SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

Friday Smackdown: Total Mechanizerot

Josh — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:57:50 +0000

Two steps to the right and look up. You’ll notice how the symbiont has taken over each leg gear with a separate group of combat trained wombats. They’re weakness? These links my friend.

Robot CGI - Pure 3D robot goodness from the 3DM3 CG Chosen magazine. A whole mag of robots? yes.
Rogue Game Browser - Browsing while gaming? Now you can mix those hours of PC gaming with hours of browsing online.
Gmail Themes - Finally you can read your emails in style with new themes being rolled out for Gmail users.
13 Quick Way to Make Extra Cash - it really should have been 15. They left out contract killing and baked goods.
The Fine Art of Cord Wrapping - Think you know the idiosyncrasies of wrapping long cords? Study up with this fine article
Coolest Wordpress Powered Blog - the voting has started. There’s 20 in the running. Vote for your fav. Sorry, SolidSmack isn’t there.
Wallpaper shifter - A lightweight app to switch your desktop wallpaper. sweet.

SMACK! The Holiday Gift Guide for CAD Jockeys and Tech Geeks

Josh — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:33:14 +0000

Well, next Friday starts that time of year when many of us cut the wrist of our bank accounts to buy that special someone what we think they want, but actually wanted something totally different.

SolidSmack is here to add to the massive bleed out with our very own picks for the best gadgets and tools for your favorite CAD Jockey Geek. Why? Cause all the engineers and designers pushing their workstations to the limits deserve a little somethin’ special.

First…
Thanks to all the people that gave a lot of suggestions on Twitter! from Bradley Grzesiak, Eric Mings, Charles Culp, Al Dean, Brian Slick, Matt Lombard, Marijn, Franco Folini, Daniel Bayer, Marc Nelson, and Jeff Mirisola. Not on Twitter?? Join IN!!

Without further ado, here’s the 2008 SolidSmack Holiday Gift Guide for CAD Jockeys!

HobbyCNC
How about having your very on CNC router in your living room. (What else are you using it for??) But just think of all the neat… stuff that will be made with this manufacturing hobbyist dream come true.

CNC Router Plans and Parts - $22 and up - Buy Here

DVD’s
There’s prolly just a million DVD’s that you could burn your ham-glazed eyeballs with over the holidays, but these four are just engineering geekery for the entire family. Ya know, for kids!

Hudsucker Proxy - $9.49 - Buy Here
IronMan - $14.99 - Buy Here
Tetsujin 28 - $17.99 - Buy Here
Primer - $19.99 - Buy Here

Books
Books? Yes, the default gift when you can think of nothing else. Price range? who cares about that. Here’s three book suggestions that will totally geek out your loved one.

Robot Builder’s SourceBook - $25.15 -Buy Here
SolidWorks Bible - $31.49 - Buy Here
Machinery’s Handbook - $62.33 - Buy Here

Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
I can feel the waves traveling through my skin and marrow already, can’t you? Forget about EMF’s, we need more wireless and this is just the item to get a smile to break out on the glum, wintery face. Pass the Eggnog!

Logitech Cordless Wave Desktop Set - $69.99 - Buy Here

3D Mouse
It’s small and mousy and all about the 3D. Best type of those struggling with pressing that scroll wheel button to the point of crying. Give them this with a stocking full of hugs.

Connexion Space Navigator - $99.00 - Buy Here

Wireless Printer
Wireless printing? Impossible!! Nope, it is and this little buddy will give you everything. Printing, Scanning, Copying. That is one sweet machine for party night on New Year’s Eve.

Lexmark All-in-One Wireless Printer - $109.00 - Buy Here

64GB Thumb Drive
The power of STORAGE! 64GB of storage! Buy it now so two weeks later you can say you paid twice as much for it way back then. 32GB option also available.

Kingston 64GB Data Traveler - $127.77 - Buy Here

Remote Control (RC) Car
This will keep that Gadget lover out of trouble for hours. Lock them in the back yard or on a desolate mountain side with one of these RC Cars and even if you don’t hear from them again, you’ll know they’re having fun.

The Venom Creeper - $229.00 - Buy Here

Massage Chair
Now we’re talkin’ - be all the rage at the office with your comfy faux-leather massage office chair. Great for vibrating the rage right out of your knotty bod. Ahhh, relaxation is here again.
Massage Office Chair - $159.99 - Buy Here

Blackberry Storm
It’s a Blackberry holiday with full-on touch capabilities baby for that tech-savvy CAD user. But in the US, it’s currently only available through Verizon. Arrrrrg! For T-mobile users there’s always the G1.

The Blackberry Storm - $199.99 - Buy Here

24″ HD LCD Screen
Of course it’s not the biggest, but those 3D CAD models will look sweet on it, right next to all your other apps running. You can see a HD LCD comparison here, but the one we all really want is this beauty with a new lower price.

Dell Ultrasharp 24″ Monitor - $517.00 - Buy Here

Camera Lenses
What Tech geek wouldn’t like a nice, expensive DSLR camera lens? Here’s a couple that are good options and can open up the outside world to that person stuck behind a computer screen for hours on end.

Nikon 18-200mm - $639.95 - Buy Here
Canon EOS 100mm f/2.8 Macro - $452.99 - Buy Here

Your Suggestions?
How about it? What are you looking forward to gettin’ in (preferably) a very large box?

STOP Strumming. Start Rockin’. Blackbird Guitars Designed in SolidWorks

Josh — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:42:22 +0000

You can strum all day long and wear down the clearcoat on the wooden body of your regular old guitar, or you can be awesome and check out the humidity-proof, carbon fiber Blackbird Rider from Blackbird Guitars.

Picking out tunes can be done in either Steel or Nylon String flavors and you’ll have the added cool factor that it was completely designed in SolidWorks to handle those brawly hours of road travel and create a sound that is simply beautiful.

So, leave your classic in the case and check out these pics and video.

Clean, crisp design
The entire guitar from body to head is a single-piece, hollow-body construction with 1/32 (1mm) soundboard that will have you weighing in a light 3lbs heavier. What’s really unique about the guitar besides all of that is the location of the sound-hole located on a scoop that extends to the 10th fret. Incredibly unique to get the perfect sound. You can hear just how perfect the sound is here.
.
The price… a little bit more than your average First Act Discovery Ax. The Blackbird Rider Nylon string starts at $1899 and the the smaller Blackbird Rider steel-string starts at $1599.

Check OUT the sound…

…and the design

BIG thanks to Jeremy at Blackbird Guitars who sent me the info!

3D. Future. Interface. Oblong’s G-Speak User Environment

Josh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:00:35 +0000

There is a mess of media with multi-touch this amd multi-touch that, but the single person that inspiring much of it is none other than futurist, John Underkoffler. You may not have seen him, but you would recognize his ideas for human-computer interfaces that have appeared in IronMan as well as Minority Report, Hulk and Aeon Flux.

He is now the chief scientist and part of the team working on the g-speak ’spatial operating environment’ from oblong industries. Here’s the details and video of how you may be working in the future.

G-speak is…
a SOE… a ‘Spatial Operating Environment’. You’ll notice it’s similarities to a movie that has almost become cliché to mention in the field of multi-touch and visualization.

The SOE’s combination of gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels offers the first major step in computer interface since 1984.

It can be licensed and embedded. It’s networkable. It uses real-world object manipulation. It’s already being used in some companies. You can contact them here.

It’s not so far off
A lot of people don’t see this as practice to work with the day-to-day documents or 3D data. I think this is an intermediary step that may or may not be adopted by some in design and engineering. The sheer culture shock of changing how one works with data will be enough for some to quit their change or change occupations.

I’ve said it before though, not only will the next generation of designers and engineers be familiar with this technology via movies, video games, mobile phones and other devices, they will expect it. I just can’t wait till they add ‘adaptive’ to the beginning of environment. You can see more on my opinion of where the future of interface design and working in 3D CAD are going in the October Issue of Develop3D.

The G-speak video
Here John Underkoffler and other team members demonstrate the interface. Notice how fast the output renders and the type of gestures used to manipulate 3D objects. (Granted a glove is used with this, which may disappoint some. The technology is there, however, to use infrared devices. It’s only a matter of time before the cloves come off.)

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

SolidWorks On Edge Relations: Avoid Them Like Teething Zombie Babies

Josh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:00:39 +0000

They’re a little bit easier to handle than the teething undead, but all the relations in a SolidWorks sketch can make modeling, and specifically concept modeling, a relation re-defining nightmare that is way less interesting than cleaning up after a zombie child.

One of the biggest problems you’ll have with relations automatically added to your sketches is the ‘ON EDGE’ relation created when you use Convert Entities. It’s quick to add them, but takes time to fix’em.

They are the ideal tool for quickly getting the edges off one part into another sketch, but you’ll feel some pain if a change occurs that affects them. Here’s all the reasons to avoid the On Edge relation, what to use instead and tips for when you do need them.

Why relations suck and also don’t suck so much
One thing that really sucks about fending off the scary creatures of sketch-driven modeling is all the intermingling relations you add to create each extrusion, cut, sweep or surface. If one referenced face or edge is deleted or redefined, your model is open to a beastly attack of errors and time-consuming re-work.

It sucks because you have to go in and out of sketches to fix broken relations and it tends to feel like opening your hood to start your car. If we have to use sketches I’d think many would prefer the ability to edit them without going into the sketch, but for now, we need to and one of the most common relations you’ll be fixin’ is an ‘On Edge’ relations created with the Convert Entities command.

Relations are nice because you can quickly make changes to the sketch that completely change the form of the object. They add a bit of structure to the process of creating geometry, and who doesn’t need a bit of structure in their life.

Really, relations are the battle of good vs. evil no matter which valiant modeling decision you make. It’s rare I have a sketch that does not get redefined at some point or another. That means, it’s rare that I don’t have to mess with relations or get rid of On Edge relations, so let’s get rid of them. Here’s what to do.

Don’t Use Convert Entities
It’s one big conflicting feature. It makes creating sketches quick, but can add a lot of headaches to how sketches are handled in context of the edges they are referencing. Did that sound like a mouthful? It is. Convert Entities is a sketch tool that allows you to quickly convert the edges of solids into sketches to extrude. It creates an ‘On Edge’ relation. One simple relation for one simple edge, or so it seems.

_{Using Convert Entities creates less relations, but more external references}

_{Not using Convert Entities creates more relations, but less external references}

It’s when you start converting multiple edges and going through multiple design iterations that all the converted edges can cause errors to appear in your sketches. It’s not that Convert Entities feature is bad in itself, but a lot of the relations created using Convert Entities can go dangling (loose their reference) if some geometry up in that history or features changes. Yeah, it can happen anyway with any kind of relations, but if you reduce the On Edge relations used, you reduce the amount of rework to your sketches. This is particularly true with external relations.

But the biggest reason not to use Convert Entities? On Edge relations takes longer to rebuild.

Reduce the Rework
(Boy, this post is getting longer than I expected.) Here’s an error you’ll commonly get when using Convert Entities.

It happens when trying to delete On Edge relations that conflict with each other. You will typically have to delete every On Edge relation and re-work the sketch to lock it down.

Instead, here’s some tips to reduce rework and rebuild times for your models.

Use rectangle sketch tool
The simple example. Instead of converting entities on a face that would give you four On Edge relations, sketch a rectangle, attaching the two points you pick to the other geometry.
Set up shortcuts for relations
adding relations instead of using Convert Entities does take longer, so use your keyboard to make adding them faster. I suggest setting up the most common, Coincident, Concentric, Colinear, and Coradial.
Re-relate before you Delete
This goes for any sketch entity. Before you delete it, look at the relations (Tools, Relations, Display, Delete…) and remove any that are causing conflicts. Then rerelate them with those keyboard shortcuts you set up.
Show others how
Show others how to use relations. Some people just don’t know about how they work or what they are for. A feature using a fully-defined sketch will also rebuild faster.

When you do need to use Convert Entities
Here’s some tips for when you do need to use Convert Entities.

Select Tangency/Loop/Chain
Instead of picking and converting each edge, right-click on an edge and choose ‘Select Tangency’ or ‘Select Loop’ (or ‘Select Chain’ if you’re selecting sketch lines.) This allows you to quickly select a group of edges without the tedious picking about.
Mark an Edge
This isn’t an option, but can aid in making changes. When you select an edge (or face), convert the edges to sketch lines, extrude and then add other segments to the sketch it (should) update with the changes. Add a point to the line you picked to convert.
Don’t Use Parallel and Perpendicular Relations
These are usually redundant relations that can cause conflict, avoid them if at all possible. Same goes for the Intersection and Fix relations.
Use Parallel and Perpendicular Relations
When creating Library Features and want them to work, use parallel,perpendicular and symmetric relations instead of any others. This will help them work in any orientation.

Relations can be a big help, but they are one of the basic features in SolidWorks that are not always appreciated and understood. I’d like for relations to be more geometry related than sketch related in some cases, but that gets into a whole other argument.

What are your hang-ups about relations? Any other tips?

Al Dean Says New RED SCARLET/EPIC Digital Cameras ROCKS. We Agree.

Josh — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:22:56 +0000

Don’t take it from us, just listen to Al Dean who confirms that he is 99% sure that the new RED Digital Cinema cameras Scarlet and EPIC are modeled in SolidWorks and likely rendered in the blistery goodness of HyperShot.

The RED SCARLET and EPIC are the first of their kind build-it-from-scratch-with-endless-amounts-of-possibilities Digital Still Motion Camera (DSMC). The configurations are overwhelming. The 3K resolution at 120FPS SCARLET ‘Brain‘ starting at $2,500 makes your directorial debut dreams seem all the more possible.

Here’s all the juicy renderings. You can find out more on the RED website. Now SolidSmack just needs to get a hold of a RED EPIC set-up to show you what it’s all about.

Via Develop3D/Engadget

SolidWorks Launches 2009 SP1.0 Right Into Your Face

Josh — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:21:22 +0000

It’s not everyday, you get to download an upgrade to a new version of software you use almost everyday… actually, you could download this everyday if you wanted to. Maybe wrap it in a croissant, share it with some friends and talk about the good ol’ days when you had to install software off a floppy disk.

You can get the tasty nugget of bug-depleted installation at your local SolidWorks Salon and Candy portal.

For many, you’ve been waiting for SP1.0 to come out to upgrade from the bane of your 2008 experience. Are you going for it? huh, huh are ya?

Friday Smackdown: Malfunction Eléctricos

Josh — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:04:51 +0000

Well it might as well be tied down and torn in two. How else do you expect me to reattach it when the legs just keep poppin’ off with an unbridled fury of these here links.

youfikus portfolio - The name says it all. It’s yofik-errific 3D illustration with a bunch o’ color.
Toshiba TimeSculpture - If you watched this on the wall in the conference room while screaming - That would be fun.
UberView - For you socialites that comment on blogs, twitter and friendfeed, this may be the next cool thang.
Loopt - Get all cozy, socially via your web-enabled phone. I’ll join you soon.
One-Minute languages - Yes, language arts in one-minute.. piled together to help you learn how to mispronounce ロボット電気プラグ
Spoonflower - You know you’ve always wanted to print custom fabric. Now you can! Even fabric of your old shoe photos.
OpenGoo - If you happened to write an article about online project management, this cool program might show up right after it’s published.

SolidWorks World 2009 Special Guest IS…..

Josh — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:16:25 +0000

(will somebody please give me a decent drumroll. I mean seriously, let’s do this proper-like. )

The SolidWorks World 2009 mystery guest… that is no longer a mystery… but very much a guest… that you will now find out about IS…

The world record attempting…

The billionaire extraordinaire…

Richard Branson!!

Matthew West from SolidWorks made the announcement minutes ago on Twitter.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies…Richard Branson is the 245th richest person according to Forbes’ 2008 list of billionaires as he has an estimated net worth of approximately $2.8 billion USD.- Wikipedia

When will he speak?
He’ll be speaking in the general session on [Monday morning] Feb. 9, 2009, which begins at 8:30 a.m. EST. _{Via Matthew West’s Blog}

Did you guess right? did you even suspect. Is this even more reason for you to go?

The Venom. It Creeps. It Crawls. It’s Designed in SolidWorks.

Josh — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:04:21 +0000

Yes, it crawls like none other. Not across your face in the middle of a dark, cold night in the middle of Utah, but across the vicious terrain of the rockiest of earthen obstacles and barriers.

BE warned! Be very a…warned!

It’s the Venom Creeper with 70 degrees of axle articulation and a magnificent transmission capable of handling 9 lbs of weight and some fiery decals.

What’s even more magnificent? It was designed in SolidWorks and these images, rendered with Bunkspeed’s Hypershot show all the creepy, crawly, grisly detail of what the team at Venom Group is capable of.

First, a video of the the Creeper in action…

You can pre-order the Venom Creeper here for $229.00 US. It would make a fine Thanksgiving day present for yourself.

Bunkspeed Hypershot Renderings

A HUGE salute to Kevin Quigley for the info!!

Friday Smackdown: A Little Bit O’ Caffeinated Intensity

Josh — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:00:49 +0000

Oh yeah, that thing can move this way and that like a caffeine addicted bat, but you take away the music and it’s all just a sad story about a orphaned Chiroptera that lost his way, that is, until these links came along.

Magnus Kjäll Illustration - A lot of 3D, a lot of layers and one of my favorite types of illustration that just mashes everything together.
The Ultimate Productivity Toolbox - Excellent picks. I’d choose XnView over IrfanView and WebAsyt over BaseCamp though.
HD TV Media Player - Tiny. Awesome. Plug in your USB and play HD. pick one up for $100 at BestBuy. Thanks Rod!
Google Gadgets/Remember the Milk - I forgot to list the Google Gadget last week, but the new RTM gadget makes the new gadgets for your Gmail even cooler.
Gears of War 2 Biggest Surprises - Xbox 360 third-person shooter goodness. It’s out soon and here’s the scoop on what will make your mouth drop.
Free Vector Illustration - Like inspiring examples of vectorized artwork? This weeks free vector illustration at Templates.com is very cool indeed.
CoffeeShop Free Photoshop Actions - I can’t jump into the weekend without telling you about some of the best, free photo actions available.

SolidWorks Flickr Finds: Apartment Refurb from Daz Studios

Josh — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:00:50 +0000

Architecture in SolidWorks? Can it be done? Yes, and it doesn’t look too shabby either. Take a look at Darren Ng’s (DazStudios) photostream on Flickr and you’ll see just how cool it can look.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of the images of a refurbished apartment that was modeled in SolidWorks and rendered in PhotoWorks is how Darren used his photography skills to capture the composition of each room he modeled.

Take a look. Visit his Flickr page and let him know what you think.

Living Area

Formal Living Area

Bathroom

Kitchen

Designer: Darren Ng (DazStudios)

12 SolidWorks Features You Don’t Need - And How to Turn Them Off

Josh — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:00:38 +0000

SolidWorks has a TON of useful features and ways to model the most amazing chunks of 3D your nimble fingers can sketch and extrude, but some features are a fiery heap of performance hindering options that just get in the way.

We’ve put together 12 features you can turn off right away to get better SolidWorks performance and a faster machine. Some of these options are useful, some never will be, but it always comes down to what kind of performance you expect out of that fancy workstation.

Do you need them?
Why would they be there if you didn’t need them, right? That’s why all of these options can be turned on or off. The features you use depend a lot on what functionality you need and your workflow. You may want to keep some on, but, far and away, these setting do nothing to get your modeling done faster. So, here the are - The 12 SolidWorks features you don’t need and how to turn them off.

Note: just to be safe, run the Option Setting Wizard to save your existing options. You can find it in the Start menu, under the SolidWorks Tools folder. The setting I go over below are specific to 2008 and 2009, but you’ll find most in previous versions as well.

Thumbnail graphics in Windows Explorer
These are the small graphics that show up next to your file name in Windows Explorer. Why? I’m not sure. They’re are not useful, so lets get rid of them. Go to Tools, Options, System Options, General and uncheck the option that says ‘Thumbnail graphics in Windows Explorer‘. You’ll need to restart for the change to take affect.
RealView Scenes
You may like them, I do, I like creating new scenes, but ya don’t need them and for those with older graphics cards it has the tendency to cause some jitters and clipping. To turn the off, go to Tools, Options, System Options, Colors and choose the Plain or Gradient Option under Background Appearances.
Hide/Show Tree Items (Feature Manager)
There’s a couple folders that show up by default in the FeatureManager. It doesn’t so much affect performance, but you don’t need to have them on. The Light, Camera and Scenes folder is only useful if you are setting up lights for renderings. The Annotations folder is useful if you use/create annotated views in your model. My suggestion is to set them to automatic, so they only show up when you need them to. You can control the visibility of all of the folders and reference items in the FeatureManager via Tools, Options, System Options, Feature Manager or simply right-click in the FeatureManager and select Hide/Show Tree Items…
Confirmation Corner
I asked in a previous post how many actually use this. I was surprised that many still do. You don’t need to though. You can use a keyboard shortcut to Exit Sketch without saving in Tools, Customize, Keyboard. For example, set Exit sketch to Alt-Q, uncheck Enable Confirmation Corner in Tools, Options, System Options, General and keep your mouse over the area you’re working in instead of moving up to the corner and back down.
Heads-up Toolbar
If you’ve been using SolidWorks 2008 or 2009, you’re likely use to this by now. It’s the toolbar at the top of each display area in SolidWorks. It’s somewhat customizable, but there’s no option to just turn it off. For me, it tends to get in the way. I have all the commands on my Shortcut Bar (S) or assigned as a keyboard shortcut. To get rid of it, right-click on it and uncheck everything that is checked. For the most common use of this toolbar-changing viewing orientation, I recommend using the Ctrl-1,2,3… shortcuts.
View Transitions
If you’re running a slow computer, this is going to be a real annoyance for you as parts you hide, show and move around slowly fade and trudge into view. Even with a moderately fast machine, this can slow down your workflow. I like having it on for the experience, but if your getting frustrated with slow speed, turn the experience off. Go to Tools, Options, System Options, View and turn off everything under the Transitions section.
Back-up and Recovery
Do you really, I mean really need a to create a back-up of your models? You don’t… if you have a good PDM system. A PDM system like SolidWorks Enterprise PDM will keep track of versions checked-in and out. The back-up option gets even worse if you don’t have the it set to delete every few day. Your hard-drive just becomes riddled with model file and your performance is shot. I’d recommend at the very least to clean and defrag your system once a week if you use backup. To make sure this is off go to Tools, Options, System Options, Backup and Recovery and uncheck the backup option.
Status Bar
When will we not need to look to the bottom of the screen to know that we are ‘Editing Part’ or ‘Editing Sketch‘? Seriously, if I don’t know what I’m doing, then I’m really dumb or the program isn’t not intuitive enough. You can turn off the status bar via the the View menu. Go down to the bottom and uncheck Status bar. Ahh, a few more pixels of screen space.
News Feeds
Did you know there are news feeds pulled into the Taskmanager every time you start SolidWorks? Yep, and it’s weird that I would tell you it’s not needed, being that this site is a news feed and it should be the first thing you see every morning. Yeah, so, to turn it off, go to Tools, Options, System Options, General and uncheck ‘Show latest news feed in Task pane’.
No preview on open
Upset about a model opening slowly? There’s an option you can turn off that will speed up the opening of a file - considerably on large assemblies. The only thing this allows you to do is view and rotate the model when it’s opened. Not really needed. If you go to Tools, Options, System Options, Performance there’s a checkbox at the very bottom that says ‘No Preview during open (faster)‘. uhm, faster huh? I’ll take that. Check it if it’s unchecked and it is faster.
Selection Through Transparency
This is a big one. When you’re editing a part in an assembly or making a few parts transparent, there’s an option that allows you to select lines, faces and other geometry through the transparent object. As you can imagine, this can affect performance. To turn it off, go to Tools, Options, System Options, Display/Selection and uncheck ‘Enable selection through transparency‘. Don’t worry though, you can toggle it on when you’re working by holding down the magic ‘SHIFT’ key.
Prompt to set driven
This is a ‘handy’ little prompt that pops up if you place a dimension that would over-define a sketch. If you’re in and out of sketches a lot, it’s annoying. The option to turn it off has been there as long as I can remember. You can find it in Tools, Options, System Options, Sketch down at the bottom in the Over-defining dimensions section. Uncheck ‘Prompt to set driven state‘ and check ‘Set driven by default‘ so it’s automatically sets the dimensions driven without having to click any extra.

These are the first set of options I turn off when optimizing an installation and to make it all a little more simple for new users to take in. One option I would really like to turn off is Indexing. Right now there’s only an option for constantly indexing or indexing when computer is idle. I’d prefer the option to turn it off.

Do you use any of these or think there’s others that are necessary?

The Reee(cycled) Chair. Palsticy Goodness Designed in SolidWorks

Josh — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:00:51 +0000

You may have seen this on some of the tech or design blogs a while back, but it just so happens that this simple looking stackable chair is a highly optimized, ergonomic peice constructed of recycled Playstation 2 game consoles and, oh yeah, designed in SolidWorks.

Old news? Noooo… well maybe, but there’s a new podcast out explaining the details behind the design of the recylced chair and all the factors that play into making it and selling it. Have a look.

Invinsioned by London product designer Christopher Pett of Pli Designs Ltd. and created in conjuntion with design consultancy Sprout Design, the eco-freindly chair will use 7.5 tons of recycled plastic over the next year. That is removing 2.4 kg (5.3 lbs) from landfills each year.

“the Reee chair incorporates the plastic from nine video game consoles and is the first chair of its kind in the U.K. to use 100 percent recycled plastic from a single source…Sprout used SolidWorks SimulationXpress to ensure the chair would be strong enough to support sitters without over-engineering the amount of plastic in the seat’s ribs”

The chair is available now for £110.00 ($174.44 US) at Pli

Via SolidWorks podcasts

SolidWorks News Reaches Critical Mass. Explosion of Updates Eminent. SolidNewsUpdate.com

Josh — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:38:02 +0000

It’s big, it’s beefy, it’s hairy, and oh so, very scary. It’s a new site from SolidWorks and it’s has infiltrated all the fine internet web portals of your peaceful neighborhood.

Who knows what wild and woolly adventures of strangeness unknown will be found within the post to come out of the SolidWorks News site. I’m sure that whatever it is, you’ll shiver at the shock of the incalculable possibilities… and laugh at the mystery that is SolidWorksNewsUpdate.com.

You can submit CAD UFO sightings and oddities to be posted on the site to solidnewsupdate@solidworks.com

You RAWK! 3D Rapid Prototyped Acoustic Instruments of the Future

Josh — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:38:47 +0000

Exactly how rockin’ would you be with your own guitar? Not as rockin’ as you would be with a sweet, custom manufactured axe made to your exact style and specifications.

Amit Zoran, from the MIT Ambient Intelligence Group, has been fiddling with the concept of Rapid Prototyping acoustical instruments. But are the materials that rapid prototyping machines use suitable to get the sustain and amplification you need to impress the crowd or your cat?

The Perfect Sound
Amits concepts are incredible look and the video shows just how much sound you can get out of a very small chamber. Without a chamber the sound is tinny, but with a simple chamber, the sounds becomes as custom as the Rapid-prototyped body.
More on the reAcoustic eGuitar.

What RP Machine is used?
Really, a simple chamber could be created using a variety of methods, but for full-scale guitar body creation, 3D printers with larger beds would be required. Here’s a video of how RedEye RPM creates custom guitars with Stratysys fused deposition modeling (FDM) process using Thermoplastics.

Update: Editor’s Note - SolidWorks was used to create the main section of this guitar. Then Materialise was used to merge a mobius shape together to create one body. Here’s the guitar Case Study.

More about Redeye’s Fused deposition modeling (FDM) - (Flash video). You can also download Redeye 3D Print driver for SolidWorks, Inventor and Alibre.

Amit’s Concept Images
These are Amit’s concepts of the possibility of being able to print your own guitar. Really, the variations are constrained by material options and size, but traditional instruments could have incredible new looks and sounds. What would you create?

reAcoustic eGuitar. (via Architechradure via Jessica Hanson)

Friday Smackdown: Fire-Breathing Death Dive

Josh — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:00:39 +0000

It use to be a nice modern-looking container, but after I filled it with those dragon babies, their intelligence about odd craft items to sell at wholesales prices helped me discover these links.

Photoshop Fractal Brushes Oh my eye. These fractals are hot and fractaly.
MapMyRun.com Map and find running routes. Time to get all serious and social about running around your city.
Unfinished Swan - An upcoming game where in an entirely white world, where what you see is erily shown by your paintgun
Hard Times, More Zombies - Apparently a touch economy equals more zombie goodness. All the zombie movies ever made.
The Green City - Dubai = massive architecture. Here are some of the most astounding architectural proposals.
18 ways to live below your means - Not cause it’s fun, but because it’s smart… and it’s a whole lot easier not to.
How to Build a Wooden Storage Bench - You’ll never know when you need to build one. best that you learn right now to avoid any accidents.
SlideRocket - Create Presentations better than Powerpoint, online. Very slick. Will definitely make your meeting standout.

SolidWorks Flickr Finds: Lego Robots, Creatures and Ships

Josh — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:02:34 +0000

There’s nothing better that staying up all night playing video games with your favorite robot friend, unless your robot friend is actually made of Legos and gets you cold beverages from the fridge.

If you browse Flickr for SolidWorks Photos, you’ll occasionally come across some outstanding models and renderings. These Lego renderings by Bob Van Vliet are exceptional and make you wish that your big brother all those years ago didn’t loose that gray piece that connected the arm.

Check out these rendering and leave Mr. Vliet a comment on his Flickr page.

Windows7 and More. How Will You Use 3D CAD in 2010?

Josh — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:56:03 +0000

The news about Windows7, Microsoft next OS, has been pouring out of the seething cauldron of Microsoft PDC this week, getting all the fanboys and multi-touch crazies in a ruckus.

Are you all just extremely AMPPED? No? Well, for those gnashing their teeth over Vista, the new OS promises to be the escape Microsoft wants to provide it’s ever so ~~constrained~~ loyal user base, and they plan to provide it even before 2010 gets here.

However, this raises some interesting questions for 3D CAD users. Multi-touch navigation across the screen? How will display technology develop? What engineering design companies are aware of these technology changes? Enjoy a very choppy preview video, my thoughts and your opinions after the break.

Windows 7 Preview

How will this affect 3D CAD?
Not much… at first. It will be neat to navigate, pan, zoom, etc. through everything. It’s actualyl hard not to get carried away with the possibilities here. What I do hope is that 3D CAD vendors, especially SolidWorks, is looking at, not only the onscreen interactive manipulation of 3D geometry, but also command structure and workflow.

Multi-touch becomes much less linear and opens up a lot more possibilities for how commands are initiated and completed. Oh, and this doesn’t all have to be done with hands either. (It’s beyond me, why there has been very little research into multi-point input technology.)

Anyway, enough of my opinion, what do you think about all this? What’s your wildest dreams for SolidWorks utilizing functionality in Windows 7?

More on Windows 7
Gizmodo Windows 7 Walkthrough
Arstechnica Windows 7 Walkthrough
BBC Video peek

Update:
All sorts of display technology this week…
Samsung displayed its new 4″ superthin, highly flexible .05mm OLED screen.
Metaio is mixing the physical with the virtual with their 3D augmented reality program.
Shinoda will start 125″ curved plasma screen production May 2009

Windows 7 on a flexible display? a curved display? hmmm.

SolidWorks Users Crave Useful Add-In. Get Presentation Studio

Josh — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:23:02 +0000

The thick wire mesh guarding us against the experimental research inside the SolidWorks Labs Studio nearly had to be re-enforced when a new program leaked out which allows SolidWorks users to create a quick portfolio-style .PDF of their 3D solid model.

Presentation Studio is an Add-in, a free add-in. Open a model, start a layout, select your options, type a little story about it and you get a snazzy looking PDF you can show that creepy guy at the supermarket. Here’s the details.

I’m likin’ me some presentation
First, Download it at SolidWorks Labs and install that sucka. Open SolidWorks, go to Tools, Add-ins and select the Presentation Studio checkbox.

You need to a part or assembly open. The Presentation Studio command show up as the last tab on the CommandManager (update: or right-click on the toolbars to turn the Layout toolbar on. Thanks Mike.). From either one of those you can select Layout to display the Presentation Studio Property Manager. The setting allow you to:

select from 4 different layouts
add a title, summary and description
select which views you want to include

After you’ve spent a few minutes doing all that, hit OK and a .PDF is created in the location you specified. Here’s an example of the above faucet.

What Else?
You can view the 3D model directly in the document - rotate, zoom and pan or switch between the views you selected when you created it. The PDF file size may get pretty big with large models. This faucet PDF was right at 1MB.

Update: according to Brian McElyea Presentation Studio will not run on x64.

Overall, Presentation Studio is a a great free add-in for creating a very quick and perty presentation of your model. It’s not as comprehensive as something you get with Adobe Acrobat’s PDF Portfolio Tool in Version 9, but it’s better than some static images in an email.

What would you use it for?