If a picture tells a thousand words, an animation tells a million!
Recently, I had a discussion with several SolidWorks users about unique ways of exploring and showcasing SolidWorks models, and noticed a common hesitancy when the conversation turned to using animations. To my amazement, this hesitancy came from premonitions that creating
... ContinuedFlower Power from Parrot offers better living through technology—for your house plants
SolidWorks customer Parrot got a lot of press lately when their new AR Drones created a 3D map of the Paris Air Show. It was a great example of how two cutting-edge technologies could come together to do something new.
... ContinuedWith Dinamo Group and TEKNIKER, Your Museum Guide Could Be a Robot
As some of you travel to new destinations this summer, you may go to a museum or two. You may even decide to take tour. Imagine that your tour was run by a cute robot that guides you through different
... ContinuedDesigning machines? Does Event Based Motion ring a bell?
One of the big challenges for machine designers is to understand and test how a design will interact in real life before it goes into production. There is no prototype in machine design. It’s a one-off– large and expensive, and
... ContinuedSolidWorks Modeling Methodology – Part 2
In my previous article we talked about all of the items we need to consider; Manufacturing, Features, Assemblies and Drawings. For our part that we are going to design we had some knowledge of the Manufacturing and Features of the
... ContinuedThe Digger is Your Friend!
In SolidWorks Composer, the Digger is a great tool to use for highlighting various components in your assemblies. Just like a detail view, the Digger can be used to zoom in on components in relation to your entire assembly. However,
... ContinuedStandard Views without Zoom-to-fit
When using standard views in SolidWorks from the Orientation dialog via SPACEBAR, the resulting view of the model is normally Zoom to fit. This is regardless to the zoom level of the current view. So, if I’m zoomed in to
... ContinuedLarge Assemblies Made Easy with SolidWorks
Imagine this scenario: your manager has tasked you with a project to create a complex 3D model of your company’s product consisting of a variety of components, but you don’t have a tool that’s powerful enough to easily handle a
... ContinuedFersa Bearings shortens design cycles by 75% with SolidWorks
The global economy can be described by three key factors: quality, price and time. What does it mean for the production industry? Fersa Bearings, a Spanish family owned business in the automotive sector, faces the same challenges-but is perfectly positioned
... ContinuedSolidWorks Simulation: Transient Sensors
In SolidWorks 2013, now you can define sensors which can store transient data from thermal simulations, drop tests, non-linear simulations and dynamics simulation. Due to nature of simulations which support transient data, this new sensor is supported in SolidWorks Simulation
... ContinuedCome Out and See Me – Here's Where I'll Be
My favorite part of the job is traveling too and speaking at SolidWorks User Group meetings. Throw in 10 (or so) SWUGN Summit events, and I can stay happy all year. The next few months are very busy, and there's
... ContinuedSolidWorks Composer in the Pump Industry
I just talked with a SolidWorks Composer customer with a pump, pipe, and valve company. He is a service manager who needs to create and conduct training with hundreds of reseller field service members who directly support their end users
... ContinuedHow to Roll Back a Revision in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM
Workflows in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (EPDM) are designed to be pretty linear. Files start in the initial state in your workflow, cycle through your company’s approval process and end up in the released/approved sate at the end, where they are
... ContinuedThis Week in the SolidWorks User Group Network (07/08 – 07/12)
I'm in the office this week, but that changes dramatically starting with the SWUGN Summit – Denver on the 16th, and continuing on through the SWUGN Summit – Minneapolis in late August. In between, I will visit SolidWorks User Groups
... ContinuedHow to Replace the Viewport Compass with your Company Logo
Have you ever wanted to replace the boring viewport compass with something else like your company logo? First import your 3D Company logo (if you have one) into Composer and then save it as a Project (.smgXml), this will create
... Continued