I recently read an article called “What sets Solid Edge apart from Solidworks” that looks at why Siemens are the leading mid-range CAD provider. In the article, it looks at the use of Synchronous Technology and the forward thinking of using the Surface Pro for design on the go. This is true to a certain extent, but doesn’t explain the why. The latest release of Solid Edge emphasises what makes Solid Edge stand out – the developers. Over the years, the Solid Edge development team have shown that they stay in touch with what the market is doing and actually develop tools that will help designers by working faster and designing better.
The first sign of this was sheet metal being introduced as a separate environment back in v3.5 (the only half release in Solid Edge’s history), then surface modelling in v14 (not new, but this brought a totally new approach to improving the way surfaces are built) and Synchronous Technology showed how Direct Edit (parametric) modelling can remove a lot of the headaches that can be found in feature based modelling – understanding other peoples design, no visibility of how updates will affect downstream features and modifying imported files. The new tools in ST10 continue this trend with the introduction of Generative design, reverse engineering and Additive manufacturing and while they are not the final product, they do show how Siemens are moving in the right direction.
Generative Design – Find out more
Reverse Engineering – Find out more
Additive Manufacturing – Find out more