Tag: Top Ten

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: 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.

SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten List is still growing

SolidWorks World 2015 Top Ten LIst

SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten list is sill growing.  The total number of submissions is at 592 as of 1PM EST today (11/19/2014)!  We may even hit 600 by the end of the day.  That would be 50 more submissions than last year.  Get your ideas in!

Submissions are made via the SOLIDWORKS Forums in the General area under SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten and then Ideas.  Or, you can go directly there via this link: Submit your ideas!  Remember, you have to be signed into the SOLIDWORKS Forum to see and submit ideas.

If you’d like to read more about the Top Ten Ideas for SOLIDWORKS World 2015 (including what makes a good submission), see this article: Adding your ideas to the SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten List is easy.

 

Adding your ideas to SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Top Ten list is easy

SOLIDWORKS World 2015 in Phoenix, AZ is just over 100 days away.  A tradition of SOLIDWORKS World is the Top Ten list, inwhich customers submit their ideas on how SOLIDWORKS can be improved for them, and then vote for their favorites.  The top ten vote getters are announced on the mainstage at SOLIDWORKS World.  It’s easy to submit ideas.  You don’t have to be attending SOLIDWORKS World to submit or vote.  Input from all customes is welcome.  Here’s a short video.


If you have an idea, here’s somethings you can do to improve the attention your ideas gets:

  • Your idea’s title should be a complete thought.  For example, “Ability to change colors for sketch lines on-the-fly” is much better than “Change colors”.
  • Your idea’s description can be as long or as short as you need.
  • You can add images to illustrate your ideas.
  • Break out separate ideas into separate submissions, even if they are related.  For example, you may have several ideas on how to improve Weld Symbols, such as improving the interface, adding new symbols, and adding new controls.  Although those these are all regarding the same tool, they are really three different ideas, each of which deserves to be voted upon separately by everyone.
  • Quickly respond to comments posted by others on your ideas.

I also recommend commenting on other ideas you like, dislike or feel needs more clarificaiton.

Have fun with your submissions at SWW15 Top Ten List (don’t forget you’ll have to sign in to the SOLIDWORKS Forums before you can submit).  And when the polls open, vote early and vote often (on as many ideas as you wish).

SolidWorks World 2014: Day 4 – Wednesday General Session – Product Definition

General Session

The General Session for Wednesday was as entertaining as ever.  Most the details from Wednesday General Session have already been well covered by other blogs and online outlets.  I’m going to focus on Bruce Holway’s presentation instead.  It is important to me because he’s describing the his group (Product Definition of which I am apart) and past years SolidWorks World Top Ten enhancements list.  He states that the vast majority of past year’s Top Ten have been implemented.  He covers many of recent examples.

  • Default to Concentric Mate when two selected faces are cylindrical
  • Default to Parallel Mate when two selected faces have other geometry that prevent coincident mating
  • Lock Option for Concentric Mates so that additional mates are not required to stop rotation of a cylindrical part
  • Slot Mate
  • Center of Mass reference geometry
  • Fix Edge Bleed Thru display, where thin walled features sometimes displayed fragments of obscured features
  • Don’t Delete Child Features, Dangle them Instead when deleting a parent feature
  • eDrawings for Android

Also mentioned is the fact that we visit hundreds of customers each year at their sites to understand how they are using SolidWorks.  This is extremely valuable in determining how we plan to improve our product offerings by giving us first hand experiences from our customers.

This year’s SolidWorks World Top Ten list:

  1. Auto-hide components
  2. Draw a line segment starting from the mid-point
  3. Equal spacing option for linear patterns
  4. Ability to rename a part or sub-assembly in the feature tree
  5. Unlimited undo/redo
  6. Pressing the ESC key should immediately stop the current calculation and return control to the user
  7. Fillets and chamfers should be managed by the same feature
  8. Ability to flip angle dimensions after they have been placed
  9. Hole callout should include all instances on the same face
  10. New Purge command

Reminder: SolidWorks World 2014 Top Ten is accepting Votes (what ideas do you want others to vote for?)

SolidWorks World 2014 Top Ten voting is open until January 15, 2014.  Get your votes in soon!  Time to promote the ideas you like so that they make it into the top ten list!

SolidWorks World 2014 Top Ten voting

To share which ideas you like the most, please post your personal top ten list in the Forum here: What ideas do you want others to vote for?