You have buckets and buckets of data. I mean it’s almost ridiculous how much information you’re trying to manage. So how do you do it? How do you backup your data and make sure it’s actually backed-up, as in protected, sealed, SAFE. I’ll give a a hint… it’s probably not how you do it now.…
It was more than any single person could bare to look at. All this soup and one small runt of a raccoon baby to eat it. There was buttered toast as well, with jam and a side of these links. Render Robot Illustration – If you don’t look at Norio Fujikawa’s portfolio, you will kick…
You want’em? We got’em. Hot, steamy nuggets of SolidWorks tipage you can wad up and stick under your pillow, give to your coworker or completely ignore. Let me warn ya. These are not your regular old tips. These are the most obvious…and when I say obvious, I’m talking around 38-41% mostly obvious… give or take…
Do you ever wake up from a dream, encapsulated in a bony structure surrounded by a translucent fleshy film? Not recently huh? Well, Anthony Tammaro is an artist from Philadelphia exploring that world and the medium of create art with 3D CAD, CAM and Additive Fabrication. We looked at DDM (Direct Digital manufacturing) with 3D…
You’re probably thinking the same thing I am. Soon 3D printing will be just as sure a part of the design process as having to pluck ticks from your eyelids after a nosedive into a damp, brushy floor of a wooded hillside. Barring analogies to lyme disease and the whole blood-sucking thing, it pretty obvious…
I know you’ve been looking for reasons to climb onto your office chair today and fall out. This is good a reason as any, so start a’climbin’ little mountain goat. For centuries you may have wondered how to get a SolidWorks model into an assortment of various other 3D formats. Okino products is there to…
You could probably make a mountain out of Kinkajous, but I imagine it would be a painful climb… unless you had these links. Russ Schwenkler Illustration – Future 3D ships and vehicles?Can we get enough. Not when they look like this. Shadows in Photoshop – Making Shadows, like being hit in the face, is easy…
You know that handy little thing that sits on the left side of your screen? The sidebar that keeps track of all features, mistakes, workarounds and wonky bits? Yes it’s a veritable visual of your organizational ability and it had it’s start somewhere. Beleive it or not, it came out of a customer visit Jon…
It was Sunday night. A day before the SolidWorks World Sessions started. Most likely this would have been another night at the Hotel Lounge trying to speak over the noise. Instead, it was a night spent learning how to win at BlackJack. The strategy, the running count and all the tricks in between. How? It’s…
General Session and Keynote: Day 2 – ProtoType This and SolidWorks 2010 LAST DAY. That means Secret Guests, the SolidWorks Top 10 Enhancement Request and new features coming out in the next version of SolidWorks – yep, SolidWorks 2010. Are ya ready? Here’s the highlights…
Special Events: Animal Kingdom Tuesday Off-site Event It might surprise you, but people love being bused down the road to an Amusement Park that looks like a small jungle. This small jungle was Disney’s Animal Kingdom and it turned out it’s not all that small. Nearly the entire group of 4300+ SolidWorks World attendees and…
One of the Swan Hotel Patios - It's a beautiful thing. concrete swans spittin' water out thier beaks. simply relaxing.
Special Events: Press Event & CSWP Party We’ll hit this one real quick. Monday night was the Press Event and the CSWP Event. There were 10 bloggers that were both Press and CSWP’s. The best part? When we irreverently (but not purposely) all stood up at once while Jeff Ray was speaking at the sit-down…
My daughter Isabella sportin’ the neck badge. super cuteness. Don’t ya think. The stickers are just makin’ that badge happen… imo. If you see me, ask me for a sticker.
There were two Wireless Zone at SolidWorks World 2009 (not including the Press Room). My advice to resort conference centers… Yeah, your big, but get a wide area wifi net. More conferences will use you.
I am gonna Sumo Tsukiotoshi that design ALL OVER the flippin’ floor! That’s tough talk for a skinny white boy. It’s also probably not the most accurate or the safest way to test out the forces applied to a concept design. SolidWorks was in full effect at Tuesday’s General Session showing just how product testing…
This Animation of the iCoaster, from MegaBrands, was created by Cramer Design. They also did last years SolidWorks World 2008 Vexplorer Inpired to Design animation.
SolidWorks Tips and Tricks Phil Sluder It’s an absolutely packed house. Apparently people want to take home a few tips to amaze their coworkers. Phil Sluder, from Triaxial Design, takes on the obscure and the practical in these SolidWorks tips that should be on the list of any best practices. Here’s the highlights…
This day’s Keynote was all about you. Not actually you, but the users, the companies creating products using SolidWorks. Here are the highlights… MegaBrands Jeremy Luchini (SolidWorks Certification Manager) introduced MegaBrand’s Design Manager Yancik Tremblay. He discussed the design process – going from sketch concept to figuring out how to make a sphere transform into…
Go with the Flow – Efficient Workflow with the 2009 Interface Matt Lombard Uh-oh. They’ve let Matt Lombard loose on the SolidWorks UI. What good could come from this?? Plenty, he takes an enjoyable, rabbit-trail look at just how to change anything possible with the new 08/09 interface, how he uses and what works best…
The SolidWorks Equivalent of Duct Tape and Bailing Wire Adrian Fanjoy Josh Altergott Anybody have problems with SolidWorks that are frustrating the heeeeeck out of you? These guys have some of the solutions to some of the most common problems you’ll face.
7 Habits of Highly Effective SolidWorks Users J. Pancoast So, first up we’ll hear some talk about HABITS. *ShreeeK!* Don’t worry, these may actually be helpful.
General Session and Keynote: Day 1 Day 1 in the massive assemblage of SolidWorks Users staff to find out what SolidWorks has been up to. Jeff hits on what you think about SolidWorks and what can be improved. And then guess what. He has a sitdown interview with Sir Richard Branson about World Record, what…
Luxology has some very, very SWEET news coming out today. It’s the ‘Hey, I can bring my SolidWorks models directly into a rendering program and get some dang cool graphics.” kind of news. I talked with Brad Peebler, CEO of Luxology (modo), and got to see some of the new features in the upcoming modo…
Special Events: Welcome Reception Hey look, there’s a bunch of people just mulling around in here feeling all welcomed. I meet up with a friend and bumped into just about everyone you would want to. Then they kicked us all out. Here are the highlights.
In about half an hour, this place will be flooded with attendees and other sorts that like to frequent welcome receptions to kick off a big ol’ conference like SolidWorks World 2009. This is deep in the bowels of the Dolphin Hotel (down the escalator below lobby level) The SolidWorks Partner ranging from Fabbing to…
Hey, guess where you can get your fill of SolidWorks World 2009 photos… nope, not in that basket of cookies. Right here on the Interwebs. Last year, I didn’t get many photos. This year, that will be different. I’ll be annoying everyone with photo opportunities till I fill my card or the battery dies. Actually…
So barring the shuttle ride that was longer than the last leg of our flight, we (the familia Mings) have arrived. I didn’t make it to the blogger meet-up because of the splendid shuttle ride, but was able to make it to the first annual SolidWorks tweet-up at the Dolphin Hotel Lounge. A lot of…
The Press at SWW08 got a special presentation from Jon Hirschtick, founder of SolidWorks and CEO up till 2001. He’s an MIT grad and should know a thing or two about CAD history and the future possibilities since, ya know, he’s been a large part of making it happen. Jon is also a Keynote speaker…
“@solidsmack you’ll like this.” Charles Culp says to me. Turns out I did and I’ll think you’ll not only like it, you’ll want to create a matrix of everything you model. You may even get really inspired and create a 3D rendered matrix for your boss that will leave you both staring at each other…
Look, it’s like a giant anthead trying to gnaw it’s way through a tar and gravel sandwich. It’ could probably use a bit more mustard, or perhaps these links. 50 Stunning 3D Renderings – How cool are renderings? Extra cool when they’re 3D. Thanks again to Rod Uding!!! Anthony Sims Moon Roadster – Did ya…
Are you ready to elevate your heart rate a couple notches about extremely powerful computer tech? How does the word ‘Supercomputer’ make ya feel? While the nVidia Personal SuperComputer is bound to have your models streaking across the screen, don’t shove your old workstations down the stairs just yet… Ok, go ahead, but you’re gonna…
Vuuch.com. A completely new way to discuss and communicate your designs, or maybe we should just call it Pure 3D Collaboration. It’s the dawning of something very interesting in design environments that require information from multiple people with easy access to that info. Vuuch.com is just a few days away from launching the SolidWorks add-on…
Do you wish you had just a sprinkle of magic CAD dust to make you a 3D modeling force to be reckoned with? I’d say, this article is it… but it doesn’t smell as nice and there’s a bit of an aftertaste. Nonetheless, barring the aptitude you have for engineering and design and your eye-jabbing…
I didn’t get to try out the Embody Chair, but I’ve been living in a Steelcase Leap Chair for the past month. It’s been a… different experience I’ll tell you all about in an upcoming post. In the meantime, feast your taste buds on this. I had the chance to also ask the design team…
So, this year’s illustrious SolidWorks World is being held at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. That’s a small dog kick* away from the Epcot Center and Disney World. Some of you could be dropped in the everglades, legless and blindfolded and still make it on time to the first general…
Arrrr, he’s a cantankerous sort, darting this way and that. Almost like he’s taken a fall into the Muskrat Seas where the wily rodents and these links took over his mind. Avor Illustration – Glorious illustration of mechs, ships and spacecraft. Much thanks to Rod for sending this! 50 useful typography Tools – One thing…
Hey, I see you’re NOT rockin’ a desktop search program to find all your 3D CAD models. Ya know, one that indexes network folders and puts up cool little visuals to show what the models look like? Yeah, you’re probably making a bunch of shortcuts to your files or trying to find stuff through one…
So, you love your cushy design engineer job, but part, assembly and drawing creation is an assembly line of repetitive horror and the screams are about to come blasting out. If you’re like me, you love the design process, but starting everything from scratch, especially on similar components uses up a lot of extra time…
You’re running down the isle, pouring consumer goods into your buggy and in the crazed rampage you wonder exactly what that boxed ham slicer is gonna look like sitting on your counter. It’s hard to imagine, but the first word you think is HIDEOUS. You move on to the LEGOs and there, shining in brilliant…
Have you ever been working through a design – finding solutions, working with others, getting sick of IT problems when suddenly you realize you would like to give someone else the opportunity to experience all the wonderfully nurturing engineering you’ve done? You can. Alex Ruiz, The SW Geek, was given that opportunity and he wants…
Did that really just happen? That tree just spontaneous combustulated, a thousand woodland creature crawled out of the hole left behind, followed by Burt Bacharach and these links. Weird little creatures – The illustrative creature works of Bobby Chiu. Simply the coolest, most surreal creature illustration imaginable. Tilt Shift Photography – Everything you wanted to…
Speaking of touchscreen display technology you’ll want to take a look at this. Found at Joe Moak’s, Hey, That’s a Great Idea via Develop3D, a revisit to the I(heart)Sketch. INDEED. You’ve seen I(heart)Sketch on SolidSmack before, but this actual demo of a ship being created is glorious. It’s even more amazing than the normal touchscreen…