SolidWorks

SolidWorks

SolidWorks 2023 displaying a 3D assembly.
Developer(s)	Dassault Systèmes
Initial release	November 1, 1995 (1995-11-01)
Stable release	SolidWorks 2024 / September 26, 2023
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Available in	Chinese, Chinese Simplified, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish
Type	CAD CAE PDM PLM
License	Proprietary, term
Website	solidworks.com

SolidWorks (stylized as SOLIDWORKS) is a brand within Dassault Systèmes that develops and markets solid modeling computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering, 3D CAD design and collaboration, analysis, and product data management software. It developed the world's first 3D CAD application that ran on a desktop PC.

SolidWorks released its first product, SolidWorks 95, on November 1, 1995. The 3D CAD product, now known as SolidWorks, is the central product for the SolidWorks brand.

As of 2024, SolidWorks had an estimated 3 million users. SolidWorks provides analyses and simulations, including Finite Element Analysis. This approach can result in faster modeling, new design tools, and enhanced collaboration.

SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.

History

SolidWorks, initially named "Winchester Design Systems", was founded in December 30th, 1993 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, Jon Hirschtick and cofounders Constantine Dokos, Scott Harris, Bob Zuffante, Mike Payne, and Tommy Li. Hirschtick used $1 million he made while being a member of the MIT Blackjack Team to set up the company.

Initially based in Concord, Massachusetts, Hirschtick gathered a team of engineers with the goal of building 3D CAD software that was easy to use, affordable, and available on the Windows desktop. SolidWorks, now operating from Waltham, Massachusetts, released its first product, SolidWorks 95, in November 1995.

On July 25, 1997, Dassault Systèmes acquired SolidWorks for $310 million in stock. SolidWorks became a brand within Dassault Systèmes. The founder Jon Hirschtick stayed as a board member for the next 14 years, guiding its growth under a series of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), he went on to found Onshape, another 3D CAD company.

Following Jon Hirschtick, SolidWorks was headed by John McEleney, from 2001 to July 2007, Jeff Ray, from 2007 to January 2011, Bertrand Sicot, from 2011 to Jan 2015, and Gian Paolo Bassi, from 2015 to Jan 2022. In February 2022, Manish Kumar was named the new CEO of SolidWorks, while Gian Paolo Bassi was promoted to the Executive VP of 3DExperience Works at Dassault Systèmes.

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks acquired and successfully integrated a number of technologies over the years:

• On April 4, 2001, Dassault Systèmes acquired SRAC to bring simulation into mainstream design.
• On June 1, 2002, Dassault Systèmes acquired Design Source Technology for its PDM product PDMWorks.
• On May 7, 2006, Dassault Systèmes acquired GCS Scandinavia to leverage Conisio, their product data management software.
• On October 2, 2007, Dassault Systèmes acquired Seemage, a leader in the creation of 3D interactive product documentation.
• On March 26, 2008, Dassault Systemes acquired Circuit works provider Priwar e to bridge the gap between electronic CAD and mechanical CAD software.
• On May 7, 2013, Dassault Systemes acquired software maker Simpoe SAS to provide more options for planning injection molds.
• On April 1, 2019, Dassault Systèmes acquired the elecworks electrical and automation design software product line from Trace Software International, a developer of software solutions and services dedicated to industrial engineering.

Market

The SolidWorks' user base ranges from individuals to large corporations and covers a wide cross-section of manufacturing market segments. Its core industries include industrial equipment, high-tech, life sciences, home and lifestyle, architecture, engineering, and construction. Commercial sales go through an indirect channel of worldwide reseller partners. SolidWorks also partners with third-party developers to add functionality in niche market applications such as circuit layout and tolerance checking.

Directly competitive products to SolidWorks 3D CAD include PTC Creo Elements/Pro, Solid Edge, and Autodesk Inventor.

Key events

SolidWorks held its inaugural user conference, SolidWorks World, in Palm Springs in February 1999, which later evovled into 3DExperience World in February 2019. The event annually convenes SolidWorks customers, value-added resellers, technology partners, students, educators, the press, and SolidWorks employees, maintaining its schedule even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The user conference provides an opportunity for the close-knit community of engineers and designers that use SolidWorks products to connect and share ideas with each other.

Modeling technology

Screenshot captured from a SolidWorks top-down design approach

SolidWorks is a solid modeler, and utilizes a parametric feature-based approach which was initially developed by PTC (Creo/Pro-Engineer) to create 3D CAD models and assemblies. The software uses the Parasolid modeling 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, the user 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.

Screenshot captured from a SolidWorks top-down design approach

Building a model in SolidWorks usually starts with either a 2D or 3D sketch. 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, ISO, DIN, GOST, JIS, BSI and SAC).

Product portfolio

Since 1995, SolidWorks' has filed hundreds of patents worldwide and holds over 70 active US-granted patents. Examples of active patents include patent "Predictive Modeling" (US20210240881A1), patent "Constructing Multi-Element Features Using A 3D CAD System" (US10,430,524), patent "Automatic creation of fasteners for simulating a computer-aided design (CAD) model" (US10,303,809), patent "Computer-aided interactive learning" (US10,635,461), and patent "Generation of section view cutting lines with automatic constraints" (US9,465,894).

Design-to-Manufacturing solutions

In 1999, the SolidWorks brand started introducing solutions complementary to 3D modeling and in 2006 introduced SolidWorks Design-to-Manufacturing solutions, an integrated system enabling design and manufacturing teams to work together concurrently. As a result, companies can go from conceptual design to manufactured parts faster and more easily using 3D CAD.

SolidWorks desktop portfolio

Name	Product features	Release date
SolidWorks eDrawings	Enables users to interrogate and share 3D models to view, create and share markups	September 1999
SolidWorks Explorer	A file management tool designed to help users perform tasks such as renaming, replacing, and copying SolidWorks files. Later replaced by SolidWorks File Utilities.	September 2000
SolidWorks Simulation	Structural analysis tools that use Finite Element Analysis (FEA) as well as rigid-body dynamics tools to predict a product's real-world physical behavior by virtually testing CAD models. Initially launched as COSMOSWorks, the software was renamed SolidWorks Simulation in September 2008	September 2002
SolidWorks Workgroup PDM	Simple data management tool for single-site companies using SolidWorks 3D CAD offering tracked versions, applied status changes and controlled access. Initially launched as PDMWorks, the software was renamed to SolidWorks Workgroup PDM in October 2009. It was discontinued in October 2017 and replaced by SolidWorks PDM Standard.	September 2002
3DContentCentral	Provides users with a community to interact with shared models.	November 2002
SolidWorks Flow Simulation	A Computational Fluid Dynamics tool that uses a finite volume approach to solve the Naiver-Stokes equations for continuum flow. SolidWorks Flow Simulation solves for both fluid characteristics as well as solid temperatures. Initially launched as COSMOSFloWorks, the software was renamed to SolidWorks Simulation in September 2008.	September 2003
SolidWorks PDM Professional	A mainstream Product Data Management (PDM) system that stores and organizes engineering CAD data and other documents in a central vault that has a relational database to manage all the information about files and references, user and group permissions, electronic workflow processes, and more. Initially launched as PDMWorks Enterprise, the software was renamed to Enterprise PDM in October 2009. SolidWorks PDM Standard was introduced in September 2015 and was included in SolidWorks 3D CAD Professional and Premium.	July 2006
SolidWorks Composer	Work directly from 3D CAD data to create high-quality illustrations, photorealistic images, and interactive animations and to import design data. Initially launched as 3DVIA Composer, the software was renamed SolidWorks Composer in September 2013.	September 2008
SolidWorks Plastics	A finite element analysis tool that simulates the flow of melted plastic during the injection molding process to predict manufacturing-related defects so users can quickly evaluate part manufacturability. SolidWorks Plastics simulates the mold fill, packing, and cooling processes to produce real-world results prior to manufacture.	April 2012
SolidWorks Electrical	Unified electrical toolset that provides single- and multi-line schematic tools and enables 2D and 3D work to be synchronized for both mechanical and electrical parts.	August 2012
SolidWorks Inspection	Automates the creation of ballooned inspection drawings and inspection sheets for the first article inspection (FAI) and in-process inspection.	April 2014
SolidWorks MBD	Define, organize, and publish 3D annotations, including 3D model data in industry-standard file formats.	September 2014
SolidWorks Visualize	Allows users to leverage 3D CAD data to create photo-quality content from images to animations, interactive web content, and immersive Virtual Reality.	October 2015
SolidWorks CAM	Quickly program individual milled parts and configurations without leaving the SolidWorks 3D CAD environment. Define rules to create and build to users' company standards. The software uses rules-based technology that enables users to integrate design and manufacturing in one application, connecting design and manufacturing teams through a common software tool and 3D model. Includes High-Speed Machining (HSM), configurations, assembly machining, turning, and 3+2 programming to drive four- and five-axis machines.	September 2017
SolidWorks Manage	A set of advanced data management tools that adds powerful project, process, and item management capabilities with interactive dashboards and reports on top of the file management capabilities of SolidWorks PDM Professional.	January 2018

3DExperience Works portfolio

Since 1995, SolidWorks has expanded beyond the desktop portfolio. Dassault Systèmes introduced 3DExperience (stylized as 3DEXPERIENCE) Works, a business that connects people, data, and applications to take products from idea to delivery. 3DExperience Works leverages the cloud-based 3DExperience platform to provide a single, unified collaborative environment, enabling everyone involved in product development to contribute to the innovation process.

At the center of the 3DExperience Works portfolio are the Design and Engineering solutions built by the SolidWorks brand. The SolidWorks Governance roles connect SolidWorks desktop to the 3DExperience platform. The portfolio also features simulation, manufacturing, governance, and marketing solutions from other Dassault Systèmes brands including 3DExcite, CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, Netvibes, and Simulia.

The SolidWorks roles include both browser-based and cloud-connected roles. Each role is a collection of apps focused on a particular job function (e.g., 3D Creator), enabling a broad set of activities that users in that function typically perform.

Browser-based roles

Name	Description	Release date
3D Creator	3D parametric design solution that runs in a browser and gives users unrivaled design freedom in terms of creating and modifying designs	July 2019
3D Sculptor	Browser-based solution enabling users to create highly stylized, ergonomic 3D designs using subdivision-modeling technology	July 2019
3D SheetMetal Creator	Offers associative parametric sheet metal design capabilities to build components, assemblies and enclosures	July 2020
3D Structure Creator	3D modeling tool that provides structure design capabilities with a dedicated structure design interface and feature set	January 2021
3D Mold Creator	Provides features for the design of mold core, cavity, and inserts, bridging the gap between plastic part designers and mold makers	January 2021
Manufacturing Definition Creator	Combines model-based and drawing-based capabilities in one integrated solution	January 2021

Cloud-connected roles

Name	Product features	Release date
3DExperience SolidWorks (Premium, Professional, Standard)	Provides industry-leading SolidWorks desktop CAD along with powerful browser-based CAD solutions and built-in data management capabilities in the cloud	July 2020
3DExperience Draftsight (Mechanical, Premium, Professional)	2D and 3D CAD solutions enabling users to create, view, edit, and markup DWG and DXF files	Mechanical (Feb 2023) Professional (Sep 2021) Premium (July 2020)
Collaborative Designer for SolidWorks	Enables users to access the cloud-based 3DExperience platform from within SolidWorks for secure data and product lifecycle management	February 2020
Collaborative Designer for DraftSight	Combines DraftSight's 2D drafting tools with cloud-based collaboration, data, and product lifecycle management tools	July 2020

Engineering.com, however, noted that some 3DEXPERIENCE features could be found in the standard desktop version of SOLIDWORKS.

SOLIDWORKS for Startups Program

The SOLIDWORKS for Startups Program, also known as the 3DEXPERIENCE Works for Startups program or the SOLIDWORKS Startup Program, is an initiative designed to support early-stage hardware startups. The program provides free access to industry-standard design, collaboration, and other product development tools for qualifying startups in their first year. Participants also receive free training and co-marketing resources as part of the program. Five companies presented their experiences with the program at 3DEXPERIENCE world 2023.

See also

• Comparison of computer-aided design software
• List of 3D printing software

External links

• Official website