Tag: 2D CAD

DraftSight in Sight at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 #3DXW25

3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 has nearly a full schedule of DraftSight sessions! Time to go!

3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 is about a month away in Houston, TX at George R. Brown Convention Center. There’s a variety of sessions available. This includes a full catalog of DraftSight presentations and discussions. You can build a nearly full schedule each day of the conference with just DraftSight topics.

Day 1

All of this starts on February 24, 2025 (the first full day of the conference). After the General Session, at 11AM you can join the DraftSight Keynote in General Assembly B auditorium. This presentation will be hosted by Manish Kumar, CEO of DS SolidWorks Corp.

Later that day, at 5:15PM you can attend DraftSight for the AutoCAD User in room 351. This session will cover the similarities between DraftSight and AutoCAD, including AutoLISP, UI, batch printing and more. Also covered will be similarities with SOLIDWORKS.

Day 2

The first session on Tuesday (February 25, 2025) at 11AM will be DraftSight: Explore 2025 features, BIM integration and xDraftSight. This session will introduce the new features released for 2025 to “revolutionize your 2D CAD workflows”. Special attention will be given to new BIM integration and xDraftSight.

After lunch at 1:30PM, you’ll be able to attend DraftSight: Enhancing Industry Collaboration with the 3DX Ecosystem. This session will discuss how this amazing application can be used in collaboration with advanced 3D solutions like CATIA and SOLIDWORKS, providing a robust platform for detailed schematics, technical drawings, and design documentation.

Tuesday has a full schedule with more sessions, all in room 351.

  • DraftSight Unlocked: Tips, Tricks, and Time-Saving Secrets at 2:30PM
  • DraftSight: Everything a CAD Manager Needs to Know at 4PM
  • DraftSight: Ask the DraftSight Team Anything at 5:15PM

Day 3

Wednesday (February 26, 2025) sees a shift in gears with a hands-on session at 8AM, called DraftSight: xDraftSight Hands-on. I know that name sounds like a sequel for an action movie, but this session will put you at the helm to try out an important new tool that allows you to use 2D CAD functionality on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Since this is a hands-on session, space is especially limited. If you haven’t already signed up, you may still have a chance to join if there are no-shows by the start of the session.

At 9:30AM, you’ll have a chance to show the world that you’ve got skills in DraftSight with the Certification Exams! (Check availability before you go.)

At 11:30 will be the DraftSight LIVE Closing Session to recap all the great things you learned during your time at World. Also, Steve Brazier is the Keynote speaker. Steve Brazier is a globally recognized tech analyst and the visionary founder of Canalys, a leading global tech analyst firm. Steve is renowned for his dynamic presentation style, cutting-edge insights, and bold, forward-thinking analysis. Are you ready to evolve? In an era where AI is reshaping industries and redefining roles, adaptability is no longer optional—it’s essential. 

Retrospective

It’s been a long time since I covered DraftSight topics. This old article from 2011 has some images of the original interface. A lot has improved since then.

Check out all the new enhancements and xDraftSight at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025! I hope to see you there!

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Dassault Systemes Launches new 2D CAD free!

Dassault Systemes has announced that they are going to shake up the industry by public beta releasing a free community driven 2D CAD application called DraftSight.  Those of us who use AutoCAD or DWGEditor will find the interface familiar enough to use it without much trouble.  Future development will be driven by the community via the new DraftSight community at draftsight.com.  Dassualt Systemes plans to “leverage the community to build a better product”, according to Aaron Kelly.

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As I used a private beta version last week, I did discover a number of bugs, so I will reserve my full review until I have a chance to try out the latest officially released version of DraftSight.  I will also talk about DraftSight’s place in the Dassault Systemes’ family of products and how this affects SolidWorks users.  Additionally, I will talk about how Dassualt Systemes plans to fund future development of DraftSight offered as free product.

SWW09: Tuesday General Session (Part 2: Talk about the future)

Jon Hirschtick gave a great presentation today.  As one of the five founders of SolidWorks Corp, he has a unique perspective on the software.  He also has an interesting view point.  He stated that even though SolidWorks has been around for a long time, most of the work for SolidWorks Corp still lies ahead of them.  He expressed confidence in Jeff Ray and the current management time by calling them “the best management team in the history of SolidWorks”.

Hirschtick then discussed some of the possible innovations that are yet to come for SolidWorks.  These technology trends include significant improvements to touch/motion user interface, online applications, inclusion of video gaming technology in 3D CAD applications, and 3D printing.

He mentioned that on the Partner Pavilion floor, there is already one example of Touch/Motion UI involves the use of hands as they are meant to be used.  There’s a prototype of a Microsoft Surface that has an application similar to SolidWorks operated by instruction via human touch and gestures.

Hirschtick then talked about Blueprint Now, which is an online CAD application developed by SolidWorks Labs.  This allows some 2D CAD work to be accomplished via the Internet.  If applied to 3D CAD, the advantage is that resources for CAD applications can be kept in huge server farms, suggesting that users need not require high end computers themselves.  Another advantage to this approach is that it requires no upgrades or installations.  Even another advantage was simplification of data management.  Because everything is online, data can be automatically organized in a vault-like storage system, eliminating current issues file management issues.  Though an online application for 3D CAD seems unlikely soon, Hirschtick suggested it will likely be developed.

Video gaming technology in terms of both hardware and software have exceded that of CAD in some areas.  Hirschtick talked about bringing some of that technology into use within SolidWorks.  He revealed that PhyX (physical simulation software) is already employed within SolidWorks.  He showed one example of Ambient Occlusionas a display option to give parts the look of realism within SolidWorks.

He briefly covered 3D printing before then introducing several companies using SolidWorks in the development of their products.  It turns out this was a segue of sorts.