Benefits of going from 2D to 3D design
Improve productivity with SolidWorks 3D Design Tools
Why are so many companies migrating from 2D CAD to 3D solid modeling for mechanical design? Solid modeling shortens design cycles, streamlines manufacturing processes, and accelerates product introductions by improving the flow of product design information and communication throughout an organization, as well as among its suppliers and customers. For your business this means faster time-to-market and higher quality products translate into increased revenue, while reduced design costs provide larger profit margins.
The main benefits of going to 3D
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Faster product design (roughly 45% faster on average)
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Beat your competition to market
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Automatic flattening of sheet metal parts (with bend allowance)
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More effective communication with suppliers/customers
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Visualize more 'what-if' scenarios during the design process
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The ability to create renderings and animations for design proposals or reviews
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More effective internal design reviews
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Generation of virtual prototypes allows non-CAD people to participate in the process
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Easily incorporate late design changes
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Test and validate your designs to reduce costs from quality problems, errors, ECO's
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Reduce the need and cost of physical prototypes
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Automatic Bills of Materials
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Helps to standardize on detailing and drafting practices
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Easily manufacture your designs with industry leading partner products
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Automate your design process and increase speed and accuracy of output and response to customers
- Allow non-technical personnel such as sales department (and even customers) to quote, specify and configure product whilst maintaining your design & engineering integrity
Communication Tools
SolidWorks 3D design includes communication tools that allow you to share and sell your product designs. Collaborate with your extended design team and generate sales and marketing material.
Interactive 3D drawings
Collaborate more effectively with everyone involved in product development by using eDrawings software, the first email-enabled communication tool that dramatically eases sharing of product design information. Fast, reliable, and convenient, eDrawings files supply accurate representations of 3D models and 2D drawings created with the most widely used CAD systems on the market. eDrawings offers unique capabilities like point-and-click animations that make it easy for anyone with a PC to interpret and understand 2D and 3D design data.
Photorealistic renderings for sales and marketing
PhotoWorks software which is built into SolidWorks enables users to quickly and predictably create photorealistic images that rival those of studio-based photography. Allowing you to present convincing design proposals quickly and effectively, produce virtual material and color studies, and reduce prototyping and photography costs.
Animations for communication and demonstration
SolidWorks MotionManager allows you to show fit, function and features or your designs without having to create physical prototypes or mockups. You can explode an assembly. Move interactive parts. Fly around your model. Rotate it to any angle. Point-and-click simplicity makes it a snap to improve your designs and enliven your presentations. Animation is saved in the industry-standard AVI file format for easy viewing by all.
Test and validate your designs
Optimize your designs by using SolidWorks simulation tools to simulate real-world conditions and test multiple "what if" scenarios. SolidWorks Simulation is a powerful, easy-to-use design validation and optimization software fully embedded within SolidWorks. SolidWorks simulation software is ideal for engineers who need analysis but are not specialists in finite element analysis.
Motion Analysis
SolidWorks Motion is a complete motion simulation and kinematics package fully embedded within SolidWorks software.
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Designed for engineers who are not necessarily specialists in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), SolidWorks Flow Simulation redefines fluid flow analysis with robust capabilities normally found in high-end programs.
Organize and manage your design data
SolidWorks provides an enterprise document management solution which is based on an entirely new concept. The user interface is completely integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer®. Therefore the data management system is naturally easy to use and learn as every user knows how to use Windows.
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM helps organizations manage and share product data more effectively and automate workflow to allow better collaboration from engineering to the shop floor, resulting in better products, lower costs, and faster time to market
Manufacture your designs
With a 3D model you can take your business to the next level by manufacturing the design with SolidWorks Solution Partner products. EdgeCAM is the leading manufacturing solution and is designed with the requirements of manufacturers of complex parts in mind.
Whether producing molds, dies, patterns or prototypes, EdgeCAM, loaded with technology, enables cost conscious manufacturers to use the power and performance normally only found in a high-price CAM systems. EdgeCAM is your complete solution for milling, turning and advanced surface machining.
EdgeCAM is a powerful and totally integrated CAM system for generating machining strategies and NC code for solid models, specifically for SolidWorks parts.
Automate your design process
3D automation enables companies to capture design knowledge, rules and experience allowing the knowledge to be re-used in order to create new and variant designs, quickly and cost effectively.
SolidWorks automation tools allow users to specify to order and satisfy customer requirements, automatically generate 3D models and 2D drawings enabling a customer to quickly 'see' their product aiding the sales process. Because the output is based on specified rules, results are consistent and accurate, reducing the risk of costly errors
