Alignex Blog

SOLIDWORKS Model-Based Definition (MBD) is an integrated drawing-less manufacturing solution for SOLIDWORKS. It helps companies define, organize, and publish 3D Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI), including 3D model data in industry-standard file formats.

Unlike traditional 2D drawings, SOLIDWORKS MBD guides the manufacturing process directly in 3D, which streamlines production, cuts cycle time, reduces errors, and helps compliance with industry standards.

Around the time email replaced the carrier pigeon as our main form of non-verbal communication (mid '90s), SOLIDWORKS hit the market with an innovative new CAD product to make the everyday lives of designers and engineers easier.

Fast forward to 2018 and the platform has evolved into, well…a platform. No longer a singular tool with only the designer in mind, it now makes life easier for every person involved in the manufacturing process by offering a variety of purpose-built solutions that, when brought together, combine to form a manufacturing Megazord.

You’re already convinced that SOLIDWORKS Composer streamlines your production process. Next you need to learn the key features that will use your existing 3D CAD data to make high quality illustrations, photorealistic images, BOMs and interactive animations. Check out these six short video tutorials and see how to use the most popular features in SOLIDWORKS Composer.

SOLIDWORKS Composer offers an amazing range of tools for producing all kinds of technical documents from assembly and manufacturing instructions to product marketing materials and user manuals. It often goes overlooked by the majority of customers because they either are not sure the impact it can have on their business or simply because they have no idea that it exists. 

You put significant time and money into developing your products and want to be sure that they are assembled correctly and quickly on the shop floor. So how do you make sure that your customer's first experience is a good one?

Here are some of the top ways SOLIDWORKS Composer can streamline technical communications at your company:

With the release of SOLIDWORKS Visualize in 2016, SOLIDWORKS Professional and Premium subscription customers received a complimentary copy of Visualize Standard. In the 2017 release of SOLIDWORKS, Visualize has been integrated with the SOLIDWORKS Installation Media. As a result of this integration in the SOLIDWORKS install, a new serial number is needed to install Visualize 2017.

The introduction of SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional and a new add-on product is providing a way to create high quality images and animations faster than ever before. Before we discuss the benefits of Visualize Boost, let’s go over how rendering SOLIDWORKS data has been handled in the past.

Since the release of the new external rendering software SOLIDWORKS Visualize in early 2016, there has been a bit of confusion as to where PhotoView 360 fits into the SOLIDWORKS family of products. 

Wait, there is a new external product for rendering your parts and assemblies? Don’t we have PhotoView 360 already? Well yes, but SOLIDWORKS Visualize helps both non-technical users and CAD users leverage 3D CAD data to create photo ‘catalog’ quality renderings and content.

During this short video, learn to use the new features of SOLIDWORKS 2016 Model Based Definition (MBD) to document parts and assemblies. We will look at dimension creation, new display styles, MBD for assemblies, and creating custom templates for 3D PDFs with multiple viewports and fully featured bills of materials.

Watch some top ways to edit SOLIDWORKS Inspection templates for add-in and stand-alone versions as well as the CMM import version. See how to go from the basic templates already installed with your SOLIDWORKS Inspection and easily modify them to create your own customized templates.