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SolidWorks 2010: Yes, There’s Some Wow
12 Nov, 2009 By: Bill FaneMost development for latest version was under the hood, but we found some fantastic new features on the surface as well.
In many ways, SolidWorks 2010 reminds me of the "duck-pond syndrome." Everything seems calm and quiet on the surface, but there's a lot of powerful paddling going on below the waterline.
IIn a meeting earlier this year, Jeremy Regnerus, product marketing manager for Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, emphasized that SolidWorks 2010 has very few Wow features. Most development work for this version, he explained, has gone into making the product faster, more stable, and more reliable. The truth is, the newest version still has more than 200 detail improvements, most of them originating from customer requests.
Faster Rebuilds
Let's look at the speed issue first. Regnerus demonstrated a part rebuild that performed 95% faster in SolidWorks 2010 than in SolidWorks 2009. As the saying goes, "Your results may vary," so you probably won't get this sort of improvement all the time in every part, but it does indicate the direction of the company’s efforts. I would have liked to see the time savings achieved for a more complex model — after all, a 95% improvement in rebuilding a 3-minute part really would be something.
SolidWorks also has worked on the user interface. The big news here is the new mouse-gesturing feature. Simply right-click and drag in one of eight directions. A halo of commands appears around the cursor, with highlighting to show the one you are about to select. This feature can be customized to your command preferences.
When Regnerus said that there were very few Wow features, he may have fibbed a little bit.
SustainabilityXpress
For example, SolidWorks 2010 adds something called SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress. With it, you can design a part using normal procedures, including specifying the material. You then can select the regions of the world where the part is to be manufactured and where it is to be sold. SustainabilityXpress then produces a series of environmental-impact evaluations. These evaluations include detailed factors such as the production, use, and disposal of the part and the engine emissions from the ship used to bring the part from Asia to North America.
SustainabilityXpress also includes a Find Similar Material functionality. If you specify a particular plastic material, for example, it will try to find other plastics that have the same or better physical properties, but with less environmental impact.
The Find Similar Material functionality in SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress enables users to search the material database to find suitable alternative materials or materials that meet certain mechanical criteria.
SustainabilityXpress initially is offered for single parts only, but the full version of the product, SolidWorks Sustainability, evaluates entire assemblies and allows more specific input of data, such as the amount and type of energy consumed during use and the specific methods of transportation.
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