eDrawings® e-mail-based collaboration tool

SolidWorks Corporation today unveiled a new version of its eDrawings® e-mail-based collaboration tool with new support for users of Microsoft® Office, AutoCAD®, and Google SketchUp® software. SolidWorks® eDrawings Professional software, included in every license of SolidWorks Office Premium 3D CAD software, lets users generate accurate representations of 2D and 3D product designs that anyone in product development can view, mark up, and measure, regardless of whether they have CAD software. “We use eDrawings every day to share designs with our purchasing and quality assurance teams,” said Tom Sigler, CAD Administrator for Multiquip Inc., a California construction equipment maker. “QA can accurately measure formed sheet-metal designs that have returned from our suppliers, dimensioning the component for accuracy without needing seats of CAD software. We appreciate SolidWorks’ commitment to continuously improving this tool, because these improvements add value to our work.” The new version of SolidWorks eDrawings Professional, available today, includes the first-ever ability to drag and drop eDrawings models directly into Microsoft Office files, including Word and PowerPoint® documents, and preserve their full interactivity. This enables a design engineer giving a presentation to pan, zoom, rotate, and animate models to increase audience impact. SolidWorks eDrawings Professional adds publishing/viewing support for AutoCAD 2007 drawings, AutoCAD 3D files, and AutoCAD layers, including the selective activation of layers in a drawing set. These capabilities will help more than 300,000 AutoCAD users who use SolidWorks software communicate with colleagues to design better products. SolidWorks eDrawings Professional for the first time enables users to view, mark up, and measure files created in Google SketchUp software, a free application for quick and easy 3D form creation in the conceptual stages of design. Yet another enhancement lets SolidWorks eDrawings Professional users for the first time apply electronic stamps to eDrawings models to signify they are “approved,” “confidential,” “draft,” or subject to any custom designation. “These new features continue to ensure that product design is open not only to those who possess 3D CAD software, but to anyone with e-mail, including sales, marketing, customer service, clients, and partners,” said Aaron Kelly, SolidWorks Corporation’s director of product management. “With new eDrawings capabilities, we continue to break down barriers in the design community in the interest of getting the job done.”