New features for Solidworks are set to roll out at the 3DExperience World user event in Nashville, USA, this week, with the first announcement positioning Solidworks’ tools further towards the cloud.
Gian Paolo Bassi, the senior VP of 3DExperience Works, announced the free inclusion of 3DExperience cloud solutions for all Solidworks seats in the first minutes of the 2023 event.
The move looks to give the user the ability to share and mark up a model for 3D view, in any browser, with no license or installation needed, within a 3DExperience environment. Bassi joked that the move is like “eDrawings on steroids,” and will come into action on 1 July 2023.
The opening mainstage session drew on how much the 3DExperience ecosystem has evolved over the years that the 3DXW event has been virtual, adding simulation applications – for structural analysis, fluid dynamics and electromagnetic field interaction – CNC machining and 3D printing, and virtual factory layout and plant design. The time has also signalled the further swallowing-up of Solidworks autonomy, as the brand becomes yet another tool on the 3DExperience platform.
This switch of focus to the overall platform was reinforced by Bernard Charles, now chairman of the board at Dassault Systèmes, who breezed through new tools on the cloud platform like ‘Life Synthesis’ (biomimicry), ‘Business Experiences’ (not sure, sounded like bits of Delmia and NetVibes), and an unnamed AI part search engine, based on 60 million parts, that Bernard compared to “the power of Google image recognising faces, but applied to your 3D parts, issues, requirements, etc.”.
As ever, the messaging was ambivalent – no specifics for launch dates or costs were offered for the new tools that were teased, and the crowd were hardly at their most raucous when faced with the announcements.
There’s undoubtedly much more to come today. To follow the main news as it is announced, head to @DEVELOP3D on Twitter, and return here for updates throughout the week
