I know you’ve been hankering for the return to the free exchange of bacteria and ideas with thousands of other SOLIDWORKS users but… it’ll have to wait — at least the bacteria part. You can share that with SOLIDWORKS friends in your own community and get together for a local 3DEXPERIENCE World experience to feel…
If you use SOLIDWORKS now or used it in the past, one person you have to thank is Vic Leventhal. Vic passed away, October 3rd, 2020 at the age of 74. Vic was the COO of SOLIDWORKS from its inception in 1995 up until 2003, well after the acquisition by Dassault Systemes in 1997. That…
Konichiwa, SolidWorks ninjas. Welcome to the dojo (Designing Objects Journeymen Organization). Let’s flip roll right into our training regime. Mid Plane Is Your Symmetrical Friend As we take our 2D sketches from the flat world into the third Extruded Boss/Base Feature dimension we have options. Some options utilize references as drivers. When not using reference…
Eric Haddad (LinkedIn) is the founder and Pilot in Command of 3DAeroventures, a Texas-based outfit specializing in 3D printed RC aircraft. Some are traditional, some are experimental, all show what the future holds for RC aeronautic design. 3D printing is no stranger to prop-powered aircraft, with many an STL file available for various types and…
Well, if you were one of the roughly 5000 SOLIDWORKS users at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 in Nashville last week (or one of the many who watched it live), you were part of the first batch to catch a glimpse of the new spot for SOLIDWORKS on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and one of the first to…
I know all y’all SOLIDWORKS users have been loosing sleep over one thing and one thing only since February 2019. Why, in the pit of Elroy’s belly, did Dassault Systemes go and fiddle with the name of the beloved SOLIDWORKS World brand, changing it to 3DEXPERIENCE World? Well, it’s been a few, seven months since…
I was just going to publish a story on the latest news from SOLIDWORKS about the 3DEXPERIENCE products… but then, you know, you start looking deeper. Suddenly, you have 87 browser tabs open. So, here’s what’s going on… SolidWorks has announced four new(ish) product options. The four products fall into two categories: 3DEXPERIENCE PLM Collaboration…
That’s it. I just placed a bulk order on Amazon for a pallet of thick, super-absorbent napkins. I’ll use half of them to soak up tears OF JOY, and the other half to capture the world-changing ideas worthy of being birthed on the bunching, biodegradable surface of a paper napkin. Why? Two words, combined into…
While his day job has him designing engines for the Ford Motor Company (not a bad job in its own right), systems engineer Matt Schmotzer spends his free time creating 3D printed replicas of real-life roller coasters using his breadth of SOLIDWORKS knowledge and 3D printing techniques. His first 3D printed roller coaster is a…
When it comes to configuring your workstation for SOLIDWORKS, how do you know what to prioritize? Does the size of the GPU matter more than the clock-speed of the CPU? Does your workflow change what’s important? Working at Lenovo, it was important to understand how you as a SOLIDWORKS user need answers to these questions…
These days, you can get just about any computer rig designed to your exact specifications. Whether you’re a RAM-hogging SolidWorks user, or simply just want a powerful workstation, there’s something for everybody. But no standardized hardware mod will ever replace the satisfaction of building your own rig from scratch. If you’ve ever wanted to create…
I’m reading a detailed post by Ars Technica on automated theft of AutoCAD designs, but is this also applicable to 3D print designs? The post explains that multiple nefarious characters have long been using scripts as a means of industrial espionage. These scripts are secretly installed on Autodesk AutoCAD instances, and then silently relay encountered…
It was only back on August 23rd when the master 3D rendering virtuosos at Luxion teased us with a drool-worthy highlight reel capturing what’s to come with the much-anticipated KeyShot 8. And tease us they did—with stunning rendering work featuring everybody from Peter Gill and Esben Oxholm to Dries Vervoort: https://youtu.be/Y6CPCm3kdlU Well, the time is…
If you were too busy re-topologizing that scan of your skull last week, you may have missed this announcement from nPower Software/IntegrityWare–they’ve released version 5.0 of their Power Surfacing / Power Surfacing RE for SOLIDWORKS software. It was just a year ago (June 2017) they released Power Surfacing version 4.0 that brought support for SOLIDWORKS assembly…
Dassault Systèmes, producers of the popular SOLIDWORKS 3D modeling system, announced an educational partnership that may suggest something interesting. The company struck a deal with UMass Lowell to jointly open a “digital learning center” on campus to “let engineering students get hands-on experience in designing and creating products for the Experience Economy”. They explain further:…
Long considered an indispensable asset for anybody working in CAD, the 3D mouse is a quintessential tool that belongs on the desktop of any industrial designer or engineer. Within a 3D application such as SolidWorks, Rhino, Fusion 360, or Keyshot, the directional, zoom and rotate functions provide an intuitive extension of the users’ design intent.…
FoldStar provides a very unusual 3D model generation system. The New Jersey-based company’s product, by the same name, is a generative system to dynamically create 3D models of folded geometry. Here’s how it works, in their words: Doubly-Periodic Folding Tessellations are a versatile family of deployable materials that repeat a pattern in “row” and “column”…
SolidWorks unveiled two new certification exams at SolidWorks World 2018, which celebrated 20 years since their certification program began back in 1998. At the 16-year mark, the program only certified 100,000 users, but since the demand for programmers, engineers, and CAD professionals has risen over the last few years, that number has doubled to over…
It’s not uncommon for SolidWorks World to feel a little bit like Christmas for serious CAD junkies. Not to mention, it’s a great time for partner companies to get their announcements heard while everybody is in the ‘holiday spirit.’ Among other announcements at SolidWorks World 2018 earlier this week, Meta is going to be the…
The first SOLIDWORKS World was in 1998. Tack on 20 years, a new dress shirt, clipping your toenails 87 times and all those bags of chips you shouldn’t have eaten and suddenly, it’s 2018. There are a few days to go and, whether it’s your first, fifth, or twentieth time to go to SOLIDWORKS World,…
Wow. Woooooow. This year, SOLIDWORKS WORLD and the Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional Exam (CSWP) turn 20. What’s that? You were at the first SOLIDWORKS WORLD in 1998? You ARE OLD–Old as the hills. In 1998, I was at that first SOLIDWORKS WORLD (That was pre-SolidSmack… and pre-a whole lotta other stuff). I started using SolidWorks a couple…
Are you an aspiring CAD Designer or maybe a seasoned professional seeking new digs? Perhaps you are hesitant to start your search, not quite knowing which geographic locale will offer the best ratio of income to living-expense. Well, here’s a little tip “Go Midwest young man!” (and ladies too). I’m talking Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and…
If you have a leather jacket that says SOLIDWORKS on one side and Class A Surfacing on the other, you are a TOTAL BADASS. You also know about Power Surfacing for SolidWorks. Well, nPower Software tightened its belt a notch and released an update this week. Even though we’re not exactly sure which version it is–4… or…
Doom is arguably the quintessential first-person shooter that spawned one of the most popular video game genres of all time. The game is loaded with an array of traditional and futuristic weapons to decimate demon hordes–shotguns, machine guns, plasma rifles and even a chainsaw are at the player’s disposal. However, one so over-the top-weapon is…
We’ve all seen those flashy custom wheels bolted to vehicles most of us couldn’t afford. Like those vehicles, those custom wheels don’t come cheap and were probably designed and manufactured by one of the premier wheel companies such as Vossen Wheels. Ever wonder why those wheels are so expensive (costing about several thousand per-set)? Or, what’s involved…
Like Creo and Inventor, SolidWorks can now add non-native CAD files to assemblies without translation. I hopped up to Boston for D3DLive last Monday. It rocked. I met up with our old friend Jeremy Regnerus (the man is back!), and he walked me through the new 3D Interconnect feature in SOLIDWORKS 2017. I was impressed.…
While those in the Western world may not think twice about flipping the light switch on at night, off-grid communities such as those in sub–Saharan African have come to rely on dangerous and expensive kerosene to keep the lights on after dark. This kerosene can cost 20% or more of an individual’s income and have…
When I was a kid, our “modeling app” was a pile of mud and a stick. Two sticks if we were lucky. Nowadays kids have more apps than they can shake two sticks at, but creative apps for kids have been limited to stacking cubes, coloring puppies and decorating cupcakes. SolidWorks is changing that with…
SolidWorks World 2016 left 7,000 people overloaded by breakout sessions, inspired by customers, and smelling of the finest barbecue in the world. While the General Sessions were a bit all over the place, mingling product announcements amongst customer stories and keynotes (with beer, boobs and Yves Behar being the highlights), underlying it all was a…
It’s the first day of February, 2016. Time for the biggest CAD industry event for a single software package. SolidWorks World 2016 is on and there’s an ethereal feel in the air. Maybe it’s the rapturous, simultaneous geeking of thousands of SolidWorks users. Maybe it’s the 75 degree Dallas, Texas weather in the middle of…
Today, we’re bringing back a segment that lapsed into a coma and suddenly awoke recently with a direct punch to an exposed solar plexus. Model of the Week: the best and coolest 3D models the SolidSmack audience is creating and sharing online. We’re in the future now, so there’s loads of amazingness and brilliance we…
When Onshape came out swinging earlier this year, it was speculated that whether users chose to use the new full browser CAD program or not, it would change the greater landscape of MCAD pricing and licensing structures forever. Needless to say, Onshape sent a ripple through the industry that acted as a wake-up call for…
As Moore’s Law continues to grant us ridiculously powerful computers that we can fit inside of our pockets, the experience of using some of the earliest personal desktop computers continues to become an even further distant memory. Unsurprisingly, some people aren’t ready for that memory to fade yet. Among others is Philippe Lang, an IT…
There’s a shift going on in the 3D CAD industry. The shift from perpetual license pricing to monthly subscription pricing. Some will bring up those who have tried it before, the benefits and why it needs to happen faster. Suddenly however, it’s nearly 2016, and pay-as-you-go pricing models have been around a few years. We’ve…
Between Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks’ recent announcements of their SolidWorks for Entrepreneurs program (which has created some confusion for existing small businesses and freelancers) and an update to their subscription policy (which seeks to close out or penalize those who don’t upgrade each year), many of the the CAD software’s most loyal users feel as though…
When it comes to CAD software, there’s likely no topic more divisive than that of maintenance fees. Ahh, fabulous subscription service–the additional yearly charge, on top of any license cost, which typically includes product upgrades and support, often through a reseller of the software. Last week, two SolidWorks Partner websites, TPM and ModernTech, posted a new “Subscription…
Since they started coming up in CAD in the Cloud discussions earlier this year, Frame (fra.me) has shown no signs of slowing down their pursuit of allowing users to put any Windows application in their own personal Cloud. Among other reasons why the platform has been of interest is because it will allow users of…
As we move towards a more streamlined, always-anywhere, Cloud-connected computing experience however, it’s becoming more common for users to want to take their hardware into more demanding conditions outside of the air conditioned office … and when it comes to some of the best and most reliable portable workstation solutions that are ideal for industrial…
The last time we checked in with Frame – the cloud platform that lets users run any software from within their browser – we had the chance to chat with the young startup’s CEO and founder Nikola Bozinovic about the near-future of CAD in the Cloud and how his platform could revolutionize the workflows of…
As if the release of Onshape back in March of this year didn’t spin the CAD world into a frenzy, things are only about to get a little more crazy up in here. Yesterday, Autodesk slipped a little message onto their Fusion 360 homepage to notify users (both new and existing) that they are rolling…
As far as desk toys and “random stuff to keep around for inspiration” goes, everybody has their own tastes and preferences. While some may prefer bright and colorful vinyl toys such as those from Kidrobot on their tidy desktop, others may prefer to keep more DIY-inspired mini-projects strewn about their dusty workshop. For those looking…
We live in a world full of amazing design software and hi-tech automated machines. These “tools” are designed to reduce design cycle times and leverage productivity. Companies spend a lot of money on these tools and expect a productivity pay off from their designers. Some of the new expectations are realistic and some are not.…
Although there might have been some questions left unanswered at last week’s SolidWorks World, there were still some announcements that are sure to please a lot of users – even if they might take a little while to develop. Perhaps most notably is the announcement of the new SolidWorks Manufacturing Network. The new platform -…
The newly announced SolidWorks Industrial Design product is ostensibly similar to Autodesk’s popular Fusion 360 product. Like, really similar. And at $2280 per annum, the confusing mish-mash of overpriced and overlapping subscriptions in the new SolidWorks offering have us asking hard questions. Here’s why. Before we get into details, our hats are off to the…
I was finally able to get a proper live demo of the new SolidWorks Industrial Design product at SolidWorks World 2015, and while we still lack some really critical information (Uh, price?), a lot of the fuzz is finally coming into focus. We spread some misinformation on The Twitters yesterday, so today we set the…
Can’t make it to Phoenix, Arizona for SolidWorks World this week? It’s no biggie – although you’ll be missing out on the rare sight of seeing legions of awesome SolidWorks users who are taking a break from their usual screen glare for some real-life sunlight amongst the Phoenix palms. For those that can’t make it…
Leading up to SolidWorks World next week in Phoenix, we thought we’d take a moment to take a brief look at just how far the company has come from its original heyday when it was founded by Jon Hirschtick with his Blackjack winnings after a successful stint with the infamous MIT Blackjack team that was…
Can’t make it to Phoenix, Arizona for SolidWorks World next week? It’s no biggie – although you’ll be missing out on the rare sight of seeing legions of awesome SolidWorks users who are taking a break from their usual screen glare for some real-life sunlight amongst the Phoenix palms. For those that can’t make it…
For anybody who has been wanting to get the most out of their 3D scanner or smartphone 3D scanning app, then the MODO for Repotology series from industrial design training site cadjunkie is just for you. For the low price of $39 ($14 for cadjunkie Premium members), this downloadable video series includes everything you need…
Ask anybody who has become a speed demon within an app what their secret is and more often than not, an expert-level use of hot keys is likely to be among the more common answers. Whether the user is a graphic designer switching between selection tools in Photoshop or Illustrator, or a design engineer switching…