CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

27 May 2009

Company News

DS SolidWorks Education Edition 2009 Expands Access To Advanced CAD Functionality While Boosting Performance

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (DS SolidWorks) announced a new version of its SolidWorks® Education Edition 3D CAD software that features a 65 percent performance boost and new resources that help educators use the software as an effective tool for teaching math, science, and technical concepts.

SolidWorks Education Edition 2009 also streamlines licensing procedures to give learning institutions easy access to the software and supporting materials. A Web-based licensing system, the Student Access Module, enables schools to more easily acquire and manage large numbers of SolidWorks software licenses to meet their students’ needs. Once they have the software, new training and curriculum help educators teach academic subjects and engineering skills students need in the professional world. These new resources are:

• An expanded teacher’s guide to help prepare students for the Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) exam. CSWA certification improves students’ marketability because the certification demonstrates proficiency and job-ready skill sets with SolidWorks software.
• Built-in student guides accessible by clicking on the SolidWorks Resources button in the user interface.
• A teacher training course through SolidWorks resellers on using the software as part of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) lessons. Students learn skills such as applying forces and evaluating material properties by working with CAD models of a hook, a wooden bridge, and a car’s control arm.
• Downloadable textbooks and guides for each SolidWorks Simulation product help instructors explain Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) concepts.
• A complete update of all curricula based on user feedback.

“SolidWorks has a good ear for what we need to make 3D CAD software an effective learning tool,” said Stefano Tornincasa, a professor at Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy. “The software is a phenomenal teaching tool on its own. However, the quality of SolidWorks’ curricula, training materials and CSWA certification are key to us using the software to its best effect in the classroom. They make the software a more accessible resource.”

More speed for advanced learning

SolidWorks Education Edition 2009’s 65 percent performance improvement makes working with complex designs faster and more efficient. The improved performance comes from integrated workflows, adapted from real-world situations that help students transform their ideas into 3D models.

In addition to the performance boost, Education Edition 2009 includes 260 technical improvements. Among the most significant are:

• Support for Windows Vista 32 and 64-bit applications.
• The PhotoView 360 rendering tool, based on SolidWorks Intelligent Feature Technology (SWIFT), which lets students render a photorealistic scene while they’re working on it. Most software forces users to wait until scenes are complete.
• A Simulation Advisor for finding hidden flaws by guiding users through every stage of analysis.
• Simulation Sensors that alert users when parts and assemblies deviate from user-defined limits. Users set goals such as allowable stress, displacement, part weight, measurement, and interference, and the sensors react when users exceed the limits, providing a competitive advantage for FSAE, Formula Student, and robot teams.

“Between Education Edition 2009’s power and the high premium we put on easy access in this release, we feel that we’ve gone to a new level in developing SolidWorks as an educational asset,” said Marie Planchard, director of worldwide education markets for DS SolidWorks. “We approached access on the two levels that matter most to educators: getting software licenses without a lot of hassle, then using the licenses as a teaching tool as effectively as possible. Educators can concentrate on using SolidWorks to bring subjects like math, physics, and engineering to life for their students.”

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