So, what were the best and brightest post of 2008 on SolidSmack.com? I was sifting through all of them and thought the quickly-trained monkeys that wrote some of them did a pretty good job. I kid. It was actually just one monkey, with a day job and an extra finger… I kid again. Here’s some…
The ‘S’ key. A single key on that clicky ol’ keyboard that can give you the POWER to HARNESS… tiny little icons… on a customizable pop-up toolbar. Power? Yes, faster access to commands and less time between them. Everyone knows it’s easier to get away from going through the menus by setting up keyboard shortcuts.…
If you comment here on the post regularly, you’re extremely privileged to be using the most powerful commenting system of all time, Disqus. Yes, it’s quite a lot to take in, but it’s gone one better. If you don’t like logging into a Disqus profile, you can now just sign in using your Facebook account.…
OOooo, those wire don’t look right. They should be coming out of the upper metatarsal region. It probably shouldn’t look as cuddly as it does, but hey it’s furry and keeps talking about these links all cute like. 3D Art – Amazing, futuristic, 3D mechanized elegance all wrapped up in super cool renderings from Zamak.…
Hey everyone. I imagine you’re a few Chirstmasy plates and a fair number of drinks into this holiday season, but totally missing ‘best wishes’ from SolidSmack. You all make this blog rockin’ in more ways than you know, so here’s to you and wishing all the coolest blessings for you and your family. I hope…
I’m telling ya, you wake up one morning and screens are just sliding out all over the place. Soon they’ll be yelling, ‘touch me!’, ‘no, touch me!’ – but for now look what Lenovo is sliding out to the masses January 5th at CES. The Lenovo W700ds. A laptop with a slide-out secondary screen. Magnificent,…
How many times do you get to tell somebody what they need to do better during the day without being unduly ignored? Time’s are a’changin folks, and SolidWorks has whipped up a socially acceptable way to get your insight and look real cool while they take all you can dish out. Each year at SolidWorks…
Hmmm, Scooby flavored. Now doesn’t that just sound appetizing? Not so much, but if you’re into testing your SolidWorks installation and comparing it with others, you may want to sink your geek teeth into this 3D interpretation of old-school, mystery-solvin’ cartoonery. Anna Wood, at SolidMuse, is gather quite a collection of benchmarks to test rebuild…
It was almost inevitable, but tree bark and buttons? Small woodland creatures don’t just gain the ability to mechanically modify their skeletal structure and innate jumping habits. It had to be these links. Best Sci-Fi art of the YEAR – Besides yours of course, but this is pretty darn good too and it will make…
Oh the craziness of climbing on a stationary bike and pretending you’re escaping a beating with poorly designed bike locks. What can you do? How about designing a bike that calms your fears, enhances your environment and well-being? That’s exactly what Mark Hagen did with his new take on a exercise device often seen crumpling…
SolidWorks users. You are in for a treat. A free add-in treat for SolidWorks. A couple weeks ago SolidJott hit the scene aiming to get your questions and issues answered fast, online. Today they are announcing that it’s available inside SolidWorks. Direct access to the collective brainpower of SolidWorks users worldwide baby. Best of all,…
Some of you are so crazy about going to SolidWorks World that you’ve done some mildly crazy things and some really crazy things. What are they? SolidWorks wants to know. Oh, plus… there’s another secret brewing. So, head over to make a comment or leave one here. Did you have to promise to wash the…
When you tug on something that hard, something is bound to happen. It’s just odd that it happen to be that much bacon, a can of Sprite and these interesting links. 30 Inspiring Type Treatments – Cause I like typography and you should too. layout, form, design, feeling 30 Ways to Die of Electrocution -…
It’s time to get all activism on ya. Imagine just getting a seat of your favorite 3D CAD software with plans to create some sweet kids products. Imagine being a small toy manufacturer, a hobby woodworker that sells wooden kid’s toys online, or somebody that makes cool robot dolls. In Feburary of 2009, you will…
Prepare to wrap yourself in some warm flexible display technology on a cold wintry night. The news is getting more common and the screens themselves are getting larger. Gamers and advertising is getting all excited about being able to wrap ‘experience’ in every corner of a room or building, but how it could effect 3D…
Cut, trim, copy, paste, delete, trim, spin, slap, aRRRG! It’s the same teeth-gritting routine to get one edge to match another edge, one face to move with another. What we need is an easier way to get multiple parts to capture change and make that model rock your bosses eyes out of his ever loving…
Nobody wants bloody digits laying about, cluttering up a finely dusted workshop floor. That’s just bad business. That’s why this one, designed in SolidWorks, is made to leave your nubs attached to the hand. News of the SawStop severed the airwaves a while back, but the Discover Channel Time Warp Show meets up with inventor…
I’ve got an idea. Let’s make starting a project really easy. Throw a bid at the screen and watch the assembly build itself. While that isn’t exactly happening (yet), SolidWorks Labs is stirring the boiling cauldron of 3D CAD efficiency in an attempt to bring that one step closer. The Treehouse project allows you to…
Ya know the speeder bikes in Stars Wars you always dreamed of riding on? Well, this bike is the next best thing for the moment. Storm Trooper, neat sound effects and wooded terrain sold separately. The Grasshopper, designed by David Gonçalves, is a collapsible, self-charging, energy-conserving joy-ride that can trasnform into a trolley or stationary…
Do you ever look at a chair and say, “that thing looks so uncomfortable.” and then you sit in it and yeah, it’s uncomfortable but then your like, “wellll, it’s kinda comfortable.” That’s the Wassily Chair. The icon of modern modern furniture from Marcel Breuer. You can actually download a SolidWorks model of this chair…
I don’t know what was so surprising about it. I mean, a jump kick to the face like that is rare but not uncommon. Granted, it was desktop lamp with no legs and spouting nonsense such as these links. Strange Happenings – The crazy animation art of Sheharzad Arshad MultiColr Search Lab – How cool…
I’ve just picked my monitor up off the floor and guess what I see underneath? The warm glow of a video showing some extremely cool sketch technology coming out of AutoDesk University this week. You remember I (Heart) Sketch? The 3D sketch system that brings conceptualization back to a native hand-drawn environment. Amazing isn’t it?…
Ah, it’s that special time of year. That time of year when we consider the ramifications of firing a harpoon gun blindly into the air and also the pain of asking the IT department about upgrading to the next version of SolidWorks. Point that spear away from the whirring server room and settle in. If…
Finally, I mean FINALLY were seeing some development come out with those fancy Microsoft Surface multi-touch displays and BMW is the company making it cool to have multiple appendages. The ‘BMW Product Navigator’ allows those in the mood for a BMW to select options, colors, see video of their configurations and save it to USB…
So much for inspiring kids to grow up becoming managers of salty, high fat, carb ridden fast food chains. Let’s inspire them to become engineers with the ability to bend biological matter (i.e. paperboard cutouts) to THEIR WILL. Chick-fil-a is featuring ‘3-D Insect Models’ as toys in the Kid’s Meal. Cool – introducing small, hungry…
You could mess around with sticks and Playdoh trying to mock up an idea for a design contest, but if you’re like me and end up eating throwing the Playdoh and burning the sticks, there’s a better solution. SolidWorks sponsorship. Not only will you get to put a neato SolidWorks decal on your entry, SolidWorks…