What’s New in ST10: Overview

Every now and then a release comes along and we point to it for years afterward and say “this all started there”. The original ST was one of those releases, and it is the reference point we use for the beginning of Synchronous Technology. ST10 is another, and we will refer to ST10 as the starting point of Convergent Modeling in Solid Edge. I’m going to start by defining some terms, but don’t worry, there is a lot more to this release than this one topic.

There will be more blog posts detailing the new functionality, here I am just giving you an overview. Let’s hear some cheering in the comments for your favorite new enhancements!

Convergent Modeling

The “synchronous” in Synchronous Technology meant that several things were happening at the same time, rather than sequentially in order. In the same way, Convergent Modeling means that certain technologies are coming together.

The technologies that are coming together are:

• Mesh Modeling – enables you to use mesh models as solid models


• Reverse Engineering – the ability to get a BREP based solid body from mesh model


• Generative Design – reverses the FEA process to create optimized mesh geometry from a set of input conditions

Some people may say “yeah, but I never work with subd models”. That’s because you couldn’t. Now you can. And now that you can, I’ll bet you’ll find a lot of applications for using that kind of data. Here are some examples of the kind of data you can work with now:

STL – 3d print data, JT, models that come from 3DSmax, Mudbox, Zbrush, modo, and a thousand other subdivision mesh tools, how about medical CAT scan or MRI data, analysis mesh models, VR and AR models – anything that you can save in a compatible format.

The ability to use mesh data in our designs is an important step forward into next generation design. I know there have been a lot of discussions here on this blog and also in the forum about this very topic. I’m glad to be associated with a development team that really listens to what customers and potential future customers are looking for. There is so much mesh data that exists “out there”, and now we can use it. Palm trees and people in my renderings. Yeah, baby.

Part Enhancements

Scale Body command! Yes! Allows all positive values (not arbitrarily limited the way some CAD programs are). Scales about origin. Allows non-uniform scaling. You can select multiple bodies (and it will automatically scale multiple lumps within bodies).

Holes

When you change standards, holes will find the nearest equivalent in the new standard. There is also a new tool to detect and report errors in the hole database.

Sketching

Draw command in sketch enables touch screen users to draw on the screen and capture sketch entities like Catchbook.

PathXpres in 3D sketch enables automatic routing, point to point. 3D sketch has also been enhanced for routing, including adding the Split command.

Interface

One of the big things that I know a lot of people will be interested in is Multi-Lingual Setup. The upshot here is that you can easily change languages without uninstall/reinstall just by using the Windows Control Panel, Region and Language dialog.

Help

In ST10, you can now serve the HTML Help locally for your own use or on a local server to serve the data for everyone at your facility. See the sesetup.pdf for details.

There is also a new Help homepage for documentation and learning resources.

On this page you’ll find a number of installation and integration guides to help administrators find the info they need to find. This includes guides for Solid Edge, Teamcenter, Insight, Share Point, and Standard Parts.

Data Management

There are some exciting enhancements in data management as well, following some of the nice things added in ST9. For example, Design Manager will now recognize standard parts. The Data Management tab also has a new Revisions command that enables you to access all the revisions of a single file, for vault users. Also building on the document numbers functions, ST10 can now assign file names automatically based on that information, again for vault users. There is also a new Find Duplicates command. Even simple file management is becoming powerful.

ST10 also has a couple of new drawing related document management tools. First, there’s an Open Drawing command  on the Data Management tab that opens the drawing related to the active part or assembly.

Also, you can automatically copy the drawing during Save As and Replace with Copy operations. That will really simplify some things.

Translators

The new 3MF 3D print format can be used for export of part, assembly, and sheet metal data. There are enhancements for export to JT and STL as well.

You can now import mesh models to the Synchronous environment from JT, IFC, STL and STEP. Export mesh to JT, IFC, 3MF, and STL.

Collaboration

The free Solid Edge 2D Drafting tool now also works as a viewer for full Solid Edge data. No license required.

3D Print

Several enhancements for 3D printing have been added to ST10. You can now print directly from your desktop (with Windows 10). There is also a 3D print service portal for ordering a 3D print from a service provider. The 3MF 3D print format is now available for export.

Draft Enhancements

• In ST10 you can now override data cells with property text.


• Associative updates for PMI retried in drawing views


• Hole table enhancements


• Detail view scale interface improvements


• A new annotation property extracts cut length


• Precise table placement


• Undo command now works for drawing views

 Summary

This is a great release for the future of using mesh data in engineering workflows. In the coming weeks we will explore the details of some of this new functionality. Please use this blog to ask questions and make comments.