It addresses those questions we as users have been constantly striving to answer:

• How can we change our design as quickly as we change our mind?
• How can we capture ideas as soon as we think them?
• How do we thrive in a multi CAD world?
• When will CAD be so simple anyone can use it?

The great news is that we are now seeing many of the CAD software vendors actively present their tools to address these issues. But we’re being bombarded with confusing messages, nothing is clear, in fact things are confusing, everything is a shade of gray. From what we are seeing surely all these systems use Synchronous Technology.

Wrong! There is black and white. Whilst there are many 3D CAD systems available only two have Synchronous Technology those being Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology and NX, both Siemens PLM Software products.

Why the gray then? As always terminology tends to confuse the issue quite a bit. So let’s define the terms:

• History-based: features managed linearly and are dependent on each other, edits trigger regeneration of subsequent features
• Direct editing: body editing that appends a feature in a history modeller (parametric but directed from parent feature)
• Explicit editing: body editing in a non-history based system (no parametrics other than some possible dimensions)
• Synchronous Technology: feature-based, history-free modelling that offers parametrics in a non-history world

There are many systems that use history based, direct editing and explicit editing methods. Sometimes a combination of these methods may seem like Synchronous Technology. But only Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology and NX actually have Synchronous Technology.

This is what Synchronous Technology can do:

Test your own or other 3D systems to see if they can do this, and gray will become black and white.

Why not try Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology for yourself.

You can get a free 30 day evaluation by selecting the following blue text. Free trial of Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology.

Unified 2D & 3D
Steering Wheel
Live Rules
PMI Dimensions
Editing Imported Data

However all of these examples focus on the creation and manipulation of geometry within the part model itself. I now want to illustrate some of the capabilities we have with regards to making design changes directly within the assembly.

A synchronous assembly will allow us to manipulate a parts geometry using the Steering Wheel, PMI dimensions and Live Rules, all without the need to in place edit the component. This ultimately speeds up the design process for us since we can make modifications to multiple part simultaneously.

The video below will demonstrate these capabilities but first of all I would like to set the scene…

The scenario is that we have a partially completed design of a garage door opener. A supplier who uses a different 3D CAD product (this could be SolidWorks, Inventor or any other 3D CAD application) has designed a couple of parts and sent them to us in order to be used in the final assembly. Once we have brought them into our design we then find out they need some modifications in order to fit and function correctly. In the past this would have involved getting our supplier to make the required changes and re-sending the new files. This of course would have a lengthy turnaround time associated with it as well as certain communication barriers that may need to be crossed. This would not be the case If we used Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology, these changes can be implemented in minutes rather than days as we shall see below.

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Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology allows us the freedom to model without the need to apply geometric constraints to our design, then whilst making changes the Live Rules proprietary relationship recognition functionality finds and maintains any strong geometric conditions such as coplanar, tangent, concentric, parallel, perpendicular, symmetric, etc. It then keeps them that way right throughout the edit procedure. Imagine being able to drag any face of a model and have it change in a predictable manner – Live Rules achieves this for us. This is also true for imported data, Live Rules will allow us to make the same edits on data imported from any CAD system

The Live Rules relationship manager allows us control exactly which geometric conditions are monitored and maintained.  The settings may be changed on the fly either by using the mouse or by using corresponding keyboard shortcuts. See an example of Live Rules in action below

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If more control is required during an edit, Live Rules has an advanced function which allows you to filter out exactly which elements are affected by the change. We will discuss this functionality in a future post.

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To highlight this point I would like to compare how we would modify a design using history based parametric techniques to the way we can now make similar and more advanced modifications using Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology.

Parametric Modifications

In the short video below we’ll focus on the existing parametric methods. Here the main thing to note is that there will always need to be a certain amount of investigation prior to modifying the design, this is so we can establish what impact the changes will have on subsequent features as they rebuild. Also, depending on the changes required we may need to alter some of the underlying constraints that were defined in our original profiles. This does not stop us from being able to perform these modifications but is does tend to make them harder and more time consuming. In addition to this any change made will mean that the models history needs to re-compute. This is not a problem in a smaller example (such as the one we are using) but in a complex design that contains many features, the time delay for this can be considerable.

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Synchronous Modifications

In contrast to the example above, when we modify a Solid Edge Synchronous model, we can use the Solid Edge Steering Wheel. This ingenious device automatically appears whenever any geometry is selected. The major and minor axes on the Steering Wheel can be used to move geometry in a linear fashion whilst the wheel itself can be used to rotate. In addition to this the Steering Wheel may be repositioned and attached to any face, edge or keypoint in order to define the control vectors we need. Take a look at the video below to see the Solid Edge Steering Wheel in action

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Siemens PLM Software licensed the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface for Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology. Microsoft Office is one of the most widely used software products in the world. Following Microsoft’s lead ensures that users are interacting with a familiar system and not having to learn or cope with a customised interface. The only difference is in the colour scheme with Solid Edge using a silver grey colour rather than the Microsoft’s traditional blue.

Concerns have been voiced about the available model area with the new interface. The height of the screen area available for the 3D model is only about 5% less than that with the previous Microsoft XP interface. However if you previously worked with large buttons, or buttons with text there is now more screen height and width in the model area.

These are some of the key elements of the Microsoft Office Fluent interface.

One of the unique and extremely useful features of all previous versions of Solid Edge was the SmartStep ribbon bar. This is now called the Command Bar and by default appears on the left had side of the interface as a docking window, essentially a vertical SmartStep ribbon bar.

You can see that the clarity has improved and the addition of text with icons makes the interface even easier to use.

Everyone will have their own opinion about the Microsoft Ribbon Bar but from my experience with use it grows on you. If you wish to customise the interface you can add any command to the Quick Access Toolbar by simply right clicking on the command and selecting the appropriate option. No more Tools, Customize etc. Microsoft do not allow the Ribbon Bar to be customised at present.

The way keyboard commands work is a big improvement. By pressing the Alt key this now switches on keyboard input and displays all the keyboard shortcuts that you can then select. Keyboard shortcut input remains active and still highlights the available shortcuts until Alt is pressed again or a screen selection input is required. This makes it far easier to navigate between menus.

So in summary the advantages of using the Microsoft Office Fluent interface for Solid Edge become apparent with extended use.

This allows you to become more productive and efficient with Solid Edge.

If you would like to understand more about the Microsoft Office Fluent interface please look at the pages located here.

Keep an eye open for Part 2 of this post or subscribe to our feed for automatic notification.

This post will show how to create a basic part model and will illustrate how, in Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology the 2D sketching and 3D commands have been unified into one single environment.. The easiest way to try and convey these differences is via a screen recording of a model being created in the two different environments and pointing out the obvious differences along the way.

Traditional History Based Part

The first video you are going to see below is of a simple model being constructed in the Traditional ‘history based’ Solid Edge environment. Here we will see that we need to use specific commands in order to generate the geometry. For example the extrusion command needs to be used in order to add material whereas the cutout command needs to be used in order to remove material.

Then in order to make any kind of edit to the part the underlying sketch or profile must be modified. If dimensions are required to drive the geometry these too must be applied to the 2D profile geometry. Any edits to the model will force the history to be re-computed. This is OK on a simple part but would cause a considerable delay on a more complex part. Take a look at the video below to see this in action

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Synchronous Technology Based Part

Now lets compare the traditional method with how we can construct and edit a part model in Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology. Here we will see that the 2D sketching and 3D feature commands have all been combined into a single environment. Once sketches have been created the regions they form can be simply selected and then pushed or pulled in order to construct the model without accessing any 3D commands. If the region is pulled away from the model it will add material but if it is pushed into the model it will remove material.

Synchronous Technology comes into its own when you start modifying a part. Selecting faces activates the new Steering Wheel which then allows the easy manipulation of the geometry. Whilst doing this – Live Rules handle the changes in any surrounding geometry. If dimensional control is required, PMI dimensions can be added directly to the 3D geometry. There is no need to dimension the original profile that constructed the geometry. The key here too is that any changes that are made do not invoke a re-compute of the models history since the changes are being handled locally. This means that edits can be achieved very fast.

We will be delving into other areas such as the Steering Wheel, Editing and Live Rules in future posts. For now though, please take a look at the video below to see Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology creating the same part.

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