It’s that moment you’ve been waiting for. That moment where your coworker pick his keyboard up, drops it, picks it up again and lifts it over his head. You would like to tell him about a couple SolidWorks Macros that would help him out, buuuuuuuut you’re being entertained and office rage is content YouTube is…
I’ve covered a little of what Ponoko does with their laser-cut, create your design approach to manufacturing. Coupled with the ability to sell your own design, it’s simply the most unique and creative DIY site out there. Their blog is no less and has been one of my favorite to read some time. A group…
Where? Look right there. do ya see that hole, and in that hole a badger, and in that badger a key? I was just wondering, cause I don’t see anything like that, but here’s some links. 50 Creative Photoshop Text Effects – Logos? Illustration? Great text effects and teach a lot of the techniques used…
So what would you tell SolidWorks if you had their ears for a few minutes? Would you complain, praise, or tell them to add something? A new website is up, taking that whole idea, and serving it up hot for your enjoyment and entertainment. DearSolidWorks.com is providing a quick and easy way for you to…
Now, think about it folks. When you’re cruising across the rocks, roads and roundabouts on your normal bicycle, you never know when a gaping water hole is going to open up right in front of you. Certain doom. Fortunately, this bicycle concept, could save you from landing face down in a muddy channel plus make…
So, yesterday in Switzerland, a bunch of subatomic particles busted out a lap around the largest, most powerful particle accelerator ever conceived by us tiny humans. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is up and running, but it’s not the only project testing the vast limits of scientific discovery. Japan’s Large Helical Device has some fancy…
For those who just won’t allow that shiny, white MacBookPro to be torn from their cold, dead hands and insist on having the best of both OSX and Vista on one box, this post is for you. We’ve shown you how to go about soft-modding your nVidia graphics card for RealView graphics on a Mac…
Two, yes two mechanized designs of wonder and astonishment. You may think them mildly amusing at first, but after gazing upon the shear genius of these creations, I think you’ll agree with me that they are right on par with being two items you wish you could attach as appendages somehow… or use in your…
No… wait… yeah, here they come! Get me my cane ya coot! These links are crawlin’ up on my face and making a durn mess of my astigmatism. We heart places – Do you absolutely love that one place you went? share it here, see others, plan some trips. too cool. Visions 3D image management…
Interested in making something via the Ponoko rapid prototyping design site, but not quite sure about how to go about it? You’re in luck, they’ve just release a new service called Ponoko ID that allows you to request a design. You list a price, its sent to some designer and after one has picked it,…
There’s nothing quite like waking up to a new day. The birds singing, the smell of toasty oats, and then a blaze of SMOKIN’ HOT marketing material being transferred directly into your brain cage. To create this special effect for all you CAD junkies in need of being persuaded by direct marketing campaigns, SolidWorks has…
You know what comes out on late at night after your tucked away in bed? A new look for the SolidWorks.com website and some beefy new content for your 3D CAD affliction.
Just look at that nice couple. So overcome with comfort from a sofa designed in SolidWorks, they’re about to smash there poor faces right into each other. Not too uncommon, but furniture designed in SolidWorks, that’s something that’ll make you look forward to bloody noses. Flexsteel has been making furniture for over 100 years. After…
There’s nearly 8 ways to create the same 3D model in SolidWorks… along with the 4 other ways. That’s a lot of flexibility, but many of the features just don’t get the use they deserve until someone shows them how to bring forth the hammer of power that is all the crazy, little SolidWorks feature…
Oh, the tangled web of 3D CAD hardware and software. It spans between the cracks of ultimate compatibility for the software, ultimate confusion for the user and sticks to you right after walking through the door of deciding what computer to buy. SolidWorks uses the OpenGL graphics API. Other CAD companies have decided to use…
Last year, SolidSmack riveted the academic community with some mighty fine tips for students success in SolidWorks. One year later and those measly tips are just not enough. Times are’a changin’ folks and there’s all sorts of things students and ‘the aged’ can do to have more success and more opportunities in 3D CAD and…
As a matter of fact, if you do tighten it like that the bleeding will stop, but the centrifugal force will make the cookies taste a bit salty. To remedy, just add a dab of these links. 12 Photoshop experiments – Where else could you learn a little about particle disintegration and geometric manipulation to…
There are products that really add to the quality of life and then there are products that can actually help you survive it. Whether its months in the brambles of the desolate Australian interior or days spent escaping robot swarms the Ersa, renewable water and power generator is one item you’ll want in your pack.…
Update: As of noon on Thursday August 28th, SolidWorks has rescinded the penalties that were soon to take affect. You can read the email that went out to the resellers and customer here. Good move on the PR side. SolidWorks is listening to the customers, plus the resellers don’t look like bad guys to the…
If you keep an eye out for motorcycles you can wear, you may have seen this one zipping face down across the pavement of the internet. I know it’s not as practical (less dangerous?) as the two wheel versions we see everyday weaving in and out of traffic, but if you want to go from…
Well yeah, of course they look hot. But ya know, if you go wearing them into a public place, babies will cry, women will scream and everyone else will run smack dab into the links. Design Trendz – It’s what all the websites are doing. Shadows, reflections, frames and video on how to do it.…
You all are gonna flip, or rather, explode, when you see this. I’ve been looking for 3D CAD news out of Siggraph08 that happened last week, but have not found much beyond some announcements about rendering models. Fortunately, Mark Treadwell from Premier Rides came across some info and filled me in. A team from Berkeley…
It’s both parametrically intense and oddly invigorating to look at. It’s like jumping in the air through a small hole and coming out on the other side with all the knowledge of perspective while marching rhythmically outside the confines of an inverted parallelogram. What is it? Surrealism. An artistic expression of the early 1900’s that…
Gather all of your calendars together, open them all to October 2008 and repeatedly circle October 15th till someone asks, “What are you doing?” Here’s where you jump up into their face and tell them very quickly with no breaths, “Prototype This!, a new show on the Discovery Channel starts October fifteenth with 13 episodes…
Getting just the right detailed drawing view of a model can take immense amounts of time. More than they really should for products designed in 3D. When you open a drawing and nothing is there but the dimensions, that can really make you throw blunt objects. So, you stare real close at the computer screen.…
Well hello and good morning. Nice to see ya. How are the kids? Oh, that box graphic over to the left? That’s the fresh new look of SolidWorks 2009. A new version or something. A lot of hub bub going on about it these days. I think if you click on it, yeah, right there,…
Yes, it’s all about proportion. You gotta have just the right amount of slap and the right amount of sizzle. Too much of one or the other and suddenly there are parasite infestations and mandatory curfews. These links are good examples. Photoshop Grudge Brush set – Ya just can’t keep that design all clean looking.…
The mist clears and a brassy, leather-clad apparition appears towering above with nothing but a low hum and muffled wirring of clicks and springs. Prepare to inspire your rigid 3D mind into the most pliable, inventive machine of mechanical renaissance madness you’ve ever experienced. Steampunk. It’s the coolest new ‘old’ on the internet. It brings…
Well surprise, surprise. You don’t have to wait till SolidWorks 2009 Pre-release 2 comes out to try PhotoView 360, the new rendering software announced by SolidWorks and Luxology is now available for anyone with SolidWorks 2009 to poke around in. You’ll want to see the First Look Ricky Jordan has along with Gabi Jack rendering…
I know. You’re just screaming, “I work with the CAMERA. Striking a pose this way and that.” *whoosh, whoosh* I’m actually talking about how you model your 3D design in SolidWorks. Ah, now this post is suddenly boring. No tips to get that gritty engineer look on film, just stuff about drawing lines and extruding…
And when I say TeamUP, I mean TeamUP with a capital UP a two giant arm motions that scare you into a flared fetal position. SolidWorks and Luxology are rockin’ the 3D rendering scene with a whole new technology that is gonna FLOOR you. Rob Rodriguez has all the bits of detail in his latest…
I’d have to say, forgive my Industrial Design tendencies, but then this site would not be SolidSmack if I did. I’m not an Industrial Designer officially, but I like the drawin’ and the inkin’ and the sketchin’ and that is exactly where IDSketching.com curls up nice and snug in your arsenal of super freakin’ cool…
What good is Twitter for? It’s a powerful tool for many people as well as for businesses building brands, but it’s even more powerful where there’s a strong user base. In the CAD world, and SolidWorks in particular, the connection between users just keeps getting stronger. On twitter, you can interact with SolidWorks user, SolidWorks…
Five, even six would be ok, but if take another one of those creatures into the field I’ll be cleaning actuators and lookin’ at these links all night. Where’s my grease gun? Futuristic Graphic User Interfaces – I’m eating this stuff up. Cool futuristic UI design and how to make them using good ol’ Photoshop.…
It is here folks. Yes, very soon, a fate better than sandy shorts and blistered skin will wreak havoc upon Orlando, Florida. The 3D modeling mass of SolidWorks users will join their compatriots in the massive gathering of SolidWorks related products, information and technology lovingly known as SolidWorks World 2009. It’s time to prepare, bribe…
Have you ever seen pictures that move? I hear they call it ‘Video’ or something. I also hear that there are some snazzy ‘video’ demos of the new SolidWorks 2009 functionality at a place called ‘the YouTube’. Sounds kind of personal to me, but I checked it all out and I think you’ll like what…
Of all the things you could use to get from point A to point B, the best and most obvious choice for the future, I’m convinced, will be the Jetpack. Martin Aircraft Company is making sure of this with the first mainstream jetpack to hit the market. Efficient personal transport is certainly a hot commodity…
I see you wavin’ your hands around like your folding laundry, but that imagery floating around you is just all kinds of freaky… OHhhh, those are holograms and your moving them around with your knuckles and those sensors in your hands. I shoulda known. It’s here. Obscura Digital is using their multi-touch technology along with…
I imagine if you’re a regular reader of this colorfully pleasant blog you are perfectly capable of modeling a design idea up in SolidWorks. If you’re not, this site will help you realize your creative genius. DesignmyIdea.com can work with you on a design and give you some guidance on how to get you’re idea…
I’ll tell you right now, get ready to break into song if you are a SolidWorks user. In a few months, you are going to wake up, putter off to work and see that familiar splash screen pop up when you start SolidWorks. But this time it’s different, this time it says SolidWorks 2009. Can…
It actually happened right after I turned it on. They spilled out like beans on a metal floor, attacked my metacarpals, and ate my biscuits. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking and these links, we would all be goners for sure. Blow Up – Cause blowing down doesn’t work as well, this computer and…
I know you all get excited when you have the chance to read about CAD news and the excitement happening around our tiny globe. This week has been chock full of interesting tid-bits of info. There’s so much in fact, that I didn’t even get a chance to tell you about them earlier, so I’ve…
Twitter = accessibility. It has opened up clogged lines of communication and expanded personal and community networks around the world and it just keeps getting bigger, I tell ya. When some of us were on months ago, there’s wasn’t much buzz on the 3D CAD side of things. That has changed big time in the…
“Stop. You’re killin’ me. My models are immaculate. It’s the software that’s the problem.” A lot of people get riled up about bad performance and poor stability, blaming it on the SolidWorks software. I have too. But who would of thought it could actually be the way the models are created… by ME? Great, huh.…
Isn’t display technology just wonderful? No? You want something curved? well, if you’re not happy with the flat Microsoft Surface with multi-touch, get ready to literally wrap your hands around the Spherical version. Microsoft Research took the globular multi-touch screen out of the box today to reveal just how gaming, advertising and messing around with…
One week from NOW, yes, one week from this day we know and love as ‘Monday’, will be another day called ‘Monday’… It also happens to be the same day the veil of SolidWorks 2009 will be lifted and the lone Beta testers will be free to reveal all the goodness that is to come.…
I’ve been reminded lately of one of the most frightening man-made beasts, glancing over my shoulder and shuddering at the sound of any loud, mechanical whirring. If you thought humanoid bipedal robots were nightmarishly creepy, wait till you see the video below. I remember pictures of the DARPA ‘BigDog’ military troop support robot years ago,…
The random number generator from random.org picked the number 80. Out of 113 entries that means the winner is: John D! John works for GageMaker, maker of, yep, fine gages. His PDF video idea was to, “use video in PDF’s to demonstrate the use of our gages and assembly procedures of our gages.” So what…
Wondering what some of the most popular post on SolidSmack are? Me too. Here’s a rundown for the best of what SolidSmack has and am example of what you’ll see on this site.