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MCAD is running like heck from the desktop. The possibilities of where CAD data is accessed from and where you are when you access it just keeps on growing I tell ya. First you have laptops coming out sporting the AMD Turion X2 Ultra to integrate processor and graphics card capabilities. That equals more power, anywhere.
As if our soon to be robot overlords are not scary enough, now there’s a Robot University for them to systematically learn how to take over the minds of small children and impressionable young college students.
I exaggerate a bit. This is actually a place where the academics and the automaton-interested can gather via an online campus to pursue the dream of eventual human destruction creating neat robotics solutions. Kids… get off the couch.
There are structured lessons, tutorials, event calendars, photos, videos, forums, blogs, chat, personal pages, and instruction for using SolidWorks® 3D CAD software for robot design.
You can get in if you request an invitation via SRURequest@solidworks.com and the robotic counterparts on the opposite side accept you into the collective. If you want to keep you’re distance and just play around with building robotic stuff in SolidWorks, check out all the parts at 3d Content Central that will give you everything necessary to build a bio-mechanical suit able to fend off any type of robot mutiny in the future.
Oh man, your SolidWorks assembly is looking a little crooked my friend. In fact, I’d say it’s just about to tip over and probably hurt a small family of mice or a vagabond waiting for you to set some scraps out on the porch.
I’m going to suggest a way to improve assembly creation, so take a couple slow breaths, have a pot of coffee and avoid the loose boards over in the corner by the shedding dog.
With SolidWorks 2008 came the ability to add Sketch Layouts to drive all the parts in your assembly. Sound formidable? Well, there’s not much in the SolidWorks Help, so here’s all you need to get up to speed with the amazingly sturdy world of SolidWorks Sketch Layouts. Continue reading ‘Smack! The Complete Guide to SolidWorks Layout Sketches’
That atomic rubidium vapor you’ve been storing in those old canning jars may soon be put to good use as a storage medium for images which, in turn, could allow 3D data storage, display and possibly manipulation.
A group of physicists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel… yeah, that place, warmed up some of that naturally occurring isotope, added some light pulses, shifted some phases and got an image to stick for about 30 microseconds. That’s… not long, but hey it’s progress.
Possibility of 3D in vapor?
You add some fancy lasers to provide some volumetric recognition, a couple light sources with different wavelengths and a bit of IR feedback to a control device and you’re pretty much there. A couple million in funding wouldn’t hurt either. The next step beyond this could even be using water vapor as a 3D display medium.
This may not seem all to practical, but it’s one avenue of data visualization research that could make the display technology we actually would use in the near future more likely. 3D holographic displays would be a perfect transition for the display of 3D data via water or gas vapor. The trick is taking it from static to dynamic.
I was working on a somebody’s computer this morning and their email notification kept popping up asking you to choose to go to the email or not. For one thing, that was incredibly annoying, and incredibly inefficient for another.
A little experiment
So it made me want to offer up a little experiment to show you how to get rid of the biggest time consuming and utterly destructive tool that is… email.
Last week on June 20th, Google Trends for websites was launched to allow a look into competing sites and aid your plans for worldwide domination. Similar sites, like Compete (my favorite) and Alexa already exist, but this leverages the power of Google’s simple, yet masterful use of analytical data.
Anyone can use it to find out the keyword or website competition for a site they want to start, but what’s really quite interesting is the competition going on in big industry. In our case, that would be… the CAD industry. Continue reading ‘Google Trends for 3D CAD Companies: Whose Competing?’
I’ve been playing with the Spore 3D Creature Creator for the past couple days and I gotta say it is one of the funnest, most addictive ways to create creatures that I’ve ever seen. Not only that, the 3D controls and manipulation are just amazing. It’s drag-n-drop-n-modify creature makin’ hilarity at it’s best… and it’s FREE.
What really fun is making them move around, dance, roar, punch and yes, have cute little babies that mimic the big creature.
So, check it out this weekend, have some fun and think about what 3D CAD would be like if it was this simple. Here’s my very own creature and the new SolidSmack mascot. His name is Timothy and he has a level 14 attack so be WARNED.
If I hadn’t gone there, who knows, I may have gotten a few more appendages, but I’m pretty happy with the one’s I have. These links certainly help.
Desktopia - Yeah, you can pretty much always go here from now on for cool backgrounds. Upgrade your skill level in 24 hours - That’s darn quick, but these little tips work and your friends will be impressed. Blurb.com - Make your own book. Download the software, slap in some pics and text, get it printed. That easy. HippoPost - No more excuses for not writing a letter. Send a postage-paid, printed and customizable postcard to someone and do it all online. The hundred push-up challenge - Who cares if you throw up, you’ll be doing a hundred push ups. FotoViewr - Crazy slick gallery creation for your Flickr Photos. Mom will be impressed.
Ok folks, so here it is. The beginning of the end of the mouse and 3D desktop controls. The first I saw of this was a craptastic video back in March of some guys fiddling with a glove and a wiimote to control SolidWorks.
Little did I know, a cool guy named Brian put up a video in January (below) demonstrating the simple concept with AutoDesk Design Review (ADR.) Now available from AutoDesk and even more simple is the ADR Wiimote add-in that requires no extra programming.
So, what do you think? Will you be using this to control your models next year? Is SolidWorks Labs working on a Wiimote add-in? I’d like to see all the presenters at SolidWorks World 2009 using a Wiimote for presentations. Even more I’d like to see some the technology that develops out of this.
It’s inevitable. A hundred models of a screw and they’re all created a different way. I’m telling ya, it’s an open flesh wound just waiting to get infected.
Companies often jump into the 3D modeling fray without laying out an SolidWorks implementation plan. But, even when things are implemented correctly, the details of model creation get ignored. Suddenly, the gangrene set in, people are throwing up yesterdays models, and the productive energy is sucked right out of your design and engineering department. That is gross man.
Here’s an easy approach to stop the rot that plagues typical methods of no design practice or too many design practices. I imagine you have your own tricks too, so hit the comments and tell everyone what you and your company do to take on the task of creating the perfect design practice. Continue reading ‘Stop the SolidWorks Rot: Simple Tips for Awesome Design Practices’
MCAD is running like heck from the desktop. The possibilities of where CAD data is accessed from and where you are when you access it just keeps on growing I tell ya. First you have laptops coming out sporting the AMD Turion X2 Ultra to integrate processor and graphics card capabilities. That equals more power, anywhere.
As if our soon to be robot overlords are not scary enough, now there’s a Robot University for them to systematically learn how to take over the minds of small children and impressionable young college students.
Oh man, your SolidWorks assembly is looking a little crooked my friend. In fact, I’d say it’s just about to tip over and probably hurt a small family of mice or a vagabond waiting for you to set some scraps out on the porch.
That atomic 
I was working on a somebody’s computer this morning and their email notification kept popping up asking you to choose to go to the email or not. For one thing, that was incredibly annoying, and incredibly inefficient for another.
Last week on June 20th, 
I’ve been playing with the 
If I hadn’t gone there, who knows, I may have gotten a few more appendages, but I’m pretty happy with the one’s I have. These links certainly help.
Ok folks, so here it is. The beginning of the end of the mouse and 3D desktop controls. The first I saw of this was a 
It’s inevitable. A hundred models of a screw and they’re all created a different way. I’m telling ya, it’s an open flesh wound just waiting to get infected.
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