Skip to main content

Solid Edge ST6 First Look…

As you may know, Solid Edge University 2013 is coming up in about 3 weeks (http://www.solidedgeu.com/) and that the official announcement about Solid Edge ST6 will come on day 1 of that event (June 25th).  Dan Staples, director Solid Edge Development will provide the Solid Edge ST6 keynote.
Well, I have a couple of early treats for you about ST6 that I can share!  Please keep in mind that these are no more than a tiny teaser of ST6, and as a BETA tester I can assure you there is so much more…
There has been this rumor going around that ST6 would put some focus on surfacing.  Well, here are two new tools that should convince you it’s more than just a rumor…
  • Reflective Plane  - The typical use case of symmetric molded parts is to model one half and mirror the body of the second half when complete… But how do you know what the whole part looks like prior to being finished with the part?  The answer is the Reflective Plane. It allows display of the second half of the part with out the display overhead of a geometric mirror and it allows inspection of surface quality using the surface analysis tools like zebra shading.
  • Ruled Surface – This command allows creation of a ruled surface some direction and angle from an existing surface edge.  There are a number of options for creating this surface in relation to the existing geometry.
Here is a video showing both in action:


 
The other area of focus has to do with the drafting process and making prints easier to create and make presentable...
  • Arrange Dimensions - Typical use cases are when using the ‘Retrieve Dimension” command to pull 3D model dimensions into the 2D drawing as well as when updating a 3D model with an existing dimensioned drawing.  In these use cases, dimensions do not always come in or update neatly.  The answer to this problem is the Arrange Dimensions command that allows the user to automatically arrange dimensions to the standards defined by your template.
Here is a video showing it in action:


 
I hope this small taste of ST6 has done nothing more than to grow your anticipation to a frenzy as you wait for the ST6 full announcement and subsequent release.  I think that ST6 will be an exciting release and will provide a ton of new tools and productivity enhancement that both existing users as well as new and potential new users will find irreplaceable, and it will help you Design Better with Solid Edge!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Solid Edge Replace Part Options

If you are not familiar with the Solid Edge Replace Part command, it is an Assembly based command used to do what the name implies… replace a part or sub-assembly with another part or sub-assembly. In past releases of Solid Edge, the Replace Part command was a solo act that had the ability of replacing a single part or sub-assembly occurrence or all occurrences of that selection with a user specified replacement part or sub-assembly that already existed. With the release of Solid Edge ST5 and subsequent releases, the Replace Part command was actually expanded into 4 different Replace Part commands, each with their own specific capabilities. Replace Part Replace Part is similar to the previous Replace Part command in that it is used to replace a part with one that has already been created, however it was expanded to allow not only the selection of a single occurrence or all occurrences of the selection, but also allows a user to select different parts and/or specified num...

Solid Edge ST7

Solid Edge ST7 is not due for release until July 2014, but it appears it is actively being worked on by SE Development as witnessed by a recent post from Dan Staples on the GTAC Solid Edge discussion group where he revealed a new enhancement by accident.  Whoops!  No worries, it was a simply a setting switch so he really didn't let much of the cat out of the bag (tip of a whisker?). The good news is that we have several more months till launch so he has plenty of time to reveal more about ST7, and knowing Dan, he might let a few teasers out just to keep things interesting. BETA should commence in early spring, and the official launch will occur at Solid Edge University 2014 in May.  No doubt Synchronous Technology based modeling will continue to be a focus, but it's anyone guess as to what the other areas of focus are...

Dimension Projection Line Breaks

Often when placing dimensions on drawings, the projection lines of some dimensions will cross the projection lines of other dimensions as shown below. Solid Edge provides a function to automatically create breaks in one extension line where it crosses another. This function is called "Add Projection Line Break". It is accessible from the Shortcut Menu when you have a dimension highlighted. The result is shown below. If you wish to remove the projection line break, highlight the dimension, invoke the shortcut menu, and select "Remove Projection Line Break".