What's New in SDS2 2025-1: Welding, Usability, and More

We’re excited to announce the release of SDS2 2025-1, which brings you numerous enhancements to streamline workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance usability.

This service release focuses on improvements in modeling welds and exporting weld data, refining connections, and streamlining usability, while also addressing user feedback to fix various bugs and improve product stability.

Let’s dive into the highlights.

Welding

One of the major focuses of this service release was SDS2’s handling of welds, from modeling to IFC exports, designed to improve fabrication accuracy and streamline automated welding operations in the shop. Improvements include:

• More accurate display of welds in the modeling environment, including customizable colors for shop and field welds and enhanced accuracy in displaying weld polygons.
• Weld data enhancements in IFC 2x3 and IFC 4 exports that improve data sharing across platforms and compatibility with automated shop equipment. Users now have the option to include all weld properties upon export and can expect cleaner and more usable results.

These updates will improve project outcomes from the detailing office to the shop and field.

Design and analysis

Our connection design and engineering tools have been fine-tuned to provide even greater precision and compliance with industry standards. Nearly 60 design and analysis items were fixed or added with this release, including:

• Connection design improvements: Major fixes were enacted for shear tab connections to tube columns, including punching shear checks and yield line analysis. Additionally, new forced connections were added for cold-formed channel vertical braces and welded cleat angle connections in Eurocode projects.
• Material property updates: Default material properties have been updated to match the latest standards, such as AISC 341-22, ensuring your designs meet current specifications.
• Calculation refinements: Numerous load calculations have been corrected or enhanced for better reliability. For example, bolt bearing checks now include tearout limits and use the correct factors for various design codes.
• Python & .NET API Updates: New parameters for connection cube report generation allow greater customization and control over output destinations. Additionally, expanded calculations are now included in API-generated reports.

Overall, this release improves the reliability of SDS2’s design intelligence for increasingly complex projects around the world and helps you keep up with evolving codes and standards.

Modeling and detailing

In addition to welding improvements, this release also includes a range of general improvements to component behavior and other specific issues that improve accuracy and reliability.

• Component behavior refinements: Adjustments have been made to ensure components like beam web doublers and clip angles are designed with correct dimensions and materials.
• Metric value handling: Fixes have been applied to ensure metric values are preserved accurately in drawing editor hole symbols and in material descriptions when using bent plate for pour stops.
• Various bug fixes to specific issues were also addressed in the release, from a plot flagging issue on increment sheet revisions to correctly applying custom description prefixes for flat bar in system callouts and Bills of Material.

These enhancements help you achieve greater precision in your models and drawings, improving fabrication-readiness and allowing you to detail with confidence.

Usability

SDS2 2025-1 continues to improve upon your experience in setting up and using the software as smoothly and efficiently as possible. This release addresses a wide range of user-reported bugs, from memory leaks in connection cube reports to resolving PDF export issues that affected text searchability. In addition, we’ve included updates in these areas:

• User interface: Selection lists now behave consistently when using arrow keys, restoring functionality familiar from previous versions. Dropdown menus in custom member screens no longer scroll infinitely.
• Help documentation: Help buttons across various screens now link directly to the correct documentation pages, making it easier to find answers when you need them.

With these updates, you’ll be able to focus more of your time and attention on what really matters—finishing the project at hand.

Upgrade today

 With SDS2 2025-1, we’ve addressed the details that matter most to you and made key improvements to help you design, detail, and deliver projects with confidence. From enhanced connection design to usability improvements, this release is built to support your success at every step. To see the complete list of enhancements and fixes, view the SDS2 2025-1 release notes.

Don’t wait—download the update today and see how these changes can elevate your projects and productivity.