Solid Edge ST7 Released with a Host of New Features

posted 2014-08-13

With DVDs still in the mail, Solid Edge users are able to login with their webkey to the GTAC website and download the latest version of Solid Edge.  Like a child with a new box (that the toy came in), I've been tearing into the complete 110 page Release Notes and will highlight a few of my favorite enhancements. 

  • Quick View Cube
  • Material Properties
  • Quick Shapes
  • Assembly Patterning
  • Reference Text
  • Curve Length Dimension
  • Component Tracker
  • Center of Mass Display

Quick View Cube

For the sad times that I'm without my 3DConnexion device, and sometimes even when I have it, I find myself using Solid Edge's Common Views command to quickly snap to an orthographic projection.  The new Quick View Cube can be considered an on-screen enhancement to the Common Views command which makes switching between views very easy.  I am especially looking forward to it when I'm using my travel Navigator since there aren't any buttons to configure.  (If you can't tell, I configure the buttons to quickly snap to the primary views: top, front, right, back, bottom, left, iso, and fit.)

Material Properties

As an analyst, finding - and maintaining for reuse - the properties of a certain material takes nearly as long as running the simulation.  As a product designer, creating realistic shading and rendering takes nearly as long as designing the product.  Being able to capture this information easier, to be able to reuse this information easier, and to be able to share this information easier is an enhancement that will save a lot of time.  With Solid Edge ST7, material properties are stored in different libraries, allowing control and access to different properties to different departments.  Finding and verifying the information within the table is easier also.  And of course, apply that material to the model is a much simpler process.  Considering every part I design has a material associated with it, this is a great time-saving enhancement.

Quick Shapes

Why in world would you start a 3D design in 2D?  I have asked myself that question for a long time and I'm happy to see that Solid Edge finally understands that "old school" techniques of prismatic modeling can, and should, begin with a primitive shape.  Instead of starting with a 2D sketch and extruding, revolving or sweeping, the solid geometry can be created using one of the three solids commands: Box (for six-sided cubes and rectangular prisms), Cylinder (for right circular cylinders), and Sphere.  Hopefully the next revision of Solid Edge will see an expansion of this primitive shapes like Torus, Wedge, and Screw.

Assembly Patterning

When is a pattern not a pattern.  A pattern is typically an orderly repetition of geometry in a linear or circular arrangement.  But an orderly repetition doesn't just have to be linear or circular.  It is also a pattern when the geometry is repeated along a curve, and Solid Edge finally has that ability that competitor products have been able to enjoy for a long time.

But what about when geometry is duplicated randomly?  This is not necessarily a pattern, but happens quite often in assemblies - a subassembly or component has a repetitive but random location or orientation within the assembly.  Usually, designers have to manually insert the component and apply assembly restraints to locate and orient the component.  But Solid Edge ST7 can now duplicate components based on reference geometry and the components will inherit the relative location and orientation, thus creating a pattern of sorts.  The demo for this one is interesting enough, I can't wait to apply it on my own designs.

Reference Text

This is one of my favorite upcoming 2D enhancements that I crave every time I step away from SOLIDWORKS.  Solid Edge can finally utilize other callouts within callouts and dynamically update.  This functionality has been available in the 3D environment through the use of dimensions and the equation editor, and also for linking to property text and other file metadata, but it has not been available for PMI features like GD&T either in 2D or 3D.  In my opinion, this functionality will help build the foundation for 100% compliance to ASME Y14.41 and that's why it shows up on my favorites list.

Curve Length Dimension

Soft good modeling in a parametric history based, or even direct modeling, environment is no one's idea of a good time.  Modules have been adapted to include tubing, routing, wires, and other similar functions but nothing has really been developed to model soft goods.  With this ability, a soft good like webbing or hose can be drawn using a curve and the curve can have a fixed-length (overall length) dimension applied to it.  Once dimensioned, the curve can be adjusted any which way, but the overall length will remain as defined.  Finally, when I model a 12" long strapping that bends and folds around a contoured shape, I know that I have only used 12" of strapping by the time I'm finished modeling it in the as-formed condition.

Component Tracker

Solid Edge has long had what they called the Drawing View Tracker.  It functioned as follows:

  1. Open a drawing, see grey borders that tells you the model is out of date and the views need to be updated.
  2. Run the Drawing View Tracker feature and parse through the assembly (all levels very quickly) to see what assemblies are out of date.
  3. Open the assemblies, update, save, and (manually) recurse up the tree.
  4. Once all assemblies have been updated, reproject the drawing views.

The question has been, since this functionality has existed for a long time in the draft environment, and it parses through assemblies, why isn't there an equivalent in the assembly environment to determine out-of-date subassemblies?  Well, there finally is.  I know this tool is going to find its way into my dataset release process.  Oh, and do you see that Update All button.  NICE!

Center of Mass Display

Aerospace and defense workers celebrate. Finally all that weight and balance information can be easily depicted on the drawing.  Let me share the workaround as to why this seemingly innocuous feature is on my favorites list.

  1. Run mass properties analysis in the model and make sure to show the CG location.
  2. Create a drawing view.
  3. Edit the properties of the drawing view to display the CG from the model. A tiny dot shows up on the drawing. So small that it can barely be seen and doesn't scale when zooming in - it stays a dot. And, that dot is usually overlapping an edge so it is nearly impossible to find unless you memorized its location from the model.
  4. Select the drawing and Draw In View.
  5. Insert your custom Center of Gravity symbol (aka block) and attach it to that tiny little dot you found.
  6. Exit Draw In View and create your dimensions to the CoG symbol.
  7. Edit the model and update the mass properties to get the new CoG location.
  8. Update the drawing view, the dot moves, but the symbol doesn't move even though you attached it to the dot.  The constraint to the CoG dot is not persistent even though you told it to be.
  9. Refind the dot and re-restrain the custom CoG symbol to it.  If you fail to do this step, your dimension won't change because it is attached to the symbol, not the dot.  Sure, you could try to attach it to the dot first and then apply the CoG symbol from within Draw In View, but unless you've done this process you don't understand how difficult finding that little dot is.

Yep, this is probably my most favorite enhancement.  I can finally stop chasing around that stupid little dot or having bad data going into weight and balance calculations because I forgot to update the CG location on the drawing after I made model changes.  This is a huge time saver when creating drawings and a huge cost savor for all the down stream analysis errors that will no longer occur.

Conslusion

There are software updates that you don't even bother installing; there are software updates that contain features that would be nice to have; and then there are software updates that invoke an uncontrollable urge to not even wait for the first maintenance pack before you roll it out to the entire organization.  Solid Edge ST7 is one of those updates.  If it wasn't for having to go through all the many changes to templates, material tables, and other administrative features I'd be rolling this version out today!  But, I caution most users to spend time migrating their holes data to the new format, verifying material properties in the new format, and updating templates and styles to really take advantage of the time saving features.  Then, when all the back-end changes have been updated to your company standards, roll out ST7 for production use.