Meet the Product Definition Team: Ravi Shrivastava

Who decides What’s New in SOLIDWORKS? Product Definition team members are a major component in determining and defining enhancements and new functionality included within the SOLIDWORKS products each year. They meet face-to-face with SOLIDWORKS customers to discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and what they would like to see in the future. These customer visits are fantastic opportunities for you to connect with SOLIDWORKS directly, and let us know what we can do to help make your jobs easier. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be talking with members of the Product Definition team for an inside look at their favorite 2016 features.

Ravi has been a part of the Product Definition Team for about a year. He spent the last ten years with the SOLIDWORKS R&D Team. His areas of focus are: Parts, Sketcher, and Surfacing. Ravi was a busy in his first year as a member of the Product Definition Team! Some of the projects he’s worked on the SOLIDWORKS 2016 are: reuse absorbed reference curves, the redesigned triad controls, choose configuration during add component, and the ability to reverse a sketch offset.

What is your favorite 2016 feature?
My favorite 2016 features are the redesigned triad controls available in View>Display>Section Views (or in Insert>Exploded Views) and the capability to reverse sketch offset in the modify dimension dialog of offset dimension (or in right click shortcut menu of offset dimensions).

Why the control triad?
The control triad allows easy manipulation and changes by directly interacting in graphics area. Control Triad manipulators plays a very important role when creating Section view and Exploded views.

How does the new triad enhance/improve the user experience?
With the new enhancement in SOLIDWORKS 2016, it becomes easier to grab triad arrows and rings for creating exploded views and/or section views. Making it easier to select and drag the triad in the graphics area will provide a productivity increase and user interface consistency while manipulating triad positions.

What was the hardest part of bringing the redesigned triad to life in 2016?
The control triad is available in variety of commands and we have to ensure we are covering all places in software where this triad is being referenced. Along with that, there are a few commands where we have to ensure that the previous control triad is shown because they are specifically using some color indications as reference in their property managers, some simulation commands and add camera for example.

What was the most enjoyable part of developing the new triad?
We had changed the control triad arrow behavior to increase size from 1x to 2x on mouse hover. It is interesting to check this behavior before finalizing the correct increment in size to have better usability experience.

Was the redesigned triad initiated by a customer visit? An Enhancement Request? How did it start?
This requirement came from usability feedback of triad from various customers.There are some Software Performance Reports (SPRs) which also contributed to this change.

And finally, your favorite color?
Light yellow.

If you’re interested in setting up a Customer Visit with a member of the SOLIDWORKS Product Definition Team, send an email to SOLIDWORKS.NAM.RD-Info.com. Please include: your name, company, contact number, and a brief summary of what areas you’d like to discuss (Assemblies, Weldments, Sheet Metal, Drawings, Simulation, eDrawings, SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard/Professional, etc.) to get started. You can also find the team at your local user group meetings, and at SOLIDWORKS World 2016 in Dallas, Texas.

Every year SOLIDWORKS releases a new version of its flagship product, and last year, a new tradition was born here on the Blogs. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a Sneak Peek at 15 new features here on the SOLIDWORKS Blog, and then we’ll be following them up with short, detailed videos on the functionality over on the SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog beginning September 23^rd. Until then, you can learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2016 by clicking the banner above and checking out the Launch Site.

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Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.