Last Thursday I left the Arizona desert after four incredible days filled with SOLIDWORKS this and SOLIDWORKS that. As I sat on the plane, I was feeling the same way I do when I sit on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner, but this time I wasn’t feeling lethargic with a so-called “food-coma.” Instead, I was feeling excited about the future of SOLIDWORKS and the great new products and features coming our way. So excited, in fact, I couldn’t wait to share the future with you.

Where We’re Headed

First, let’s start with something for those trivia buffs out there. At approximately 2.7 million people, Chicago is the 3rd most populous city in the United States. Last week, it was announced there are more than 2.8 million active SOLIDWORKS users. That’s just the start of the great little nuggets of information we picked up.

That’s where SOLIDWORKS is now, but how about where it will be in the future? As they do every year at SOLIDWORKS World, on the final day they tease us with demos of new features that may (or may not) be coming in the next release of SOLIDWORKS.

Here are 15 highlights to look for in the coming months with the release of SOLIDWORKS 2016:

1. Select sketch midpoint without right mouse button 
2. Sketch context toolbar stays available
3. Hide/show main planes
4. Plane for pattern direction
5. Convert entities – internal loop
6. Degree style spline
7. C2 edge blend
8. Sweep bi-direction
9. Hide/show bodies with the tab key
10. Assembly mate controller
11. Copy & Paste mate support
12. Extended quick mates
13. Change toolbox fastener type
14. Direct scale change
15. Nested balloon sorting

What We Loved

While these upcoming features are at the top of everyone’s list of takeaways, we wanted to take it a step further. We wanted to know what our engineering team personally liked from SOLIDWORKS World, so we asked them just that.

Here’s what our technical team had to say:

Although we spent our time in different sessions getting a great depth of SOLIDWORKS information over a wide breadth of topics, we all left Phoenix with a similar feeling of disappointment that the future isn’t here now.

Getting As Much As We Give

In addition to lots of learning, some of our engineers took the opportunity to work with attendees and transfer their knowledge by hosting sessions on SOLIDWORKS Templates, SOLIDWORKS Simulation and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation. 

Looking Towards The Future

From the technical team here at ModernTech, we will leave you with this: The history of design and engineering is as exciting as it is vast, covering every single day humans have ridden this rock around and around the sun. That’s not hyperbola. It’s just one more thing put into perspective last week.

Welcome to Engineering 4.0. Oh, that’s one more thing we can’t wait to share with you. Check back again soon to learn all about this new era of engineering.