Among these improvements is the new "family of assemblies" capability, which lets designers easily create and manage related assemblies with different components and subassemblies. Solid Edge's "alternate position assemblies" al low designers to rapidly model and evaluate variations in which part positions change during the operation of the assembly.
Solid Edge also uses a structured storage approach that makes assembly variations accessible from a single file for display or drawing creation.
"This version has made strides in assembly modeling," says analyst Ray Kurland (Clifton, NJ). "UGS has expanded users' ability to view assemblies in different 'states,' to help them understand various processes."
Drafting improvements include a drawing view tracker that provides detailed feedback on drawing views and annotations that change when the design model is modified, enabling designers to detect errors in drawing more quickly without manual checking.
The new version also provides a built-in Parasolid-to-ACIS bi-directional translator to improve interoperability with CAD/ CAM/CAE tools based on the ACIS solid modeling kernel. Version 10 also incorporates healing technology that automatically finds and corrects faults and inconsistencies in imported 3D CAD data. Interoperability with UGS's high-end CAD program, Unigraphics, is also enhanced. Other additions include im provements to curve and surface modeling, pipe threading capability, and a new color manager.
Solid Edge Version 10 runs on Windows 98/2000/NT/ME operating systems. It is scheduled to ship this summer, at a price of $4995.
(UGS; www.solid-edge.com) -JD