Streamlining Your Workflows with SOLIDWORKS 2020

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There are many great enhancements in SOLIDWORKS® 2020 that will enable you to improve your workflow. Below are a few that I think you’ll really like and each one is brand new functionality in SOLIDWORKS. Our aim, as always, is to reduce your costs, increase quality, and speed your time to market.

Make Part Flexible

Make Part Flexible is a new capability that allows you to display the same part in different conditions or states in the same assembly. A spring, for example, could be found in the same assembly three times, but in different conditions such as compressed, extended and free length.

You no longer need to make a configuration or special version of the component to represent each state helping you design more efficiently.

This functionality is useful in a variety of design applications such as springs, bellows, hinges, O-rings, and just about any part that can flex or change condition. It also ensures that the bill of material (BOM) is accurate by maintaining the same component name, which helps expedite purchasing components and saves design time as different versions of the same part are no longer necessary.

Silhouette Entities

The Silhouette Entities feature is very cool.

You can create multiple sketch entities by projecting the outline of the bodies in a part or components in an assembly onto a parallel sketch plane. Silhouette entities create parametric sketch constraints on the model and work both with 2D Sketch and 3D Sketch On Plane functionality. It’s a very versatile capability with many applications.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you are designing a smartphone cover (the one you buy to protect your phone when you accidentally drop it—I drop mine all the time). That rounded rubber case has no hard edges, but it does have numerous other little edges and indentations.

Silhouette Entities allows you to automatically create a sketch of the entire outside shape without picking anything—talk about fast! In addition, you don’t have to worry about picking an incorrect edge.

Simulation Evaluator

If you’ve ever been frustrated by having a simulation fail due to an incorrect simulation study setup, you need to check out Simulation Evaluator, which analyzes a simulation study’s setup to determine if the setup is optimal for a successful simulation.

It checks conditions related to the results folder, storage capacity of the results drive, materials used in the simulation, and the mesh volume. If conditions in the study prevent a successful simulation run, the Simulation Evaluator dialog box provides information for corrective actions.
Simulation Evaluator helps you save time and be more confident that your simulation is ready to go.

3D Markup

I’m excited that 3D Markup, introduced in 2019, now supports 2D drawings in addition to 3D models. Also, if you don’t have a touch device, you can now use a mouse to create markups. 3D Markup now comes with its own toolbar and CommandManager tab and has improved hover previews.

3D Markup helps you communicate more effectively by storing markup information directly in the 3D model or 2D drawing. There is no need for typical workarounds such as creating a screen capture and marking it up with external photo-editing tools.

We are looking forward to your feedback on these and other new capabilities in SOLIDWORKS 2020! Leave a comment below.

Craig Therrien

Craig Therrien

Craig Therrien is a 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS Senior Portfolio Manager with over 30 years of CAD and industry experience - engineer, consultant, CAD product manager, CAD company co-founder. Currently, serving as Senior Product Manager for SOLIDWORKS and 3D Mold Creator. Craig has a B.S.M.E. from WPI and is a Graduate of General Electric's Manufacturing Development Program.