In 3D CAD TECH

SMACK! The Holiday Gift Guide for CAD Jockeys and Tech Geeks

4 Mins Read

cad-jockey-holiday-giftsWell, next Friday starts that time of year when many of us cut the wrist of our bank accounts to buy that special someone what we think they want, but actually wanted something totally different.

SolidSmack is here to add to the massive bleed out with our very own picks for the best gadgets and tools for your favorite CAD Jockey Geek. Why? Cause all the engineers and designers pushing their workstations to the limits deserve a little somethin’ special.

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In DESIGN

STOP Strumming. Start Rockin'. Blackbird Guitars Designed in SolidWorks

2 Mins Read

blackbird guitar designed in solidworksYou can strum all day long and wear down the clearcoat on the wooden body of your regular old guitar, or you can be awesome and check out the humidity-proof, carbon fiber Blackbird Rider from Blackbird Guitars.

Picking out tunes can be done in either Steel or Nylon String flavors and you’ll have the added cool factor that it was completely designed in SolidWorks to handle those brawly hours of road travel and create a sound that is simply beautiful.

So, leave your classic in the case and check out these pics and video.

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In 3D CAD TECH

3D. Future. Interface. Oblong's G-Speak User Environment

2 Mins Read

john-underkoffler-3d-futureThere is a mess of media with multi-touch this amd multi-touch that, but the single person that inspiring much of it is none other than futurist, John Underkoffler. You may not have seen him, but you would recognize his ideas for human-computer interfaces that have appeared in IronMan as well as Minority Report, Hulk and Aeon Flux.

He is now the chief scientist and part of the team working on the g-speak ‘spatial operating environment’ from oblong industries. Here’s the details and video of how you may be working in the future.

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In CAD

SolidWorks On Edge Relations: Avoid Them Like Teething Zombie Babies

6 Mins Read

avoid-solidworks-on-dege-relationsThey’re a little bit easier to handle than the teething undead, but all the relations in a SolidWorks sketch can make modeling, and specifically concept modeling, a relation re-defining nightmare that is way less interesting than cleaning up after a zombie child.

One of the biggest problems you’ll have with relations automatically added to your sketches is the ‘ON EDGE’ relation created when you use Convert Entities. It’s quick to add them, but takes time to fix’em.

They are the ideal tool for quickly getting the edges off one part into another sketch, but you’ll feel some pain if a change occurs that affects them. Here’s all the reasons to avoid the On Edge relation, what to use instead and tips for when you do need them.

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In DESIGN

Al Dean Says New RED SCARLET/EPIC Digital Cameras ROCK. We Agree.

1 Min Read

red-hd-camera-solidworksDon’t take it from us, just listen to Al Dean who confirms that he is 99% sure that the new RED Digital Cinema cameras Scarlet and EPIC are modeled in SolidWorks and likely rendered in the blistery goodness of HyperShot.

The RED SCARLET and EPIC are the first of their kind build-it-from-scratch-with-endless-amounts-of-possibilities Digital Still Motion Camera (DSMC). The configurations are overwhelming. The 3K resolution at 120FPS SCARLET ‘Brain‘ starting at $2,500 makes your directorial debut dreams seem all the more possible.

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