Ricky Jordan's Blog

E-Drawings Viewer for iPad

Ricky Jordan — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:49:17 +0000

E-Drawings Viewer for iPad is now available from the App Store. I’ll have to admit that the first words out of my mouth when I saw this, were FINALLY!

You can view SolidWorks Parts, Assemblies, & Drawings along with e-Drawing files, DXF/DWG, and Draftsight files. The software has a couple of sample files that you can browse to get the feel of the UI. Below is a few of those files. You can also bring your own files in under “User Files” which apparently stores the files on the device. The easiest way to receive file seems to be via e-mail, but I’ll investigate and report if there are other options as I get some time with the App.

It seems to be a very capable viewer in that it allows you to EASILY rotate, zoom in/out, and pan the model. If the model has configurations, you can view them all through the pull-out browser located on the right side of the screen. If the model contains any exploded views, those are also available through the viewer.

I’m already looking forward to seeing the next version which I hope will add section views, measuring, and the ability to turn component views on/off. (Those are just a few that pop into my head.)

All in all, this looks like a good first release of the viewer. I’ll have a more in depth review in the coming days. My ISP inconveniently went out tonight, so I’m typing this post up on……you guessed it….my iPad.

Stay tuned, more to come!

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SolidWorks 2010: Sketch Pictures in Drawings

SolidWorks 2012 – Select All

Ricky Jordan — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:01:36 +0000

Its easy to overlook some things when you are browsing a 179 page What’s New Document. This was the case for me as I was looking through the SolidWorks 2012 What’s New document. SolidWorks 2012 adds a “Select All” feature that is pretty self explanatory. This is of course one of the handiest features in Windows programs today, and it gives SolidWorks users a few more options in selecting objects in parts and assemblies

The assembly functionality is pretty straight forward. The Select All feature (available from the menu as shown below or through the keyboard shortcut CTRL+A), selects all components within the assembly. This includes the any sub-assembly within that assembly, but it only selects the sub-assembly item, not the components individually contained within.

Part files are handled a little differently with the select all command. Parts honor the current settings on the Selection Filter bar. If you have “Filter Faces” turned on, the Select All will select all the faces. If you have “Filter Vertices” turned on, the Select All will select all the vertices. You can even combine selections to get the results you want. (Although I can’t think of too many situations where I would want to do that.)

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more!

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SolidWorks 2013 Sneak Peek

Ricky Jordan — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:10:08 +0000

One of the things attendees of SolidWorks World always look forward to is the Wednesday General Session which is normally the day where we get a Sneak Peek of the next version of SolidWorks. Any hopes of seeing “SolidWorks V6” or the “new platform” were dashed on Monday as it was said that it will not be shown till next year. Nonetheless, the crowd was anxiously awaiting what is in the future of the current platform.

The features were shown with a “Back to the Feature” skit that mirrors the Back to the Future movies. It had many funny parts and was probably the biggest hit with folks like me who grew up in the 80’s. Justin Burton and Ian Hogg starred as Marty and Doc. Jeremy Regnerus was hilarious as Biff and John Hirchtick also made an appearance in the video. The feature demos were shown with Marty and Doc live on stage.

SolidWorks 2013 Features Shown:

Show/Hidden Bodies Feature added to Multi-Body Parts – This will be a welcome addition. It looks just like the current Show/Hidden Components command that is currently present in the Assembly environment.

Assembly Visualization – Sort Parts by a new Graphics Performance property so you can find the components that are the most graphically intensive.

eDrawings Markup import into SolidWorks Drawings – Not much detail here on how to get them in. I would imagine it would be either through reading in the eDrawing file (import) or opening the Drawing file itself in eDrawings, making the markups, then save the file. I’m really curious to see how this might be integrated into EPDM.

SectionXpert – This tool looks REALLY cool. As soon as you enter into the section tool a horizontal or vertical line appear. (Tab apparently will toggle orientation.) You can then offsets or other additional geometry to the section lines without having to create a sketch!

Revision Cloud – This tool allows you to put revision cloud graphics around items that changed during a revision. There was NO detail given about when/how it is viewed. I would imagine it would be turned off by default for printing and when the drawings is first called up… but that is purely a guess/hope on my part. This could be a handy one if it is properly used.

Snapshots in any Document – Adjust screen view and what is displayed in the view. They also showed a redesigned View Orientation panel. I don’t think this window has changed in 10 years. As many pictures as I took…I wasn’t able to get a snapshot of the new window. I’ll try to find someone who got it.

Simulation Sub-Modeling – takes loads and boundary conditions and applies it to a subset of the design. You can add additional parts to the submodel as well. The loads and boundary conditions even update when the assembly is updated.

Bounding Box Cut-List Properties – Cut list items are now identified by a 3D bounding box that automatically identifies the description, length, width, & height of the components and populates them into the cut list. This is said to work for all items, including gussets, end caps, and parts modeled with standard SolidWorks features. (Items outside of the structural members do not do this in the current version.) (Updated: 2-18-12 4:07pm)

3dvia Composer Cameras – Adds Support for multiple cameras. Can adjust camera views all along the timeline.

Quick Pick Document Type – There are three quick pick document filter icons located just about the normal file type pull-down box. The filter options are for SolidWorks Parts, Assemblies, & Drawings. You can use any combination of the filters to quickly show the desired list of files.

Envelope Enhancements – Envelopes in 2013 can be used in Parts & Assemblies as reference data. Envelope components can be switched back to regular parts at any time. In Drawings, Envelope components can be shown with phantom lines. They are not included in the Bill of Materials either. At the top level assembly, Envelope components are automatically hidden.

Insert Multiple Parts at Once – This one is pretty self-explanatory. You can bring multiple components into any assembly all at the same time.

Multiple Exploded Views per Configuration – I’ve wanted this enhancement since SolidWorks 98plus! You can now create multiple Exploded Views of a SolidWorks configuration.

Rotate Exploded Part – In addition to moving parts in three different directions during the creation of Exploded Views, you can now rotate the parts as well!

Favorites Folder – You can add a Favorites Folder to the FeatureManager Design Tree that allows you to store key features for quick access.

Mounting Boss Feature – This looks really good for folks designing plastic parts. It looks like there are many options in the PropertyManager to configure the boss to the desired shape. All of the features of the Mounting Boss can be stored as Favorites for reuse later on.

Cosmetic Thread – You can now turn off the “dreaded” dotted lines created with Cosmetic Threads without affecting the “thread texture” display on the fasteners. Basically they have separated the filtering of these annotations where they used to be controlled with one display filter. This is another one of those little things that will be a welcome addition.

Dowel Hole – Dowel Holes have now been added to the Hole Wizard feature. When you create a Drawing featuring these holes, a dowel hole annotation is automatically added.

Surface Intersect – This is an intriguing tool. You can use surface bodies to add and take material away. Essentially it will take entire surface bodies and trim and extend the model by adding and taking away the material necessary to match the solid shape to the surface shape.

Extrude Multiple Thin Profiles – This is another one that is pretty self-explanatory. In SolidWorks 2013, you can utilize multiple open profiles to create thin extrusions.

Equation Entry Everywhere – You can now enter equations in dialog boxes within the PropertyManager.

Vary Pattern Dimensions – You can now vary the dimensions of patterned feature instances. You can make each instance different by changing both linear dimensions and angles.

SolidWorks Enterprise Data Management Collaborate with Others – You can hover over document owner listings within EPDM and reveal contact information and online status. (This is nice….but I would have liked to have seen something a little more useful in their preview.)

DraftSight – EPDM Integration/checkout – You can now Check In and Check Out files with EPDM from within Draftsight.

DraftSight – Copy Sketches to SolidWorks – You can copy line segments from DraftSight straight into a Sketch in SolidWorks. I think this functionality might have been present in previous releases when SolidWorks DWGeditor was around. I’m a little surprised this wasn’t in DraftSight from Day one.

Previous Release Interoperability – SolidWorks 2013 files will open inside SolidWorks 2012 SP5. The files will be “frozen” which I assume means they cannot be changed. You have full access to all configuration data for the 2013 files as well. If the SolidWorks 2013 files are updated, those updates will show up in SolidWorks 2012 SP5. Appearances of the models are always preserved in both versions.

This feature by far got the most applause…almost a standing ovation. As far as I can tell, this is a first for any 3D CAD product in this market. It isn’t 100% backwards compatibility, but it does give users options that we have not had before. In previous releases, if a file was opened in the newer version, there was no way to even open it (with features) in the previous version.

That is all the new features that were shown. Overall, I felt like the enhancements shown this year were more popular than those shown over the past two years. The interoperability capability is BIG. It will be interesting to see if any of the other CAD Vendors follow suit. Giving users the ability to read in a “future” version is a GREAT step forward. Perhaps this could be expanded upon more in the future, but I don’t expect to see too much added beyond this in the near future. Time will tell on that one.

Click HERE to see the entire Flickr photo set for the day.

Stay tuned…more to come!

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SolidWorks World 2012 – Wednesday General Session

Ricky Jordan — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:59:29 +0000

The ever-popular Wednesday General Session at SolidWorks World 2012 showed some new features coming in SolidWorks 2013 as well as highlighting some new technology from companies using SolidWorks.

First up were the Model Mania contest winners. As usual, Mark Schneider played a video showing how the part was built and then modified. The picture below shows both the reseller and customer winners. Congrats to all the winners.

Next, the “Green Design Contest” winners were announced. Russell Donovan won the competition with his Bamboo Chair.

Marie Planchard was up next. She mentioned that over 2.5 million students use SolidWorks every day. (Quite a staggering number!) She introduced Bruno Maisonnier, founder and CEO of Aldebaran Robotics. They are the makers of the NAO robot that was featured in the opening video of all the General Sessions. NAO robots are being used in many applications across many industries. One in particular I found interesting was the effective use of these robots in working with autistic kids.

Next up was the SolidWorks World Top Ten Enhancement Request. These items were nominated and voted on as part of the SolidWorks Forums over the last few months. Here’s the list:

10. Add a Thread Creation Wizard. (Ricky’s Note: This would really come in handy for those building rapid prototypes that need REAL threads!)

9. Add “Lock Rotation” option to cylindrical mates.

8. Escape key should immediately return control of the interface!

7. Dimensions should stay where you place them.

6. Ability to control a plane’s front and back side orientation.

5. Reduce the bounding box of Drawing Views to visible components only.

4. Address the shaded with edges bleed thru issue. (Ricky’s Note: PLEASE PLEASE DO THIS for SolidWorks 2013!)

3. Don’t delete your children, dangle them instead. (Ricky’s Note: This is another one that would be nice sooner rather than later!)

2. Mass properties should include the option to automatically put a point at the center of gravity. (Ricky’s Note: Guys – in the Aerospace world – We need this!)

1. Start using more CPU cores whenever possible.

The SolidWorks 2013 Sneak Peek was up next. I’ll cover that in a separate post which you can find by clicking HERE.

Click HERE to see the entire Flickr Photo Set for the day.

SolidWorks World 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida on January 20-23, 2013 at the Swan & Dolphin Hotel in the Walt Disney World Resort. I have a feeling there might be a few vacations planned around that event. :-)

Stay tuned…more to come!

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SolidWorks World 2012 – Tuesday General Session

Ricky Jordan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:07:02 +0000

SolidWorks World 2012 Tuesday’s General Session kicked off with Fielder Hiss showing off some video clips of the CSWP event from the Midway aircraft carrier the previous night. With the number of CSWPs continuing to grow, the event next year will be limited to CSWEs (Certified SolidWorks Expert) only. My guess is we will see a spike in CSWE exams this year. ☺

HP announced that they would be giving away quite a few prizes on Tuesday, including some 400+ gigabyte hard drives. (There seemed to be a MOB at the HP booth in the Partner Pavilion for the rest of the day.)

Richard Doyle was up next to announcing the 2012 SWUGN Awards. The User Group of the Year was the New Hampshire SolidWorks User Group. (Congrats to Cindy, John, & Hoang) The User Group Leader of the Year was Rachel York of the Tech Valley SolidWorks Users Group. The Michelle Pillars SWUGN Community Award was won this year by Charles Culp. Charles has a HUGE presence in the SolidWorks Forum and has started a website – swtuts.com that is a great FREE resource for SolidWorks users to gain knowledge. Congratulations to all the SWUGN winners!

Next up was Mike and Geoff Howe from Howe and Howe Technologies. They have had a couple of different shows on the Discovery Channel over the last few years. These guys build REALLY COOL stuff!! I wrote about them a few years back when their first show hit the Discovery Channel. They are probably most famous for their Ripsaw all terrain tracked vehicle. Howe and Howe Technologies have used SolidWorks for several years now. They are heavy users of Simulation and PhotoView 360 as well. Mike and Geoff got their big break when the US Army contracted them to build some autonomous Ripsaw vehicles. They have developed many other vehicles and devices of various types since then. (Check out their site to learn more.)

One of their latest devices is a Robotic Arm that weighs only 300 pounds, but can lift over 2000 pounds. It is built using Hydraulic motors and made from mostly 6000 and 7000 series aluminum. Their hope is this arm can be used to lift heavy items in rescue situations or other situations where it isn’t safe (or practical) to send in people or other larger equipment.

At the press conference after the General Session, Mike and Geoff hinted that they “might” have some vehicles in the upcoming GI Joe II movie coming out later this year.

One of the things I really respect about the Howe Brothers is that they give back to the community. They built a modified (and smaller) version of the Ripsaw that carries a wheelchair so that a disabled veteran they knew could enjoy the many outdoor activities he used to be able to do.

They are also working to develop a camp that disabled people can attend. At this camp they will have access to equipment that will allow them to fully enjoy many different outdoor activities. They are looking for dontations, so check out their website – www.outdoorsagain.org

Ben Kaufmann with Quirky.com was up next. Somehow, I had not yet heard of this website, but I will certainly remember it now. It is collaborative site for inventors to share their product ideas. Every week after receiving on average 200-300 products ideas, they pick two to develop. With 30-40 Mechanical, Industrial Design, & Electrical engineers on staff, Quirky does much of the footwork in developing the products. All during the development process, online collaborators are involved. They are allowed to see the design as it progresses and provide feedback. If their ideas are used in the product, collaborators can end up receiving royalties. The inventor who submitted the idea can end up receiving up to 30% of the final profits. (This was the percentage shown in their examples.)

It can take quite a bit money to develop any product these days. Quirky.com allows someone with a great idea but no capital to bring that idea to market. I especially liked the pivoting power strip design which was their “case study” of sorts for the presentation. (I might have to pick one of those up!) They have sold over 200,000 of them in the last 6 months.

Shockingly enough, we finished this General Session EARLY? I don’t remember the last time that happened….but it did give everyone a little extra time to get ready for that 10:30 breakout session.

I’ll have the Wednesday Session posted soon.

Click HERE to see the entire Flickr Photo Set for the day.

Stay tuned….more to come!

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SolidWorks World 2012 – Monday General Session

Ricky Jordan — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:30:59 +0000

SolidWorks World “officially” began this morning with the first General Session of the week.

The conference kicked off with some nice CG Animations of a robot band featuring a bot named “NAO” (pronounced “Now”). (The Robot was designed in SolidWorks.) The video ended with a NAO robot on stage introducing SolidWorks CEO Bertrand Sicot.

Bertrand announced that there are 5,650 users in attendance at SolidWorks World 2012. There were 4,300 at the 2008 conference here in San Diego. SolidWorks is now up to 1.7 million users. (They said that is the same number of users on match.com)

Not one, but TWO big names made appearances this morning. Everyone knew ahead of time that Tony Fadell (the father of the iPod) was going to appear, but we also got a surprise appearance by Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs! Mike discussed the origins of Dirty Jobs and also talked about his website, MikeRoweWorks, which is a site that helps people with special trade skills find jobs.

I thought this picture below looked pretty neat….it is ALL the SolidWorks Discs for every release.

During the Tony Fadell interview, you could definitely see some “Steve Jobs Influence” in how he and his team designs products. He talked about the origins of the iPod and showed his latest product, Nest, which is a digital thermostat designed to conserve energy along with providing wireless access control from anywhere via iOS apps.

Addressing the V6 Platform:

I know this is something many folks were looking for. What I am putting below is somewhat paraphrased, but is pretty darned close to an exact transcript of what Bertrand said in regards the the new platform:

It is our job to look 5, 10, 15 years down the road at the next generation platform to keep you competitive. We cannot build the next generation platform without the latest technology. We will debut the new platform next year. We will continue to develop the current platform until you tell us that you don’t need that anymore with no change in data format.

When our next generation will be ready you will tell us. We will let you choose which application you want to use. No one will be forced to move to the new platform. When you choose to switch, we will make sure that the transition is seamless.

Other Notes

I’ve put all my images on Flickr, so you can check them out HERE.

I just happened to look at the SolidWorks website tonight and noticed that the color scheme has been changed to look like the DS corporate site.

SolidWorks has posted several videos from the General Session today on their YouTube Channel.

That is all for now….I’ll have follow up thoughts later on. Stay tuned…more to come!

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SolidWorks World 2012 – Sunday

Ricky Jordan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:56:29 +0000

After a long day of travel and a busy afternoon at SolidWorks World – Sunday Edition, we are all getting geared up for the first General Session in the morning. Myself and a small group of us from Huntsville attend the Partner Pavilion opening, the ModernTech Mechanical Event, and the Tweetup.

San Diego is absolutely beautiful this time of year! It might be a little on the chilly side, but I will take that after waking up to a frigid 17 degrees this morning in Huntsville.

Here are a few images from today:

After only knowing him via Twitter and Facebook for years now, I finally got to meet Lars Christensen (@Lars_cadcam). Lars is a great guy and an even better dad as he has been teaching his daughter how to cook using the Southern Plate website!

Stay tuned…more to come!

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Next Up: SolidWorks World 2012

Ricky Jordan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:22:54 +0000

That time of the year is almost upon us. I’ll be flying out to SolidWorks World on Sunday and should arrive mid-day in San Diego. It looks like it will be a busy conference. What will be shown this year? Soon we will find out.

Two years ago at SolidWorks World 2010 in Anaheim the CAD Industry was “rocked” so to speak with a Cloud Based SolidWorks “V6″ prototype UI shown. Last year in San Antonio the statement was made that SolidWorks will ALWAYS offer a desktop solution. Things have been pretty silent since then. (Except for lots of talk on the internet.) Will we get another glimpse of this product? What will be in store for SolidWorks 2013? What information would YOU like to hear from the conference this year?

Stay tuned….more to come!

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Download the SolidWorks World App!

Ricky Jordan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:55:46 +0000

SolidWorks has posted a SolidWorks World App for Android and iOS (iPhone & iPad) devices. I’ve only spent a few minutes using it, but it looks like it will be a GREAT App if you are attending SolidWorks World.

You can view Floor Plans of the Conference Center and Partner Pavilion.

There is a complete directory of all the speakers from the breakout sessions.

You can view a complete listing of all the companies in the Partner Pavilion along with viewing the “Certified Theater” schedule.

Of course the complete schedule, registration info, hours, food, and special event information are also included!

There’s even an integrated Google Map showing significant locations for the event.

All the images above were taken from the iPad app. Nice job by SolidWorks in adding the iPad app and the Android App this year!

Stay tuned this weekend and next week for more coverage of SolidWorks World 2012!

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SolidWorks World 2012 Top Ten List

Ricky Jordan — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:43:50 +0000

The SolidWorks World 2012 Top Ten List candidates are posted. You can log in to the SolidWorks Forums (link provided above – click the picture) and vote your favorite ideas up or down. Idea submission is already closed but voting will be open right up until just before SolidWorks World 2012 begins.

For the sixth consecutive year, I’ll be covering SolidWorks World as a member of the press, so stay tuned for more updates. In the coming weeks I’ll share some thoughts prior to the start of the conference in regards to what I think we might see. Stay tuned…more to come!

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