Al Bunshaft, Dassault Systemes Senior Vice President for the North America region, was recently interviewed by Motley Fool, covering a range of topics. SolidWorks and its 2 million end users are mentioned, but the interview focuses on Dassault’s role in the rise of 3D Printing in recent years. Bunshaft states, “our software is the engine of the 3D printing industry”. He also talks about several real world examples of successful uses of Dassault Systemes software within industry. The complete article can found on the Motley Fool at What’s Next for Dassault Systèmes, And How It Profits Off 3D Printing, including the video of the interview.
What’s New in SolidWorks 2014: On-The-Fly Virtual Sharps While Dimensioning
SolidWorks 2014 introduces the ability to find and use virtual sharps on the on-the-fly while creating dimensions.
- Start any dimension tool.
- Right-click on model or sketch geometry
- Choose “Find Intersection”.
- Left-click on any model or sketch geometry that intersect the first selection.
- The Virtual Sharp element is automatically added, the point is automatically applied as a selection for the dimension tool.
See the attached video below (AVI will open, not an embedded video).
On-the-fly Virtual Sharps (AVI video)
New stuff in SolidWorks 2014 (not mentioned in “What’s New”): Symbols
There are many new symbols that have been introduced in SolidWorks since 2012.
SolidWorks 2012
New category of Inspection Symbols:
- Inspection Box (empty)
- Inspection Box (with text)
- Eye [for those inspection points that are visual and aren’t/can’t be measured with an instrument]
In addition to new JIS Weld Symbols, these new symbols where added to Modifying Symbols:
- Rho [used with conics]
- Delta
- Center of Mass
In addition to 5 new JIS weld Symbols, there are several new symbols included in other areas.
Inspection Symbols:
- Diamond [alternative for identification of inspection points]
New category View Symbols:
- View Rotation Clockwise (CW)
- View Rotation Counterclockwise (CCW)
- GOST Rotated View
- GOST Unfold
Modifying Symbols:
- Translation [including additions to the GD&T interface for compliance with ASME Y14.5-2009]
What’s New in SolidWorks 2014: Ballooning
Balloon annotations have been improved in SolidWorks 2014, with several formatting and behavioral enhancements.
Moving the arrow instead of the drawing view
Selection of the geometry within a drawing view tells SolidWorks you want to move the entire drawing view. Normally, this is a great feature. However, there is one case that wasn’t supported as a result. It was not easy to select an arrow which was attached to a vertex of model geometry (because the vertex itself would be selected). In SolidWorks 2014, when moving the arrow of a balloon to attach it to a different location, select the balloon first, then select the grip at the arrow’s tip. This will allow you to move the arrow without moving the entire drawing view.
Leader attachment with quantites added
When a quantity is added to a balloon, the leader is no longer forced to break around the quantity. You now have an option under More Properties button in the PropertyManager of the balloon.
Spacing between quantity and its balloon
You now have control of the distance between the quantity and the balloon with the new Distance field in the Quantity group box of the balloon’s PropertyManager.
Reattachment
You can now reattach any balloon, including dangling balloons within a stack, to associate them with any component from the same drawing view.
Improvings
Enhancements to Balloons in SolidWorks 2014, together with the enhancements to ballooning in SolidWorks 2013, have improved and simplified many workflows to allow you to produce quality drawings faster and with less effort.
SolidWorks World 2014 Jan 26-29 2014 @ San Diego Convention Center
Yup, time to start thinking about SolidWorks World 2014. This year, San Diego has the honor of hosting our event at the San Diego Convention Center. If case you are not aware, Comic-Con uses this same site in July. It is a great location (being in San Diego).
Call for Presentations is still wide open! Presenting does have its benefits (not just recognition)!
Boss’s justification letter and other reasons to attend are always available. (SolidWorks World 2014 doesn’t fall on Valentine’s this year, so the Luvification letter won’t be quite as necessary this year, but you are welcome to modify it to use this year if needed.) As before, attendees have the oppotunity to take a CSWP exam as part of their attendance.
There’s also so many other things to do in San Diego while you are there. I’ll be publishing an update to this article this year, but for now, here’s the list of a couple years ago.
See you there!
Big week for SolidWorks starts now
SolidWorks 2014 was announced, making this a big week in SolidWorks news. Here’s just the start:
- SolidWorks 2014 launch site – tons of blurbs and preview videos of new functionality
- SolidWorks 2014 – Style Spline – SWtuts.com gives detailed review the new Style Spline tool
- It’s the Little Things … SolidWorks 2014 – michaellord.com cover many of the finer details of the new release
- Back to CAD – SolidWorks 2014 – My Top 20 Favorite Enhancements – Javelin-tech.com covers favorite enhancements
Many more articles will likely follow in the weeks to come. I’ll be covering many elements too.