Each week we’re sharing a new tip with you here on the ‘Smack to help elevate your CAD game to a new level. Our goal is to mix up the weekly tips to cover a wide variety of ground for using CAD effectively as a product design tool. Some weeks might feature basic form-building exercises…
The ‘Hump Day Hot Tips’ series from our industrial design training site cadjunkie has been off to a great start after three weeks of looking at splines in SolidWorks. This week, industrial designer Adam O’Hern takes a look at how to avoid inflections and gain better control over your splines using the most common spline…
It’s that moment you’ve been waiting for. That moment where your coworker pick his keyboard up, drops it, picks it up again and lifts it over his head. You would like to tell him about a couple SolidWorks Macros that would help him out, buuuuuuuut you’re being entertained and office rage is content YouTube is…
There’s nearly 8 ways to create the same 3D model in SolidWorks… along with the 4 other ways. That’s a lot of flexibility, but many of the features just don’t get the use they deserve until someone shows them how to bring forth the hammer of power that is all the crazy, little SolidWorks feature…
Last year, SolidSmack riveted the academic community with some mighty fine tips for students success in SolidWorks. One year later and those measly tips are just not enough. Times are’a changin’ folks and there’s all sorts of things students and ‘the aged’ can do to have more success and more opportunities in 3D CAD and…
Getting just the right detailed drawing view of a model can take immense amounts of time. More than they really should for products designed in 3D. When you open a drawing and nothing is there but the dimensions, that can really make you throw blunt objects. So, you stare real close at the computer screen.…
I know. You’re just screaming, “I work with the CAMERA. Striking a pose this way and that.” *whoosh, whoosh* I’m actually talking about how you model your 3D design in SolidWorks. Ah, now this post is suddenly boring. No tips to get that gritty engineer look on film, just stuff about drawing lines and extruding…
What good is Twitter for? It’s a powerful tool for many people as well as for businesses building brands, but it’s even more powerful where there’s a strong user base. In the CAD world, and SolidWorks in particular, the connection between users just keeps getting stronger. On twitter, you can interact with SolidWorks user, SolidWorks…
I occasionally choose to point the fire hose of SolidWorks tips and information into an unsuspecting person’s face without realizing how overwhelming it can be. A few hours later I see the the expressionless blank stare of a skinless and slightly tattered face gazing, begging me to stop. A few tips to simply get started…
Your SolidWorks drawings are standing out in the open like a very large and overly dressed target of 3D ninja violence. Hey, I’m just sayin. It’s actually a secret society of defected and very agitated ANSI and ISO standard authors that have passed this info on to me. Your fancy drawing is filled with more…
I had a conversation with someone yesterday about how to create really great looking images without using the SolidWorks rendering add-in, PhotoWorks. I told him it was simple and you can do it in just a few steps. ‘No way, show me.’, he said. If you have PhotoWorks, great; you can create some very slick…
Right now, I currently have 3 versions of SolidWorks installed on my computer – 2007, 2008, and 2009Beta. oh, and 2005 till just recently. It’s crazy I tell ya. I use 2008 mostly right now, but have to switch back to 2007 for some models. It made me wonder what everyone out there is actually…
BOM’s. Bill o’ Materials. That list of parts that moves across the disco floor like only you wish you could. DID I really just compare a BOM to a dance genre we long to forget? Yes, yes I did, and I’m feeling the nostalgic and stomach-churning affects of doing so. Nevertheless, a BOM provides that…
It’s inevitable. A hundred models of a screw and they’re all created a different way. I’m telling ya, it’s an open flesh wound just waiting to get infected. Companies often jump into the 3D modeling fray without laying out an SolidWorks implementation plan. But, even when things are implemented correctly, the details of model creation…
The SolidWorks Confirmation Corner. That little island in the corner just tempting you to become a more decisive person. One option, to accept the ensuing fate of the changes you’ve made to your sketch. The other, to abandon all the relations you’ve jacked up.
Sometimes, flipping back and forth between a PDF or AutoCAD drawing is enough to make you start humming loudly and spinning in tight circles. That’s ok… when you don’t have to get a drawing out, but when you need to get some concepts going or figure out how things fit together, you can use some…
Yes, it happens to all of us. We’re cruising along with the mouse, clickin’ this way and that, and typing some notes with the keyboard. Life is simple. Then, we take our hand off the keyboard for a sip of coffee or a little stretch and… suddenly our finger shoots straight into our eye with…
Look, there’s a bunch of things you could do this week, but showering regularly, eating less beef jerky and discovering your unlimited potential for doing cool things with SolidWorks should be at the top of the list, don’t ‘cha think? I’m finding there’s more and more ways of doing things with SolidWorks that have nothing…
Since the dawn of time, man has contemplated the frustrating effects of the big read error icon and has come to the conclusion that, yes, veins can indeed pop out of your head whether your sitting down or standing in a defensive crouch in front of your computer. Computer errors pretty much feel like being…
Oh to have ways of creating models faster. Moving your mouse around really fast-like doesn’t help, gripping your neck and squeezing real hard doesn’t help much either. Sometimes, it’s just what you have in your bag o’ tricks that can get you moving along… or in our case, a library of tricks. In SolidWorks, you…
Well, last weeks mystery tip about PhotoWorks DOF. I get a bit of emails asking questions about SolidWorks and alot of them are really good questions that I’d love to turn into posts. So once again that’s what we’re gonna do. First Person to Ask a Question The first person to asks a question about…
Ok, I’m gonna try something here. I get a bit of emails asking questions about SolidWorks and alot of them are really good questions that I’d love to turn into posts. So that’s what we’re gonna do. First Person to Ask a Question The first person to add a comment below that asks a question…
This is the grandpa scenario in full-effect. Whenever my brothers and I would go over to my grandparents, there would be Twix and Twizzlers in the top cabinet over the stove. I’m completely convince my gut is lined with whatever Twizzlers are made from. There were also giant chocolate chip cookies that made it seem…
Just when you thought you knew everything about SolidWorks Explorer, Devon Sowell gives us his first post discussing tips to make your venture into the abusive and murderous world of data management easier to handle. Some Things you’ll learn: What SolidWorks Explorer is for If parts are open when a drawing is open (Hmmm…are they?)…
It’s amazing how simple this is. You can actually do this in less time than it takes you to learn how to trap small animals and sell them outside Wal-mart. Draw a cube This is like the multi-tool of CAD. If you don’t know where to start, draw a cube. Use the annotation tool This…
So where is everything about the world of SolidWorks being stored out there? It’s not under your patio bench. It’s actually spread out across the entire chasm of the interwebular galaxy and is very difficult to harness at times. Soooo, here’s a bunch of links that help me find SolidWorks content when I’m trying to…
For all of you crazed 3D-modeling, equation-using junkies out there, you may be really, really excited to know that your equations will update in real-time when using Instant3D in SolidWorks 2008. Jeff, from ExtensibleCAD, shows this happening when using logical (if-then) equations to drive features. See video below. The equation is set up to change…
Here’s a slightly useful and not-at-all complicated tip on reducing features by using 3D sketches. It’s more fun to have people gather around your desk, get all attentive and then yell the first step very, very loud as they hunker down around your screen… Now move in close people… Two Tips in One This is…
“Oh man, Josh is doing a tip on one of those useless features in SolidWorks 2008! I have gaskets and pinions to engineer!! Who has time for some silly ‘smags’ or ‘tags’ or whatever! I’m going to YouTube and watch squirrels race.” Hey, hey, hey! Hold back your fury and check this out. You can…
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…
Whoa there buddy, I think you’re getting carried away with all of those colors. That much color is certainly not per procedures and we’re gonna have to beat you black and white. It happens, I know. You want an accurate color for your model and you can’t help but spend hours dragging your cursor through…