SOLIDWORKS can do amazing things, but you need a computer that can handle whatever you throw at it. Here is what’s important to know when building a system for SOLIDWORKS: Processor (CPU) Due to the nature of the work, SOLIDWORKS CAD is a predominantly single-threaded application. That means you won’t see great benefit from adding more cores (and therefore more parallel processing threads). You will see more benefit from going for high clock speed. The comparison testing we have done […]
Structure systems seem to be among the main focuses for SOLIDWORKS 2022. There are a variety of improvements and new features dealing with corner treatments, connection elements for nonwelded parts, and more—all to help you create intricate frames efficiently and accurately. I just want to focus on two enhancements in particular here: support for end caps and additional options for building secondary members. End Caps End caps can be applied to structure system bodies in SOLIDWORKS 2022. If you are […]
Since SOLIDWORKS’ release in 1995, Dassault Systemes has iterated many times over to give us the mature CAD product we know and love today. Enhancements – both large and small – help to drive the CAD program that has aged like a fine wine. Seemingly small enhancements, however, can be just as important as the big ones. For example, in the 2013 release of SOLIDWORKS, they introduced the “right-click to confirm command” feature that has helped saved me tons of […]
There is a lot to unpack when it comes to talking about the ability for you to deploy SOLIDWORKS using the enhanced 2022 Admin Image. This year there are multiple types of images to choose from as well a a number of enhancements to configuration options. Let’s go through the 3 biggest new options available. Before going into What’s New, we’ll start at the beginning by answering “What is an Admin Image”. If you were going to install SOLIDWORKS manually, […]
When SOLIDWORKS 2018 was released, the Measure tool interface was revised to allow users to see more selections in the Selection Window as well as the ability to copy dimensions to the clipboard so it can be pasted in SOLIDWORKS or other applications. In the release of SOLIDWORKS 2021 that ability was removed, to the disappointment of many. SOLIDWORKS heard the voices of the community and brought this feature back in the release of SOLIDWORKS 2022. This feature is on […]
SOLIDWORKS 2022 has come in with a handful of new improvements for importing and exporting. Especially for those of us in job shops and manufacturing products designed by other firms, import and export performance can make the difference between running a job today or tomorrow! First up are DXF and DWG import performance updates. It’s impossible to completely escape from 2D CAD files due to the confluence of design software that end up creating physical products, or perhaps your workflow […]
Every year SOLIDWORKS adds great new enhancements to their products. One great product that they have added new enhancements to is SOLIDWORKS Model Based Definition (MBD). SOLIDWORKS MBD is a great tool used to help your company define, organize, and even publish 3D product manufacturing information (PMI). So, if your company is looking to go paperless and do away with drawings, then MBD may be the tool for you. One of the great enhancements that has been done with SOLIDWORKS […]
Symmetric Linear Diameter Dimensions With the release of SOLIDWORKS 2022 comes the enhancement of Symmetric Linear Diameter Dimensions. Symmetric Linear Diameter (SLD) Dimensions allow a user to create one sided dimensions to symmetrical features across a centerline so drawing views don’t get crowded with extra leader lines. SLD dimensions can be used on any drawing view but are best suited for views that only need one side of a leader, such as cylindrical faces. In drawings with closely packed diameter […]
The past few releases of SOLIDWORKS have given us the ability to work with mesh BREP geometry which makes working with imported mesh geometries (such as from a 3D Scanner) way easier. In SOLIDWORKS 2021 and previous however, we only had the ability to add a limited number of supported features and could not combine mesh bodies with traditional solid bodies. We would need to create our traditional SOLIDWORKS BREP bodies and then convert them to mesh BREP bodies to […]
SOLIDWORKS 2022 introduces new Configuration Tables that make managing configurations and their parameters much easier than before. If you look at the new Configuration Table and are thinking that they look familiar, you are correct. In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, a similar table was called the Modify Configuration dialog. There were very useful but had one big limitation. One must be diligent to “save the table” view or the table was lost. I cannot tell you how many times I […]