SolidWorks World 2010: Clouds, Macs, Movie Making, and More

11 Feb, 2010 By: Nancy Spurling Johnson

Event report: The annual user conference drew 5,000 to see and hear what's happening and what's ahead for the 3D mechanical CAD platform.

It seemed everywhere you turned an ear at

On a more serious note, Ray opened his company's annual user conference by thanking the 5,000 attendees who had registered by the morning of Day 1. At a time when many CAD user events are seeing significant drops in attendance or are being migrated to online-only formats, SolidWorks World attendance was up from 4,300 last year.

After welcoming the group to the Anaheim Convention Center near Disneyland, Ray introduced Bernard Charles, president and CEO of SolidWorks' parent company, Dassault Systemes. Charles's appearance at SolidWorks World was a first. Ray emphasized several times over the course of the week that he invited Charles to the event — perhaps an effort to assuage the concerns of some users that the parent company could undesirably influence or hinder the development of this valued CAD solution?

For his part, Charles said, "We are investing in SolidWorks for the long term," including research and development of the technology. "We will continue to expand the scope of the technology to further serve the 3D professional," he added.

ENOVIA, the Dassault Systemes product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, will be on the cloud, and users will share data "just like people today share photos with family and friends." Ray stated in a press conference later that SolidWorks will talk to ENOVIA V6 online beginning later this year.

Taking a look at the evolution of CAD-related technology, Charles noted that the 1980s brought about a transition from 2D to 3D technology; the 1990s was the era of the digital mockup, and the last decade was all about product lifecycle management (PLM). The 2010s, he said, will usher in computer-based lifelike experience, where users will simulate and validate designs "before you ever spend energy or materials to produce anything." 3D worlds will connect communities, including researchers, engineers, consumers, and educators. "Our dream for the next ten years is to use 3D everywhere to invent and imagine," Charles concluded.

When Ray took the stage again, the message was green — design, that is. Consumers are demanding environmentally friendly products, he said, and product development technologies will have to deliver the needed functionality. Ray then introduced designers Jeremy Luchini and Mike North and their amazing electric car built on bus batteries and a race car chassis from Factory Five Racing. Resembling a late '30s-era Ford coupe, the vehicle can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 sec. Charles took advantage of the crowd's attention and demonstrated how — even though the car would not fit on the stage — he could superimpose a SolidWorks-based visualization of the electric car onto a photo of the group on stage and share it instantly using his iPhone and 3D Via Mobile.

The company then announced Let's Go Design, a new web site that will use a community approach to designing products suggested by participants.

Ray recapped the company's success last year with its Engineering Stimulus Package, a program that aims to help unemployed CAD users to improve software skills. Ray said 60,000 downloaded the materials, 22,000 completed the full course load via a reseller, 2,200 reported that they got jobs, and 400 now have Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) certification.

Drumroll, Please: A Look into the Cloud — and the Mac

Next came the buzz-worthy preview of SolidWorks on the cloud (aka software as a service, or SaaS), wherein software is hosted on powerful server farms and users access it using an Internet browser. "This is designed not for flash, but to solve problems and make your life easier," Ray said, adding that the technology has been in development for three years. Cloud computing overcomes the challenges of software installation and maintenance and, according to the company, keeps data secure. It is multiplatform by its very nature, meaning it is accessible to users regardless of operating system, and it can accommodate touch-based modeling and finger and pen interaction — that is, any wireless-connected device from anywhere could link the user to the full functionality of the 3D software.

Now you can use a Mac to model in SolidWorks, Ray told the audience, which reacted with cheers.

Cloud computing facilitates collaborative modeling because there is just one source of data and one version of a file and model updates take effect immediately, and it better facilitates data sharing and legacy data reuse. On the cloud, users can employ traditional search to locate legacy files quickly and minimize the need to create design sketches from scratch. "[This data] can be your own data, others' data, or template data from SolidWorks," Ray said.

Cloud-based design can be more flexible as direct 3D editing is based on window selects, and the increased power of cloud-based servers can speed design and rendering time and decrease system crashes. Even if a system does crash, you never lose any data because the model always stays where you left it, even if you didn't save it, Ray explained.

In a press conference later in the week, Ray offered a few more details regarding SolidWorks for the Mac. He explained that a lightweight version of the software would reside on the cloud, or some portions of the program might be installed on the desktop. A heavyweight version would also be offered — presumably for installation on the desktop, but Ray didn't state that explicitly.

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About the Author: Nancy Spurling Johnson

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Comments

Re: SolidWorks World 2010: Clouds, Macs, Movie Making,...
by: Jonathan Scott
on: April 13, 2010 - 8:03am

I feel there are significant concerns about security and privacy are when we talk about storing intellectual property (like SolidWorks designs) on the cloud. Your article has a quick statement from Jeff Ray on this topic, but it seems to be the primary concern that I hear from the SolidWorks community about "SolidWorks-on-the-cloud". SolidWorks didn't really address this to the broader audience at SolidWorks World 2010, but there are already answers out there, like private clouds and community clouds. My more complete thoughts on this subject, the basics of private and community clouds, and how PLM will benefit from cloud computing can be found at http://www.razorleaf.com/2010/04/cloud-y-with-a-chance-of-plm/

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Re: SolidWorks World 2010: Clouds, Macs, Movie Making,...	by: Jonathan Scott on: April 13, 2010 - 8:03am
I feel there are significant concerns about security and privacy are when we talk about storing intellectual property (like SolidWorks designs) on the cloud. Your article has a quick statement from Jeff Ray on this topic, but it seems to be the primary concern that I hear from the SolidWorks community about "SolidWorks-on-the-cloud". SolidWorks didn't really address this to the broader audience at SolidWorks World 2010, but there are already answers out there, like private clouds and community clouds. My more complete thoughts on this subject, the basics of private and community clouds, and how PLM will benefit from cloud computing can be found at http://www.razorleaf.com/2010/04/cloud-y-with-a-chance-of-plm/