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SolidWorks 2007 includes innovative technology designed to take the mystery out of modelling operations, while producing error-free CAD models more effectively and efficiently. Charles Clarke explains.

As mid-range CAD software matures, the hardware is beginning to take much more of the tedium and the hard work out of the design process, letting designers get on with their job rather than having to become software experts.

The Windows interface revolutionised the universal appeal of CAD/CAM technology, but like every evolution of tried-and-trusted software much of the underlying technology stayed the same.

With SolidWorks 2007 due to be announced this month, SolidWorks is set to move up a gear in the innovation stakes. The software features SWIFT (SolidWorks Intelligent Feature Technology) a knowledge-based, adviser-style technology more reminiscent of the larger enterprise CAD systems of old.

'Solid modelling is a very lonely place when things don't work out as planned,' said Nick Ballard, of UK hi-tech market research and business consultant Cambashi. 'What this technology does is guide users through tricky operations so that error-free models are produced in a much more effective and efficient way manner.'

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