Mike Puckett's Blog

Readers & Users, Who Do You Like To Hear From?

Ever since Solidworks World in San Diego, there has been a 'virtual storm' brewing.  As all of you have probably figured out, quite a few Solidworks Bloggers were invited to Solidworks as press, and treated the same.  Without speaking for the rest of the blog crew, I can say we certainly were a segregated crowd.  During press day, we took up a lunch table of our own, during press conferences we mostly sat along the same tables, and in the press room, we occupied tables next to each other while clicking away on our various laptops.

So the storm has been centered around the legitimacy of a blog writer, versus a member of the traditional media.  Roopinder Tara of Cad Insider has been writing a series about this very topic.  His most recent post talks about bloggers getting the scoop over the traditional media.  He makes some very good points.

Most of the on going discussion has been given by both sides, but now I think its time to hear from those that scroll through the blogs, and not those that type them.  Check out The Cad Insider Post and leave a comment letting Roopinder know if you prefer to get your CAD news from a printed or online mainstream site, or if you enjoy the blogs more.  It's time to hear from those that count, you!

Heading Home...

And just in time.  Tonight's forecast low: 11 Degrees!  Ok, so thats not too bad to half of the country, but for a Californian, thats about 59 Degrees too low.  We did get a chance to see a little bit of snow fall this morning, but it was nothing much.  Who knew it could snow while the sun was out?  After our morning meeting we headed to the Mall of America.  4.2 Million of shopping bliss.  Each of the three complete floors (the fourth is just partial) is almost .6 miles around.  I was able to cover all three while we were there.  Hopefully that was enough walking to endure the next 5 hours of flying.  The Mall's Website says that if you were to spend just 10 minutes in each of it's stores, it would take you 86 hours to see them all.  We only had about three, so I skipped a few.  Who knew a mall needed not only one Victorias Secrets, but three?

Tomorrow its back to work to finish off one lens project, and embark on the next.  The best part is, it's fun to do.  Pictures to follow tonight.

Here In The Snow

Well we finally made it here late last night around 9.  Yesterday was the first time I have ever experienced any type of major airport problems, and I guess it wasn't all that major.  Minneapolis is pretty much what I envisioned, except there is snow everywhere.  While driving around at about 9:30 last night, I was amazed that everything looked so deserted.  In So Cal, the restaurants stay busy until 11, here, it looked as if everything was closed by 9!

It hasn't started to snow yet, but there is plenty on the ground.  One good thing about traveling to a snow city, is it reminds me why I enjoy the warm weather!  We are off for our meetings, and hopefully to sign some new contracts!

Planes That Can't Fly

I'm trying to figure out if its better to have a possible 16 hour delay, or fly on a plane that has mechanical problems.  For now, I will take the 16 hour delay.  After getting up at 5am on a Sunday morning to arrive nice and early at LAX, we are told our plane is stuck in Hawaii, and isn't scheduled to arrive in L.A. until around midnight!  Evidently the plane is having technical difficulties.  So they offer us the option to depart an hour and a half later than scheduled, but we will have to do a 3 hour stop in Phoenix.  I guess things could be worse, we could have discovered the plane problems mid-flight, and then had to deal with it.

So here we sit at the Tequileria just outside gate 17 at Phoenix airport.  Delays are fine, as long as there are chips and salsa, and ice cold Dos XX Amber in 32 ounce glasses to keep us occupied.  Next stop, Coon Rapids Minnesota!

Head East Young Man!

Ok, so maybe 35 isn't so young, but I am heading east, Minneapolis to be exact, and we are staying in a city named Coon Rapids! I must say we couldn't have chosen a more fun time to go considering the weather!  Yes, todays forecast was for a balmy 15 degrees, but lucky for us, there was no wind, so it actually felt like 15 degrees.  Um news flash here, even if it felt like 40 degrees, it would still be cold!  We are in luck however, Mondays forecast calls for it to be twice as warm (or is that twice as cold?) which means a nice toasty 30 degrees!

Yes us California boys are used to our 70 degree temps, and we love it.  Anyone that was in San Diego knows what we are used to (before it began to rain).  What I didn't mention is that they are predicting snow showers.  I'm not even sure I know what a snow shower is, let alone ever been in one.  In fact, in my entire life, I have only ever been outside while it is actually snowing, a grand total of about 5 times, and that was last April while I was in Germany for 5 days!

As much as I would like to complain, at least I can say I have been to one more state, and we are going to meet with a new customer to iron out some contractual stuff for a new project, so it's well worth it.  I will be taking along the laptop loaded up with Solidworks 2008, and lots of impressive models to wow as many people as I can.  It will also give me a chance to finish off a big Oakley project thats officially due next Friday, but will now be a week early!  Speaking of Oakley, guess I will head down to the factory store to get me a nice cozy snow boarding jacket before I leave!

So I will try to post some good pictures from our trip which begins Sunday Morning.

Making It On Your Own With Solidworks: Small Business Owner Interview

Part two of our small business interviews focuses on another well known name in the Solidworks community.  Devon Sowell of 3-D Design Solutions provides his customers full service mechanical design and drafting services, along with Solidworks consulting, training, and teaching including PDMWorks, and Enterprise Implementation.  Devon also provides custom programming services using Visual Basic.NET, and can also support Agile PLM services.

Devon is a very energetic person, and is always a pleasure to meet and speak with.  You can find him Solidworks World, and some local events giving presentations of different caliber, covering different topics.  To reach Devon, click to one of the links above.  Here is the transcript of Devon's interview:

1.       What was the biggest determining factor that drove you to finally venture out on your own, and start a company? I’ve been self-employed most of my life. My Parents were also self-employed most of the time.

2.      Did you always want to have your own CAD business? Yes, see question 1.

3.       What was the most difficult part of getting your business going? Choosing which CAD software to buy.

4.       If you could give one piece of advice to someone contemplating making the same move you did, what would that be? Only one piece of advice? Take classes in Small Business Management, Accounting, and Investing; hire a good Financial Planner & Accountant; Save for retirement; purchase Errors and Omissions and General Liability Insurance; pay all Taxes on time; keep up with new methods and technology, Network often; remember 95% of all new businesses fail, it’s OK  to fail, as long as you learn from your mistakes. That’s more than one!

5.       Did your involvement in the Solidworks Community help lead you to decide to start your own company? When I started, there was no SolidWorks Community that I was aware of. It has come on strong during the past 4 years or so.

6.       Has knowing Solidworks as opposed to other CAD packages helped with generating new business, and keeping others? Yes, it has.

7.      Does the Solidworks software package make it easier or more difficult to be successful? It’s not about the software; it’s about providing a service and keeping the customer happy.

8.       Finally, knowing what you know now, would you still undertake going out on your own? Yes, of course. Being self-employed is more difficult than having a salary position, I work longer hours and put in a tremendous effort, but I love it!

The third and final part of the small business interviews will conclude next week with another Solidworks "Chump", stay tuned.

Service Pack 3.0 Gets Released To All

Jason Raak seems to have the inside line on service pack releases.  Late tonight, Jason posted about the release of service pack 3.0 for Solidworks 2008.  In the SP 3.0ev sub forum on the main Solidworks forum, a few users have been saying that some annoying bugs have been fixed, and overall performance had been improved on.  Also this marks the official support of Vista 64 bit which I will venture into as soon as my new 'just for fun' Dell laptop arrives to use for fun and dedicate my M90 to Solidworks.

So if your a Solidworks Subscription Customer, head on over to the customer portal for your download.  You can also access by clicking Help > Check for updates inside Solidworks. 

Navy Succeeds In Hitting Wayward Satelite

Last week I mentioned the story about the U.S. spy satellite that was going to be targeted by the Navy for destruction due to its failure leading to an earth crashing trajectory that included remnants landing in North America.  Tonight the Navy was successful in hitting the satellite some 130 miles above earth, but it wont know if it succeeded in destroying the hazardous fuel tank aboard it for a day or so.

The full story can be found here.

Free Graphics Cards Are Always Nice

If you use Solidworks, you know that having a Solidworks approved and tested video card is one of the biggest parts of a computer when talking about performance.  Most of the time, issues within Solidworks can be attributed back to the video card not being sufficient, or not having current drivers.

So how much do we expect to pay for having stability in our work stations?  Well that depends on how big you check book is.  Middle of the road cards will set you back upto $1,000, and high end cards go up into the thousands of dollars.  Well from time to time, free comes along, and free is always good.

nVidia has graciously donated a $699 Quadro FX 1700 video card to be given away to some lucky attendee at tomorrow night's meeting of the Los Angeles Area Solidworks User Group.  Now this won't be just a raffle item, that some lucky ticket holder will win, those who choose to participate will have their Solidworks skills put to the test in a competition that will allow fellow User Group members to choose the winner.

So if your in the Los Angeles area, make sure to click the link above to get the meeting details, and plan to attend to get all the details for the contest.

Thank you to nVidia for supplying the card for the give-a-way.  For more info on the card you could win, click here: nVidia Quadro FX 1700

 

Making The Big Jump To Self Employeement

While it's the American Dream to work for ones self, it's not a very easy road all the time.  It takes a different kind of person to take on such a task, and then be successful at it.  I'm not here to announce my move, in fact, I am very happy working where I work now.  I have a great group of guys that work along side me, and I honestly love going to work everyday.

I recently contacted a few of the more well know independant people that have successfull CAD based business, and asked them a few questions.  Here is the first installment.

Matt Lombard is surely a well known name in the Solidworks and CAD industry.  Some of my earliest online Solidworks ventures were on Matt's original Verizon Based Site.  Certainly one of the most entertaining and thought provoking blogs in the Solidworks arena, Matt Speaks is where Matt shares his musings with the world.  Let's also not forget the well pened Solidworks 2007 Bible, and the next installment now available for pre order, Solidworks Complex Shapes & Surfaces Bible.

Matt's company, Dezignstuff, is where Matt makes his real dough.  Dezignstuff does complex modeling and plastic part engineering work.  He also does consulting to companies to help with Solidworks implementation, and process development for firms looking to improve their skills.

Here is the transcript of the interview:

1.     What was the biggest determining factor that drove you to finally venture out on your own, and start a company?

I was working for a reseller, and was going nowhere fast with them. They refused to make use of my eagerness to do things, and it was obvious they didn’t really want me there.

2.     Did you always want to have your own CAD business?

I don’t want to think of what I have as a CAD business. I’m an engineer, and do a lot of product development type work, in addition to writing books.

3.     What was the most difficult part of getting your business going?

Getting my previous employer to fire me so that I had the motivation to just do it. In the end instead of getting fired, I just quit and they gave me a months worth of work, which was enough to give me all the headstart I needed.

4.     If you could give one piece of advice to someone contemplating making the same move you did, what would that be?

Make sure you’ve got a lot of sources for work, and a lot of general contacts before you make the jump. Make the most of your talents by working in a specialty niche. Generalists are too easy to find, but specialists are worth their weight in gold. Do things the right way (legal software), and get a good accountant for tax advice. Treat people with respect.

5.     Did your involvement in the Solidworks Community help lead you to decide to start your own company?

Probably. That’s where so many of my contacts came from. I have work that just falls out of the sky on me, far more than I can handle. I have to turn away a lot of work, or pass it on to some of my other independent buddies.

6.     Has knowing Solidworks as opposed to other CAD packages helped with generating new business, and keeping others?

SolidWorks is good software to know for sure, just for the contacts, but sometimes you need other software to do the job, or to do it correctly. I have needed Rhino and Pro/Engineer to do my work.

7.     Does the Solidworks software package make it easier or more difficult to be successful?

In my field, complex shapes, SolidWorks makes it difficult. Complex shapes in SolidWorks are cantankerous beasts, so other people aren’t willing to take them on. The shapes would be easier to create in some other package like Rhino, VX, Alias, Pro/E, but enough people want their data in SolidWorks that there is a demand for this kind of work, regardless of which tool is actually the best.

8.     Finally, knowing what you know now, would you still undertake going out on your own?

Definitely. I would have done it much earlier. I would make sure that I had connections in the mafia, though, to encourage people who want me to do work for free. That is the biggest negative of working for yourself – you gotta be the strong arm sometimes.

You can find Matt at the links above.  To get an even more in depth look at Matt's evolution into business, check out his post on the subject from last year.  Also, if you see him at a Solidworks event, be sure to say hi, he loves to talk shop.

Stay tuned for part two of the series where we hear from another small business owner who deals with a different portion of the Solidworks software.

Thumbnail Graphics In Vista

Alot of people uncheck this feature for performance reasons in Windows XP.  Well in the Vista version of Solidworks, the option is greyed out.  So I posed this question in the Solidworks Forums, and here is the answer direct from Solidworks:

"In Vista, the open/save dialogs are basically the same as the Windows Explorer view and have similar functionality. There is no way for SolidWorks to add its own independent preview window to the open dialog in Vista due to the way that Microsoft has implemented the open/save dialogs (we could do a lot more customization of it in XP). However, Vista itself provides a preview mechanism for this dialog (for any Explorer window for that matter). When the dialog is up, go to Organize>Layout>Preview Pane to turn on the preview window. For the preview functionality to work, we must use the standard preview storage in the file enabled by the "Show thumbnail graphics in Windows Explorer" so on Vista, we force it to be enabled without a user choice. "

Jim Wilkinson explained it in great detail.  I had a feeling it was a Windows thing from the get go.  Just another change to get used to in Vista.

Is The Sky Falling?

Starting sometime this weekend, a 7-8 day window will open to the U.S. Navy allowing it to try to shoot down an errant U.S. spy satellite. We have seen numerous Hollywood takes on how they would do it, but now it looks as if the President has authorized the Navy to do it for real. This should be interesting to watch. Full Article Here

Who Want's To Win A Quadro FX Video Card?

If you discover one thing about performance in Solidworks, it's that having a certified video card is key.  The Quadro FX line of cards from nVidia are pretty much the standard for CAD performance.  I have an FX 2500M in my laptop, an FX 3500 at work, and an FX 540 at home.  Needless to say, these cards arent cheap!  Well now is your chance to win one of their higher end cards, and possibly a vacation get-a-way:

NVIDIA and CGSociety have teamed up to offer another NVArt competition, this time the focus is on architecture and landscape design. Titled, Art Space: Architecture and Landscape, this digital art competition challenges participants to create the most awe inspiring architecture and landscape designs. Here are the prizes being awarded:

1st Prize: 2 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 cards, and 1 week ‘all inclusive' holiday valued at $10,000 (USD).

2nd Prize: NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500, and a $500 (USD) American Express Gift Card.

3rd Prize: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500, and a $500 (USD) American Express Gift Card.

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The deadline to enter is March 10th, 2008 for your chance at one of those prize packages.  To get more info on the contest, and to possibly even enter, head over to the official contest site: http://events.cgsociety.org/NVArt/02/

Making The 64-Bit Vista Move With Solidworks

More and more people are starting to use Vista and are discovering they like it.  After listening to Bob their cousin for so long who doesn't know a thing about computers, but somehow is an expert on Vista because he listens to Leo Laporte on a weekly basis, times are changing.

I have been using Vista Ultimate on my desktop at home, and my Dell M90 laptop since late last summer.  My one complaint was that Microsoft simply offered to many choices.  I dare anyone reading this to name off in your head how many versions they offer!  They simply should have offered a basic home version, and then the full blown Ultimate package.  To further confuse matters, consumers were also made to choose between 32 and 64 bit platforms, unless you had the basic $99 version of Vista that lets face it, barely runs on a calculator.

I am going to assume that most people reading this understand the differences behind 32 and 64 bit operating systems.  For this article, the main factor is the ability to expand a computer systems memory limitation of 3GB, to pretty much unlimited.  Aside from having the correct video card, Solidworks benefits most from more ram.  Luckily for us, RAM is cheap now a days.  Imagine having 8, 16, or even 32GB of ram on your Solidworks machine!  You would feel like superman!  Microsoft currently lists the memory limitation of 64 bit Ultimate as 128GB+, meaning it seems unlimited.

So whats the tie in with Vista?  Well 64 bit Vista is unique in one way in regards to security.  Everyone loves to babble on and drool over Apples supposed impenetrability to security breaches.  Well there are two easy explanations for that.  First is the simple fact that not enough people use their operating system for hackers to waist their time creating malicious code for it.  Second is the fact that you as the owner of that hardware are only allowed to install software that Apple has approved for you to use.  So much for innovation huh?  By keeping a strangle hold on the software side of their products, Apple has been pretty successful in keeping hackers at bay, with the exception of a few recent problems surrounding the iPhone, their Quicktime software, and even the new Leopard OS.

Vista 64 bit uses a system of requiring all hardware and software drivers to be digitally signed by Microsoft.  Do you see where this is going?  By using the tactics that Apple has used, Microsoft can now build the most secure operating system in its history.  Now you may think its odd for me to chastise Apple for the practice, but then say its OK for Microsoft.  Well there is one huge difference.  The shear popularity of the Windows platform means that way more manufacturers and software developers will try to obtain certification for their product to run on Vista, than they will for Apple.  Everybody wins, not just Steve Jobs.

So what does this have to do with Solidworks?  Well when Solidworks releases service pack 3.0 next week for 2008, it will fully support the 64 bit Vista operating system.  This is nice news for myself, and many others who made hardware purchases over the last 6-8 months with this in mind.  I for one will finally be able to use that one extra GB of ram that been sitting in my laptop, but as yet unused.  I plan on doing a complete reformat of the hard drive (which is not as easy in Vista as it was in XP), and then install Vista Ultimate 64 bit.  The only part I'm dreading is having to download the entire Solidworks files for 64 bit, since I imagine DVD based copies are some time off.

So keep tuned, as things start to happen, I will be sure to let you know how things go for me.

Weekend Fun, So Cal Style

This weekend brought unseasonal weather of clear sunny skies, and temps in the 80's.  So after a few busy weeks after getting back from Solidworks World, it was time to go have some fun.

First up was a trip to Disneyland Friday afternoon and evening(I have an annual Pass):

 

Then it was off to the opening round of the NHRA Drag Races:

 

Yes that is snow still on the mountains!  This weekend you could go snowboarding, and then an hour later be surfing at the beach.  I was starting to feel a bit tired and warm for some reason at the races, so I came home and discovered why:

 

104°F fever!  So today I'm laid up in bed browsing the various Solidworks forums, and trying to get this fever to go away!

Free CSWP & CSWA Tests Offer Extended

The somewhat arbitrary previous deadline of December 14th 2007 for the free tests came and went.  So if you missed the opportunity, the offer is now good through June 30th 2008, and you must complete any started test before July 31st 2008.  This offer is valid to Solidworks Customers that are on current subscription service.

The Solidworks Certification Program has been completely revamped, and restructured.  It is an online test that can be completed at your pace within the time allowed.  If you are wondering how hard the test is, fewer than 10% of those that took it at Solidworks World, actually passed!  So here are a few hints for you, the pictures shown below are the exact style models you will create for the test.  But take a close look, some numbers are missing, and every version will be different!  Good luck! (thanks to Ann Yust for the pictures)

Solidworks Interview: Bill Taylor, Solidworks Community Marketing Manager

At Solidworks World 2008 in San Diego, a group of CSWP’s, and bloggers were given what has been termed Solidworks On A Stick.  To get a better understanding of what this project is all about, I recently contacted Bill Taylor who is the Community Marketing Manager for Solidworks.  I submitted a few questions to Bill to answer in regards to this new project.  The interview follows Below:

 

1.       What is Solidworks on a stick?

SolidWorks on a Stick is simply a portable version of SolidWorks.   The storage device that we happened to use was a USB thumb drive.  The idea would be to give our user’s access to SolidWorks when they do not have access to their desktop.

2.       What is the concept idea behind this project (how did it come about)?

The idea originally came from one of our technical support Team Leaders.  At SolidWorks we hold regular innovation meetings and encourage people at all levels and departments to participate if they have an idea that could benefit our customers.  One of our Team Leaders showed up one day and proposed the idea and everyone thought it was an interesting concept.  I think it’s a great example of why empowering everyone in an organization is an important part of the innovation process.

3.       If Solidworks can be successful in delivering their product on this type of platform, what is the next step in this process?

I’ll be honest, we are really just trying to gather feedback from some of our users with respect to how useful they think the concept is.  Internally we have come up with many uses that we think would be valuable both to our users as well as our resellers.  The idea looks promising but at the moment we do not have any official plans to develop it for the masses.  So the next step at this point is to monitor the usage, collect feedback from our users and VAR’s and evaluate the data.

4.      Some people will say that this is just a gimmick or sales tool meant to get Solidworks nerds and geeks excited about nothing.  How do you respond to that?

We’ll I think we would want to separate the concept in general, and what we did for some of the CSWP’s at SolidWorks World.   I think the concept in general (being able to access Solidworks when your not at your Desktop) is a very interesting concept that I think we are going to explore it further.  The initial feedback that I have received is that it would be something of value to our customers.   

The reason we gave some out at SolidWorks World was two fold.  First,  our users have been telling us for years that they recommend our software to others they know.  We know this and understand that there is both a benefit to our users to do so and obviously it benefits SolidWorks as a business.  In talking to our users they have told us that it would be useful for them to have a portable version of SolidWorks and that just one of the ways they would use it would be to show the software to others.  So one of the reasons we passed them out was to see if people did in fact use it in this way. We’re simply trying to help enable what is already occurring today and has been occurring for years.  Word of mouth is obviously an important part of growing the SolidWorks community.   We appreciate the fact that this is happening and is why when we gave out the USB drives we also introduced a new rewards program so that we can start rewarding people for sharing their passion for SolidWorks software and 3D CAD in general.

Another reason we did this was simply to start getting some feedback as to weather or not this would be something of value and hear how people might use a tool like this. We want to know what people think. 

So, there might be a third reason.   It’s a cool giveaway, and I’ve got plenty of that feedback so far.

5.       During his press conference, John Hirstick noted that he believes one of the future goals of 3D Cad is to deliver a product that is 100% web based meaning you don’t install anything, you go to a website, login and have access to the interface much like Google or Yahoo mail.  Is this a first step in heading in that direction for Solidworks? 

Although we don’t have any firm plans with respect to the USB drives I think it is a step in that direction in many ways, sure.   I think installing software is just something we have grown accustom to, I think a time will come when we just don’t need that step any more.  I know I’ve said this a few times earlier but my biggest interest right now is to get feedback and is the reason I gave out my direct e-mail address with every drive.  Obviously having managed that project I am passionate about it but see no reason to limit our thinking to having to use a storage device.

6.      Finally, is there any other fun stuff like Solidworks on a stick in development right now that we can all look forward too?

I can only speak for the projects that I’m managing directly but I know there are plenty of innovative ideas under development so I am confident you will see some other exciting concepts as time goes on.  I can tell you that I am going to be focusing on the SolidWorks community and creating things of value for everyone involved.   I personally have some exciting projects planned and really want to focus on bringing our users in early in the design phases to ensure we introduce things of great value.  Talking with our users and getting them involved is one of my favorite things to do.  There is so much passion out there.

Los Angeles Area Solidworks User Group Meeting

The Los Angeles Area Solidworks User Group has announced it's first meeting of 2008.  Scheduled for Thursday February 21st 2008, the meeting will take place at the Radisson Suites Hotel in Covina from 6:00pm, until 9:00pm.  Topics to be covered include:

• Shortscuts & Customization With The New 2008 Interface (a Solidworks World 2008 presentation)
• What You Missed At Solidworks World 2008 (including a sneak peak at 2009)
• Solidworks On A Stick
• Solidworks Give-a-ways

Once again Prosource Inc will be on hand with plenty to eat.  If you would like to attend, and didnt receive an email about it yet, send me an email: mpuckett@laocswug.com.

The meetings are open to anyone, and there is no cost to attend! I hope to see you there.

Scrolling Through The Command Manager Tabs

In Solidworks 2008, if your using the tabbed command manager, you may have discovered that it's sometimes hard to click those little tabs to get to a different menu.  If you place your cursor anywhere on the command manager, and then scroll your mouse wheel, you will scroll through the tabs.  Scrolling the wheel towards you switches between tabs in a left to right direction, and scrolling the wheel away from you switches between the tabs in a right to left direction.

Now let me add a note to that.  I'm not sure if thats an intended functionality or not.  When I'm in an part, it will scroll through all the tabs.  In an assembly, it won't go past the fourth tab, and loops back to the beginning.  In a drawing, it will scroll through all the tabs, but stops at the last one, and then you have to reverse the mouse scroll to go back!

Try it and let me know if it works for you.  My mouse scroll wheel is configured as a middle mouse button in the mouse settings.

Free SolidWorks Software

Well kind of. Not really full blown versions of Solidworks, but anyone with web access and an email address can download some free utilities that Solidworks offers for free to the world. By visiting the Free Software Page at Solidworks, you have access to the following programs:

Missing Your Smack Fix?

Certainly the most entertaing Solidworks blog in my feed list is Solid Smack.  Josh Mings does an excellent job of digging up the most interesting stuff the internet has to offer.  Im sure he will be back soon, but now is a good time to add his site to your feed!

 

Solidworks Forums: Is Your Time Worth it?

The Solidworks Forums available through the customer portal is an interesting place to browse.  In the forums you will find posts from just about every name you associate with Solidworks.  I find it interesting to read through the discussions to get a feel for what other users encounter in their day to day work, and the solutions other users provide.  Much more than that though is seeing replies posted by various Solidworks employees (talk about getting info right from the horses mouth).

In a recent thread, someone was asking about the context menu that pops up with a left click on a feature tree item, and why does it also appear with a right click.  A few users chimed in, and then Jim Wilkinson (Director of Solidworks User Experience) posted the definitive answer:

   

    

   

      

 

 

So that about summed it up for why and how that feature worked.  At Solidworks World 2008, the number one enhancement request for 2009 is to provide support for dual monitors.  So we heard an 83% figure given out about implementation of requests....So what do they do with the top 10?  They ask for your input:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Started under the user interface forum, Solidworks is starting to figure out what support for dual monitors should be.  They don't hire a focus group, or ask a bunch of marketing know-nothings, they go to the users and ask what they think it should mean.

If you have access to the customer portal, I highly recommend you join in the discussions to contribute where you can.  Browse around a bit, and then tell me if you think it's worth it!   

A Trick I Picked Up At Solidworks World

Now while I didn't get a lot of time to sit in on many break-out sessions, the few that I did, I found very informing. Since returning a few weeks ago, one trick I picked up I have been using almost nonstop. For those that have grown accustom to the shortcut bars, and context pop-up menus, you have no doubt wondered what sort of logic the software uses in determining just how long (and sometimes where) that little menu of gold appears!

Well for me the context pop-up is the most frustrating. It never seems to stay on the screen long enough! So after getting in the habit of trying to race Solidworks to see if I could click my desired relation quicker than it could take the menu away, I have now settled down into doing things the way someone intended, but forgot to explain in the help files. At Solidworks world I sat in on a session given by Joe Rowsey titled "Shortcuts and customization with the new Solidworks 2008 interface". He showed everyone that when you miss that quick little pop-up, all you need to do is put your cursor back in the area of your selections, and then press the control button, and our little friend will once again make an appearance!

Hot Off The Press...

Or hot off someones hard drive, Solidworks today seeded the Early Visability of Service Pack 3.0 for Solidworks 2008 for XP, Vista, and X64 installations.  So for those that are in the EV program, ignore the typo in the email saying that SP0 was available, and head on over to the EV page in the customer portal for your download!  The raw download file size is an impressive 138mb!

Ok, so it took them about 54 minutes, but someone corrected their mistake:

(Boy they must really hate how critical of the small stuff some of us are huh?)

Solidworks World Photo Tour

Anne Yust, leader of the Twin Cities Cosmos User Group captured, and has posted lots of pictures from her time at Solidworks World in San Diego.  Her pictures come from an attendee point of view which really gives you an idea of the user experience each year at Solidworks World.

Anne even managed to get a few shots of me, including one where it appears I'm trying to talk my way into entering the general session early:

I promise I wasn't up to no good! In fact I was trying to score an interview with one of the morning door gards, but he ran off looking to get the O.K. from someone, and never returned!

Anyhow, you can browse her Online albums here:

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Album 4

Own A Tiny Piece Of SolidWorks World For As Little As A $1

Now while I have been expecting to find at least a few iPod Nano's with Solidworks engraved on the back of them pop up on eBay, its seems like everyone is hanging onto theirs for the time being.  But if you would like to own something from Solidworks World 2008, head on over to eBay, and get your online auction skills ready to snag This Listing for your very own Solidworks Lanyard!  In fact, it seems as if this eBay seller (located in Boston, hmmm) has a few SolidWorks promotional items up for auction.

As for my iPod, while it is now the 3rd one I own, I'm using it to drown out the noise in the office when I want to get some actual work done!

Jaký Did Solidworks Služba Balíček karet 2.1 Brynda?

Schovat tebe byli divení se jaký SP 2.1 neměnný , zde ar člen určitý detail :

1. Nestálost using Fanda kamarád seřazení do Čech líčení of 2008 Sp2

2. Chybějící propojení uživatele hlášení do SolidWorks 2008 SP2 Čechhat

............................................................

In case you can't quite yet read Czech, here is a translation:

If you are wondering what SP 2.1 fixed, here are the details:

1. Missing user interface information in Solidworks 2008 SP2 Czech

2. Instability using flip mate alignment in Czech version of 2008 Sp2

So unless you are using the Czech version of Solidworks, SP2.1 isnt going to deliver the miracle fix for your unique issue.  Better luck with Sp3!

Thanks to Jason Raak at Rock Solid Perspective for the link to the fixed SPR lists.