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…

What has Fur, Bumps, stereoscopic 3D support and reeks of SolidWorks Import possibilities? The brand new version of Luxology’s modeling/rendering/animation package, modo 401. Yes, all of that, in one integrated tool. Since first being show early this year, many a rendering fanatic has been anticipating the new rendering capabilities, while deep in the lair of…

I found it! Right here under this bowl of oats of all places. Now how does something that furry end up under a bowl of oats. I think we need to have a talk with the committee and subject them to these links. Industrial Decay – Who doesn’t love to see how things rot? Here’s…

Attack I say! Attack and plunder the riches… of … imported… geometry and… stuff. Ok, battle faces everyone, we’re on a warpath today, a warpath to create usable 3D geometric data from imported files. It’s an interesting issue submitted by a user tired of recreating sheet metal part when he already has a 3D .IGES…

I wanted to get this up last week, but ya know, you gotta let fine content like this simmer in it’s own meaty juices for a few days. Yes, It’s been nearly two weeks since the PTC/USER event in Orlando, but I’ve continued to to receive emails from users asking about it. So, to wrap…

I hope you all are ready for a fun and enlightening experience. I know we’ve pushed this iPhone modeling in SolidWorks clear around the table, but this is the model that everyone is and will be looking at for the foreseeable future. Nelson Au was kind enough to share his model and his process for…

You are lookin’ sporty. Really, you are stylin’ the design and engineering process like no other and everyone wants to know just how you do it… or at least, we do. Is it possible that you use more than one process or program to design and engineer products? We may not even realized it if…

It’s not so much that everything in the future will be built around the idea that we’ll need a proper vessel to study the organs of extraterrestrial life, but you can imagine very quickly that it would need to look stinkin’ cool… and have lights and bolts and stuff. For instance, it would almost certainly…

Raise of hands! Who wants to blow $489 for 3G Wireless and PDF Support? Huh? Huh? The MASSIVE 9.7″ vertical screen of the new Amazone Kindle DX is available Wednesday, June 17th for your monochrome viewing pleasure. You (or your company) could pop for one of these badboys so you can store ‘3,500 books’ on…

Just look at all the shiny mac-induced fun that happens when a highly branded product company *cough*Apple*cough* wants to develop it’s products, with it’s own product…. or so some would think. Well, for some of you, it’s time to put that Apple sticker back on your rear windshield. Siemens PLM software has announced the commercial…

Imagine, you’re five years in the future, trying desperately to get a handle on the new touch-screen gestures for CAD and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be… for designing products. Suddenly, it seems easier to strangle the people forcing multi-touch tech down your throat, along with the bloggers that keep going on about…

Ok, maybe not ‘Crush’ so much, maybe more like, boot it into the future. You need to drop your bagel, Blackberry or coworker on the ground and run, nay I say sprint, to read Oleg Shilovitsky’s 6 reasons Why Google Wave will Change PLM Collaboration. Pivotal, my geometry-glazed friends. Oleg briefly points out how Google’s…