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…

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 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…

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…

While you’ve been gallivanting around reading posts about Pro/E and eating crumpets and cold pizza by the pool, there’s been a load of SolidWorks and other CAD-related goodness you’ll want to catch up on. Here, in the briefest way possible, are all the thing that I you may have missed over the past few days.…

You may have suddenly gagged on a dry crumb of muffin just now, so just give yourself a nice hard wallop in the chest and take another swig of scalding hot coffee. We’re actually about to expel muffintop all over SolidSmack with some tidbits I took away from the PTC/USER 2009 event I’ve been at…

Wow, looky here, SolidSmack is out in Orlando for a conference. It has to do with CAD, the 3D kind, and also users and also interacting with users, but it has nothing to do with SolidWorks. It’s the PTC/USER event. PTC is the company behind Pro/E, WindChill, CoCreate, and MathCAD. My favorite experience with Pro/E…

So what do ya think, is SolidWorks ‘old lady CAD’ out for a stroll only to trip over a small grain of feature-based modeling, tumbling face-first into a small ditch mumbling, “hebber, hebber..” Hmmmm. I see some CAD vendors lookin’ on in anticipation. They may not be tumbling, but some people are probably wondering what…

Or if you prefer, go to this gas station and drink the coffee to dance with an atypical gas station clerk and entertain grizzly truck drivers. SolidWorks is after it to juice up your Standard edition of SolidWorks with a Premium upgrade, brought to you in this coffee-flavored, commercial form. It doesn’t make you wonder…

I’m sure of it. Your ankles are swelling with excitiment at the thought. SolidWorks on a Mac? Is this another post teasing of the possibility? Totally. Yes. But this time, you get to find out a little more about what’s going on in the mind of SolidWorks. Particularly, it’s CEO, Jeff Ray, courtesy of a…

Yes, it’s true. We here at SolidSmack lover your comments. In fact we love them so much, in addition to providing reasonably sized delectables to tiny dogs, we keep the Disqus comment system updated… and apologize to people whose comments have been sitting in the Spam folder for three week. yeah, sorry about that. If…

News travels fast up har in the hills and mountains o’ CAD country… stimulatin’ news… news on the magnitude of HUGE and TIMELY. This is just such news. SolidWorks announced at SolidWorks World 2009 the enormous plans of helping every ailing engineer that has meet the cold hand of unemployment. The SolidWorks Engineering Stimulus Package…

Well, mostly fresh and mostly hot. It’s been a few weeks since SolidWorks World, but that won’t stop you from being able to view, in full virtual glory, all the events caught on video, photo and double-sided sticky tape. The SolidWorks World 2009 Proceedings site has it all. You’ll be able to see some of…

Are you ready to watch some SolidWorks marketing videos? No? How about some SolidWorks video that show stuff blowin’ up? Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Melon and clock parts all over yer face. I think you’ll enjoy the newest rampage of proof as to why you should use SolidWorks. Oh, the plans to hand…

Two things prompted this post 2 weeks after the total obliterating coverage of SolidWorks World 2009. 1) Some people emailing me not knowing how to get there 2) the need to write another post. Recently, Jeff Ray highlighted some things at SolidWorks World 2009. Out of all the incredible stuff that happened the best one…

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…

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…

Yes, I left my camera, pictures were taken, no one was harmed… that I know of.

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…

More info on the SolidWorks financials that are unlike the performance of the other CAD companies.

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…

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…

image via SolidWorks Blog

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…

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…

While all the bloggers and SolidWorks people are busy freaking out about SolidWorks World 2009, I imagine there’s quite a few unable to go to. So instead of posting boring photos of wiring bundles behind exhibitor booths and other stuff you may not be interested in, you get to have your say about what shows…