Dassault Systèmes introduced SOLIDWORKS 2022 earlier this month. As many products are announcing their new versions over the next few months, Cadalyst was pleased to hear more about the new version of SOLIDWORKS coming to the market.
Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO of SOLIDWORKS kicked off the announcement discussing the company’s perspective of the industry and how SOLIDWORKS is performing. Gian Paolo, aka GP, stated that within the first half of 2021, SOLIDWORKS has shown more than a 20% growth, showing “a strong resilience in SOLIDWORKS as a brand and its whole system. This growth wasn’t by accident. We strongly believe and can show it’s fueled by on a string of continuing innovation that is introduced in our portfolio. We have a new name: 3DEXPERIENCEWORKS.”
In addition, much of the new product enhancements are based on customer feedback. He continued, “New features highlight our continued and strong investment on the tools that are used every day by millions of users that invent amazing products. Those users include users, the workforce of the future, makers, startups…. Now, keep in mind the world of engineering is changing, because we have increasingly different problems to solve. I would say tougher problems to solve. Today’s challenge in the economy and society and they go beyond the economics. We see the environment and our society changing radically. We all know there are threats to our infrastructure, healthcare, sanitation that affect the entire planet. For the first time, we also started questioning the sustainability since a few years of this current pace of innovation.” With this in mind, Dassault Systèmes’ SOLIDWORKS is designed to give designers the tools they need for these new problems.
What’s New?
Senior product manager, Craig Therrien, described a variety of enhancements throughout the program for its users. It’s impossible to go through all of them here, but we’ll hit the high points.
Drawings. First and foremost, he explained some improvements in Drawings. Users will find that they can more quickly open assemblies in Large Design Review (LDR) mode and then from there open in detailing mode for work.
A positive for those working on historical drawings, you can now open SOLIDWORKS files from all the way back to 2001 and use those drawings in Detailing mode. They have also adjusted so that users can save model data as an option of each document property instead of system properties. Also watch of improvements on geometric tolerance user interface, improved BOM for cut lists, and more.
Parts. One of the biggest changes is that with 2022, users now can have the flexibility of having b-rep data, SOLIDWORKS features, and mesh features all on the same model. This can save time when dealing with mesh data in particular. Other part updates include the STUD wizard which now can generate external threads and offers improved graphics, faster imports of DXF/DWGs, ability to define and use coordinate systems when importing. Assembly performance has also been updates so that now you can open subassemblies of an assembly in the LDR mode, saving time.
User Experience
As the norm, new versions always have a few tweaks that are noticed right away. User interface enhancements include updates to the shortcut bar, configuration management, geometric tolerancing, and more.
In addition, users will find that improvements when working with large assemblies, importing STEP, IFC, and DXF/DWG files, detailing drawings, and managing product data.
For assemblies, configuration tables are now native tables and users can now paste them onto existing variations, without using Microsoft Excel anymore.
Users can access the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s collaborative digital environment for improved collaboration, innovation, and decision-making. Users now have access to the Dassault Systèmes’ cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio of expanded applications for design, engineering, simulation, manufacturing, and governance.
SOLIDWORKS 2022 continues the company’s push for improvement and collaboration. For more details visit https://www.solidworks.com/product/whats-new.
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