SOLIDWORKS World 2017, Part 2: What to Expect from SOLIDWORKS 2018

In addition to modeling and user interface enhancements, Dassault Systèmes plans to launch applications for CAM, project and process management, and nonlinear simulation this year.

File translation enhancements:

• Users can update neutral files and directly insert new neutral file formats, including STEP, IGES, ACIS, and JT. “Once they’re inserted, they’re treated just like any other SOLIDWORKS file, meaning we could easily mate it into place,” explained plaid-clad country-boy contestant Billy Bob Roberts.

• 3D Interconnect now supports new types of geometry, including curves and unconsumed sketches, from CAD applications other than SOLIDWORKS.
• 3D Interconnect files now support custom properties.

Fabrication without fixturing:

• New tools automate the creation of tab-and-slot attachments. These can hold parts together for welding, eliminating the need for fixtures. Tabs and slots can be created on single parts, multibody parts, or assemblies. Users choose an edge to start defining a tab, and a face where the slot terminates. The number of tabs can be quickly adjusted by changing the number of instances.

• Bidirectional communication between SOLIDWORKS PDM and drawing revision tables; when a drawing is checked into PDM, all data is automatically extracted from the drawing and entered there.

Working with large assemblies:

• Users can work in a mixed environment with both graphics and resolved objects; multiple objects can be resolved in Large Design Review.
• Users can insert and mate graphics-only components.

Generative design:

• Generative design capability will be added to existing SOLIDWORKS simulation tools to speed up the process of optimizing topology. These analyses can be carried out early in the creation of new designs, or when optimizing existing designs. Using a simulation workflow, users can add connections and forces, and specify goals such as removing mass or maintaining stiffness.
• The simulation results can be overlaid on the SOLIDWORKS model to guide the user in making adjustments to the design.

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