I dunno? A bit too strong, ya think?
At SolidWorks World the most anticipated moments are sleeping and the presentation of features on the next release. SolidWorks 2009 is set to launch the third quarter of 2008 and the development crew has some very pretty functionality they’re cooking up.
Do you want SolidWorks to perform better?
Well, ‘scalability’ just happened to be the flaming corporate whip lashed repeatedly every time 2009 was brought up. (Seriously, it was like a whipping, but one you don’t mind so much. ‘Thankyou sir, may I have another’ type of stuff.)
You can’t have too much talk about performance as long as it’s true. And as Mike Puckett mentioned, the SolidWorks team declared the same mantra of performance increases and concern for the user whether they were loopy or not.
So, performance increases are a sure bet. Really? Sure looks like it. Take a read.
Assemblies
SpeedPak Technology
I love the terminology they come up with sometimes. Speedpak does indeed sound better than amphetamine sulphate pak, but the results are the same. Adjusting a slider is like popping tabs as your model eliminates what components are loaded. Plus, you can make selections for what stays. I’m interested to know what/how it chooses to eliminate. I’m also kinda wondering if this is a modified, yet sexier, lightweight components.
BOM in Assembly
You can create a BOM in an assembly. When you edit a field in that BOM it updates the corresponding custom property. This looked great, but I’m concerned with large assembly BOMs. Will they be too small? Scalable? Multiple tabs?
Toolbox Enhancements
You can change configurations right on the screen and update bolt size using Instant3D. I cringe at toolbox stuff. Mostly because it’s never worked all that well for me and it lacks aircraft standard hardware. I’ll admit though, it’s been a couple years since I’ve used it last. It’s great they’re tying the Instant3D in with assembly
Ribbon Cable Support
There’s some added ribbon cable functionality added to routing. Looks like fun, but I don’t do wiring, so… ya, cool.
Sketch Enhancements
Dimensioning
Dimensions suddenly appear as you’re sketching. As soon as you sketch a line, you can immediately type the dimension in. This is how it always should have been. I’m thinking (hoping) this will be an option because it could get annoying if you want to sketch or trace a quick profile.
Slot Tool
I don’t think I need to say anymore, except it works like the sketch offset tool, but fast as greased death.
Negative Dimension
Finally, some negativity. Enter a negative dimension, and it goes the other direction.
Stretch
With the tool you can stretch geometry that’s dimensioned. It supports negative dimension.
Sheet Metal
Solid to Sheet Metal
This is more than just Insert Bends. Make a solid, select a main face and the edges to rip. It then wraps it in sheet metal and allows you to unbend it. There’s got to be limitation with complex parts which could be really annoying. Hopefully it will deal with these well. I can see this command eliminating a lot of typical problems with sheet metal and the process of step-by-step sheet metal feature creation.
Plastic Tools
Lip and Groove, Shell and Draft
Automatically adds a lip and groove to the split part as well as Shell and Draft. They were going to quick to tell if this was in a single part file or if it could be done in an assembly. Seems simple in a part context.
User Interface
Command Manager
I hear the angels singing with a lot of SolidWorks Users that like this thing. You can now put it on the sides.
Double-Click Middle Mouse button Zoom-to-Fit
Ya know, like in AutoCrad. They showed it in a drawing, so I’m not sure it’s the same in the model. If it’s not, it should be and for pete’s sake, zoom to the model geometry, not the boundary.
Magnifier
Quickly magnify an area of the screen without having to zoom in and out. Hmmm… Hmmmm. Sounds nice. You will have to see this because it made me kinda snicker. An actual magnifying glass pops up. I pictured an old coot with bad eyes. It’s neat I suppose, and watch, I’ll end up finding it the most useful thing.
Triad Orientation
Click on the X, Y or Z axis and the model is oriented to that view. A little bit closer to eliminating the view orientation toolbar and pop-up.
Drawings
Drag Drop Leaders
You can drag and drop hole callouts to another instance of feature.
Title Block Wizard
Now you won’t have to edit the sheet format, use that crappy macro or hire someone to make a crappy macro for you. There are so many different types of title blocks out there; I’m really interested to see how this works.
Comparison
All, this sounds nice huh. How does it compare though?
The development crew did a side-by-side of 2008 and 2009 opening a 10,000 part assembly inserting a 3-view into a drawing, adding a shaded assembly, making a change to the assembly and then going back to the drawing for the update. 2009 took a little bit to add the views, but not near as long as 2008. After that 2009 was hella fast. It was done before 08 had made changes to the assembly.
Ya know, 2008 looked great, very fancy new interface but not too much in the performance area. Some felt there was too much attention in this area. Just in the few things above you can see the difference in the direction for the new release. Even the UI changes work more toward how the users are use to working. While I don’t necessarily agree with keeping old practice to avoid learning something new, it does show SolidWorks is listening to the user and what’s important to them.
What do you think? Good changes?
UPDATE:
I nearly forgot. Head to Mike Puckett’s Blog for some photos of the new 2009 features.
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I think if they increase performace, than it is impossible for it to be a bad change. You can complain about UI changes if you don’t like them. Noone will complain about true performance speed enhancements.
I like the sound of the instant dimensions while sketching, the magnifying glass, and I’d give a minor appendage for that title block wizard NOW since I’m converting all our blocks manually over to SWX from AutoCAD
I like ‘em. The UI update for 2008 was great, I love that, but that can be left alone for a while, good to see them getting back to performance.
Now if they could just make it do all my work for me…
Now if they could just make it do all my work for me…
Someone reminded me of another feature. If I remember correctly, Dual units on the measure command will be in 2009. no more switching back and forth in options. It’s little things like that make all the difference.
how do you create a solid in order to control sheet metal? is this a part that i can use to wrap the metal around?
i know dumb question; however it was brought to my attention and it has been mentioned in here.
Thank you
how do you create a solid in order to control sheet metal? is this a part that i can use to wrap the metal around?
i know dumb question; however it was brought to my attention and it has been mentioned in here.
Thank you
is there anyone that can help me?
is there anyone that can help me?
Hey there Aspen, from what it looked like on the screen, the solid was used to define the inner faces of the sheet metal. It was quick, but the solid looked like it was inside the sheet metal that was ‘wrapped’ around it. I’m not sure how bends and open edges are determined quite yet. Beta Testing will begin shortly (April or May) so you may want to sign up to test things out.
Thank You so much for getting back with me. I’ve tried 2 things in versions ’06-07 -create a solid with rounds, shell it then convert it to sheet metal.-create solid minus thickness, sketch sheet metal constraining to edges of solid, hide solid. i would like to know how this “wrapping” works i have not figured it out. my concerns are tabs and welding seems also flat patterns. in the above operations that was a concern as well and reverting back to the basics was safe and time consuming. granted I’m new to SolidWorks, please forgive my ignorance thats why I’m here; to learn what i can. i would like to know if I’m really off my rocker? where would i find out about the testing and getting certified?
Hey Aspen, sorry if I wasn’t too clear. The wrap sheetmetal feature will be in the next version of SolidWorks, 2009. It will probably release around September of 08.
Sheet metal can be challenging. I’ve done some post on it and if you want specific sheet metal training, your reseller should offer that course. You can start here to find out about certification.
Hope this helps you!
My only question to Solidworks Corp is with all performance changes coming in 2009 release, how are they going to address stability problems. Everyone I know thats using Solidworks on a daily basis has a different machine/software/hardware setup; as a result, have been faced with machine reboots and program lockups. Will this new release also require hardware upgrades such as graphic cards and memory? I’m all about change and new features to make engineers and designers like myself jobs more easier, but Solidworks need to focus on one release every couple years, rather than every year.
Hey Mike, I think the performance improvements are meant to address stability. I’m going to be looking at what the requirements are for upgrading and will mention that in a future post. Thanks!
thanks you
thanks you
Have they fixed the 'Failed to save file' error? I'm running out of service pack CDs to burn as offerings to the CAD deities…
I could go for that too. I would seriously pay some big bucks if they did that.. we could get one of those SW robots to help too..
Hey guys, I'm not sure really. I've used it off and on in Beta for the last few months. I just installed SP0.0 and haven't gotten it on anything yet. I'm attempting to 'break' some configurations so they don't rebuild completely before switching, but have been unable to reproduce the 'Failed to Save' event so far. I will touch on this topic after more testing.
One thing I can say for sure. I am able to open configurations of some assemblies without crashing. It my opinion that 09 SP0 is more stable than 08 SPX. Which is why I'm moving everyone else over this week.
I installed and cracked Solid Works 2009, but when I click on the icon nothing happening, not to open SolidWorks. Please help me: (
Go legit. Call 1-800-899-7349.
Like Dave says. I wouldn't recommend trying to crack any software. I use to be that guy. nothing good comes of it. try Sketchup if you don't have cash, or Rhino if you have a little. 09 has an activation you have to go through, so it's not going to run with the crack you've applied.
Like Dave says. I wouldn't recommend trying to crack any software. I use to be that guy. nothing good comes of it. try Sketchup if you don't have cash, or Rhino if you have a little. 09 has an activation you have to go through, so it's not going to run with the crack you've applied.
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