If you use SOLIDWORKS as a design tool and are curious about the new features of SOLIDWORKS, this post is for you. Despite the fact that SOLIDWORKS often releases software updates, these updates cover a broad range of the product’s branches that are targeted at different specialized uses. Here, we’ve compiled the most important features and those that would most likely have an impact on customers. We’ve also ranked them from most to least noticeable.
- Redo Command: One of the most praised updates in SOLIDWORKS was the redo command. In SOLIDWORKS, you can “Undo” or “Redo” features, drawings, and other elements. Before this version, if you accidentally “Undo” a feature, a sketch, or any other modification, you had to start over from scratch. The procedure took longer as a result. But not anymore. This is because of the “Redo” feature. The new command works in the same way as the undo tool in Microsoft Excel.
- Custom Color Picker: One of the elements that are present in every design is the color scheme. In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, there was a significant color range available. It also supports the HSV and RGB color spaces. The newest version of SOLIDWORKS has a Color Picker to make it easier to select and replicate colors even when you’re not using the interface. This allowed picking colors from sketches, images, or logos simpler.
- Equations in the Custom File Properties: In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, we could add unique traits SOLIDWORKS file manually. These might include data about the creators, the business, the materials, the dates, etc. Then, if required, those can be automatically added to the prepared bills of materials and various drawing annotations. In the new version of SOLIDWORKS, the equations are added to those unique properties automatically. Linking to the file containing important information is now possible. For example, by adding an equation that is based on estimated costs of part mass, the cost will automatically adjust in response to the changes made to the part’s design. Before 2021, we could input the price as a distinct number that could only be changed by hand.
- Save Interference Detection Results as a Screenshot to Excel: The Interference Detection tool is a frequently used evaluation tool in SOLIDWORKS. It helps analyze whether or not different components might be conflicting with one another which allows us to assess the entire assembly. Once these are confirmed, you can change the design as required. With this new feature, you can now export external interference with a screenshot to an excel document. This helps easier to analyze and take into account all the circumstances when there are several interferences. But more importantly, it offers a way of immediately sharing such situations with external parties (like clients, vendors, etc.) who do not have a SOLIDWORKS membership.
- Transparencies and Textures Export (3D Printing): This feature work if only you have to use colored 3D printing. In most cases when you export your work in 3MF format. With this new feature, we can export textures, transparency, colors, etc. as 3MF files. The earlier edition of SOLIDWORKS did support color export. But transparency and textures were also included in the 2021 update. It’s important to keep in mind that you can only take advantage of this feature if you print with colored material.
Final Thoughts: If you have experience using SOLIDWORKS and enjoy designing and creating mechanical, electrical, and software components then these above features will help you advance your career more quickly. These new features will help you with performance enhancement, documentation, data management, validation, manufacturing, and many more. We suggest using YouTube to learn more about SOLIDWORKS. Considering that YouTube is free and has all the information you require. The fact that YouTube search results are not arranged like an online course is the only drawback. When each youtube tutorial video is organized like a chapter in a book, it’s quite helpful. You can accomplish that with Career Ninja’s Learn Tube. LearnTube arranges Youtube videos on the platform in a format similar to an online course. When you search for “SOLIDWORKS tutorial” on LearnTube, a number of videos resembling an online course are shown. As a beginner, you’ll see all the videos in order and learn from them as if you were enrolled in a course designed especially for you.
