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!
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.
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.
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).
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.