CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

28 January 2009

Product News

SolidWorks 3D ContentCentral 2009 Blends Social Media and Self-Publishing Into Community for Sharing Design Knowledge

Already the largest online community of engineering parts, suppliers, and buyers, the 3D ContentCentral® service today also became the easiest to use by becoming the first to embrace self-publishing and social networking, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. announced.

3D ContentCentral 2009, the newest version of the online service, includes an array of self-publishing tools that enable suppliers to build vast catalogs of 3D models by simply clicking a mouse. New social networking tools let 3D ContentCentral users build Facebook-like communities of members for sharing knowledge on components and suppliers.

More than 450,000 registered users use 3D ContentCentral to find configurable models of engineering components from hundreds of suppliers. With this upgrade, DS SolidWorks is transforming 3D ContentCentral from an online catalog to an interactive online community where product designers and suppliers can exchange information on an infinite range of design issues.

“Before 3D ContentCentral 2009, users and suppliers who communicated through online catalogs were restricted to exchanging CAD data,” said Fielder Hiss, director of product management at DS SolidWorks. “Now, with the social networking features we’ve added to 3D ContentCentral, they can have real conversations, compare their knowledge and experience, and help each other make better buying decisions. At the same time, the self-publishing options will attract more suppliers, which gives users a wider range of parts to choose from. We’ve already had 100 suppliers register to use the self-publishing options.”

Self-publishing innovations

3D ContentCentral’s new Supplier Services self-publishing section eliminates the cost and technical barriers to creating online catalogs of engineering parts models. It enables suppliers to create their product catalogs without relying on a third-party service provider. Among the key features of Supplier Services are:

•  Embedded content management tools: a file upload program, content manager, supplier dashboard, and model preview and edit pages. They enable suppliers to build, update, and maintain catalogs.

•  Streamlined supplier catalog templates and a check-box option for “featureless” downloads of supplier models that protect their intellectual property by hiding it from users.

John Hartnett, president of Pittsburgh-based Vacuum Research Corporation, has long recognized the value of a Web presence for his company's valves, fittings, and gauges, but balked at the time and effort required to put 3D models online. 3D ContentCentral 2009's ease of use has swayed him to start an online catalog.

"Getting the models online isn't such a huge burden on the engineering people with 3D ContentCentral 2009," he said. "It's not a lot of extra work; it's just organizing what we already have in a different way."

Social networking for design knowledge

3D ContentCentral 2009 features a revamped “My 3DCC” page that enables users to build communities for trading knowledge and experience. Among the key new features are:

•  “My Updates”: Automatically keeps users up to date on everyone in their community of contacts. For example, it notifies a user when a contact uploads a new 3D model, or contributes a comment to an online discussion.

•  Favorites: Lets users track specified users and parts catalogs without inviting them to become a contact.

•  Rate and Comment: Enables users to collaboratively evaluate model quality and share their experiences with one another.

•  Requesting: Gives users a direct channel to suppliers so they can ask for modifications and new designs.

•  Maps to Suppliers: Google Maps integration in the search options helps users find the nearest component suppliers and OEMs.

•  Advanced Search Tools: Helps users find content more efficiently using guided navigation.

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