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.
