, I was a demo jock and product manager for PTC. I left PTC in 1994 with the hope of one day starting a company focused on creating a MS Windows version of Pro/E. I soon learned about a startup that was already developing that product. The company was venture capital funded and had rock stars like Jon Hirschtick and Mike Payne (who I had worked with at PTC). I realized that there was no way to beat them, so I decided to join them. This was one of the best career moves of my life.

CF:  At SolidWorks World 2009 in Orlando earlier this year, Jeff Ray mentioned an upcoming tool called Sage to help SolidWorks users create designs that have lower environmental impacts, or sustainable design. What exactly is “sustainable design”, and how is it implemented?

RC:  From our perspective, all design will soon be “sustainable design”. This is all about minimizing the total environmental of the products designed by our customers. To accomplish this, design professionals must be able to measure those impacts, and then proactively work to reduce them. Ideally, it should be a natural part of the design process.

We have equipped our customers to do this by building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) right into SolidWorks. LCA is a very comprehensive way of looking at a product’s production, use, and final disposal; and the environmental impacts that result. The environmental impacts we measure are: carbon footprint, total energy consumed, effects on air, and effects on water.

We have taken this very sophisticated analysis and made it “SolidWorks simple”. We accomplish this by limiting the number of inputs, and providing real-time results in an easy to understand dashboard.

By the way, “Sage” was the code name for our project. The official product names are SolidWorks Sustainability and SustainabilityXpress. SustainabilityXpress allows our users to analyze individual parts. The full Sustainability product allows them to analyze assemblies, compare configurations, and works with our new Assembly Visualization tool (very cool!).

CF:  Who is the target audience for Sage?

RC:  Our target audience for SolidWorks Sustainability and SustainabilityXpress is just about anyone who is using SolidWorks to design product. SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress will be available to all SolidWorks users, and is a great way to easily try out sustainable design. SolidWorks Sustainability is for our users who are interested in understanding and improving the environmental impact of the complete products they are designing.

CF:  Jeff Ray mentioned that a version of Sage will be rolled out prior to the release of SolidWorks 2010. Can you give any details of that?

RC:  Yes, we are providing a preview of the SustainabilityXpress product. It is going to be available THIS WEEK on our SolidWorks Labs website. It is an add-in to SolidWorks 2009 and is available to all SolidWorks users who are running that version of the software. That also includes students who are using our educational products. The product isn’t perfect yet, but we are looking forward to getting feedback from our users on it.

CF:  What is the timeframe for the product release?

RC:  SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress will be available this week on Labs and in the 2010 Beta. Full SolidWorks Sustainability will be available in a later Beta build around August. Both levels of the product will be completed and released with SolidWorks 2010 this fall.

CF:  What level of SolidWorks will be required to have access to the full Sage tool?

RC:  Great news … SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress will be built into every seat of SolidWorks 2010 for no additional charge. Every SolidWorks user will be able to make sustainable design a part of their every day process.

SolidWorks Sustainability is an add-in to SolidWorks that will be sold separately for a price that we will announce later this summer. Please note that it is NOT a part of the Professional or Premium bundles. It is a separately packaged product with its own price.

CF:  How will utilizing the Sage tool impact a user’s workflow?

RC:  We are designing the product so that it can be effortlessly included in today’s design flow. Material choice is an important consideration for all design professionals. It is also an important influencer in the environmental impact of products. We built a very cool “Find Similar Material” tool into the Sustainability products. I think everyone will find it useful, whether you are interested in sustainable design or not. As you use the tool to help you find the material for the job, you will see the magnitude of your part’s environmental impact change in real-time. As you evaluate materials for their mechanical properties, you will simultaneously see their impacts. No extra work or time required.

CF:  How dedicated is SolidWorks to continuing to work to develop Sage?

RC:  Like I mentioned above, we feel that all design will soon be sustainable design. Slowly, more and more of our customers are asking for this. And their customers are starting to demand it. We see the SolidWorks Sustainability product as the first of many products we hope to develop in the near future.

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I would like to thank Mr. Chin for taking the time to answer our questions.  If you have any other questions, please leave a comment and I’m sure that Rick will be glad to follow up here.

Last November, I posted a tip on how to more easily mate components using an Alt-Drag technique.  A reader had a question about it, so I thought I would create a video demonstrating it.  I hope it helps.  (Tip: switch to full screen or view in HD on Vimeo)

http://www.vimeo.com/5232657

This is my first attempt at video in quite a while, and I was impressed with the results!  Sorry about the audio, but I don’t think it’s too bad.

Like it/hate it?  Let me know what you think in the comments!