I know some of you have been waiting for this since SolidWorks World 2011 ended on January 26. And if you're one of those people, I won't make you read any more than necessary. Just go here to visit the SolidWorks World 2011 Proceedings website.
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Name: Edson Gebo
Title: Owner, Mechanical Designer, SolidWorks Administrator, Eastern SolidWorks User Group Network Representative, Executive Officer of the Connecticut SolidWorks User Group, blogger wanna-be
Job description: Anything I can get my SolidWorks hands on.
Company: Digital Detail & Design
Hometown: Southbridge, MA
1. Why do you choose to do the work you do?
I like variety, and being self-employed allows me a greater freedom to work on many unique projects. Having a good array of industrial experience and extensive knowledge of SolidWorks helps me complete tasks and add valuable input. As a young kid, I loved to take things apart, so the mechanical side was born early. I was introduced to the CAD world around 1985 while attending Worcester Vocational Tech. The drafting dept had just purchased an Apple IIe, with two floppy drives, a monitor with a green monochrome screen, and a vicious pen plotter that would eat paper without notice.
2. What is your proudest career moment?
Being nominated for Massachusetts Staffing Employee of the year for 2010 was an honor. Dedication and hard work pays off. Winning the SolidWorks User Group leader award at SolidWorks World 2011 isn’t so much of a career moment, but it was truly an honor and a nice surprise. I put a lot of effort into reaching out to help others, having quality meetings, etc. So my SolidWorks User Group commitments are like my second career, but it’s more like a labor of love, an emotional paycheck. It’s quite flattering to get recognized for such an achievement. I was among numerous SWUG leaders that were just as worthy. I wish I could have shared the award with them all. To all those SWUG leaders, I applaud your efforts! Salud!
3. What goal of yours inspires you most?
Saving the world, of course (is it not everyone’s goal?), but I’ll keep it to “make a difference” and “never give up.” That seems to be working for me. As for past goals…when I opted in to run for Eastern SWUGN representative, I vowed in an e-mail to SWUG leaders in the Northeast (some having no idea who I was), that I would become a CSWP before SolidWorks World. On Sunday morning, before SolidWorks World 2011 officially kicked off, I nailed it! CSWP was mine!
4. How has SolidWorks made a difference in your life?
Lots of ways.
• It has kept me employed in some capacity even through this tough economy
• It has allowed me to work on great projects and interesting things
• It has opened doors for me career-wise that would not have been open if I were still using 2D CAD
• It has made me become a more efficient and better designer
• It has permitted me to gain self employment
• It has helped me network with many like minded users I now call friends to share ideas and collaborate with
• It has allowed me to reach even further to users and leaders via the SolidWorks user group network.
5. Do you have a killer SolidWorks tip or trick you’d like to share?
How about in a multi-body part or assembly, if you hold down the shift key, you can pick a surface on a transparent part that has non-transparent parts behind it. Ultimately, it’s the one that helps the user the most, especially when you hear “ahh…I didn’t know SolidWorks could do that”. Not only is that killer; that just rocks!
Riley Lewis, 13 and a quarter years old, is an archery instructor, jazz flutist, blacksmith (in the Victorian style), inventor, and the youngest known user of SolidWorks software. After a 15-minute chat, you want to add genius to the list, but there’s no value in setting apart a bright, articulate, engaging, impressive young man like this. We need him.
He’s quite clearly having the time of his life here at SolidWorks World 2011 among thousands of fellow inventors. When we found him in the Partner Pavilion, he was fiddling with a new 3Dconnexion mouse he got in return for an impromptu demo he gave at their booth.
The seventh-grader at Discovery Charter School in San Jose, Calif., discovered SolidWorks at age 11 when Google SketchUp just wasn’t cutting it for him. For a school project, he’d been modeling a prototype of a device that would clear space junk out of the sky. The prototype included a cantilever arm made of PVC, which turned out to flex too much. “SolidWorks,” he says, “could have told us that ahead of time and saved us fifty bucks and two months.”
About the same time, professional engineer Elise Moss visited his school and offered students a chance to use SolidWorks. Riley, more than anyone, glommed on to it. With the help of SolidWorks materials definition capabilities, his team ended up replacing the PVC pipe with an aluminum pool pole and a special quick-release mechanism Riley designed. That helped his team earn fourth place in a competition involving 250 teams in three age categories. “It was pretty important for us to use SolidWorks in that competition,” Riley says. “I had been using Google SketchUp for a while and found it wooden and limited. SolidWorks had so many options and the usability was great.”
Okay, cool, that explains why he’s using SolidWorks, but why was an 11-year-old cadding things up in the first place?
“I love being creative,” he says, almost levitating from his chair in the Internet Café. “I’ve been building stuff since age four. It doesn’t matter what it is, any medium, I will be able to build something in it.” You believe him.
His first creation was a tower of blocks with a catapult on top. It was evidently a fully functioning one. “I managed to whack my brother in the nose with it.” Later, Riley built a writing device based on a Victorian draftsman’s pen. And now? “I want to bring my latest prototype to market. It’s an unpickable lock.”
Yes, he picks locks. He taught himself using what he calls online “curriculums,” some from MIT. He can very completely, precisely and convincingly explain how his lock design is better; it goes over your head, however, if you’re not as technical as you’d like to be. He knows of no picks that can defeat his design and no other locks that are unpickable.
We mention a lock brand.
“Give me five seconds,” he says.
He’s just as agile with a bow. He says he can skewer a grapefruit with an arrow at 70 yards. He proud of that, but he’s generous with his acumen. He loves helping doubtful newbies learn to hit bull’s eyes.
He’d also like to help some other folks – like, you know, folks making locks. Maybe their customers would like them to be unpickable. Maybe Riley's design is worth a look. We got 15 minutes with him, and it’s 15 minutes we wouldn’t trade. We need him. And as with the bow and arrow, he can’t miss.
The third and final general session of SolidWorks World 2011 was packed with updates. Honestly, I'm not sure how they managed to fit so much stuff in.
Fielder Hiss welcomed everyone and pointed out that President Obama recognized SolidWorks customer Center Rock during the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. Center Rock was one of the companies we highlighted at our Monday general session for their work in the rescue of the miners in Chile. Again it shows the impact our users have in the world.
First up for today were Mike Puckett and Avelino Rochino from the SolidWorks certification team. Over 35,000 designers are SolidWorks certified, and a video highlighted some of their work. They then brought on stage Matt Perez who has achieved the designation of Certified SolidWorks Expert. Matt's from Virginia Tech, is very active in the design community, even creatining video tutorials and posting them on the web for free. Matt says his motivation was to go past the "how to's" and look at the "why's" and "what's" in designing with SolidWorks. Jeremy Luchini came on stage to present Matt with a paintball gun like the ones used in the opening video and a radio controlled toy truck.
Jeremy stayed on stage and started to relate how close the SolidWorks community truly is. He begain to look at the six degrees of separation, when actor Kevin Bacon walked on stage to show him how it should be done. Bacon talked about the high degree of collaboration needed in making a movie, and how as an actor he needs to establish a clear vision of what he wants to do, and then work with the director and crew to make it happen. Kevin also spoke about his website SixDegrees.org where individuals can volunteer or contribute to charities.
After that, Mark Schneider announced the winner of this year's Model Mania contest, then took us through the design solution. This year's winners are:
Customers: 1st Place-Bengt DahlBorg, Edaco AB; 2nd Place-Satakal Khalsa, TriAxial Design and Analysis; 3rd Place-Brian Lindahl, CAD_Speed-Up.
Resellers: 1st Place-Josh Altergott, Computer Aided Technology; 2nd Place-Uwe Thieme, daveg, gmbh; 3rd Place-Michael Burks, MLC CAD Systems.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Next up came a look at new products coming soon from SolidWorks. Fielder gave an overview of SolidWorks Live Buildings, a true 3D tool for the AEC market. This is a brand new conceptual modeling tool for the architecture and construction field, and an exciting new direction for SolidWorks. Neil Cooke took us through a live demo.
Next was a demonstration of our newest product, SolidWorks n!Fuze. This was first shown last year when it was called SolidWorks Product Data Sharing. It's an online application that makes it easy to share files and collaborate with large teams, and I'll post a more detailed update later.
Everyone's favorite part of the preview came up next--what's coming up in SolidWorks 2012. This year the creativity was really flowing, as the team did a parody of the TV show "Cops" with a video called "CAD Cops." I won't get into everything the team showed, but some of the features that got the most applause were improvements for creating balloon order, magnet lines, view label reuse, and sheet metal enhancements.
Next came the top ten list of enhancements and changes as requested by customers on the SolidWorks forum. Bruce Holway had members of the product development team present the list. Can you guess what the top request was? "Angle mates that don't flip at random." Other items getting applause were "File compatibilty between versions", "Convert solid body into a surface body without having to delete, offset, or knit faces", "Enhanced equations input, and editing and linking", and "Better utilize processor cores."
The session closed out with stories about some of the amazing ways SolidWorks is being used in education. There are now over 1,000,000 education licenses around the world. Jeff Ray talked about Riley Lewis, an exceptional 13-year-old who has become a SolidWorks whiz, and is using his skills to help design things for his father's company.
We also heard about Federal University of Minas Gervais in Brazil that's using SolidWorks to design world-record-breaking experimental aircraft, and consulting with Red Bull racing pilots who set four new world records. And finally, we heard about Ben Gulak, an MIT student who has two companies making some amazing new vehicles. His working prototype of "Uno"--a motorized electric unicycle won 2nd prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and was named one of the Top 10 products of 2008 by Popular Science magazine. A second vehicle--"The Shredder"--is part tank, part skateboard, and part motorbike. A consumer version is scheduled for later this year, and Ben is working with the US Air Force Academy on a military version.
And last, but not least, we found out that SolidWorks World is going back to San Diego next year.
It's been an exciting few days here in San Antonio, and hopefully you've learned about some of the things we're most excited about. Stay tuned for the day 3 video later.
Bye!
The second day of SolidWorks World 2011 started off with Richard Doyle, who manages the SolidWorks User Group Network, hailing the local SolidWorks user communities. The "User Group of the Year Award" went to the Chicago SolidWorks User Group and was accepted by its leader Denny Bahl. Ed Gebo from the Connecticut SolidWorks User Group was recognized as the "User Group Leader of the Year." Then Phil Sluder, owner of Triaxial Design & Analysis, paid special tribute to Michelle Pillers, an inspirational user group member who passed away. He then presented the 2010 Michelle Pillers SWUGN Community award to Wayne Tiffany. As the segment concluded, Fielder Hiss emphasized how important and influential the local user communities are. Congratulations, to all the recipients!
Next up, SolidWorks's founder Jon Hirschtick introduced us to some really cool customers. The first SolidWorks customer, Dr. Bill Townsend, founder, president, & CEO of Barrett Technologies told us about his quest to take us from Robots 1.0 - robots kept away from people - to Robots 2.0 - robots that work around people, where robots can respond and follow forces for greater interaction. Bill showed how his company has reduced the control and motor electronics from a cabinet the size of a refigerator, to an assembly the size of a hockey puck.
Next on stage with Jon was Rony Abovitz, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of MAKO Surgical. When Rony started out, his vision was to use robotics and software to make surgery better. Now his company's human interactive robotic device for orthopedic surgery has been used in more than 6,000 procedures. Jon and Rony were joined on stage by Sam Brooks who was walking 2 hours after knee surgery and playing golf 3 days later.
Jon next brought out Mike Pisani, Senior Vehicle Engineer and Head Builder Trainer for Local Motors, a company who builds cars based on crowdsourced design efforts. With an online community now numbering 9,500 users, Local Motors sources the expertise of transportation designers, engineers, and enthusiasts to design a car in 2 years, versus the 5 to 7 years it usually takes. Once a design is set, only 2,000 cars will be produced. Mike told us that the Local Motors model smashes the wall between design and engineering to create better cars faster.
The morning finished up with Darren Henry of SolidWorks bringing out Casey Pieretti and Bill Spracher from the new Discovery Channel show Bionic Builders. Casey, a Hollywood stuntman and amputee, and Bill, an Engineer/Inventor, related how they push the envelope to build appendages that make their amputee clients not just perform usual tasks, but rock climb, scuba dive, run faster, jump higher. Casey spoke of how he got into stunt work, and now works in movies getting his leg blown up as he's thrown through the air, all with engineering designs created by Bill.
Watch for video from the Day 2 General Session later today.
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