What Do You Wish the Future of SolidWorks could be? | SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

My Top 10 SolidWorks Wish List

Published

on March 17, 2008

. Tags: cad, future, solidworks.

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Just about everybody wishes SolidWorks could do this or that or complains that it doesn’t do something really cool. I could throw down a list of things I don’t like, but that’s just makes the selection of fresh organic produce seem even worse than it actually is. Which is actually better than the selection of ripe avocados.

This is a list that started out as complaints actually, but I looked at it, looked at again, watched some movie trailers, ate an organic cookie and decided to write the following list instead.

Maybe it’s more of a, “what if?”, but it got me thinking about a lot of things. What do you think?

I wish…

SolidWorks could be web-based.
we could update hardware as often as software.
the model could be the drawing.
data management could be web-based, graphical and simple.
others using SolidWorks could provide comments on my model in real-time.
we could browse model history instead of clicking and dragging though it.
we could develop a model in it’s environment.
we could use more than a single button to sketch geometry.
SolidWorks had a relationship with a certain coffee shop so we could get a discount.
I could create a feed for my project I can track anywhere.

What do you think SolidWorks could be?

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Viewing 12 Comments

Gabi 8 months ago 1 point
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You know, I kind of like it more or less the way it is. Haven't got many new wishes, except for this: I really wish it was a bit more affordable ($)!

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Devon T. Sowell 8 months ago 1 point
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1. Real time F.E.A. in the SolidWorks U.I.

2. The ability to create CNC Code on the fly in SolidWorks. Another view on this, in SolidWorks I specify a specific CNC Machine (HAAS model xxx). Then, I load a chunk of Material into the virtual machine. Then I select a Face, chose to Drill a Hole for example, and in SolidWorks the correct Tool is chosen and it drills the Hole. The Tool Selection and G Code are created at the same time.

3. Real time Electrical Circuit creation; build a PCB, load the components, apply 'electrical power' and see the results. Is the desired current generated?

4. Hey Scott Harris, are you gettin' all this?

Devon Sowell
http://www.3-ddesignsolutions.com

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http://www.3-ddesignsolutions.com

Adrian Dunevein 8 months ago 1 point
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1. Solidworks does all the work while I'm sitting on a beach somewhere.

2. Never mind the work at all, just send me the money

3. A System with a Terabyte of memory and a black hole for a hard drive whose access time is so fast that I actually get my projects finished the day before I'm asked to start them.

4. Software thats so intuitive it actually reads your mind and tells you through the pc speaker, using Mikeys voice from American Chopper - "that designs a piece of crap - and you are a wanker"

5. A Brain transplant so I keep up to speed with all this new Solidworks stuff

5.

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http://www.aaadrafting.com

Design Engineer 8 months ago 1 point
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Browsable revision history recorded in the model and linked to revision table in the drawing.

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Steve Howe 8 months ago 1 point
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Re Item #6 on your list - if you select (in 2007) System Options/Feature Manager/Arrow Key Navigation you can browse the feature manager with the up and down arrow keys.

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Kyle Mason 8 months ago 1 point
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Add the 4th dimension. Time.

Have it be a slider bar that you could slide back to the very beginning of your file, add bookmarks along this slider that tell of revisions, prototypes, changes, and other user-defined properties (possible link with outlook's journal). Have the graphics screen display your model/assembly as it appeared at that time.

BUT, have an option to save without all this data to keep file sizes low.

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http://home.pct.edu/~maskyl27

al dean 8 months ago 1 point
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Josh dude - have you had a look at what Dassault have cooking for Catia V6? it covers a HUGE amount of this and its just around the corner man... web-based delivery (soon), browsable PPR tree (as V5 had), live commenting (full 3D collaboration UI)...

http://www.3ds.com/products-solutions/plm-solut...

I know its going to be expensive, but this stuff is going to blow your mind...*

al

*when it ships - or not as the case may be..

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Josh 8 months ago 1 point
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ahahaha. you got it man! I've been waiting to see more. Martyn's review on it was pretty good. If it lives up that freakin' trailer, it will indeed rock. If it cost a lot it will suck, but for those feature...hmmm. maybe what I should ask (another post maybe?) is why are we not seeing this stuff in other CAD systems? what is the apprehension to web-based usage when HD content is already being delivered? If they can use system resources to run a program off a thumb drive why not from a browser?

Well, no matter. Dassault is doing it with V6. It gonna be cool to see some demos for once.

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Al Dean 8 months ago 1 point
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I did a thing a while back when they first showed some sneaky looks at V6 in paris... the technology base is incredible if they pull it off.. no doubts they will, just a question of when..

http://www.mcadonline.com/index.php?option=com_...

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Josh 8 months ago 1 point
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as long as there's not too many creepy virtual avatar people. That just makes me think Lawnmower Man all over again. :)

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John Burrill 8 months ago 1 point
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Native format attachments: Insert a Pro-E model into a Solidworks assembly without having to translate it. I'd be tickled pink if I could get the brep, material and meta data. I don't need the features. As long as it updates when it's supposed to, I'm jolly. Yeah, OK, no hole series or propogated assembly cuts unless.
Demand linking: You know how when you insert a block into a part or a model, or a library feature, you can populate a checkbox and have it link to an external file? Why can't you do that wit model components? Virtual components is getting there, but once you save the part externally there's no going back. I think this would solve the portablity problem. This was kind of what they were going for with detached drawings, excepting that you couldn't open and edit the model.
Remove the distinction between multi-body parts and assemlbies. It's barely there right now. You can pull a BOM from a weldment, you can pull a wire-list from a route, you can save a body as a seperate part, you can insert a part into another part. You can store a new part in an assembly (as long as you don't save it while you're editing it.) So really, what difference-apart from semantics-is there between a part and an assembly? It's all a list of mutual exclusions. Fine, get rid of the exclusions and have one file extension: sldmdl.
Assembly driven parameter support: This is for your spring that needs to stretch. Basically, any parameter or dimension would have a checkbox to allow an assembly to override it. So you model your helix in it's free state and then take the pitch/height parameter and check 'allow assembly to override' (we won't call it adaptivity for obvious reasons) Insert the spring into an assembly, position and mate it as you normally and when you drag a non-fixed component pitch value changes and the spring expands or collapses Maybe allow a range of values the assembly could solve. This could also be useful for crimping terminals
Assembly driven deforms: have the ability to apply body modifiers at the assembly level-stuff like flex, deform, freeform
OK, I've ranted enough

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Adolf 7 months ago 1 point
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Hi
I Have Solidworks 2007
I wisha tool which will unfold/flatpattern
a Football for me

Adolf

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