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SolidWorks is a
solid modeling Solid modeling (or solid modelling) is a consistent set of principles for mathematical and computer modeling of three-dimensional shapes '' (solids)''. Solid modeling is distinguished from related areas of geometric modeling and computer graphi ...
computer-aided design (CAD) and
computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks. It includes , , , durability and optimization. It is included with computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) ...
(CAE) application published by
Dassault Systèmes Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products. Founded in 1981, it is headquartered in Vélizy-Villacoublay, F ...
. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies were using SolidWorks as of 2013. According to the company,
fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
2011–12 revenue for SolidWorks totaled $483 million.


History

SolidWorks Corporation was founded in December 1993 by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
graduate
Jon Hirschtick Jon Hirschtick is a CAD software developer, founder and former CEO of SolidWorks, a popular solid modeling 3D CAD and CAE system for Microsoft Windows, and Onshape, a cloud platform for product development that includes tools for CAD, data manag ...
. Hirschtick used $1 million he had made while a member of the MIT Blackjack Team to set up the company. Initially based in Waltham,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, United States, Hirschtick recruited a team of engineers with the goal of building 3D CAD software that was easy-to-use, affordable, and available on the Windows desktop. Operating later from Concord, Massachusetts, SolidWorks released its first product ''SolidWorks 95'', in November 1995.Solidworks Company History
Solidworks company website
In 1997 Dassault, best known for its
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
CAD software, acquired SolidWorks for $310 million in stock. Jon Hirschtick stayed on board for the next 14 years in various roles. Under his leadership, SolidWorks grew to a $100 million revenue company. SolidWorks currently markets several versions of the SolidWorks CAD software in addition to eDrawings, a collaboration tool, and DraftSight, a 2D CAD product. SolidWorks was headed by John McEleney from 2001 to July 2007 and Jeff Ray from 2007 to January 2011. The current CEO is Gian Paolo Bassi from Jan 2015. Gian Paolo Bassi replaces Bertrand Sicot, who is promoted Vice President Sales of Dassault Systèmes’ Value Solutions sales channel.


Release history


Market

DS Solidworks Corp. has sold over 3.5 million licenses of SolidWorks worldwide. This includes a large proportion of educational licenses. Its user base ranges from individuals to large corporations, and covers a very wide cross-section of manufacturing market segments. Commercial sales are made through an indirect channel, which includes dealers and partners throughout the world. In the United States, the first reseller of SolidWorks, in 1995, wa
Computer Aided Technology, LLC
headquartered in Chicago. Directly competitive products to SolidWorks include
PTC Creo Elements/Pro Creo Parametric, formerly known, together with Creo Elements/Pro, as Pro/Engineer and Wildfire, is a solid modeling or CAD, CAM, CAE, and associative 3D modeling application, running on Microsoft Windows. Creo Parametric should not to be confu ...
,
Solid Edge Solid Edge is a 3D CAD, parametric feature and synchronous technology solid modeling software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides solid modeling, assembly modelling and 2D orthographic view functionality for mechanical designers. Throu ...
, and
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
. SolidWorks also partners with third-party developers to add functionality in niche market applications like finite element analysis, circuit layout, tolerance checking, etc. SolidWorks has also licensed its 3D modeling capabilities to other CAD software vendors, notably ANVIL.


Modeling technology

SolidWorks is a solid modeler, and utilizes a parametric feature-based approach which was initially developed by PTC (Creo/Pro-Engineer) to create models and assemblies. The software uses the
Parasolid Parasolid is a geometric modeling kernel originally developed by Shape Data Limited, now owned and developed by Siemens Digital Industries Software. It can be licensed by other companies for use in their 3D computer graphics software products. ...
modelling kernel. ''Parameters'' refer to constraints whose values determine the shape or geometry of the model or assembly. Parameters can be either numeric parameters, such as line lengths or circle diameters, or geometric parameters, such as tangent, parallel, concentric, horizontal or vertical, etc. Numeric parameters can be associated with each other through the use of relations, which allows them to capture design intent. ''Design intent'' is how the creator of the part wants it to respond to changes and updates. For example, you would want the hole at the top of a beverage can to stay at the top surface, regardless of the height or size of the can. SolidWorks allows the user to specify that the hole is a feature on the top surface, and will then honor their design intent no matter what height they later assign to the can. ''Features'' refer to the building blocks of the part. They are the shapes and operations that construct the part. Shape-based features typically begin with a 2D or 3D sketch of shapes such as bosses, holes, slots, etc. This shape is then extruded to add or cut to remove material from the part. Operation-based features are not sketch-based, and include features such as fillets, chamfers, shells, applying draft to the faces of a part, etc. Building a model in SolidWorks usually starts with a 2D sketch (although 3D sketches are available for power users). The sketch consists of geometry such as points, lines, arcs, conics (except the hyperbola), 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, and concentricity. The parametric nature of SolidWorks means that 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 inside or outside the sketch. 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 equivalent relations with respect to the individual parts or components, allowing the easy construction of assemblies. SolidWorks also includes additional advanced mating features such as gear and cam follower mates, which allow modeled gear assemblies to accurately reproduce the rotational movement of an actual gear train. Finally, drawings can be created either from parts or assemblies. Views are automatically generated from the solid model, and notes, dimensions and tolerances can then be easily added to the drawing as needed. The drawing module includes most paper sizes and standards (
ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...
,
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
, DIN, GOST, JIS, BSI and SAC).


File format

SolidWorks files (previous to version 2015) use the Microsoft Structured Storage file format. This means that there are various files embedded within each SLDDRW (drawing files), SLDPRT (part files), SLDASM (assembly files) file, including preview bitmaps and metadata sub-files. Various third-party tools (see
COM Structured Storage COM Structured Storage (variously also known as ''COM structured storage'' or '' OLE structured storage'') is a technology developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows operating system for storing hierarchical data within a single file. Strictl ...
) can be used to extract these sub-files, although the sub-files in many cases use proprietary binary file formats. SolidWorks allows saving 3D model information in *.step format, which lets the model be displayed and modified in other platforms from other vendors.


Associated products

SolidWorks has developed also various complementary add-ins, including: *
PhotoWorks Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton, England and founded in 1995.
: 3D photorealistic rendering engine. * 3DVIA Composer : content creation software for documentation, technical illustration, catalogs, commercial brochures, training documents, maintenance manuals from CAD data with updates of CAD changes. * 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace : an add-in allowing users to download 3D parts from an online catalog on make 3D printed parts on-demand


See also

*
Comparison of computer-aided design software The table below provides an overview of notable computer-aided design (CAD) software. It does not judge power, ease of use, or other user-experience aspects. The table does not include software that is still in development (beta software). For al ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solidworks 3D graphics software Windows-only software Solid mechanics Product design Computer-aided design software for Windows 1995 software Dassault Group Proprietary software 1993 establishments in Massachusetts Companies established in 1993