Solidworks - Are things slowing down? What new can't you live without?

[Arthur NY]

This kind of started in a previous thread but got me thinking more about this than ever, which is how much change aka new features have been added to the software in the past 10 years vs the previous 10 years?

Meaning from Solidworks 2002 - 2012 the list of features that we could use in 2012, that if I had to go back to 2002 I'd have one hand tied behind my back to even be able to do the same level of work. I don't think the same could be said if I had to go back from 2022 to 2012. Sure there are a few things here and there but nothing and nowhere near as much. Now I'm sure this can, in many ways, be targeted to and narrowed down to areas that are most relevant to a specific workflow but as a whole I can think of quite a few features that weren't possible in 2002 that were in 2012.

So is this just a sign that Mid-tier CAD has no where else to go? That quite literally there are next to no new features that are needed? One of the best ways to really kind of gauge this is the "What's New PDF"..... I used to luv to comb through it to see what great things had been added and start implementing them, if it was relevant to the kind of work I did. I dare say the What's New PDF from 2023, if I could compare it to 2013 would be considerably a ways bit smaller.

Maybe this is just perception and not reality but I would be interested in hearing from any of you if there are things that have been added in the past 10 years that you can't live without?

[TTevolve]

I tend to believe there is little that I couldn't do back then that I can do now, it's just that new added features have made doing things faster/easier.

For instance the lock rotation on a rotational mate, back in early 200's we would just add a parallel mate to lock the last degree of freedom, now that button saves you that step.

I was thinking weldments might be an exception, but then we would have just done them @$$ assemblies back then and add custom properties for length/size/materials

New stuff just tends to make the things we do more efficient, not that we couldn't do it before with added steps or a work around

[Glenn Schroeder]

I believe the software is fairly mature, and there are few big improvements to be made, but there is certainly room for improving existing features. I haven't been using it as long as some of you, having started in 2009, but one of the big ones that comes to mind was the improved mirror components function in Assemblies.

When I first started that feature just dropped components into place, with each individual component listed in the tree above the Mates folder, so you couldn't go back and edit the feature at all. Also, if I remember right their position wasn't fully defined, so if you didn't Fix them or lock them down with mates they were free to move around. Fixing that so it worked like a linear pattern was a big deal for me.

Another one that was big for me was the "Select body" button in the property manager for multi-body Parts. I work with them frequently, and this saved me a lot of time. It works much better than right-clicking on an existing view and using Relative View.

I know I said above that there isn't a lot of room for big improvements, but that doesn't mean there isn't any room. As many of you already know, because I've certainly mentioned it enough over the last ten years or so, since I first started using SW I've been frustrated that I couldn't set the display style in Detail Views in the Document Properties, but instead had to select "with Leader" every time I inserted one. While I won't be able to try it out until NIS updates the server (which I'm sure will happen soon), it's been reported that this is fixed with SW2023.

[RichGergely]

There tonnes of stuff they could add but at the moment it's classed as totally separate.

Rewinding to the old days gives a clear view. Years ago you paid for 2D or surfacing or tool design features on many 3D CAD systems. Now days we just just expect them to be included. Certainly areas such as sheet metal and weldments would never be included in a system as standard in the past.

I supposed the big one that potentially might appear on the horizon is sub-d modelling. At the moment Solidworks is going down a route of separate online package, but with many of the competition now starting to bring it within the main CAD package it might force the hand of Soildworks to change this course.

[DennisD]

There tonnes of stuff they could add but at the moment it's classed as totally separate.

Rewinding to the old days gives a clear view. Years ago you paid for 2D or surfacing or tool design features on many 3D CAD systems. Now days we just just expect them to be included. Certainly areas such as sheet metal and weldments would never be included in a system as standard in the past.

I supposed the big one that potentially might appear on the horizon is sub-d modelling. At the moment Solidworks is going down a route of separate online package, but with many of the competition now starting to bring it within the main CAD package it might force the hand of Soildworks to change this course.

I just want to set the record straight about sheetmetal.

I started using Pro\Eh in 1994. A single basic seat was a little over $18k. The sheetmetal module was an additional $5k. That did not include maintenance.

A year later I was at another company and our hardware VAR showed us the initial release of SolidWorks, SWX1995. I don't remember exactly, but I don't think they had the three levels then (Standard, Professional, and Premium). I kept changing the date on my computer for about six months so I could keep using the 30-day evaluation copy until my company bought ten seats of the base software (Standard). Because we were designing power tools we did not need much in the way of sheetmetal functions so I am not certain if the 1995 version had that capability. If sheetmetal was not included in SWX1995, it was included within the next year.

[Glenn Schroeder]

I know I said above that there isn't a lot of room for big improvements, but that doesn't mean there isn't any room. As many of you already know, because I've certainly mentioned it enough over the last ten years or so, since I first started using SW I've been frustrated that I couldn't set the display style in Detail Views in the Document Properties, but instead had to select "with Leader" every time I inserted one. While I won't be able to try it out until NIS updates the server (which I'm sure will happen soon), it's been reported that this is fixed with SW2023.

NIS surprised me and got that done yesterday afternoon, so I was able to give it a try this morning. I'm happy to report that it seems to work as advertised. I messaged Matt Lorono on Linkedin asking if he was responsible for getting it done, and offering to buy him beer if he was.

[Peter De Vlieger]

For our 2D needs we use Bricscad. If I look at what new things, improvements, QoL things, enhancements they keep adding and not only on the flagship version but even on the most basic version and then compare that to Solidworks premium.....
*sigh* there is no comparison.

Solidworks 'improvements' are in lots of cases things that the vast majority or us were not asking for nor have a need for it. That is if they actually do what they promise to do and aren't just a mess of half baked ideas badly implemented and without any stability. And if there is something that is actually worth while it's mostly the case of why the (expletive deleted) wasn't this introduced two decades ago.

The gall of them to even forcing people on buying service contracts for 4 years on new licenses just shows how much they don't give a rats @$$ about us. Heck, even just them hicking up prices just because they can and know that most of us are locked in shows that instead of applauding like seals when Gian Paolo Bassi gives his keynote speech, here in Europe he would be lucky if he would only be pelted with rotten eggs.

[Erik]

Regarding sheetmetal, IIRC, it first appeared in '98 or maybe '98Plus (they used to actually add new features in what would qualify as a SP today). I was in school at the time and our instructor insisted that we ignore the intriguing new feature, as we were still learning the ins and outs of manually calculating flat patterns at the time. I'd like to figure out a way for people who complain about SW sheetmetal today to try out the original. It was amazing at the time, but I wouldn't go back.