Series: Past Years Drawings Top Ten

Drawings Top Ten list from years past: SWW2011

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Past Years Drawings Top Ten

Each year, SOLIDWORKS World has a top ten enhancement ideas countdown.  For a couple of months before SOLIDWORKS World, ideas are submitted by users to the SOLIDWORKS World Top Ten idea forum (login required). Starting in mid-December, users have the opportunity to vote on the ideas they most want.  This gives SOLIDWORKS a clear snapshot of what our customers need at that moment in time.  The top ten vote-getters are shown on the big stage at that SOLIDWORKS World. The list varies from year to year as new enhancements are implemented or as customers’ needs change. Some ideas also reappear on the list over several years.

Dan Herzberg has compiled a list of these top ten lists, including when the ideas where implemented and how many times an idea appeared on the subsequent lists.

There is no focus on particular areas in the top ten list. The top ten highest vote-getting ideas are combined from parts, drawings, assemblies, and other areas.   Since my main focus area on the SOLIDWORKS brand is “drawings”, it seemed like a nice idea to show the results for just the submissions for drawings.

We can show just the top ten Drawings ideas.  Drawings includes topics such as BOMs, annotations, dimensions, etc. The first year we can look at is SolidWorks World 2011.

SolidWorks World 2011 Top Ten Drawings Ideas

  1. Ability to Filter BOMs
  2. Print Selection – make it more like cropping a picture
  3. On drawings: add function to allow users to apply capitalization of text, implemented in SW2013
  4. Assign watermark function to drawing sheets, implemented in SW2013
  5. Allow Multiple Exploded Views per Configuration, implemented in SW2013
  6. More control over angle dimensions, implemented in SW2015
  7. On drawings: Allow option for resizing of drawing view outline
  8. Directly editing notes with properties in Drawing, implemented before SW2013
  9. Broken-out Section in Section, Detail and Alternate Positions Views
  10. Better line selection in drawings, implemented in SW2014

The implementation rate for the SWW11 drawing list is 60% to date.  None of these ideas had enough votes to get onto the official SolidWorks World 2011 Top Ten list, unfortunately.

There is still a couple of days to add new ideas on the current SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten list.  Voting starts on the 15th, so go back and vote on as many ideas as you wish!  Just remember, you have to logon to submit, see and vote for ideas.

Drawings Top Ten list from years past: SWW2012

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Past Years Drawings Top Ten

SolidWorks World 2012 Top Ten list actually included one drawing specific idea, and one more general idea that affected drawings within its scope.   The odd thing about the Drawings ideas this particular year is that one of them is already addressed, and another is not clear about its intent.  Given the variety of situations surrounding SWW2012’s submissions, I’ll add commentary to each idea for clarity.

SolidWorks World 2012 Top Ten Drawings Ideas

  1. Address Shaded with Edges Bleed Thru issue – This idea made it on to the official Top Ten for SWW12.  It was implemented in SW2014 for parts, assemblies and drawings.
  2. Dimensions should stay where you place them – This idea also made it on to the official Top Ten for SWW12.  However, this idea is an oddity since it is requesting behavior that is already supported by SOLIDWORKS from day one.  Placement and organization of dimensions are controlled by two settings in SOLIDWORKS.  The first setting for model item dimensions is called “Annotation view layout”, and is found at Tools>Options…>Document Properties>Dimensions in the Offset distances area.  This setting places your model item dimensions on drawing views as they are organized in the model.  A second setting was introduced in SolidWorks 2010, called Reduce spacing when dimensions are deleted or edited (add or change tolerances, text etc…).  Yup, that’s the name!  It’s found at Tools>Options…>System Options>Drawings near the bottom of the list.  This setting forces dimensions to maintain assigned offsets.  As you add and remove dimensions, the other dimensions automatically adjust to maintain offsets.  If you don’t need SOLIDWORKS to apply your offsets automatically, then simply turn this setting off.  Here’s an article about this setting when it was introduced.
  3. Don’t show hidden lines in section views and broken-out sections – This idea was half implemented in SolidWorks 2013.  Hidden lines are now automatically turned off for section views.  No setting is available for broken-out sections yet.
  4. Don’t re-size center marks with scale of drawing view or sheet – This idea has not been implemented as of SOLIDWORKS 2015.
  5. Allow multiple exploded views per configuration – Sound familiar?  It was on the SWW11 list as well.  This idea was implemented in SolidWorks 2013.
  6. Drawings: make intersection selectable when dimensioning drawings – This idea was imlemented in SOLIDWORKS 2014.
  7. Ability to create a “purchased” component BOM and “manufactured” component BOM – This idea is very similar to “Ability to Filter BOMs” from the SWW11 list.  This has not been implemented as of SOLIDWORKS 2015.
  8. Drawings: Revision Cloud – This idea was implement in SolidWorks 2013
  9. Dashes should not be allowed at the end of a line – This idea has not been implemented as of SOLIDWORKS 2015.
  10. Parts as references in drawing views – This idea is a good example of a bad title.  From the title alone, it is impossible to really know what this idea is actually talking about. You wouldn’t have a drawing view of a part unless the part was referenced.  The lesson here being, when submitting your idea, please be sure to use a clear title that explains your idea well enough on its own.

The implementation rate for Drawings ideas from the SWW12 list is a bit harder to calcuate, given status of several of the ideas.  However, I’m going to call it 61%: counting #2, counting half for #3 and not counting #10 at all.

Voting has been open on the current SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten list for a couple of days.  Go there are vote for your favorites.  Vote on as many ideas as you wish!  Just remember, you have to logon to see the ideas and vote for them.

Drawings Top Ten list from years past: SWW2013

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Past Years Drawings Top Ten

The top ten Drawings specific ideas submitted to SolidWorks World 2013 Top Ten list were heavily focused on dimensions and drawing views.

SolidWorks World 2013 Top Ten Drawings Ideas

  1. Create auxiliary line for dimensioning angles – Implemented in SW2015
  2. Perimeter Dimension or Total Length Dimension
  3. Allow mirroring of drawing views in the drawing
  4. Isometric view break
  5. Ability to create half dimensions (Option to change any dimension line to foreshortened)
  6. On drawings, zoom to fit should ignore view bounding boxes – Implemented in SW2015
  7. Don’t re-size center marks with scale of drawing view or sheet
  8. Ability to create Alternate position view on sectioned/broken-out section view
  9. Make an easy interface to modify format of hole callouts (without having to edit calloutformat.txt)
  10. Projected view of a break view should have option ‘align breaks with parent’ enabled by default

As of SOLIDWORKS 2015, the implementation for the SWW13 list is 20%.  Create auxiliary line for dimensioning angles was the only Drawings idea to get onto the official SolidWorks World 2013 Top Ten list.

Voting is now open on the current SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten list.  Vote on as many ideas as you wish!  Just remember, you have to logon to see the ideas and vote for them.

SOLIDWORKS World Drawings Top Ten implementation to-date (2011-2013)

SOLIDWORKS World Top Ten list for drawings – review for 2011 thorugh 2013; including implemetnatation rates and release years.

A few years ago, I reviewed SOLIDWORKS World Top Ten lists specifically for Drawing ideas. These articles not only showed a unique view of the Top Ten that is typically unavailable, but it also provided implementation status (implemented or not). It’s time to update those statuses.

2011

  1. Ability to Filter BOMs
  2. Print Selection – make it more like cropping a picture
  3. On drawings: add function to allow users to apply capitalization of text, implemented in SW2014 for notes and SW2018 for tables.
  4. Assign watermark function to drawing sheets, implemented in SW2013.
  5. Allow Multiple Exploded Views per Configuration, implemented in SW2013.
  6. More control over angle dimensions, implemented in SW2015.
  7. On drawings: Allow option for resizing of drawing view outline
  8. Directly editing notes with properties in Drawing, implemented before SW2013.
  9. Broken-out Section in Section, Detail and Alternate Positions Views, implemented in SW2018.
  10. Better line selection in drawings, implemented in SW2014 .

2012

  1. Address Shaded with Edges Bleed Thru issue, implemented in SW2014 for parts, assemblies and drawings.
  2. Dimensions should stay where you place them, existing behavior in SOLIDWORKS. See previous article for additional information.
  3. Don’t show hidden lines in section views and broken-out sections, half implemented in SW2013. See previous article for additional information.
  4. Don’t re-size center marks with scale of drawing view or sheet, implemented in SW2016.
  5. Allow multiple exploded views per configuration, implemented in SolidWorks 2013.
  6. Drawings: make intersection selectable when dimensioning drawings, implemented in SOLIDWORKS 2014.
  7. Ability to create a “purchased” component BOM and “manufactured” component BOM 
  8. Drawings: Revision Cloud, implemented in SolidWorks 2013.
  9. Dashes should not be allowed at the end of a line
  10. Parts as references in drawing views; see previous article for additional information.

2013

  1. Create auxiliary line for dimensioning angles, implemented in SW2015.
  2. Perimeter Dimension or Total Length Dimension
  3. Allow mirroring of drawing views in the drawing, implemented in SW2017.
  4. Isometric view break, implemented in SW2016 (via Model Break View shown on drawings in the same fashion as Exploded Views).
  5. Ability to create half dimensions (Option to change any dimension line to foreshortened), implemented in SW2016.
  6. On drawings, zoom to fit should ignore view bounding boxes, implemented in SW2015 with Zoom to Sheet tool.
  7. Don’t re-size center marks with scale of drawing view or sheet, implemented in SW2016.
  8. Ability to create Alternate position view on sectioned/broken-out section view, implemented in SW2018.
  9. Make an easy interface to modify format of hole callouts (without having to edit calloutformat.txt)
  10. Projected view of a break view should have option ‘align breaks with parent’ enabled by default, implemented prior to SW2018.

In looking at these Drawings Top Ten idea lists, there’s about 75% implementation rate for the years 2011 thru 2013 as of SW2019. As time allows, Top Tens from later years may be shown in future articles.