SolidWorks 2010 Release Notes

This document provides general information about Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation releases. Refer to What's New, available from the Help menu, for descriptions of new functionality.

For a list of fixed SPRs, click here.

System Requirements

Service Pack 1.0

Installation

 

Technical Alerts

 

Functionality

 

Documentation

 

System Requirements

Installation

Antivirus Software

Some antivirus software prevents proper installation of SolidWorks. For additional information, see the Antivirus section of the Support Web site.

Technical Alerts

Parallel Installations of Service Packs

Effective with SolidWorks 2010, to reduce service pack size and download time, parallel installations of service packs within the same major version are no longer supported. Parallel installations of major versions are not affected. For example, you can install SolidWorks 2010 SP 0.0 in parallel with SolidWorks 2009 SP 5.0; however, you cannot install SolidWorks 2010 SP 1.0 in parallel with SolidWorks 2010 SP 0.0.

PhotoWorks Retirement

Beginning with the release of SolidWorks 2011, PhotoView 360 will be the standard photorealistic rendering solution for all SolidWorks software versions. PhotoWorks™ will no longer be available. With the launch of SolidWorks 2011, SolidWorks software and PhotoView 360 will provide rendering capabilities that are equivalent to what is now available in PhotoWorks. For more information, see http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/CustomerBulletins.html.

SolidWorks Viewer Change in Deployment

Starting with SolidWorks 2010, the SolidWorks Viewer is not included in the SolidWorks software installation. You can download the SolidWorks Viewer from www.solidworks.com/sw/support/downloads.htm, under the Free CAD Tools area.

Windows XP Retirement Announcement

Microsoft officially retired Windows® XP operating system in April of 2009. SolidWorks 2010 will continue to support Windows XP (32 and 64 bit versions) excluding operating systems related issues or fixes. This level of support will continue through at least one release following SolidWorks 2010. After that, in conjunction with Microsoft’s support policies, only Windows Vista® and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit versions) operating systems will be supported. The SolidWorks operating system support plan outlined above will also apply to the SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM product lines.

Support for Windows 7

SolidWorks supports the Microsoft® Windows 7 operating system with the following caveats:

SolidWorks Sustainability

In Service Packs 0.0 and 1.0, SolidWorks® Sustainability will be a Beta version. The released version of SolidWorks Sustainability will be available as a hotfix after SolidWorks 2010 Service Pack 1.0, and released officially in Service Pack 2.0. When the hotfix is available, it will be located in the subscription-only download area of the SolidWorks Customer Portal. SolidWorks Sustainability is sold as a separate product; SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress is included with SolidWorks 2010.

Functionality

Compatibility with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Products

You cannot use SolidWorks Enterprise PDM 2009 (or earlier versions) with SolidWorks 2010.

Task Scheduler - Distributed File Conversion

If the coordinator machine for distributed file conversions has both SolidWorks 2009 and 2010 installed, SolidWorks 2010 must be installed after SolidWorks 2009. Only the most recently installed coordinator service on a machine is available. The SolidWorks 2010 coordinator service can convert files to 2009 and 2010 formats, but the SolidWorks 2009 coordinator service can convert files only to 2009 format.

In future releases, the SolidWorks installer will prevent older versions of the coordinator service from replacing more recent versions, but the SolidWorks 2009 installers do not have this check.

Shape Feature

Creating and editing the shape feature is not supported in SolidWorks 2010. We recommend that you use the freeform feature instead. Existing shape features are still supported unless you change their parent features. Also, if you last saved a part containing a shape feature with a version prior to SolidWorks 2004, first open the part in a SolidWorks version between 2004 and 2009 inclusive, regenerate, and save.

Dimensions

Screen flickering can occur when you insert text into dimensions using the dimension palette. This issue is resolved in Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and later.

New Portuguese Spelling Rules

To support the Portuguese Spelling Agreement (Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa), SolidWorks will adopt the new spelling guidelines in the Brazilian Portuguese version of SolidWorks 2012. The changes will be phased in, starting with the user interface in SolidWorks 2011.

Lighting Interaction Between Motion Studies and PhotoWorks

When you open a motion study, lights that are on in SolidWorks are turned on in PhotoWorks. Lights that are off in SolidWorks are turned off in PhotoWorks. Lighting affects model rendering in PhotoWorks, so adjust the lighting in the motion study before viewing the model in PhotoWorks.

This behavior applies to all motion studies, including those from SolidWorks 2010 or earlier.

Turkish Language Support

The user interface is now available in Turkish for SolidWorks Standard.

Documentation

Web-based Documentation

Help documentation is now available on the Web for SolidWorks, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, and SolidWorks eDrawings®.

By default, when you access help, the Web version of the documentation is displayed in a Web-based viewer. You can still choose to use local help (.chm) files if, for example, your Internet connection is slow or unavailable. Select or clear Help > Use SolidWorks Web Help to switch between the local and Web-based versions of the help. Note that tutorials are only available locally.

Indexes Replaced by New Web Search

The index tab is no longer available in local help files. Use the new search functionality in Web help to locate information more quickly and accurately.

New PDF Version of SolidWorks Installation and Administration Guide

SolidWorks Installation and Administration Guide is now available in Adobe® PDF format (in addition to the usual compiled help (.chm) format), to enable easier printing and viewing.

After you install SolidWorks, the PDF file is located in the lang\language directory in the SolidWorks installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\lang\english\install_guide.pdf).

New Illustration Policy

In response to customer requests, our documentation now includes more images than in earlier releases. In the past, all images that contained text were localized, which limited the number and type of illustrations we could provide. In this release, we include English illustrations in localized documentation when translated text is not required for understanding the concept, for example, for showing the location of an item or the general layout of the user interface.

Access to Compiled Help Files

After specific XP security updates are applied, SolidWorks compiled help (.chm) files cannot be accessed over a network (although they can be accessed from a disk or local installation). The Microsoft Knowledge Base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054/ includes a resolution to this problem.

Updating Local Help Files and Tutorials

SolidWorks help documentation is provided as both Web-based and local help (.chm files). SolidWorks tutorials are only available as local help (.chm files). Web-based help is automatically updated for each service pack with no need for downloads. If using local help and tutorials, download the files separately to ensure up-to-date documentation, as these files are excluded from service pack downloads to reduce download size and time.

To download the latest help files and tutorials in this service pack:

  1. Log in to the Customer Portal on SolidWorks.com.

  2. Click Downloads and Updates.

  3. Select the version of SolidWorks needed and click the corresponding SolidWorks product. For example, select 2009 and click SolidWorks Service Pack 2.1 XP and Vista - 32 bit.

  4. Click your language and accept the license agreement.

  5. On the Download and Install screen, in Step 3, click download, unzip, and install all the files.

  6. In Upgrading from Service Pack, select the version you upgraded from.

  7. Click Continue.

  8. Under Step 4 – Required updates, click SolidWorks Help.

  9. Run swHelp<language>.exe to install the help files.

The installer places the updated help files in C:\SWDist\swHelp<language>\Files\lang\<language> and automatically copies them into your SolidWorks installation.

Service Pack 1.0

Routing Library

Some of the equipment parts in the design library\routing\piping\equipment folder have been renamed to indicate that these sample parts are not meant to be used directly in production. For example, "tank-01" is now "sample-tank-01." In addition, these parts have new mate references to assist in their initial placement in assemblies and to increase the reliability of adding and mating piping flanges to equipment during routing.

SolidWorks FloXpress Tutorial

The sample files used in the SolidWorks FloXpress tutorial do not work as expected on systems running Windows 7. To use the files, copy them from <install_directory>\samples\tutorial\cosmosfloxpress\ball valve\ to a folder that is not read-only, and use the files in the new location when running the tutorial.