I find it funny and ironic that the SolidWorks World 2008 Media Site launched yesterday has the large SWW08 logo that includes the word “Share.” SolidWorks didn’t want Matt Lombard to ‘share’ the presentations with everyone. But thanks to the frisky community and some understanding at SolidWorks, all the presentations and media are up for…

If you’ve taken a quick excursion to SolidWorks.com you’ll notice some new slick graphics (love the sliding effect), more quicklinks and a smooth modern gray replacing the lovely orange hue. One of the content blocks down below the featured content has a question that asks “What can SolidWorks do for you?” This got me thinking.…

Today, SolidSmack is shedding it’s stylesheet and baring it all. It’s official CSS Naked Day and while seemingly a bit silly (which is not beyond this blog) it’s all for the good fun… to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course,…

There’s a conference that has been taking place for, oh, about the past 9 years, where the elites of the CAD industry get together and mash-up all the collective information and emerging interests of the CAE (Computer-aided engineering) industry. The conference is called COFES2008: The Future Of Engineering Software. It sounds like your boring my-stuff-is-better-than-your-stuff…

It’s kind of an unprecedented move, but SolidWorks, the 3D corporation that has called Concord, Massachusetts home for the past 15 years, has finished the final paperwork to relocate most of it’s home office to Venice, Italy. “[SolidWorks] felt it was time to be closer to lots of water and when some building became available…

Have your circuit boards been feeling a little disconnected as of late? That resistor is just not fitting in right with the others? There’s hope. SolidWorks has acquired Gold Partner Priware, the makers of CircuitWorks and is including it with SolidWorks Office Premium. Additionally, it will not be available any longer as a stand alone…

I’d like to hear it from the man himself, but according to DesignNews Jon Hirschtick, the nicest guy and founder of SolidWorks, was one of the original MIT blackjack team members depicted in the upcoming film, 21. The movie, based on the book of the real events, stars Kevin Spacey who leads a group of…

It’s odd how time beats things into submission and then also how soup gets cold so fast. And when I say “time” I mean those geeky and mildly disturbed types that actually live on cold soup while they create new apps and innovations from their basement. Yeah, and it’s even more odd to see what…

You can now find me on Twitter. As an added bonus when you follow me you will get some great SolidWorks tips and have the opportunity to win some cool stuff, the first of which will be coming up soon. What’s Twitter? It’s like a mix of IM and blogging. Some call it micro-blogging. It’s…

Looks like Kenny is firing up the furnace at the SolidWorks EV and Beta News Feed. Gettin’ out the cobwebs so to speak. I’m sure they’ve been getting ready for a while, but you just can’t forget about the Beta Feed now. “Testing, Testing. Hello, is this thing on? More me in the monitor please.”…

A black cloud rose over London, children abandoned the lush playgrounds of Bishop’s Park and all the produce had gone rotten. Time slowed and what was once a heralded historical moment suddenly became a memory lost. And then all that nonsense was blasted away with a couple two-week notices, a set of final articles and…

But not in a weird, creepy, I-wish-I-wasn’t-alone-I-think-he-has-a-knife way. Happy Valentine’s Day and here’s to hoping that you’ve found a nice card… and that it takes you less time to pick out, than it does for your models to load. Oh, look here, I’ve made a special 3D heart for you. You can turn it black…

One of the most interesting things to come out of the continuing saga of Microsoft buying out Yahoo is a group of people that have banded together in a Flickr Photo Pool aptly named Microsoft Keep your Evil Grubby Hands off our Flickr. For those that don’t know, Flickr is owned by Yahoo. Some think…

If you tried to come to the site yesterday, it was not rockin’. Apparently, something (someone) did something that killed my site. I didn’t lose anything, but was up till 2 am rebuilding it. Fortunately, it turned out for the better. I upgraded to the latest Wordpress 2.3.3 and the K2 (v628) Theme, so we’re…

A lot of you were probably awed by the incredibly weak video I grabbed of the SolidWorks World General Session Intro Animation. Fortunately, someone from SolidWorks saw it, became sick to their stomach and posted the actual animation. I immediately downloaded it, ripped it to Vimeo, and have posted it below. Why’s it Rockin’? It…

If you remember the problem I had with SP2.0 that caused (from all indications on my side) me to have my computer wiped and rebuilt, you’ll know I’m glad to see this Service Pack come out so soon. I’m preparing to load it, this time with WindowsXP System Restore activated. I was stupid and had…

If you’re really peeved that 4700 SolidWorks users have an iPod Nano and you don’t, take it out on your nearest cubicle mate and prepare for next year. SolidWorks World is heading for Orlando. The one in Florida. Where that scary mouse and his minions live. SolidWorks World 2009 February 8-11th, 2009 The Walt Disney…

I dunno? A bit too strong, ya think? At SolidWorks World the most anticipated moments are sleeping and the presentation of features on the next release. SolidWorks 2009 is set to launch the third quarter of 2008 and the development crew has some very pretty functionality they’re cooking up. Do you want SolidWorks to perform…

The headline was suppose to read Top Rockin’ Enhancement Request, but some weird lights flashed and suddenly I was cookin’ ramen noodles with Theo Jansen and Richard Doyle. So, the attendees of SolidWorks World submit enhancements, SolidWorks compiles them, they announce them at the final session, I took a really blurry photo of them and…

I’m Irish pubbin’ it out at the DFW terminal trying to recuperate from the last three days. Tired, exhausted, can’t wait to get home but what a blast. I have 78 different things across 7 categories I’ve started compiling. That’s way to many. If there’s something about world you’re particularly interested in, hit the comments,…

Bellissimo! You lika the ipod nano, yes? It is like cute puppy, yes? Today, all the attendees at SolidWorks World got an ipod nano. 4,699 ipod nanos prepackaged with the goodness of SolidWorks marketing material to show your mama and your papa. This is all part of the new Real Solutions campaign to generate some…

Ok, since this new social web thingy is all about putting up really low quality video that is almost annoying to watch, I’ve done my part by getting some video of the SolidWorks World General Session Intro Animation with a 2.0 Megapixel camera. Use your imagination to scale this 100,000 times, remove the graininess and…

Right now I’m wishing I could start this blog post out the way SolidWorks started out their first General Session of the Conference. It, as well as the entire session, was nothing short of incredible. I’ve been to MLM (multi-level marketing) conferences where no expense is spared for those deals, and they didn’t compare. First,…

A question… How Many SolidWorks Users Does It Take to Change A Dangling Relation I’m gonna venture out and say, oh… 699,999. That’s (apparently) how many other people like you… use SolidWorks… and are driving decisions at SolidWorks HQ. Driving the decisions? Really? Then why…(loud tire screech) Now, I know. If you’re sitting at your…

And it’s a shame, because from the looks of the group there may have been some pros. The Press Day events were a little like watching hopscotch though. I was hoping for something a little more full contact as far as content, but you know us people, always wanting more. I gotta mention first, Laura…

For the love of pete, the convention center escalator is mighty tall. 30 stories at least. maybe just three. I think some people disappeared on it. These steps are on the way to the convention center. This is a perfect 8-set, if you were a skateboarder and into that kind of stuff.

Tulsa to Denver to San Diego is a long flight, especially when chunks of the airplane go missing before takeoff and they’re loading and unloading. I arrive, taxi down to the Marriott, and walk four blocks to the Hard Rock Cafe. All the SolidWorks bloggers are there along with a bunch of the SolidWorks Crew.…

The 2nd Service Pack for SolidWorks 2008 has been pushed out today. If your doing a new installation you’ll need a 3.8 GB Net to hold the fish, so you might need to uninstall Call of Duty if you don’t have enough space. Changes? SP2.0 EV (Early Visibility) was a nightmare for me with constant…

Top Commentators for 2007 Bruce Buck (45) Devon T. Sowell (27) Kyle Mason Albert Whatmough Rod Uding Making it Fun Patrick Cook – Podcast man and Internet Marketing Specialist at SolidWorks. Tony DeYoung – Acrobat3D and digital marketing guru at the Acrobat Community. Al Dean – For the great comments and great conversation. Ben Eadie…

Well, it hasn’t been a full years, but it’s been a full 6.5 months of slamming the door open and closed in the SolidWorks scene. In 251 post with 477 comments, here’s the 10 most popular one’s of 2007. How to Make your Own Custom Background for SolidWorks 14 SolidWorks Video Tips to Get You…

Wondering what John McEleney has been up to since leaving SolidWorks?… Yeah, me neither, really, but it’s kinda interesting that he just got elected to the the BoD at Stratasys. Beside’s having a cool sounding name that makes you want to keep repeating S’s’ss’ss’ssss, they are the “leading provider of 3D prototyping technology.” He can…

I imagine software upgrades like vaccines. I’m one of those people that don’t get them just because they tell me I’ll die if I don’t. I check it out first. Sometimes it’s unnecessary, contains mercury, arsenic and just the right amount of recombinant mouse DNA to give your body a delayed hypersensitivity reaction. SolidWorks Legions…

You may have seen the news about Dassault’s poor earnings yesterday. Well, as suspected, PTC (Proe/E, MathCAD) is reporting higher earnings. But, that’s not the interesting part. PTC also announced they are acquiring Germany-based CoCreate, another 3D CAD System, for…get this… 250 million. That’s about $2500 per seat CoCreate reports having. not too shabby. Why…

If you think your Tuesday was bad, how would like to get 36% of your revenue taken for taxes. That’s exactly what happen to Dassualt Systemes (SolidWorks, Catia) today as they reported their Q3 earnings. Their net income fell 24% over the last 3 months due to the higher tax rates and the weak US…

Usually, CAD business can be pretty boring. But occasionally even the most subtle movement and conversation can get interesting. Recently Autodesk had a summit on manufacturing. Sound’s exciting huh? Well, Upfront.eZine posted some highlights that have sparked the fires of speculation. If what AutoDesk says has any merit you’ll be jumping the SolidWorks ship, but…

Microsoft and Dassault Systemes announced Tuesday and Thursday that you can make 3D models inside Microsoft’s Virtual Earth with the 3DVia technology. “This free online application, developed by Dassault Systèmes, allows consumers to imagine and create realistic 3-D models — such as of buildings and structures — then share them through Microsoft Virtual Earth and…

Well, it’s happening, when you wonder what the future of CAD is going to be, who is pushing development and innovation, you can mark this day. First there was the eDrawings compatibility with Sketchup around this time last year. Now, SolidWorks has co-founded a program with Google, along with Graphisoft and the Discovery Channel, that…

So, I’m wondering what you would do. Is it better to hire someone with SolidWorks experience and teach them the industry, or someone with industry experience and teach them SolidWorks? That is the question. Sometimes you don’t get both, so what do you think would work best? image: TurboForce3D

Joel Orr from Cyon Research and COFES.com has some insight to the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) discussion. If you read his interview over at Novedge, you can clearly see he looks and sounds much wiser than me. The interview is great, because it make me think how, yeah, CAD has been around for ages, but…

Some of my blog friends were having a conversation offline about a post at PR, Marketing and the business of CAD that covered the Mechanical Media Summit where Autodesk revealed their new “forward-thinking solution” to do away with PLM. Digital Prototyping. “It is presented as a way to prove a new product, prototype it digitally,…

Dassault Systèmes announce that it has acquired Seemage, a company that develops products for creating 3D interactive product documentation. It imports most CAD formats and allows non-technical users to create a variety of content including assembly manuals, sale presentations, simulations, online product commerce, technical documentation and training media. It has three versions that range in…

I originally titled this “How SolidWorks Viral Marketing Ideas Could be Funnier”, but from a marketing standpoint, being funny is only part of the mix. To truly be effective you need to convince me of something. Ever wonder why companies like SolidWorks run silly videos that have an old Japanese guy saying “kickass”? It’s all…

I just received an email from Richard Doyle telling about a new show in town. A Cad Show. It kinda got me all unexcited, but I thought I would check it out anyway. It’s called CCNTV, which stands for CAD CAM NET TV. It’s a bi-weekly newscast focused on the CAD business and making some…

Dassault Systemes released their 2nd quarter earnings today. Overall they’re doing well. Although the increases seem small, Dessault continues to grow thier research in technology, in particulalrly web-based technology with 3DVIA product. I would like to see them spend more in R&D than marketing but they are at least spending as much in Research as…

Reading a post over at WorldCAD Access about a recent article makes me realize just how fortunate we are that AutoDESK “finally broke the market open” in 1999 with Inventor and saved us from expensive modeling programs like CATIA. Hmmm. Man, if it wasn’t for the creative talent behind Inventor, I would still be typing…

After being with SolidWorks since 1996 and leading since 2001, John McEleney has stepped down as CEO. Dassault Systèmes has named Jeff Ray as his replacement. He brought vast amounts of knowledge, a friendly face and a well trimmed goatee to SolidWorks. I’m sure he’ll be missed… but not till the end of the year.…

Since their launch in March of 2007, SpaceClaim, out of Concord, Mass. has been making some waves with their new solid modeler. I’m even starting to hear more talk about it amongst the casual uninterested CAD users. Their assertions to a “highly flexible design environment” make some wonder if this is a fresh approach to…

Have you ever been bored with what you do at work or wish you could just model something different? Well, what if you could enhance your 3D skills and maybe even come up with a new product idea. People that keep learning, keep creating opportunities. Hmm. Now isn’t that just a little piece of wisdom.…

Getting SolidWorks into India isn’t anything new, but it seems a push is being made, at least with headlines. A load of articles came out June 12th about SolidWorks in India. What’s interesting to me is the reported amount of license given away. That’s the way to saturate a market segment. Hope they at least…

I was looking into SolidWorks search trends and discovered that cloth diapers had a higher search volume than SolidWorks, so all the post from now on will be about cloth diapers and the best ways to clean cloth diapers. I kid, although I hear baking soda or oxy-clean works wonders, especially if you’re looking for…