You want SOLIDWORKS to be faster, more robust and to enhance that feature that you’ve used repeatedly. You already know exactly how the functionality should be improved, but you feel you are too busy to submit an Enhancement Request. What else can you do?
What about voting on the ideas submitted to the Top 10 List 3DEXPERIENCE World 2023 (TTL23)? SOLIDWORKS users like you have already submitted 383 ideas and now the voting window has been opened.
Since TriMech solution, training and process consultants engage every day with users like you, they take advantage of this partnership to listen to their needs and collect their software enhancing ideas. Last month, we selected ten of the best ideas and submitted them to the competition.
Voting to ideas in the TTL23 is quick and easy. Just log in the Top Ten List community, read the ideas and “like” the ones you want to vote for.
Maybe start with the ideas submitted on behalf of TriMech’s clients. They are focused on improving your speed and productivity when working with large assemblies, drawings, importing large STEP or IGES files and simplifying them.
To access these 10 ideas, simply click on the titles below.
1. Add “Fill Cavity” Tool for Simplifying Geometry – Shrink Wraps
Benefits: significantly reduce the work required to optimize complex models to be used in Large Assemblies.
Vote for this idea if you work with complex models containing imported geometry features and you require only the space claim and mounting holes.
2. Search and Rename Functionality in FeatureManager Tree
Benefits: save time when revising models containing long and complex Feature Trees.
SOLIDWORKS has a superb FeatureManager Tree filter but it can still be improved.
- Make it work in conjunction with the Entities Selection Filter (F5).
- Allow Search and Replace
As an example, imagine how much easier would be to find all sketches named “Reference” and rename them in bulk to “Ref”.
3. Allow Import Diagnostics to be Used Anywhere
Benefits: save time when healing topological errors.
The Import Diagnostics tool is amazing (read this article for an in-depth dive in its functionality). Unfortunately, it can be used only on parts that have only imported features. The moment you add any other feature, the tool no longer is available.
Allow the user to activate it at any time. Should the repair generate dangling sketches or features, that is fine, warn the users, but allow them to proceed.
This would work well in conjunction with the next idea AutoSolve Dangling Relations and Dimensions in Sketches and Drawings.
4. AutoSolve Dangling Relations and Dimensions in Sketches and Drawings
Benefits: faster and more consistent model changes while preserving the design intent.
SOLIDWORKS 2023 added the amazing Auto Repair option for dangling Mate references.
What about an Auto Repair option for all dangling dimensions in a sketch or drawing view, or only for the selected dimensions/relations?
5. Allow the Creation of BOMs Based on Visible Components
Benefits: eliminate the need of using Configurations for creating BOMs in drawings. Dramatic improvement in speed and reduction of file size.
Currently if you want a new BOM, you need a configuration. Each new configuration adds a new assembly in the RAM, drastically impacting drawings performance.
Many times, users require the creation of BOMs referring all components visible in a drawing view. That could be achieved at least two different ways:
- Add a filter in the BOM to remove all hidden components from the linked drawing view (or not)
- Create BOM based on Display states.
6. Enhance the Large Design Review Mode for Applying Mates
Benefits: increase the usability of existing functionality to improve the productivity of Large Assembly users.
- Improve moving and rotating components inside an assembly opened in LDR mode.
- Add the Component Preview Window to enhance applying mates.
- Add Breadcrumbs to allow the selection of mates of top-level components directly in the graphics area.
7. Allow Loading of Graphics-only Components in Resolved Assemblies
Benefits: incredible speed and responsiveness when working with large assemblies.
A huge assembly can open in 10 seconds in Large Design Review mode. It does that by loading only the graphics data of all its components.
Users should be able to right-click on any component (part or subassembly) and setting to one of these states:
- Resolved
- Lightweight
- Graphics
Can you imagine how much time you would save when working with such assemblies?
8. Enhance Markups
Benefits: incredible speed and responsiveness when working with large assemblies.
Markups should get the same anchoring (attach) functionality that an annotation has in a drawing, allowing them to be attached to:
- sheet
- drawing view
- component in drawing view
- edge
9. Add Super Features in SOLIDWORKS
Benefits: make edits faster and more robust, allowing quick changes of Design Intent.
We already have super features in SOLIDWORKS, like the capability to convert a Fillet in a Chamfer and vice versa.
What we need are the type of Super Features existent in xDesign:
For example, when editing an existing Cut-Extrude, in the “Extrude” dialogue, the type of feature can be changed to “Add” to add solid material instead of a Cut, and it can even be changed into a Thin Feature or a Surface Body.
10. Add Selection Filters (F5) for Features and Part Components
Benefits: save time during edits and make the user interface more consistent.
The F5 selection filter is amazing, a true time saver.
Have you noticed the two most important types of entities missing in the options above? There is not a filter for FEATURES or for COMPONENTS.
Why is this a huge problem for users? Allow me to give you just two use cases:
- You have a complex multibody part resulted from importing a STEP file. You want to select in the graphics area the imported features that you want to keep, then invert the selection and delete the rest.
- You cannot do that without using workarounds. When you select in the graphics area, you think you selected features (you see them selected in the FeatureManager Tree) but you actually selected faces. If you invert the selection, you see this:
If only there was a filter that would allow selections of features in the graphics area.
Same limitation in assemblies. There is no selection filter for selecting part or subassembly components. Having them would save you a lot of time!
Summary
We hope that this shortlist of ideas will whet your appetite to read others and vote for more.
Help SOLDIWORKS improve by taking a few minutes to make your preferences known!
If you want to see which of the ideas made the Top Ten, please attend The Top Ten List Meet Up Session at 10:45 am ET on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2023.
About the Author
As an Elite AE and Senior Training and Process Consultant, working for TriMech Solutions, Alin Vargatu is a Problem Hunter and Solver.
He has presented 38 times at 3DEXPERIENCE World and SOLIDWORKS World, twice at SLUGME and tens of times at SWUG meetings in Canada and the United States. His blog and YouTube channel are well known in the SOLIDWORKS Community.
In recognition for his activity in the SOLIDWORKS Community, at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2021, the SWUGN (SOLIDWORKS User Group Network) awarded the SOLIDWORKS AE of the Year title to Alin Vargatu.
