It’s Live…Go Check It Out For Yourself

Over the past 2-3 weeks you have heard a lot of things from the SolidWorks Blog Squad about SolidWorks 2009 all the while SolidWorks Corporation itself has been rather quiet about their latest release.  That is no longer the case as the official SolidWorks 2009 website has gone live this morning.  This site is full of awesome videos for the current SolidWorks users and also for prospective SolidWorks users.  You can also find out where your local SolidWorks 2009 launch event that is put on by your reseller is going to be, an exclusive behind the scenes look at SolidWorks 2009, white papers and so much more.

As for the SolidWorks 2009 launch events that are held worldwide they are a great resource for all companies to attend to see exactly what is new and improved in this release.  I attended my first event last year and will definitely be making it an annual event to attend.  You can here some of the bloggers discussing this event among other things on a SolidWorks 2009 roundtable that we recorded this weekend (thanks Lou).  There is a ton of great information out there right now about SolidWorks 2009 and I highly suggest you take a look around and see what it is all about.  In my eyes I think that this is the best release yet of the software (that I have seen) and I am really looking forward to implementing it at our company.

P.S.  If you watch 1 of the videos you may even see and recognize someone.  Check them out here!

SolidWorks 2009 Preview: Numeric Sketch Input

One of the really cool new additions to SolidWorks 2009 is the ability to specify numeric input as you create lines, rectangles, circles and arcs.  This new feature will greatly increase your ability to quickly add dimensions to sketches right on the fly as you go.  This will allow you to focus more on your design and less time on hitting keystrokes or toolbar buttons to add dimensions after you create a sketch.  To begin you need to enable this option in Tools>Options>System Options>Sketch, this picture below shows where in the sketch section the option is.  The option is called “Enable on screen numeric input on entity creation”.

Once this option is checked you are ready to quickly add dimensions to your sketches on the fly.  The following step by step instructions will show you how to use this tool

Step 1:  Begin by starting a sketch on the Front Plane and select Center Rectangle and begin by centering it around the origin as shown below.  Once you have the rectangle started you are ready to enter in your dimensions.  Before you do this however be sure to check the box in the PropertyManager that says “Add dimensions” which is in the Options group box.  I have entered in 2.5″ for the first length for this example.

Step 2:  Once you have entered in the first dimension for the rectangle you can Tab over to the other dimension to input that one also.  I have entered in 4.5″ for the second length for this example.

Step 3:  Once you have entered in both dimensions hit Enter and your sketch should be fully defined and ready to be made a solid or surface.

This is great new functionality that was added for this release.  Sometimes the new features don’t always need to be the BIG & FLASHY things that we often think of but instead little additions like this one is what will continue to keep SolidWorks at the top of the 3D CAD world.

SolidWorks 2009 Preview: Command Manager & Property Manager

SolidWorks 2009 offers some improvements to the overhauled user interface that was introduced in SolidWorks 2008.  The user interface was a major topic of conversation when SolidWorks 2008 was released last fall.  It was a complete overhaul of what had worked well in the past so the reception was not well received in many circles.  Some of the following enhancements will hopefully get more and more people on board with the interface that I really like.

CommandManager

Because of the user interface changes in SolidWorks 2008 the CommandManager became “fixed” at the top of the screen if you used it.  In previous versions the CommandManager was able to be moved to any spot on the screen like all of the other toolbars.  Well this has been fixed in SolidWorks 2009, not completely but it is a start.  As you can see in the picture below when you drag the CommandManager like you would for positioning any of the toolbars you will notice that 3 boxes with arrows appear on the screen.  These arrows indicate the spots where you can drop the CommandManager in SolidWorks 2009.  You can also leave it anywhere in the work window.  When you leave the CommandManager anywhere but docked on the top, left or right you will notice a box in the upper right hand corner of CommandManager.  This is the Auto Collapse button, when you click it the red arrows will appear inside it and when you click anywhere outside of the CommandManager the box will collapse to free up more work area in your window.  If the arrows do not appear the CommandManager will stay as you see it below.  On a side not the 1 area of the screen that I positioned this toolbar in the pre SolidWorks 2008 versions was on the bottom.  I am not sure why this is not an option in SolidWorks 2009 but maybe we will see this in upcoming releases.

PropertyManager

The PropertyManager has always been stuck inside the FeatureManager right between the design tree tab and the ConfigurationManager tab.  This is the 1st release that I am aware of that allows you to move the PropertyManager (if I am wrong please drop me a line).  In this release you can move it anywhere on the screen and it also allows you to Auto Collapse it in the same way that I explained you could for the CommandManager.  There are no set places that you can only place it but there are certain areas on the screen where it will snap in place.  The first spot is right along side the FeatureManager tree just to the right of it and the others are in any of the other 4 corners of the screen.  I am not sure how much I will move this around but it is kind of a cool new option.  It will be fun to experiment with it to see exactly where it fits mine and your work flow the best.

As a note to both of these enhancements I believe that you can move both of them onto a second screen if you are using a dual monitor setup.  I have not been able to run SolidWorks 2009 on my work computer where I have dual monitors set up (thanks Matthew) so I am not 100% sure this is possible but I believe you can.

If you want to try out these new SolidWorks 2009 features for yourself download SolidWorks 2009 Pre Release 1 which is available in the Downloads and Updates section of the SolidWorks Customer Portal.

SolidWorks 2009 Preview: Custom Properties Tab

As most of you have already figured out the NDA is off for all of the SolidWorks 2009 Beta Testers so now we can let you all know of what to expect in the upcoming release of the software.  Some of the other members of the "Blog Squad" have already given a broad overview of all of the new features in SolidWorks 2009 so be sure to check these out.

 

A really exciting new feature in this release is the Custom Properties Tab that is fully customizable to your needs.  Over the years many companies, possibly yours, have purchased add-on programs that allow you to enter in custom properties for your part and assembly files.  Well now you no longer need to spend hours searching the world wide web for the best program that will allow you to enter in your custom properties.  This tool will even allow you to assign properties to multiple parts at the same time.

 

The custom properties tab (left) is included right in the Task Pane as another tab underneath the Design Library, File Explorer, Search and View Palette tabs.  In  order to build this tab like you will want it you can use the built in Property Tab Builder (right) the SolidWorks 2009 includes.  This tool is located at Start>Program Files>SolidWorks 2009>SolidWorks 2009>SolidWorks Tools>Property Tab Builder.  You can include the following styles of input for your property tab: text box, list, number, check box or radio button.  This is a very easy tool to use and step by step you can build the Custom Properties Tab to include all of the properties that you would like propagated into your part and assembly files.

 

This tool will be a great addition to any company that has multiple users.  The CAD Administrator can build this tab and store it in a network folder so that all of the users (1 or many) are entering in the same required information for each file that is created.

 

Check back here tomorrow for another preview of the SolidWorks 2009 software.  Also be sure to keep paying attention to the other bloggers as they will continue to post on many of the other great new features.

SolidWorks 2009 Preview: Magnifying Glass

If you are anything like me you have worn out your middle scroll mouse button from scrolling in on features or edges to select them and then back out again so that you can see your entire part or assembly.

Well in SolidWorks 2009 they have added a magnifying glass tool that allows you to quickly zoom in on and feature and select a feature or face and even section the view for a better look. This is a great tool for helping you to quickly select entities for creating mates or selecting faces to create a sketch on.

The first step is to hover over the area that you want to zoom in on and then select G, the magnifying glass should open for you. If you already have G assigned to another function I am not sure how it will handle it when you first install SolidWorks 2009. If it does not open the magnifying glass operation simply go to Tools>Customize>Keyboard>Others>Magnifying Glass and assign a new keystroke to it.

Once the magnifying glass is open move your pointer around the model and the magnifying glass will maintain its same degree of zoom while the model stays stationary. You can however rotate your model as you normally would by holding down the middle mouse button and moving your mouse. To better move around your model while in the magnifying glass mode you can hold the Ctrl + middle-drag to pan around your model. You can also zoom in and out by scrolling like you normally would while the rest of your model stays stationary. Very cool!

To see a section view while in the magnifying glass function simply hold the Alt key and scroll in and out using the middle mouse button to control the depth of the section. This section view will display parallel to the screen.

To select entities while in the magnifying glass mode hold the Ctrl key while selecting your entities. The first entity that you select without holding the Ctrl key will close the magnifying glass tool. You can also press G or Esc to close out of this tool.

In my opinion this is one of the cool new “bling” features that everyone can and should use on a regular basis. As you will see in my upcoming posts SolidWorks 2009 does not offer as many of these new “bling” features, as I like to call them, as they did in previous releases but the things they did add will greatly increase your productivity on a daily basis. The magnifying glass tool will decrease the amount of time that you spend scrolling around your model selecting entities which is nothing more than a time consuming operation. Now that time consuming operation will be cut down so that you can focus more on your design and less on mouse movements.

Stay tuned for more RockSolid SolidWorks 2009 previews to come.

If you would like to see these new features for yourself please participate in the SolidWorks 2009 Beta program which is open to all subscription customers. Check out this cool program and the awesome prizes you could win by heading over to the SolidWorks 2009 Beta Homepage.