I see laddie, plenty of gopher throwin’ goin’ on here I see, I do. Must be it’s time ta send yer’ granny up to MCClatty’s butterfly farm again fer’ more o’ thos’ magic darts that come in so handy. In the meantime, use these links. Fanatastic Mr. Fox Trailer – It’s Oceans12, but a stop-action…

They’re among us. Little robots flitting about, busy with the task of taking over this part of the world and demolecularizing that part of the world, exploring caves and enjoying the natural setting of coastline and atmospheric radiation. It’s all but a few know of… till now. Cris Rose, supreme leader of all creatures mechanically…

Well, from last weeks poll on Zombie Co-workers it’s clear… most of you feel your jowl kickin’ skills are in fine form. Good for you, not so good for your undead coworkers. This week, something to ravage your thought process and provoke the estranged feeling that you’ve forgotten something. We all probably have some sort…

Forget for a moment that you could receive permanent ocular impairment with the absorption of too much color. The new issue of Develop3D is about to force sunglasses and a cold cup of icy tea to your face. I just got the paper copy in the mail. Yeah, so I write up an occasional piece…

I am beyond the point of training badgers to scale brick buildings and form random binomial equation patterns on the side. Today’s technology is just too advanced and one German company is showing how it’s really done. UrbanScreen, in the attempt to completely redefine what is possible with the outer surface of a building, does…

Plug it in and crank up the DIY make machine baby, we’re about to roll out a huge vat of speculation. Last week at the SolidSmack Posterous site, I put up a tidbit on the new Shapeways 3D Part Database. I commented that it would be interesting to see 3DContentCentral, a user-generated 3D part library,…

The model you’re working on and the bad rice you had last night are sucking the will to live right out of your kabuto wearing head. Circular references are some of the most heinous problems to crop up in assemblies this side of ancient feudal Japan. The two worst things about these type of problems…

Well now. While you’re sitting around waiting for the 3DVia iPhone App or throwing your vote in for an eDrawings app, a relatively small band of developers has slammed 3D model viewing right into your sleek smartphone. Dan Halabe and Chuck Han have release NaviCAD, currently the only way to get silly with 3D viewing…

Don’t ya just get warm fuzzies all over when you hear of new over-priced, high-capacity storage options? Well, prepare to tell your coworkers once again the story of how much 6MB cost 20 years ago, cause Western Digital is dropping the single terabyte beat on your face. Today, Western Digital ships the first 2.5″ 1TB…

There were herds of’em, just standin’ around eatin’ my cabbages. I slapped the ugly one, and after he shook it off, he gave me a dirty look and these burly links. John Pugh 3D Mural Art – Your eye sockets are about to be fooled by the amazing illusionary murals of Mr. John Pugh. Ready?…

Those noises you hear over the cubicle wall…? *munch*… not Sam eating his ham and cheese. Oh no. Dare you take a look? You may think it’s an impossibility, but closed quarters and inadequate ventilation is a recipe for certain elements seeping into the nostril membranes, changing certain physiological elements of brain and bone matter,…

Now look, there’s no reason to suddenly start flailing about. Even if you’re being eaten alive by mutant aphids there are options that will help distract you enough to, not only, improve your CAD modeling skills, but escape the mental torture that goes along with being ravaged by unfriendly insects. You may be out of…

I’m almost positive all the contraptions we’re designing are not as environmentally satisfying as they could be. Fortunately, there are companies, which exist, aware of the riches to be made in ‘green design’ so we can go on elevating our population dense carbon emissions to a higher taxable level. And for those companies aiding our…

Time for trip down to the camping store, you have some matchsticks to buy, 4 million to be exact. That is, if you want to challenge David Reynolds in the bid to beat the matchstick model record… and spend a good 15 years at 10 hours a day doing so. David, a former oil rig…

There are a lot of silly things you can strap to your feet. but when it comes to saving someone’s life, there’s nothing silly about strapping on plastic booties with extendable ‘blades.’ It’s just the concept Edward Shelton of Oxford, UK came up with for his final year project at Loughborough University. Ed developed the…

After seeing the snazzy video showing future multi-touch support for SpaceClaim, I went on the hunt to find out a little bit more. Fortunately, I had the email of Blake Courter, Co-founder of SpaceClaim. Great chap, hung out with him at SolidWorks World 2009, of all places. He answered some questions about MT capabilities, gives…

There’s just no shortage of pre-apocalyptic robot news these days. We’ve learned the ways in which robots could potentially feed themselves. If that’s possible, why shouldn’t they be equipped with a ‘self-learning mode’ for flawless pursuit upon a rippin’ rice burner? And if not that, then why shouldn’t they use frictional lifting patterns being studied…

Multi-touch will never happen with 3D CAD… OH, except it has… or will be, this fall. The company showing the potential? SpaceClaim. There’s no announcement out of the company yet, but a video surfaced on YouTube over the weekend showing the future of what we’re assuming will be the next release of SpaceClaim. We’ll gather…

Yes, materials, by nature, are 3D, but this one is the thinnest of them all. It’s also super-conductive, super flexible and makes steel look like a 90-lb weakling. At one atom thick, Graphene is the newest in materials being studied for applications in high-speed computers and other nanotechnology. It’s a material that was first discovered…

It’s a video. 40 minutes of Alibre modeling fun and features coming out in the future version of Alibre. No need to cover the eyes of your children. It’s family fun for the future of 3D CAD. The Alibre V12 Sneek Peak is described as a ‘stellar release with tons of little tiny things.’ It…

It’s not every day you blow orange juice out your nose, but this day was special – a decent breakfast, electric shocks and links smart enough to make a monkey speak Latin. Marco Rolandi – There’s nothin’ like fresh CG concpet art and illustrations to go with your coffee. These are from the amazing Marco…

How many of you would like to take a dip in a pool of GPU’s? No? Something about pain? No worries. Greg Corke from Devlop3D takes a look at How to Buy a Graphics Card for SolidWorks in the next issue of Develop3D. Instead of feeling like your jumping into deep, unknown waters, he lays…

It’s time to stop rubbin’ your knuckles raw and gritting your teeth in frustration SolidWorks friends. There’s a ‘scussion and jivin’ party going on over at the SolidWorks Community Forums. It’s sportin’ a clean, new look with a friendlier layout and way better features that the previous forums. Searching for topics is better, viewing your…

I’ve got an Idea. Let’s all track the excitement of life in a spreadsheet, create a spreadsheet of that spreadsheet and then send it to everyone to create their own spreadsheet. BRILLIANT! Spreadsheet are about the most overused office ‘tool’ we use to quickly capture information in an understandable format *chuckles – shakes head -…

Ok, it’s just too much to take. As if robots partaking of live flesh wasn’t bad enough, now we have robots with the autonomous foresight to continue their steam-powered existence by means of consuming the DEAD. Robotic Technologies Inc. is sending us out with the creation of a proper robot predator – the EATR. That…

Not that you’re a handmaiden, or could be. All I need to say is one word, Buuuuutter. A layer of it should cover everything, including your modeling processes, and your bacon. What does butter have to do with 3D CAD? Absolutely everything my cow-slapping friends. You need ways to get things done finger-lickin’ fast. We’re…

Today, Microsoft announce the announcement for the future announcement and release of Office 2010. Which in our wonderful world of future-tech anticipation means pre-beta Technical Preview. Get excited. It’s so Microsoft. It’s so Office. It’s so you. You may have seen the riveting adventure that is the Office 2010 mini movie or the slew of…

I battened down the hatches just like he said, and mister, I tell ya, that’s when it happened. Slimy little tentacles slipping in, all through the cracks, scarin’ the kitty and tryin’ like mad to get to these links. slimy!! James Roper – Oh, it’s colorful no doubt. Plus it makes you think, I could…

There’s a new 3D modeling playa in town and you don’t have to dink around with any messy features or geometry to create. It does, however, have to already exist. You’ll also need the ability to “maintain perpendicular & spatial distance between photos within a sequence” to take a few snapshots. After that, it’s a…

For the somber souls chained to 5 minute boot times and 100% CPU usage, take heart. Early yesterday morning, Google announcment Chrome OS. Yes, another OS, but this time one with all the characteristics you would expect from a product put out by Google, namely, speed, simplicity and yeah, totally open-source. An open-source OS. That…

And you thought governments and retirement homes were the only powers fettered with the chains of conspiracy and hidden intrigue. oooohhhhh nooooo. Deep within the bowels of the CAD/PLM system lies long hidden speculation and neatly disguised patterns of cover-ups not seen by us in the trenches of engineering, design and manufacturing. Be warned!! Some…

OOoooo. Is this really a question that needs to be asked? Everyone uses 3D right? and if they don’t, the should be slapped upwards and forced to partake of the goodness that is 3D geometry. Do the manufacturers you work with use 3D data to create parts, build assemblies or get information not provided on…

Oh now behave yourself. It’s a simple question, but one we can throw a truckload of speculation at and shake it vigorously to come up with all sorts of outlandish ideas. ya down? Mozilla Labs launched their Open Web Tools Directory today. It’s the new central repository mish-mash of design and coding tools to aid…

I see that look in your eye. You want to see some sweet bicycle convertin’ design that makes falling off your bike and hitting a street sign look like fun again. Well, here it is. It’s called the ZWEISTIL [two style], named by the designers, Stefan Wallmann and Daniel Knüpfer, for it’s unique variable frame…

Let me ask you this. Have you ever been so determined to have consistent 3D geometry, that you paid someone to feed you Pad Thai while you linked dimensions on your model? No? Ok, so maybe that’s for special occasions. But if you’re interested in saving some time and eating Pad Thai on your own,…

Son: But Ma, I can draw my own photo! Ma: Nope son, you attach robo arm to you. The last drawing you did of yourself was hideous and misrepresented. Besides, the robot captures your best features dear. Thomas Ricker states it best, it’s “a device that snaps your photo and then forces you to draw…

“Bzzzzzzz!”, it went, and suddenly more ice cream than you could catch in your mouth was falling from the opening, along with horses, butterflies and these convincingly brilliant links. Ivan Santic – You’ll see once you get to the site. The video on the front page then proceed to the gallery. Can a Smartphone replace…

Have you ever sat at your table staring into a pile of peas wondering just how a multi-touch workflow would work? Would it be practical for editing 3D content or video content? Oblong Industries (creators of G-speak) and supreme futurist John Underkloffer unveiled TAMPER at Sundance Film Fesitval this year as part of the New…

I’m excited. Are you excited? The crinkly wrapper is coming off and it’s about dang time. Today, July 1st, after two years (and two months) of tinkering with graphics, plugins and a soupy mixture of html code, we’re launching the all new SolidSmack. It’s shiny, don’t ya think. But that’s not all there is to…

Oh no, you not gonna do it are you? please, no, no. YES. Slowly step away from the rotor. Bolt Circles my friends. Large, circular, equally-spaced bolt circles to turn your manufacturing nemesis into someone that buys you cakes on holidays. Manufacturers have a special place in their heart for “B.C.” , and as engineers…

I’m not saying that, one day, robots will eat and digest you for energy, but yeah, I am saying that. Especially given the state of the two minds that are creating carnivorous robots that run on the juices extracted from various pests and their materials.

How many ways do you think there are to share content online? hundreds? thousands? Who cares, cause we’ve boiled it down to four. Exactly four sites that are changing how people post content and interact online? Not only are these the coolest places to be online nowadays, they’re the quickest and most versatile ways to…

It rose right up I tells ya, a creature as wily as a hairless mouse with ten arms and no visible face. It did have a nice name though, Clarence Witherspoon, and presented these link calmly while drinking marbles and buttered hate. 20 Impressive 3D Graffiti Artworks – and you thought 3D was just for…

We’re reaching deep in our pool of unusual uses for 3D CAD today and pulling out something extra shiny for ya. If you’re into graphic design or making pretty 3D icons and graphics for your website, you’ll want to adjust your seat. You never would have thought it, but SolidWorks is extremely useful for creating…

Put down the oil can you’re dumping into the river and rev your electric motor Mr. Clean, we’re gettin’ sustainable and Xpress-ive up in this design. Yes, you could single-handed prevent further disintegration of the atmosphere and taxpayer burden by properly analyzing your design and applying a material that reduces those nasty carbon molecules causing…

There’s a wave of particularly large significance in the world of parametric, history-based modeling these warm summer days. A wave directed straight at your inability to manipulate 3D geometry any which way you want. Many a company has taken on the task of harnessing more ways to fiddle with your solids. Now, it’s Autdesk’s turn.…

I bet you have a hanckerin’ for accessing 3D models via an iPhone and learning how you’ll interact with your coworkers and customers in future CAD applications. yeah? just a little hanckerin’? We’ve got it. With a huge thanks to Al from Develop3D we’ve got first-time video of the interesting tidbits on future apps and…

Step back price conscious data storage shoppers. 3 new contenders in the NAS (network attached storage) market have risen from the tera-byte tundra of Seagate Technology. True, they’ll only store billions of files, instead of quadrillions, but for the price and features, I think you’ll be ok for a few months. The Seagate BlackArmor brand…

Ya see that shiny new building in the image to the left? That’s the new Dassault Systèmes (DS) campus in Vélizy, France and home to the 2009 Dassault Developers Conference (DEVCON 2009). So far, there’s little information escaping the glass edifice of the DS headquarters, except for the occasional tweet (#DSDEVCON09) and the typical press…

Can you feel it in your bones and tendons and fingers that just pressed the installation button for SolidWorks 2009 SP 4.0? I know you can. And if you’re one of the lucky companies that haven’t laid-off everyone, shut down and stopped your SolidWorks subscription service, you can download SolidWorks 2010 Beta right now. You…