CAD Tech News (#122)

The End of SOLIDWORKS World — and a New Beginning

Dassault Systèmes struck a new note in Nashville, debuting the 3DEXPERIENCE World user conference in place of the venerable SOLIDWORKS World.

By Cadalyst Staff

An event that kicked off this week in Nashville, Tennessee, was simultaneously new and familiar to many attendees. After more than two decades, the annual user conference formerly known as SOLIDWORKS World has been revised, restructured, and reborn as 3DEXPERIENCE World. Although the name change might raise suspicions to the contrary, the event is "a new, and expanded, and truly authentic SOLIDWORKS experience," SOLIDWORKS CEO Gian Paolo Bassi assured the assembled attendees.

Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, commented on the change during the opening session: "We have put a lot of thought observing this vibrant community ... thinking about, What can we do with you next? How can we prepare your future so you will be empowered to realize bigger dreams? This is about the future, and this is about SOLIDWORKS World becoming 3DEXPERIENCE World. In one way, you have moved from flat drawings to 3D; we want to give you the possibilities to move from 3D to live experiences, to virtual twin experiences, to really transform the way you do your business," he said.

From SOLIDWORKS to WORKS: Addressing a Broader Community

The new event addresses more than SOLIDWORKS: In addition to "all our SOLIDWORKS community," Bassi extended a welcome to users of Dassault Systèmes' ENOVIA, SIMULIA, and DELMIAWORKS — the latter "for the first time part of our event," he noted. (Dassault Systèmes acquired the IQMS software company in 2019, and rebranded the IQMS manufacturing enterprise resource planning [ERP] portfolio as DELMIAWORKS.) "We are all part of the 'WORKS' community, because we are adding the superpowers of the Dassault Systèmes brand to the SOLIDWORKS DNA," Bassi continued.

Those sentiments may have been intended to reassure SOLIDWORKS users that they still have an important place at the table, but they also indicate that SOLIDWORKS is being brought further into alignment with other Dassault Systèmes solutions — and that means closer ties to the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform (although Dassault is still offering the standalone SOLIDWORKS desktop version as well). Read more »

Sponsored: Cities Leverage Digital Twin Initiatives to Advance BIM and GIS, Improving the Quality of Life for Their Constituents

Two cities — one in China, one in Portugal — provide examples of how local governments are benefiting from simulating real-world situations, optimizing systems and processes, and monitoring the performance and condition of assets.

By Bentley Systems

Local governments around the world are finding ways to work more collaboratively in innovative digital initiatives. They are gaining new insights by simulating real-world situations, optimizing systems and processes, and monitoring the performance and condition of assets. The results are improved public safety and smarter, more resilient city infrastructure. Among the cities going digital are Chengdu, China, and Oporto, Portugal. These projects were represented as finalists in Bentley Systems' 2019 Year in Infrastructure Awards for their innovative use of digital context for digital twins and for their strategies in implementing digital workflows.

Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, is undergoing a CNY 1.38 billion road reconstruction project in the Shanbanquio area of the city. The project includes constructing 4.3 kilometers of roads, as well as bridges, tunnels, an underground pedestrian passageway, and pipeline and auxiliary works. The design of the main road needed to accommodate cars traveling at 60 kilometers per hour while the auxiliary roads had to support speeds of 40 kilometers per hour.

The project team faced several design challenges, including space constraints between the elevated and lower portions of the roadway and the connectors. It also had to determine the horizontal distances between pile foundations, the extended overpass bridge, and the boundary conditions, and consider a power tunnel, two subway stations, and three sections of subway line. Moreover, the designs had to ensure smooth traffic flow on the connectors as well as the slower lanes that connect to commercial businesses along both sides of the roadway. Finally, the project team had to consider how it would design and construct a safe pedestrian passage system along the green space and parks that are next to the high-traffic areas. Chengdu Urban Construction Investment Management Group Co., Ltd. required a high level of coordination at the design stage to avoid mistakes, omissions, and collisions.

Existing pipe probing and designed pipeline data become part of a collaborative environment to meet planning application requirements, land use review, and approvals. Image courtesy of Chengdu Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute; Chengdu Institute of Survey and Investigation.

Read more »

Gravity Industries Relies on 3D Printing to Make Jet Suits Real

Rapid iteration and testing are key to creating a wearable human flight system that defies gravity in spectacular fashion.

By Cyrena Respini-Irwin

Marvel fans may think of Captain America when they hear the name Rogers, but at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020, presenter Sam Rogers was likened to a different member of the Avengers. This Rogers, introduced as "an actual Iron Man," is the additive design lead at Gravity Industries — and a jet suit pilot. It's not a bad comparison: Although he doesn't dress in glistening red and gold, Rogers does get to fly through the air with the help of arm-mounted jet turbines.

Gravity Industries was founded in 2017 by Richard Browning, who "had a hunch that by augmenting the human body with sufficient propulsion, it would enable a human to fly with the most minimal equipment possible," Rogers said. The first step in testing that hunch, he explained, was "attaching a turbine to your body with the simply available aluminum extrusion from the DIY store and testing what it feels like to disprove the first assumption that you have by putting a turbine on your arm" — namely, that it would be uncontrollable (and that it just might rip your arm off). Read more »

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Cyrena Respini-Irwin is Cadalyst's editor in chief.

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The End of SOLIDWORKS World — and a New Beginning
Dassault Systèmes struck a new note in Nashville, debuting the 3DEXPERIENCE World user conference in place of the venerable SOLIDWORKS World. Read more »