There’s something different about SolidWorks 2010. It’s hard to put my finger on it. It just seems to be a little …oh I don’t know… snappier or peppier. That’s strange. I mean, there are obvious improvements in such areas as user interface, reliability and predictable feature results, but there’s something else.
Well, I lie, I know exactly what is different. SolidWorks has had a tune-up. There’s a ton of really old code in SolidWorks that’s been acting like built-up sludge in an old 4-cylinder 1.0 litre engine that was stuffed into a 1969 Mustang Fastback. (I know that the analogy is wrong on so many levels, which is the point.) Some of that old code has now been cleaned up. It’s not a magical change in every area. But there is improvement on certain types of solid model features. Due to the code clean up, those features will rebuild (much) faster. This is accomplished without SpeedPak or Lightweight memory hacks, er I mean tricks, er I mean shortcuts, I mean…nevermind. SolidWorks will naturally rebuild models faster now. Finally, this is the improvement many of us have been requesting for years! We still have the advantage of SpeedPak and Lightweight, but now the actual features themselves will rebuild faster with more efficient underlying code. To realize the improved rebuilt times, each solid model must be saved as SolidWorks 201o format. (Even SolidWorks 2010 will still rebuild older files inefficiently until that are saved in the current format.)
I hope to have a list of improved features soon. One feature where I’ve seen significant improvement is Delete Face, which used to be memory intensive with long rebuild times. It now rebuilds much quicker.
