Dassault Systèmes this week officially released SolidWorks 2013 into the wild. Focusing on changes to further accelerate the product design process, they tout over 200 user-driven enhancements.
In keeping with the recent release of their Electrical and Plastics products, they've beefed up their Costing, Sustainability, and Flow Simulation tools. They also provided numerous Modeling improvements, specifically beneficial to hybrid and surface models.
With a background in CAD management, several new features really stood out to me. The new CAD Administration dashboard, the network rendering capabilities, and the previous release interoperability. The ability to monitor the performance and configuration of all systems on your network from a single (browser-based) dashboard sets a new precedent in the industry.
Despite all the good news they brought to the table, the thing that surprises me most was the two words I didn’t hear at all. Direct Modeling. After the impressive technology previews they've shown the past few years, to have the topic be completely absent from this release surprised me. I certainly don’t expect that they’ve abandoned the technology, but I can only assume that there is a part of this story that has yet to play out. It wouldn’t be the first time deafening silence has preceeded news. We’ll just have to wait and see…
For more details...
- Full steam ahead for SolidWorks (Graphic Speak)
- SolidWorks 2013 Announced (RickyJordan.com)
- Gian Paolo Bassi – SolidWorks 2013 Best Release Ever (CADinsider.com)
- SolidWorks 2013 & what constitutes a good release? (DEVELOP3D)
- Official SolidWorks 2013 Launch Site
- Dassault Systèmes Simplifies 3D Design with SolidWorks 2013 (SolidWorks Press Release)