What’s New SOLIDWORKS 2021

The updates to SOLIDWORKS 2021 focus on convenience and collaboration. In the previous versions of SOLIDWORKS, the application would consume a lot of CPU memory while working with a complex assembly. With this update brings new performance-oriented features that allow users to bring vast and elaborate assemblies to life in a more enjoyable, faster, and cost-effective manner.  Some small tools have been brought along with performance features to make creating parts a brisk task. While parts are being modeled and brought into assemblies, SOLIDWORKS 2021 has brought a collection of enhancements for project managers to map out, display, and communicate project progress to everyone within the company. Now that the big picture has been painted, let’s get into the changes users can explore in SOLIDWORKS 2021.

Performance And Assembly Modeling Enhancements

Performance enhancements within this year’s edition of SOLIDWORKS include putting that nice graphics card to work by putting more of the heavy rendering load in occlusion culling and silhouette edges on the GPU for faster frames instead of continuing to rely on the CPU for everything. Faster file operations, configuration switching, and automatic Lightweight model resolving have all been added to help when working with industrial assemblies. Users of SOLIDWORKS PDM will notice their daily file operations and workflows like Check-in, Add files, Change State, Open, Save, and Delete being significantly faster within the vault, making their days way more efficient and far less tedious.

When creating drawings in SOLIDWORKS 2021 there will be a noticeable difference in how much quicker drawings can be completed with the improved selection, panning, and fast-zoom tools. Panning latency has significantly decreased and the drawings will keep up with mouse movements. Detailing mode within SOLIDWORKS drawings which was added in SOLIDWORKS 2019, has been expanded in SOLIDWORKS 2021. The changes made allow all annotation types to be edited now and broken views, crop views, and detail views can all be added which allows for annotations or edits to be made quickly without loading all the parts within the drawing. Since the models are not being loaded sharing files is easier than ever.

Figure 1: SOLIDWORKS 2021 Detailing Mode (Image courtesy of https://www.solidsolutions.co.uk/)

More Flexibility For Part Design

 When modeling more complex parts SOLIDWORKS 2021 has done a make over for more than 60 features to enhance ease of use. It has also added features for edge flanges on non-planar edges, weldment miters, and the ability to add and evaluate equations within file and cut list properties.

Figure 2: SOLIDWORKS 2021 Edge Flange Improvement (image courtesy of https://seacadtech.com/)

Improved Simulation Capabilities

 Meshing and simulation studies are now more rapid than ever before due to the inclusion of several tools in SOLIDWORKS 2021. The new Mesh Quality Diagnostics tool helps to isolate poor-quality meshed areas making them much easier to find. The added Mesh Helper then can be used to automatically refine those poor areas. Meshing has also been made much faster due to improvements in bonding accuracy. These changes will help simulation-driven design efforts minimize risk and improve prototype discussion.

Figure 3: SOLIDWORKS 2021 Mesh Quality Diagnostics Tool (image courtesy of https://help.solidworks.com/)

Streamlined Data Management

SOLIDWORKS PDM 2021 has seen much-anticipated changes in addition to efficiency and speed changes described earlier with daily file operations within the vault. A highly-requested Treehouse View for Contains and Where Used tabs have been added to give a visual reference of the structure of a project. The view can also be exported to an Excel file with embedded thumbnails. Administrators have been provided with more control and interfaces that contain information have been drastically improved. Icons for states and transitions in workflows have been expanded in 2021 and will help to illustrate each step along the workflow.

Figure 4: SOLIDWORKS PDM 2021 Treehouse View

Conclusion

 Massive performance changes will take a significant rendering load off users’ CPUs and will allow working with robust assemblies to be much more enjoyable, quicker, and cost-effective. The enhancements done on 60 plus features, the introduction of creating edge flanges on non-planar edges, and the weldment miter will allow users lots of variability on how they would like to model parts at any level of difficulty. Lastly, SOLIDWORKS PDM and simulations are seeing a huge increase in speed and ease of use that will improve every project conducted within SOLIDWORKS. All in all CAD modeling has been taken to the next level with SOLIDWORKS 2021 and all the improvements it brings.

Thanks for reading! Whether you have questions or need our contract services, please don't hesitate to contact us!