You saw a preview in Orlando at SolidWorks World 2013, but the wait is over – the 22nd release of SolidWorks is here!
With new solutions for design tools, integrated workflows, increased performance, and enhanced visualization, SolidWorks 2014 gives you the power to design without limits.
Now, I’m not an engineer – but I do work with an awful lot of them. Each time I ask someone passing through my office to tell me what they’re excited about in 2014, it’s all I can do to get them to stop talking about it!
Two features really stand out for Lars Petersen, Hawk Ridge Systems Training Manager: Style Splines and Conic Fillet controls.
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Style Splines give a new way to control splines that can ensure better curvature between faces and making boundaries. A lot of our industrial design customers already use this type of geometry to get really nice, ergonomic, cool-looking consumer products. While you can still create a point-to-point spline and control them the same way you’ve always done in SolidWorks, this new feature gives you another way to capture your design intent, especially when it comes to creating smooth shapes.
Conic Fillet controls are also a big deal for Lars. As the creator of the Hawk Ridge Systems Intro to SolidWorks Online course, Lars developed an awesome RC model and controller to use for the class – and then we printed it with our 3D Systems ProJet 3500 in the Mountain View office. Radial fillet controls lead to corners that look like they were designed in CAD – but the Conic Fillet controls can bridge the gap between chamfer and fillet. Rather than a constant radius going down the edge, this new control allows you to create smoother transitions between adjacent faces. Lars is already reworking his model to utilize these new surfacing tools in SolidWorks 2014, and I can’t wait to see it come to life with the ProJet.
These are the first major changes to advanced surface modeling in SolidWorks in recent years – and they certainly have Lars grinning.
Want to see these enhancements to SolidWorks 2014 – and many, many more – in person? Join us for a live SolidWorks 2014 Launch event at one of 15 locations in North America. Get the full schedule for the SolidWorks 2014 Launch, or explore SolidWorks 2014 on our website, and find out which new solutions are going to shorten your design process, enhance collaboration, and increase productivity so that you can design without limits. We’ll also have booths set up so you can get a firsthand look at all of the offerings from Hawk Ridge Systems that take you from design to production – including our 3D printer line, and the newly added NVDIA GRID VCA, the only platform certified and supported by Dassault Systèmes to virtualize and remotely deliver SolidWorks over the network. All of our Launch events are completely free and include a social hour from 4-5 with food, drinks, and prizes. Meet your local Hawk Ridge team, network with other users and check out one of the best releases of SolidWorks yet. I’ll see you there!
>> Register for a SolidWorks 2014 Launch Event
>> Explore SolidWorks 2014 Now