Editing appearances inside Onshape just go better. Now applying custom color to any region or face is a snap! Gone are the days of needing a workaround to simply change the face color of solid or surface faces of part-studio geometry. It looks like my old “zero offset surface copy” workaround has been rendered obsolete.…

Here we go. Think of controlling your machinery, lighting systems, or robot minions with nothing but AR controls via your phone. PTC, who acquired Enterprise AR developer Vuforia in November 2015, has just released an open-source app to visualize, control, and create connected systems. Vuforia Spatial Toolbox allows you to explore programmatic control scenarios but…

In this post, I’m celebrating another Onshape CAD mystery solved! You see, time and again I was left scratching my head as to the mystery of why my nicely and precisely placed dimensions kept disappearing when building up my 2D sketch sections in Onshape! Before me was the case of the “Disappearing Sketcher Dimensions” (DSD).…

The season of festive celebration is upon us! With the semester of teaching ID at Virginia Tech behind me, I’m thoroughly enjoying my extended moments of family, fellowship, and food! So when my daughter Phoebe got inspired to make a batch of cookies the other day, I was all in! Being the creative type that…

Well, the end of the year is rapidly approaching! And if you are an aspiring Onshape CAD user I’ve got an early Christmas present for you! I’ve compiled my SkillCoach Onshape CAD Improvements Mega Resource Pack! Yep, I scoured the Onshape website for every CAD improvement they posted pertaining to modeling tools and techniques that…

It’s been long suspected that Onshape would eventually land in the hands of a larger enterprise product development (or non-product development) company — that day is here. PTC has just announced the acquisition of Onshape, web-based 3D product design platform, “for approximately $470 million, net of cash acquired.” The deal is moving fast, expecting to…

If you are in search of a workflow that will enable you to efficiently prepare 3D scanned data for use in Mechanical Computer-Aided Design (MCAD) software environments, then you’ll want to know about R3DS Wrap 3 (Wp3). In short, Wp3 is a software application that non-rigidly fits a lightweight optimized basemesh to your imported scan…

Creo 5.0 now lets you model in perspective! I for one am excited! I’m relishing the thought of giving my eyes and brain a long-awaited respite. It’s just not natural to process depth using trimetric or dimetric projections. Unlike some of my industrial design buddies who gave up on Creo (formerly ProE) opting for other CAD programs tailored for…

There’s nothing like attending a global design or engineering conference. You get to see and hear all the latest and greatest stuff. But I say even better than attending a conference is the opportunity to be a presenter at one! The big event for PTC Users is the annual LiveWorxs Global Conference. So if you’ve…

We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where digital pens will allow design museum visitors to create and share their own product designs, a world where Virtual Reality headsets can be made from cardboard, how do we find the next ‘big thing’? MakerGalaxy…

Here at EvD Media HQ we rarely receive FedEx packages that don’t contain hand-carved egg shells, Unicorn Meat, or that limited edition DVD/Vinyl box set of our favorite 3D printing jingle of all time* (*we wish). But today our freshly-pizza-grease-covered-nubs ripped into a surprisingly different–if a bit strange and decidedly anti-climactic–FedEx shipment: blue M&M’S and……

If you’re likely to draw roots of polynomials up and down your forearms, you may have an over-eccentric appreciation for the math. You may also have a dusk-to-dawn fixation on software that can help save you long nights of scrubbing your arms while watching re-runs of Bill Nye solve for X. PTC is taking a…

Lookout Creo users. Sharing 3D views, with your family, of the widgets you model all day just became ‘a two-finger pinch and a gleam in your smile’ easier. Creo View is now available for iPhone and iPad devices. What’s in store? Let’s have a look.

It happened. Oh yes. The five-fold intensity of CAD, PLM, SSLM, RM and every other type of lifecycle management need/want/desire happened this week at PlanetPTC Live. Adam O’Hern, my cohort in design crime at EngineerVsDesigner.com, and I were there being brain gorged and slightly traumatized with interviews, customer spotlights, hamburgers with onion sauce, vodka and…

The 10th app is imminent. It beckons from the ashes… ahem, PTC has formally announced the release of Creo 2.0. For those still clinging to Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5, it may have just the right gleam to get you past the rebranding/restructuring brought out with Creo 1.0. With it, PTC brings you the 10th app to…

Here we go! PTC is steppin’ it up a notch and lathering our cad bagels with another free-to-squeeze ‘Creo app.’ No fiddling about with ‘Friskets’ and splines this time though. Now it’s all creamy, 3D infused app slapping that allows you to toy with their emotions direct modeling. And guess what? It’s also free. Let’s…

So, you’re toolin’ around the neighborhood in your hatchback, boppin’ your head to the best of Van Halen when suddenly an idea pops in your head. You need to sketch. Now typically, you would grab anything within reach – a receipt, a napkin, a freshly shaven chihuahua. But let’s just say you have a laptop…

Names. They usually end up on lists we create of those who have offended us in some way or on lists of desired nicknames we hand out to people in the office. Somehow, though, I imagine names like Sketch, Schematic and Simulate are not on those lists. For PTC, it’s different. They have a list…

So, last week PTC announced their future Pro/E-CoCreate replacement, Creo. There were two bits of functionality that made me grab my jaw and yank hard. They had subdivision modeling happening within the history-based modeling environment, with the ability to drive it parametrically alongside the other geometry. They also featured an AnyRole app to take on…

If you’ve been waiting to see what PTC’s next move is, your wait is over. If you’ve been waiting to see what direction product development tech is taking, stop. Nearly every CAD vendor has shared their vision of what the future of product design is going to be like. Thursday was PTC’s turn. Thursday, October…

Update: Just an update… I’ve got the overview with my thoughts up on what project lightning turned into… PTC Launches CreoWhatcha think now? There’s a peculiar odor of CADmospheric ions in the air and all the blustery bits of activity are swelling up over the US East Coast. Tomorrow, October 28th, PTC will reveal their…

I love the product development industry drama. It’s so RAW beneath it’s cordial, feature-rich exterior. Hard to imagine what would happen if you put all the execs together in a room full of garlic water balloons and large sticks… but not really. In a user conference room away from each other, it’s a little tamer.…

Crack out the Faraday suits and rev up those Tesla Coils, PTC is stirring the air with talks about their endeavor to define and possibly redefine (thunderous clap and loud echoing voice) THE FUTURE of MECHANICAL CAD!! CAD CAD!! We’re out at PTC/USER 2010 in Orlando, Florida and we’ve found out as much as possible…