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SolidWorks is a 3D CAD (computer-aided design) program that runs on Microsoft Windows and was developed by SolidWorks Corporation - now a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, S. A.. SolidWorks was introduced in 1993 as a competitor to CAD programs such as Pro/ENGINEER, SDRC I-DEAS (now Unigraphics NX), and Autodesk's Mechanical Desktop (now Autodesk Inventor), and is currently a leader in the "midrange" CAD market.

History

Solidworks was founded in 1993 by Jon Hirschtick, with its headquarters at Concord, Massachusetts. In 1997 the French technology giant Dassault Systèmes, S. A. accquired the company and currently owns 100% of its shares, positioning the software in midrange design capabilities with more user friendly features and add-ons enabling easy migration from 2D CAD programmes to a 3D environment. The company has been headed by John McEleney since 2001.

The SolidWorks approach

SolidWorks employs a parametric, feature-based approach to creating models and assemblies. Parameters refer to constraints or conditions whose values determine the size, shape, characteristics, and behavior of the model or assembly. Parameters can be either numeric, for example dimension values such as the diameter of a circle or the length of a line; or geometric, such as conditions like tangent, concentric, coincident, parallel, horizontal, and the like. Numeric parameters such as dimensions can easily be related to each other through equations to capture even the most complicated design intent.

Features refer to the building blocks of the part. They are the shapes and operations that construct the part. Shape-based features would include slots, holes, bosses and the like that either add or remove material from the part. Shape-based features typically begin with either a 2D or 3D sketch. Operation-based features generally don’t have sketches. These types of features include operations like filleting, chamfering, shelling, or applying draft to a part.

Building a model in SolidWorks usually starts with either a 2D or 3D sketch. The sketch consists of geometry such as lines, arcs, conics, and splines. Dimensions are added to the sketch to define the size and location of the geometry. Relations are used to define attributes such as tangency, parallelism, perpendicularity, concentricity, and such. The parametric nature of SolidWorks means the dimensions and relations drive the geometry, not the other way around. The dimensions in the sketch can be controlled independently, or by relationships to other parameters outside the sketch. For example, you can sketch a rectangle and dimension its height and width. Then you can extrude the rectangle to create a rectangular prism. You can then relate the length of the extrusion to the height of the rectangle so that if extrusion gets longer, the height changes accordingly. Furthermore, you can subsequently add a hole in the face of the prism and create another relationship so that the diameter of the hole, which was created after the prism, drives the width of the prism. This way, if the hole has to grow larger, the prism’s dimensions would also increase to accommodate it.

Another aspect of the feature-based nature of SolidWorks is you can roll back into the history of the part in order to make changes, add additional features, or change to sequence in which operations are performed.

In an assembly, the analog to sketch relations are mates. Just as sketch relations define conditions such as tangency, parallelism, and concentricity with respect to sketch geometry, assembly mates define the same relations with respect to the individual parts or components. This means you can assemble parts with the same easily edited intelligence that you have in part modeling. Beyond the simple mates are advanced mates that include gear and cam and follower mates.

Drawings

Drawings can be created either from parts or assemblies. They are drawn automatically, just by clicking on the window that contains the part or assembly to draw. The drawing module includes most paper sizes and standards (ANSI, ISO, DIN, GOST, JIS, BSI and GB).

SolidWorks product

The SolidWorks core product includes tools for 3D modeling, assembly, drawing, sheetmetal, weldments, and freeform surfacing. It can import numerous file types from other 2D and 3D CAD programs. It also has an API for custom programming in Visual Basic and C. Also included is an entry level finite element analysis program called CosmosXpress.

SolidWorks Office Professional

The SolidWorks Office Professional bundle includes the SolidWorks core product plus several add-in programs. These include:

Version History

Past Versions

Current Version

Future Editions: