CAD XPERTS

SolidWorks Media Meet 2011 - India

2011-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had an opportunity to attain the media meeting of D S SolidWorks Corp. The most exciting was to meet CEO Mr. Bertrand Sicot. The event was organized to have discussion with the Indian media representatives. I am really happy to get opportunity to attain event as an editor of DailyCADCAM along with the media representatives across India.

Mr. Bertrand Sicot

The event started with the key note presentation by Bertrand Sicot. He officially announced the launch of SolidWorks 2012. It was great to have Mr. Bertrand Sicot to unveil SolidWorks 2012 in India, it is rarely seen that CEO of CAD vendor coming India to have such a wonderful launch for their product. Such initiative would definitely have positive impact on design community in India.

He gave brief introduction about company and its products. He shared the history of company, said that ‘company was founded in 1993 and shipped first SolidWorks seat in 1995. In 1997 company was acquired by Dassault Systems’. Mr Bertrand started his career at DS SolidWorks in 1997 as the regional sales manager; he is ‘second employee’ of DS SolidWorks Europe. Company was primarily working on providing design tool to engineers with the time and through constant feedbacks from clients on their requirement to work more efficiently, making better decisions throughout the product development process have added various products to its portfolio like

• Enterprise PDM – manages and synchronizes design data, enhances collaboration
• SolidWorks Sustainability – helps to design ‘green’ products by controlling key environmental indicators: Carbon footprint, total energy consumed, impacts to air and impacts to water
• SolidWorks Simulation – Tool to perform virtual testing and analysis
• SolidWorks Flow Simulation – CFD Solution
• 3DVIA Composer – technical documentation and communication tool

The most amazing I find about SolidWorks is that it adds up to 200 to 400 new features in every release within the span of just few months for next release. The SolidWorks 2012 has 200 enhancements. Mr. Bertrand gave the overview on the new features introduced in the latest version (Would cover the top enhancements in details separately on my blog)

Visit DailyCADCAM for more articles, videos on SolidWorks 2012 enhancements - http://www.dailycadcam.com/categories/57/tutorials

While taking about SolidWorks World 2011, he remembered about Matt Lombard a renowned blogger who asked him about ‘why he is not Certified SolidWorks Professional even after having a technical background?’ So, he promised Matt that he would get it by next SolidWorks World. Really great he did it! And still few months to go for 2012 event. He told that he failed at second stage, tried again and at last got certified. He thanked Marie Planchard for guiding him for the certification. Signing own CSWP certificate as CEO might have been a wonderful moment!

Sharon Toh & CEO

Next to present was Sharon Toh, GM South Asia Region DS SolidWorks Corp. Sharon has around 25 years of experience in CAD, CAM, PLM industry. She directs the region’s growth strategies by ensuring its sales, technical, marketing and education teams.

Sharon gave an overview on the financial data, revenue by geography and milestones achieved by SolidWorks. Asia Pacific showed very positive response with USD 90.4 million revenue generated in 2010 and said ‘Indian market has showed interesting growth rate for last few years’. She explained the process of handling a customer request for new enhancements.

SolidWorks Market in India

Mr. Manoj Mehta (Country Manager, India and SAARC Operations) gave the overview on the SolidWorks market in India. SolidWorks entered India in 2002. All the activities were handled from Singapore office. In 2006 SolidWorks officially started its work in India. Today, there are 28 VARs and 17 education partners in India. At present 400 employees serve the company and team is expanding very fast.
Coming to educational market, at present 500 reputed engineering colleges are training their students on SolidWorks. Number to be noted as SolidWorks is not providing the free licenses to students still having 500 is a great respect shown to software. I have seen most IITians learning the tool, having projects using SolidWorks and Flow Simulation.

Now, if you are an engineering student and interested in learning SolidWorks, please visit CADD Center in your city. CADD Center is official training partner for SolidWorks.

SolidWorks at present has around 2500 customers across India and the list increases by 20 – 25 new customers adding every month. SolidWoks has proved to be the best option for automotive vendors, SMEs, power sector, and consumer goods moving from 2D to 3D. SolidWorks VARs find 80 percent conversion ratio for 2D customers moving on 3D platform.

It was interesting to know that the ttk Prestige and Hawkins pressure cookers are being designed using SolidWorks. Both companies have launched a wide range of products in Indian market.

The list of client is too big, but to mention few are Bharat Electronics, HMT, ACE Group, ELGI, Crompton Greaves, HNGL, THERMAX, Cethar Vesseles, Voltas, Swaraj Mazda, Tata Marcopolo Motors.

Last few months it was seen that the city buses in Pune are getting better with the time. Better looks, seating, easy access, and interiors. Today, the secret got revealed that those buses are designed and manufactured by Tata Marcopolo Motors using SolidWorks(collaboration between Tata and Marcopolo Motors Brazil)

Next to follow was Mr. Ravi Varadrajan Sr. Country Technical Manager – India & SAARC Countries. He gave brief explanation on the various enhancements in SolidWorks 2012.

Ravi Varadrajan, Sharon Toh, Bertrand Sicot, Manoj Mehta

Later there was a question answer session with media representatives. Most questions from media were on the market share in India. Mr. Bertrand did not present the figures, but said it is growing market for SolidWorks and happy with the growth in the region.

I am not happy with few media representatives, those who do not care to do their homework on ‘SolidWorks’ and just go on asking anything that comes to their mind! That may be because of lack of experience to cover technical/engineering news. Anyway!

I had opportunity, to ask few questions to CEO.

Sachin: What are your plans for AEC Industry in India?

Mr. Bertrand: We have announced SolidWorks Live Buildings, an offering for the AEC industry. We are working on it. We can’t reveal further details on the product at present.

Sachin: There are around 10,000 engineering colleges in India, you covered around 500. Do you have any plans to give away free educational licenses to reach every student?

Mr. Bertrand: We do not believe in giving away free licenses. Educational licenses are not a source of income for us and sell educational versions at very low price. We believe in quality training and taking maximum efforts to provide proper training by guiding and training faculty members of colleges and see students are benefited. Do you agree?

I said yes! Actually, I am yet to decide about. What is your opinion? But, I agree the fact that the college faculty teaching software to students must be trained. Otherwise it’s of no use.

With DS SW CEO

It was really interesting to know more about SolidWorks. Thanks for giving me opportunity to meet SolidWorks CEO.

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Cradle Announces CFD Training Seminar Series in India for Oct, Nov 2011

2011-09-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cradle announces CFD training seminar series in India between October and November. Cradle CFD software are one of the most popular CFD packages in Japan. By attending one of these seminars, users will learn the basic operation and advanced capabilities of the software in 2 days and help you jump start using Cradle CFD. All the attendee will get 3-month trial license. Register by September 23, 2011 and GET MAXIMUM OF 40% DISCOUNT!!

Know more about Cradle CFD software, visit www.cradle-cfd

Courses:

In addition to basic operations of each software and unique techniques, each course will focus on the following items:

SC/Tetra (unstructured FVM solver):

- Various moving elements (motion) technologies, mesh adaptation, and more

sc STREAM(structured FVM solver):

- Various functions useful for Indoor HVAC and external flow

(Humidity, solar radiation, diffusion, ventilation efficiency, power law flow profile and more)

HEAT Designer (structured FVM solver):

- Functions necessary for electronics cooling simulation

(Radiation, thermal circuit model, utilization of Gerber data)

* Please refer to the following link for details of each course agenda and for registration.

http://www.cradle-cfd.com/events/seminars.html

Schedules:

Pune

- SC/Tetra: Oct 24-25, 2011

- scSTREAM: Oct 27-28, 2011

New Delhi

- SC/Tetra: Oct 31, 2011 and Nov 1, 2011

- scSTREAM: Nov 2-3, 2011

- HEAT Designer: Nov 4-5, 2011

Bangalore

- SC/Tetra: Nov 8-9, 2011

- scSTREAM: Nov 10-11, 2011

Chennai

- SC/Tetra: Nov 14-15, 2011

- scSTREAM: Nov 16-17,2011

- HEAT Designer: Nov 18-19, 2011

TIME:

9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

FEE:

$1,500 USD per person for 2 days (complementary lunches and dinner on the 1st day)

$150 USD for academia

*You will get 3-month trial license with the full support service after the seminar

DISCOUNTS (multiple discounts available):

1. Register by September 26th and get 20% off (*1)

2. Cradle CFD user under Altair HWPA gets 20% off (instead of 3-month trial license and one needs to download the program)

*1: The payment needs to be made by September 26thhttp://www.cradle-cfd.com/events/seminars.html

AutoCAD 2012 for Mac - Free Trial

2011-08-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Finally on 8.16 Autodesk expands their Mac portfolio by releasing AutoCAD 2012 for Mac, AutoCAD LT for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac. It’s really big news for Mac users. AutoCAD for Mac 2012 and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be available worldwide on August 19th, 2011. Before going to buy these software on Mac App Store users can try the AutoCAD 2012 for Mac for free 30 days trial.

AutoCAD for Mac has 3D design and drafting tools. The majority of the AutoCAD 2012 features have been brought over to AutoCAD for Mac 2012, few missing features are Sheet Set support and dynamic blocks. It has an intuitive UI and supports Multi-Touch gestures. Users can share files regardless of platform with native support for DWG technology.

Features:

-Native Support for Mac OS
-3D Free-Form Design Tools
-Native Support for DWG
-Network Licensing Options
-Productivity Tools
-Rendering Tools
-Associative Array Functionality
-Parametric Drawing
-Customization Support

Free trail available for both professionals and students. Free registration required.

Download Link.http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/download/item?siteID=123112&id=17335606

Siemens PLM Connection 2011 India - An Overview

2011-08-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

I attained the Siemens PLM Connection 2011 India in Pune, one of the biggest learning and networking events in India for CAD professionals. This year the event was organized in following three cities in India.

August 9, 2011 - The Westin, Gurgaon
August 11, 2011 - Taj Residency, Bangalore
August 13, 2011- Hyatt Regency, Pune

It was full day event at Hyatt Regency. One of the things that interest me at the pavilion was the exhibition of products designed for design contest using Solid Edge ST and NX. It was nice to see the large attendees for the event, around 500 design professionals were present! This year’s tag line was “Smarter Decisions Better Products” It was enough to say that the old days of using just CAD software for product design are gone and time to think beyond CAD…i.e. PLM!

The event was divided in four sub-tracks, so as to cater the audience according to their interest. This was really good initiative in favor of audience. The four tracks were

1) Design Solutions
2) Manufacturing (Including Tooling/CAM/Digital Manufacturing)
3) Design Simulation (CAE)
4) Digital Lifecycle Management (PDM/ Collaboration/Visualization)

I thought of getting more insights about the PLM and so attained the ‘Digital Lifecycle Management’ track. When I entered the presentation on what’s new in Teamcenter 8.3 and 9.0 versions was ON. Nice to know about the enhancements in document management, visualization, project management, Stylesheets, platform extensibility services, improved installation and upgrade, system engineering, manufacturing process management and Mechatronics. The TeamCenter v9.0 is expected to be released in Feb 2012.

In May, 2011 Siemens PLM Software partnered with Cortona3D. RapidAuthor products from Corona3D would be integrated with TeamCenter 9 to improve productivity, quality and cost related to the content management and technical documentation.

There was presentation from IBM. Also, there was interesting demo by Moldex3D in Design Simulation and Design tracks.

The next presentation followed was on customization with and without coding using BMIDE and customer case study presented by Tata Motors.

Apart from knowing more about the TeamCenter. It was really an awesome event for networking, was able to meet few friends and professionals from industry, like Tata motors, Tata Technologies, DesignTech Systems, Forbes Marshell, Mahendra Engineering, Thermax and others.

For more events on Automotive, CAD, CAM, CAE, CFD and PLM in India, visit http://www.dailycadcam.com/events

An Interview with Brandon Liu, Regional Manager World Sales of CoreTech Systems (Moldex3D)

2011-08-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Brandon Liu Regional Manager World Sales for CoreTech System Co., Ltd. Taiwan. The company provides professional CAE analysis solution "Moldex3D" series for the plastic injection molding industry. The CoreTech is company with original ideas trying to give best possible tool for the plastics injection molding industry, with the best-in-class analysis technology.

The company now has very good presence in India, and lots of efforts are taken to promote Moldex3D through various events and other channels. Last week in SolidWorks Design Validation Day 2011 in Pune, India, I got opportunity to know more about the Moldex3D and was lucky to get chance to speak Brandon Liu, Now it is my great pleasure to share with you what I found about company, and their vision. Here is the interview.

Brandon, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company?

Sure, I am the regional manager for Moldex3D, majored in industrial design and started to work in automotive industry after graduated.

I joined CoreTech few years back, and now take care of both technical support and business development in SAARC and ASEAN region, especially India and Malaysia.

CoreTech was founded in 1995 with the vision to provide a fully integrated solution and the high quality service to meet customers' specific needs. Today, the Moldex3D line of products is sold broadly around the world and we are Asia's biggest provider of CAE simulation software for injection molding.

What is Moldex3D series?

We have developed very unique and reliable range of products under the title ‘Moldex3D’ which includes, "eXplorer" a CAD-embedded product that allows CAD users to perform quick filling analysis for designing better plastic parts.

A suite of tools called “eDesign” to simulate your part and mold design before manufacturing starts. Then, “eDesignSYNC” is an eDesign interface fully embedded in CAD software to bring a seamless workflow from design to Moldex3D simulation. And we have our advance engineering simulation tool “Solid/Shell” for in-depth analysis of the molding processes.

Which is the best selling tool from Moldex3D series?

Moldex3D eDesign is most popular and best selling tool, Moldex3D/eDesign’s automatic meshing technology generates high quality 3D mesh automatically. It is very easy for CAD users to setup analysis with just few clicks. The tool is capable identifying potential molding problems like short shots, air traps, weld lines, warpage etc. Moldex3D eDesign supports parallel computing technology to reduce analysis time and is capable of automatic report generation.

Which main stream CAD packages are supported?

Interesting that you ask this question. Moldex3D tools are fully embedded tool for mainstream CAD like Creo Parametric, SolidWorks and NX and soon be available for the other CAD software. It supports IGES, STEP and STL file format.

How do you see India as a market?

The Indian market is fascinating because it offers significant opportunities with its increased economic development and industrialization. Projects, especially in the areas of Automobile – all major brands are having their manufacturing plants in India - as well as telecommunications, water conservation, utilities, energy, agriculture equipments, toys and house hold products are all on the rise.

We also understand that each market segment is different. While we address our targeted market segments through a suite of solutions, we also believe that we may find new segments that have more critical needs to apply Moldex3D’s core technologies.

How do you serve the Indian Industry through resellers’ network?

Committed to provide the advanced technologies and solution for industrial demands, we started in India around seven years back by appointing one reseller. In 2009, we had major expansion by adding few more resellers in various parts of India. Today, our partners are with good training, service, and support facility to sustain future growth and support the customer long term.

Our team from Taiwan along with reseller’s team provides the training required by customer in specific domain. And, we also have good online tech support for our customers.

What would you like to say to DailyCADCAM users and professionals from India?

We are overwhelmed by the enthusiasm expressed by CAE specialists and future users from India. We are constantly pursuing the best performance of simulation technology. Please don’t hesitate to discuss with the Moldex3D authorized resellers and support staffs near you.

I would like to thank Brandon Liu for taking the time to answer my questions. If you have any questions on Moldex3D or DailyCADCAM, please write on the mail ids given below and we will be glad to answer.

brandonliu@moldex3d.com

sachin@dailycadcam.com - Editor DailyCADCAM

Moldex3D Website: http://www.moldex3d.com/jla/en/index.php

Join Siemens PLM Connection (Bangalore Aug 11, 2011 and Pune Aug 13, 2011) for LIVE presentation on Moldex3D.

http://www.splmconnectionindia2011.com/Agenda.htm
http://www.moldex3d.com/jla/en/index.php

Cradle’s ‘Mission India’ - Announces Live Seminars on CFD in Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi

2011-07-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cradle, Japan based CFD solutions Provider Company is organizing half day (4hrs) seminars in various cities in India. These half day seminars are no-charge learning events designed to educate managers about how to effectively integrate CFD into research and design engineering. The seminar includes such topics as
1. The Benefits and Limitations of CFD
2. Mistakes and Lessons Learned
3. Structured and Unstructured Solvers and Applications in Electronics, Architecture, Automotive, Turbomachinery, and more
4. Licensing and Pricing...whether you're interested in buying or not... this information is imperative for understanding the business case
Five seminars are initially being offered in following cities.

• August 2, 2011 in Pune, Maharashtra, India

• August 8, 2011 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

• August 10, 2011 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India

• August 12, 2011 in Chennai, Tamil, Nadu, India

• August 17, 2011 in New Delhi, Delhi, India

Agenda:

2:00 - 2:30 Registration
2:30 - 2:45 Company Introduction
2:45 - 3:15 Does CFD really benefit a company?
* Benefits of CFD
* Mistakes companies often make
* Limitations and/or potential of CFD
3:15 - 4:30 Introduction to Cradle CFD
* Structured solver (STREAM & HEAT
Designer
* Unstructured solver (SC/Tetra)
* Demonstration
* Advanced features (automation,
optimization, FSI, multi physics
4:30 - 4:40 Break
4:40 - 5:10 Electronics and Architectural applications
* Electronics
* Indoor
* Home HVAC, museum, shopping
center, offices, data center
* Outdoor
* Wind load, flooding, external
air flow, pollutants
5:10 - 5:40 Automotive and Machinery applications
* Automotive
* Turbomachinery
* Other
5:40 - 5:55 Business Aspects
* Licensing and Cost
* Academic Program
* Training
* Altair HWPA
5:55 - 6:00 Wrap-up

It’s good opportunity for Design/CFD professionals to learn and understand the basic concepts behind CFD with Cradle.
Locations:

Tuesday,
August 2, 2011 Pune Regus
6th Floor Tower Two, Magarpatta City, Hadapsar
Pune, Maharashtra, India
+91 20 40147800

Monday,
August 8, 2011 Hyderabad Regus
1st Floor Mid Town Plaza, Road No. 1, Banjara Hills
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
+91 40 4433 4433

Wednesday,
August 10, 2011 Bangalore Regus
Level 1, Tower B The Millenia, 1 & 2 Murphy Road, Ulsoor
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
+91 80 4022 4022

Friday,
August 12, 2011 Chennai Regus
Level 6, 10/11 Dr. Radhakrishna Salai
Chennai, Tamil, Nadu, India
+91 44 42218221

Wednesday,
August 17, 2011 New Delhi Regus
4th Floor Rectangle No.1, Behind Marriot Hotel Saket
Commercial Complex D4, Saket
New Delhi, Delhi, India
:+91 11 4051 4051

• Free registration required ---- limited seats.
• For more details on events please write to ando@cradle-cfd.com
Visit: http://www.cradle-cfd.com/events/seminars_India.html

Solid Edge Design (Image) Contest

2011-06-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

Siemens PLM India has organized the “Solid Edge Design (Image) Contest” for the Solid Edge users and design professionals. The contestants need to use Solid Edge to create design entry. The contest provides opportunity for showing your creativity, applying design techniques and displaying your innovations.

Follow the steps to send successful entry.

- Submit your rendered images/.par/.asm/.psm files designed in SE

- Mail your submission to info@solidedgedesignfest.com

- Selected submissions would be invited to demonstrate at the Solid Edge Design Fest Locations

Solid Edge Design Fest

July 12, 2011 Pune Auto Cluster

July 14, 2011 Bangalore Hotel Shereton

July 15, 2011 Gurgaon Epi Center

http://www.solidedgedesignfest.com/DesignContest.htm?stc=wwiia420000

Last date to submit entries is June 27, 2011

Mega Price: Workstations/laptops for winners at each location and Apple iPad and iPhones for runners up.

If interested and not having SolidEdge license contact: info@solidedgedesignfest.com

Hurry up! Contest closing soon!

NX - Redefining Design Productivity – Seminars, India

2011-06-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

A good initiative by Siemens PLM, they are organizing seminars in the Tier II cities in India like Kolhapur, Rajkot, Vadodara and others. It is good opportunity for design professionals from these places to experience the power of NX live! There is lot of scope for growth in these areas as lot of industrial developments coming up after efforts from Govt. to help companies to flourish in rural areas to balance growth.

Seminar Covers:

- Siemens PLM Software NX Overview

- NX Tooling & CAM

- NX CAE

- Discussion with experts

Few events from the below list are already over, but please take advantage of the remaining seminars in your area.

· Rajkot, June 7, 2011, Hotel The Grand Regency

· Chandigarh, June 8, 2011, Taj Chandigarh

· Vadodara, June 8, 2011, The Gateway Hotel

· Kolkata, June 10, 2011, The Park

· Kolhapur, June 10, 2011, Hotel Raysons Regency

· New Delhi, June 15, 2011, Crowne Plaza Today

Please join me on June, 10 Friday at Hotel Raysons Regency, Kolhapur.

Venue:

Hotel Raysons Regency
New Shahupuri
Kolhapur, Maharashtra

SolidWorks Simulation Seminar - Pune

2011-06-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

Join the SolidWorks team for a complementary seminar in Pune. This seminar will focus on utilizing the SolidWorks Simulation tool for powering your design. Also, an opportunity to know more about Mold Simulation Techniques by MOLDEX3D.

Date: June 8, 2011 Wed (9.30 am to 5.00pm)

Seminar highlights:

- Customer Case Studies showcasing how your industry peers have benefited

- Product Demo

- “By invitation only” seminars, ensure a quality audience

- Networking opportunity with SolidWorks experts and your industry peers

AGENDA

09:30 am - 10:00 am	Registration
10:00 am - 10:30 am	Welcome & Opening - Mr.Ajinkya Huddar-MD (Pelf Infotech Pvt.Ltd)
10:30 am - 10:45 am	Power Your Design With Simulation
10:45 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am	Simulation & Analysis.Benefits (Prof. Prashant Date .IIT Mumbai)
11:30 am - 12:30 pm	SolidWorks Simulation Presentation 1 ( Mr. Rajesh Adhyapak)
12:30 am - 01:00 pm	Customer Case Study : Mr. S. M. Tambekar (Dir. Sneha Bearings)
01:00 pm - 02:00 pm	Lunch
02:00 pm - 02:30 pm	SolidWorks User Community----A Forum for All CAD Users
02:30 pm - 03:00 pm	SolidWorks Simulation Presentation 2 ( Mr. Vipul Sarode)
03:00 pm - 03:30 pm	Guest Lecture on Simulation
03:30 pm - 04:00 pm	Mold Simulation Techniques - By MOLDEX3D: Mr. Brandon Liu
04:00 pm - 04:15 pm	Coffee Break
04:15 pm - 04:30 pm	Working with DELL
04:30 pm - 05:00 pm	QA, Vote of Thanks : Mr.Ajinkya Huddar-MD (Pelf Infotech Pvt.Ltd)

If interested and user of SolidWorks please contact pelf infotech for details: Phone + 91 20 2545 4612 / 2543 9405 E-mail: info@pelfinfotech.com
URL: www.pelfinfotech.com

http://www.pelfinfotech.com/dvd2011event_registration.htm

CAx Developers Meet 'GeomTech 2011 Pune' Dates Announced

2011-02-14T00:40:00.000-08:00

The GeomTech 2011 will take place in Pune on July 1 - 2, 2011 at hotel Le Meridien.

The event is a gold mine of contemporary ideas for developers and industry professionals working on CAx technologies. The GeomTech is an opportunity to learn about latest technologies, best practices and next practices in CAx application, development and testing.

The meet has tracks that will appeal to:

• CAD, CAM, CFD, CAE, CSM Students
• CAx Developers
• CAx Testing Professionals
• Research Scholars
• Business Executives from CAx Industry

Registration and sponsorship opportunities for Asia's biggest CAx Developers Meet available now. Please check following link for more details.

http://geomtech.org/sponsors-exhibitors/sponsorship-opportunity.html

Contact - Dr. Narendra Deore Organizing Secretary - GeomTech 2011
sponsorships@geomtech.org
narendra@cctech.co.in
Ph: +91 20 40098381/82
Mobile: +91-96577 07616
http://geomtech.org/

Pelf Infotech, India Wins 100% Club Award at SolidWorks World 2011 for the Outstanding Performance in Asia Pacific Region

2011-02-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

“The achievement of this prestigious award is the outcome of entire Pelf Infotech team and the enormous support from our customers” . Mr. Ajinkya Huddar (M. D. )and Mrs. Himani Huddar (Director).

Feb 7, Pune. Pelf Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (PIPL) a leading 3D solution provider company and channel partner of Dassault Systemes’ SolidWorks based at Pune won 100% Club award at SolidWorks World 2011 held in San Antonio, Texas, USA for the year 2010. This award is given for the outstanding performance in Asia Pacific region. SolidWorks is a leading 3D CAD Solution provider with over 1.5 million users worldwide. Over 500+ customers including Defence, L&T, Honeywell, etc. Are already using this technology.

Mr. Ajinkya Huddar-Managing Director (Pelf Infotech) who received the award said that this award indicates the efforts added by his team members and the enormous support from PIPL’s customers. He also added that this year they will be coming up with cloud computing based solutions and software for AEC/building constructions industry.

About PELF INFOTECH : ‘Value Added Resellers’ of Dassault Systemes for SolidWorks 3D Design, Product Data Management, Design Validation and Documentation Solutions in the Western India region.

SolidWorks 3D CAD Solutions incorporates intuitive features that help you design better products, enhance design capabilities, increase productivity, facilitate 2D to 3D transition and to reduce design time with focus on Design intent.

SolidWorks Simulation, Pelf offer comprehensive Analysis solutions for your Design Validation needs that are aimed at enhancing product optimization and reducing need of physical prototyping.

Enterprise PDM is a data management tool which helps in managing design revisions and also easy retrival of the design data.

3DVIA Composer is a documentation tool which can be used for generating User manuals , Training documents , Maintenance and production manuals in text as well as video format.

Pelf Infotech focused to provide complete solution to its customers from different verticals at one single platform.

Moldex3D : Complete solution for mould designing and analysis. It is a great tool which works on the top of SolidWorks and offers user-friendly environment for designers in Plastic Injection Moulding.

Logopress3: A solution for sheet metal stamping and die designing

Smap 3D: Piping and routing solution

CADEC: Design Automation Solution

CAMWorks: A complete CAM solution to work on top of SolidWorks. Supported by an able team of Technical Professionals, we offer CAD services along with pre and post-sales support for SolidWorks.

You can visit Pelf on http://www.pelfinfotech.com/ for further reference.

No End to Seasons Sale - CATIA Ansys for $2.2 Only

2011-01-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

I had gone to Deccan area; one of the happening places in the Pune city this weekend. I saw a roadside CD and DVD seller. The pirate! Actually, I have seen pirates selling Hindi and English movies, games CDs few times on same place. Many time in the past when Bollywood industry took objection on piracy the government started special drives to crab such pirates. However, the pirates flourish again within few weeks.

The street is famous spot for youngsters and food lovers with a lot of shopping options and hotels. Place is not famous for getting pirated software like few places in Mumbai. But this time, I was surprised to see them selling CATIA, Ansys and Pro/E software on footpath. Few years back; it was just difficult to get pirated software in Pune or any other small city in India. Mostly, locals from Mumbai use to bring the CAD software on demand from colleagues. That time only pirated AutoCAD and Pro/E were easily available within engineering students. In Mumbai also, the pirates never displayed licensed software on their table, we have to ask them for the required packages and follow them to some narrow paths and dark ways to get required software. But, selling openly on road is something shocking! I can’t think of conditions in Mumbai today.

I was not able to control my enthusiasm to know the cost of these CAD packages. So, I went to the stall and started looking for new movies. Mean while I just asked him to show me the CATIA CD hanging there. I asked him about the price of CATIA. Happy, to know that whether CATIA or AutoCAD it costs same - just Rs.100 ($ 2.2). I looked at the CDs displayed; I was not able to see NX, Solid Edge and SolidWorks. So, I asked him for Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology. He was not able to understand ‘Synchronous Technology’ so he handed me bunch of CDs from a plastic bag kept under his table. I was surprised to see every CAD package, even Rhino. SolidWorks 2007.I was happy to see that he is not having SE ST. Otherwise I would have lost my Rs 100!

I told him that I am only interested in Solid Edge, but he insisted me to go for SolidWorks instead and said it’s similar and both are from same company. I smiled looking at him and though same company may be the one which produce such pirated CDs. He then told me to write my requirement in his dairy and said that he will arrange it within 4 days. That is even faster than service from CAD resellers. I feel he would make an excellent sales executive at any CAD reseller, actually lot of vacancies now!

Walking away from the stall I started thinking of why do people pirate software? May be because they can’t afford it! Or it is easily available with pirates. I think if students are using it one can understand that they want to learn it or use it for some academic projects. CAD vendors also understand that. But, still it can’t be supported. They can go for trial versions.

I can see lot of software donations made by CAD vendors to engineering colleges and Universities. One such news I read on CAD Professors blog few days back. Microsoft and Autodesk signed an agreement with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to provide free software to over 10,000 engineering and architectural institutes in the country. I feel such moves from CAD vendors would definitely help to reduce software piracy at student level giving additional benefits to vendor.

Board showing guarantee given on pirated CDs

For, companies using pirated software I feel the price is main criteria to go for piracy. There are lots of excellent low cost or look-a-like 2D/3D CAD packages available now.

Few CAD vendors have also started campaign to spread fear amongst users of pirated software by sending mails to those who are their newsletter subscribers. But not able to hit real users of pirated software. I think the tendency of such users is to get software free of cost then paying even for low cost software. Such companies are not even afraid of civil and criminal law. Are they not aware about the efforts of CAD vendors in developing a CAD package?

CAD vendors are taking efforts to catch such users. One can see, Siemens PLM have taken a good initiative by providing a link on their website to report suspected piracy http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/piracy/index.shtml. So, if you feel your company or someone you know using Siemens PLM’s pirated product can report it. I don’t know how they work after they receive such complaints. I never heard about any news on catching users of pirated software.

Now, almost every company is having their offices in India, I feel CAD vendors must take combine efforts to talk to Government representative on piracy the way bollywood does after every six months. Few cities now even have cyber crime cell with trained officers who can help to raid on pirates.

Coming to best way to get pirated software is online downloads, Internet piracy. Downloading software using internet. Many portals are available to download crack versions of every CAD package. I mean sites like ‘Torrent' I don’t know how and who is going to catch whom for such sites. Even you get marine design package ‘Tribon’ for download on these sites.

Only, thing I want to appeal is say “no to piracy"

Go for using free 2D/3D CAD packages available if your company can’t afford for high investments. There are good 2D packages like DraftSight available for free download.

Will low cost 2D/3D Packages help to reduce piracy? thinking....

I am definitely going to visit pirate again this week, let’s see whether he has got Solid Edge ST or not! If yes I will report it through link provided by Siemens PLM and see what action they take to catch him. Also you can report piracy to Business Software Alliance.

Bertrand Sicot Named as SolidWorks CEO

2011-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Bertrand Sicot has been named SolidWorks CEO. Sicot first joined Dassault Systems in 1997 where he was in charge of regional sales for SolidWorks in Europe. He then expanded the US SolidWorks operations from 2004 to 2007, and since 2007 has been leading the SolidWorks global sales channel.

Bertrand Sicot started his career with IBM in 1989 as sales representative, then in 1994 he joined Computervision as International Account Manager. He later served as Branch Sales Manager in Computervision till 1997.

According to Press release, Jeff Ray is appointed as Executive Vice President, Geographic Operations, and member of the Dassault Systems executive committee. In this newly created position, Ray will oversee the company’s geographies in order to empower the Dassault Systems local teams to serve customers’ and partners’ growing needs and fully exploit the market growth potential. Jeff Ray was appointed CEO of SolidWorks in 2007.

CAD Training to Technology Insight

2010-12-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

With lot of development in Industrial sector and mainly in automotive, energy and aerospace you can find almost all big brand vehicles being manufactured in India now. It’s good to see lot of events, seminars, conferences on CAD software launch are organized in all major cities in India to promote new versions and technologies.

Recently, Siemens PLM organized launch of Solid Edge ST3 in Pune, India. It was nice to see good response that the new Synchronous Technology Three is getting. You can read overview on success of event conducted in Pune on my previous blog post. Today, I want to share few facts that I noticed during seminar and when speaking to few delegates during tea breaks.

I was sitting next to two senior delegates, having age around 50 years. I think they must be either senior managers or directors of some company. Their profile is not important here; important is subject of discussion between them. I came to know that they are users of CAD packages since last 10 years, have worked on 2D CAD software in past and also have experience using history based Solid Edge software, which they purchased before launch of ST1. They like the features of ST3 and seem to be going for it in coming days. But, they were worried about the availability of trained manpower to make better use of Synchronous features to improve productivity.

Sometime it is true that one can handle and drive 150cc bike at good speed and comfort then using 600cc bike with unnecessary power and speed if user doesn’t have knowledge about controls and enough practice to drive it. It is not that SE ST1 and ST2 professionals are not available in India. But, after launch of Synchronous Technology mostly the big companies, OEM’s opted to go for new version. The small vendors and industries are still with parametric or history based tools. So getting a experienced professional is difficult task for small industries, no experienced professional will opt to move from big companies to small vendors.

As you know that SE ST3 has integrated order (history) and synchronous technologies combined, CAD managers are worried that if they give SE ST3 in hands of their existing designers, those having expertise in using ‘parametric tools’ they would naturally follow parametric method to design rather than using Synchronous Technology advantage – 600cc!!!

In 2008, Siemens PLM launched an Authorized Training Partner program in India. The program intends to expand the resource pool of skilled professionals available in the marketplace through the extended training ecosystem. Siemens PLM is aware that customers need both the technology and the talent needed to implement robust PLM, CAD solutions to enhance innovation. But today, when you search for Siemens PLM, or Solid Edge training in India you will find very few good private institute going for the courses and most authorized training institutes are closed. I think Siemens must take initiative to restart training program on large scale. Learning CAD software is still not a great deal but having more dedicated training institutes in ‘PLM’ space is prime requirement. Adding more training partners to bring more skilled resources to the market will help companies more easily and effectively expand their use of PLM.

Last month ‘Autodesk joined hands with AICTE to provide free software to over 10,000 engineering and architectural institutes in India. I think it is good move which would help engineering students to get hands on experience on CAD packages and find better job just after passing final year. Also, such move from Autodesk to provide free students licenses would help to lower piracy. Investment today on students would definitely expand CAD business in India in future.

Today, Pro/E courses are offered in almost all institutes throughout India, but condition might change after launch of ‘Creo’ so, better if PTC starts working on learning/teaching strategies now.

Siemens PLM India has its special training cell conducting training courses for every Siemens PLM product, but many professionals and students looking for the courses are not aware about it. Also, you can see most courses schedule are not updated they still show Solid Edge Version 19.0 Training and nothing mentioned about Synchronous Technology.

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_in/support/training_calendar.shtml

Sub links are broken,

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_in/support/current_courses.shtml

Learning CAD online is still not much popular in design professionals and students, many reasons for that like no local websites/companies providing learning solutions have to pay fees in dollars which is around two – five times more compared to the fees charged by institutes teaching in classroom mode. Non availability of personal CAD packages to practice at home and lack of good broadband service in some areas.

I think CAD vendors must seriously take initiative to generate trained manpower required to fulfill their customers demand. Must support private CAD Institutes, VAR (resellers) and engineering colleges to start certified courses and guide students to better career options.

Please share your thoughts on learning CAD…

Happy cadding!

Sachin Nalawade

www.dailycadcam.com

Overview on Solid Edge ST3 Launch Seminar - Pune

2010-11-25T04:49:00.000-08:00

I attained Siemens PLM seminar on”What’s new in Solid Edge ST3?” on Nov 23, 2010 organized by Siemens and sponsored by 3DConnecxion at Hotel Le Meridien, Pune. It was nice to see large number of delegates present in a hall excited to know about new version; around 300+ professionals from various companies nearby Pune were present to learn more about Siemens new version of Solid Edge with lot of consumer focused enhancements. Design professionals have just heard or read about Synchronous Technology advantages, but such events gives us opportunity to see how easy and quick it is to use SE ST3.

Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology 3 software can be said as a major turning point for 3D design with new modeling paradigm that combined parametric modeling with explicit modeling. It was really amazing to see the development in Synchronous Technology since it was launched in June 2008.

The presenter from Siemens started speech with company’s vision of synchronous technology to fulfill designer’s requirements, accelerating design with overview on various enhancements. It is good to know that the latest version extends synchronous technology into assembly design, integrates ordered features with synchronous modeling and migrates manufacturing drawing dimensions to an associated 3D model.

There were many history based modeling tool users like me present for seminar, and it was nice to see the way the synchronous technology was presented with live examples. Presenter first showed using “Inter-Part Relationship command” to automatically recognized similar geometry between synchronous or imported geometry and creates relationship linking them together. He showed us an example of several holes in mounting plate that can be automatically matched to their counterparts in a bearing mount. Similarly the changes can be automated across multiple parts.

Solid Edge ST3 now provides integrated design environment that lets user add ordered features to synchronous design. Good to see that a single model can contain both ordered and synchronous features. This lets designers use existing methods while leveraging synchronous features with greater flexibility. The same was explained using complex bend part. You may not believe but, moving from ordered features to synchronous is just one click task!

Another amazing feature added to ST3 is “Migrating 2D Dimensions to 3D Models” ST3 can take manufacturing dimensions defined on a 2D drawing and transform them into editable 3D driving dimensions on associated imported 3D models. He showed us using “Create 3D Command” to transfer dimensions from drawing views to its 3D model. ST3 applies dimensions of 2D to 3D, allowing immediate 3D edits.

Another big thing we see in most new versions of MCAD software in 2010 is integrated capabilities of “Simulation”. Even, a CAD designer can now easily handle the simulation tool for simple tasks. ST3 includes additional constraints and loads to simulate more design scenarios. “Model Simplification” option can be used to synchronous designs, for faster results. The integrated simulation tool has few limitations, so serous simulation work can be done using Siemens specialized tool femap.

Everyone knows that Siemens have competent SharePoint based CAD data management system since 2001 with thousands of users worldwide. Now “Solid Edge Insight” is a totally integrated data management system offering transparent PDM capabilities using SharePoint.

There are tons of enhancements in Assembly, Part modeling and Sheet metal design. Live rules, one my favorite command, would explore it later. Sheet metal design has new “Close Corner Option” which includes U, V, Square, mitered corners support. The option lets users create any corner type easily.

One more enhancement that caught attention is “PMI Dimensions” the option helps user to directly edit the value of product manufacturing information (PMI) dimensions during placement and lock these values to speed workflow.

Siemens have worked hard to improve the usability of Solid Edge; now customizing Ribbon Bar is very easy task. The user can now define the placement of mostly used commands.

I think product have just become better with Siemens addressing thousands of customer requests, it was difficult for Siemens team to cover every enhancement in such a short seminar. But still one gets good idea about the SE ST3. Lot of discussion took place on new technology. Delegates were given good reply to every query.

After tea, audience got chance to listen to Mr. Andy Parnell Hopkinson, Sales director of 3Dconnexion a Logitech company. 3Dconnexion is world leader in providing professional 3D mouse for CAD applications. Actually it was first time I saw “3D mouse” live! I also got chance to used it to zoom, pan and rotate 3D CAD model on Andy’s notebook. It can be customized to provide instant access to 10 frequently used commands. But it takes you around two days to master each control on 3D mouse to get work done by your left hand simultaneously. I too agree with Andy that regular mouse we use are not designed for 3D work, we need something better to fulfill our needs, work faster. I think I would like to use one and become more productive.

There are various models of 3D mouse available; the cost is between Rs 6000 to 24000. The 3D mouse supports more than 130 applications, all major MCAD software are supported. It was announced that from now onwards 3Dconnexion mouse can be purchased through Siemens resellers in India. The device is really worth, just need to convince your CAD managers for spending extra bucks for gaining more productivity!

Lastly, Mr. Anil Kumar, the next presenter gave a brief overview on “CAM Express” He introduces audience to new version 7.5. The CAM Express provides advance capability needed by NC programmers to utilize advance, efficient machine tools, such as high-speed mills, multifunction mill turns and 5-Axis machining centers.

CAM Express is CAD neutral; it is designed to be used independently of any specific CAD system. He showed us importing SolidWorks part file and how it can be edited in CAD express if required without going back to CAD system. The CAM Express is available for integrated use with Siemens CAD applications (NX and SE).

The seminar concluded with thanks giving and answering queries of attendees by Siemens team.
Just take a look on few more similar events throughout India in coming days to experience Siemens PLM Solid Edge ST3 live.

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_in/about_us/events_webinars/sest3_launch.cfm?stc=wwiia420000&elq=d1c5b86e6a2d4cb38884e3e5268e478a

24th November, Mumbai
Hotel Hyatt Regency

26th November, New Delhi
Hotel Crowne Plaza Today (Okhla)

30th November, Bengaluru
Hotel Chancery Pavilion

1st December, Chennai
Radisson Hotel GRT

Happy Cadding!

www.dailycadcam.com

Can I be the Solidworks World 2011 Official Internet Correspondent.

2010-11-22T01:21:00.000-08:00

Solidworks announced SolidWorks World 2011 Internet Correspondent Contest.

My entry...

I am Sachin Nalawade, an Automobile engineering graduate from India. I have passion for design, cars and bikes. I would be happy to work as Internet correspondence in SolidWorks 2011.

Few reasons why I must be consider for the job.

· I read every CAD blog, article, watch videos daily without missing any! I am ‘Editor’ for www.dailycadcam.com, my blog http://cadxperts.blogspot.com/

· I have around 4 years of experience in product design, CAD application testing, SolidWorks AutoCAD customization

· I have started my own CAD Media company, CADCUBE Systems last year after losing my job in recession: August 2009. Visit my site www.dailycadcam.com - for CAD CAM CAE CFD and PLM Update and today I have 7500+ register subscribers for DailyCADCAM weekly newsletter

· I alone have created my site www.dailycadcam.com from scratch and have 4500+ best tips, articles, reviews, videos, customization tips, add-ins systematically arranged for almost all major 2D/3D CAD, CAE software

· My site have register users (7500+) from 19 countries, out of which 75% are design professionals from India , actually my target audience for next 6 months are Indian professionals

· I also share important news on CAD industry with users and have good relations with media/press of major CAD companies worldwide

· I am lucky to get invited for local events conducted by SolidWorks resellers, Siemens, Autodesk and others

· I am active CAD blogger and have friendly relations with top bloggers in world …..

· I help engineering students in educational projects on CAD and help them find jobs through my friends network in CAD Industry

· I have active participation on various forums on CAD, Communities on Linkedin

· I tweet to spread CAD!

· I believe in social networking and sharing knowledge. I have inspired many design professionals and friends to start blogging about CAD

· I have suggested many start-ups and CAD resellers to start blogs to share their knowledge and help their customers

· I am working on restarting SWUGN Pune, making it more active in coming days with the help of local SW resellers

· I work as freelancer for creating video e-learning material for students using Camtesia (www.ednexa.com)

· I read all the rules and meet the criteria

· Being the correspondent sounds like a more then greatest opportunity for me to prove myself as CAD Blogger, CAD media editor/journalist, I t would help my small CAD media company to grow in the world of CAD.

Happy Cadding!
Sachin Nalawade
Sachin@dailycadcam.com

SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010 Pune, Bangalore Nov 16, 2010

2010-11-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

Opportunity to attain ‘SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010’ events in Pune and Bangalore. Good chance for those who have missed the event last month. Actually, we must first thanks to all the resellers and the sponsors for lot of efforts taken to conduct such events throughout country. I think SolidWorks resellers have taken lot of efforts to market new SolidWorks 2011 software.

Indian companies believe moving from one version to another as strenuous task or it is very exacting to convince management to go for latest version, most of the time management is busy with finding projects and meeting deadlines with the available resources. I remember in 2006, one of my friends working as CAD engineer in reputed company asked me “What is SolidWorks?” It was astonishing to hear such a query from design engineer working on CATIA. But today, the conditions have changed; every CAD professional and engineering students now know the tool “SolidWorks”. Hats-off to marketing strategy of DS SolidWorks Corp. Active resellers network definitely played a big role for success of SolidWorks in India. It would be interesting to see their role in SolidWorks on Cloud in future.

So, if you are SolidWorks users, decision makers, 2D CAD user and looking for suitable 3D CAD package, or CFD analyst. Then the event is for you come join to witness what’s inside SolidWorks 2011 and how you can translate ideas into great success!

SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010 By BEACON

Venue: Le Méridien Pune, Raja Bahadur Mill Rd, Pune - 411001
Date: 16th, November 2010

And,

SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010 By Conceptia Konnect

Venue:	Hotel Atria, Bangalore
Date:	16th Nov 2010

Last day to register for the events. See you in Pune Hotel Le Medidien. Let’s discuss about the new features in SolidWorks 2011 in next post.

Happy cadding!

Sachin Nalawade

www.dailycadcam.com

Overview on ‘SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010’ Event, Pelf Infotech - Pune

2010-10-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Recently I had an excellent opportunity to attend ‘SolidWorks Innovation Day 2010’ organized by Pelf Infotech, Pune on October 19, 2010 at Hotel Westin for its customers and potential customers mostly working with 2D CAD packages. SolidWorks have good number of users in and around Pune and Pelf Infotech have been serving to more the 200+ clients.

So, obviously the event was having huge crowd of more than 250 dignitaries from SME’s, design service providers, MNC’s and R&D firms. The attendees were given warm welcome by Pelf Infotech.
The program started with the welcome speech by Mr. Ajinkya Huddar, Managing Director - Pelf Infotech Pvt. Ltd. He gave an overview on services provided by Pelf. He shared some fantastic and innovative ideas on 3rd generation CAD; need to switch from 2D to 3D tools, FEA, sustainability and publishing tools to design better quality products. Videos on 3rd generation SolidWorks and road-able aircraft were shown. Really interesting stuff!

Mr. Sandeep Srivastava, SolidWorks, western region, was next to give presentation, he explained the importance of innovations to drive companies to success. He showed the list of most innovative companies in world and asked what is common in most of these companies? thinkkkkkk…??? Any guess.
*
*
Its SolidWorks, used to design at some stage to shape innovative ideas to real products.

Then, he came to Sustainability. Really awful to see the images on condition of Earth and humanity today - Acid rain. Water pollution. Global warming. Dying animals, plants, and fish. He then gave brief overview on SolidWorks initiative for designing sustainable product, green design to save nature and humanity. Thanks for good initiative by DS SolidWorks Corp.

Visit SolidWorks Sustainability website to explore further - http://www.solidworks.com/sustainability/index.htm

Then, there was some silence after completion of presentation by Mr. Sandeep, the spot light was moving 180 degrees in a hall, then it was announced that the unveiling of SolidWorks 2011 would done by the hands of lucky spectator where spotlight would stop, and we got the lucky one! Everybody enjoyed the pleasant moment to find person to launch 2011. A huge cake with ‘DS SolidWorks 2011’ written over it was cut with some crackers to boost the happiness.

The ‘Launch of SolidWorks 2011’ in Pune was officially announced.

Then, in next session there were presentations by application engineers from Pelf Infotech, who presented the real-situation in companies handling design projects and way to manage work with SolidWorks.
It was amazing to see the list of ‘new enhancements in SolidWorks 2011’ the list is too long, some 200 enhancements in latest version. Let me list few which I find more interesting, they are.
• PhotoView 360 and walk-through
• Defeature Tool
• Fast Drawing Detailing
• Planer Simplification and enhanced Beam Analysis
• HVAC and cooling Modules
• Routing Improvements
• Welded Structure Improvements
• 3DVIA Composer
• EPDM
• Enhanced Memory Management
• Flow Simulation

An Insightful presentation on ‘choosing a right Workstation’ was given by Mr. Suhas Pingat, Market Development Manager at HP. He talked about the range of Workstations supporting CAD, CAE applications and importance of having right hardware to get optimum output from latest CAD packages.

Then, in lunch break we got chance to see the ‘Object 3D Printing System’ prototype machine, It supports STL and SLC file formats. Nice to see a physical prototype of product before going for manufacturing!

In second half, Customer Case Study - By Yashodeep Fabritech was presented by representative of Yashodeep Fabritect. Really good to hear about the experience of a small vendor on using 3D CAD package to drive his company to success. He showed how conveyors, powder transfer system, tanks and vessels, heat exchangers and bleaching tube, etc were designed using SolidWorks and his experience with 2D CAD tools.

Later, there was demo on ‘SolidWorks Flow Simulation’ a new CFD tool for quick and easy simulation of fluid flow, heat transfer and fluid forces. Adding CFD tool is biggest enhancement in 2011 according to me, it was primary requirement for many SolidWorks users to build successful products. I feel the tool is easy to use and a CAD designer with little training on this tool can perform simulations easily.

Mr. Anand, Pelf Infotech, gave a brief introduction on using 3DVIA for product documentation, really great way to create, update and distribute product communications utilizing 3D design data and bills-of-material information. Using 3DVIA for making User manuals, maintenance manuals, training manuals is best way to train customers, users.

A representative from Moldex3D demonstrated the ‘Moldex3D eXplorer for SolidWorks'. Part of the company's line of CAE products for the plastics injection molding industry. The eXplorer tools help identify potential design problems and solutions to optimize part design and manufacturability. Quality issues such as air traps, weld lines, and hesitations can be simulated and analyzed. He also gave brief overview on new features in latest release of Moldex3D R10.0.

There was small demo on LOGOPRESS used for Sheet metal Stamping and Die Designing. Various modules were explained.

Mr. Mandar Parkhi, Mark Design Solutions (P) ltd presented their product ‘CADECplus Configurator ‘an automation tool that enables designers to find logical answers and provides tools to implement logic within design process. Hats Off to Innovative Technology! For details visit their website

http://www.markengg.com/Cadec.html

All the sessions were very interactive; lots of queries were answered by the presenters effectively. The event concluded with Vote of Thanks by Mr. Ajinkya Huddar, managing Director - Pelf Infotech Pvt. Ltd followed by prize distribution for luck winners.

Check videos on new enhancements on DailyCADCAM

Happy Cadding!

Sachin Nalawade
www.dailycadcam.com

AdaptiveCAD - New 3D CAD Software by Adaptive 3D Technologies India

2010-10-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

An Interview with Founders Satya Ganni (CEO) and Nem Kumar (CTO) of Adaptive 3D Technologies on their Company Background and Future Plans of Launching New 3D CAD Software – Part I

Today, I visited Adaptive 3D Technologies, a small exciting start up in 3D CAD Space in India. I wasn't really expecting much as no company in India actually thinks of creating completely new 3D CAD package, but rather they are happy working as partners, resellers, plug-in developers, service providers. After a short demo of AdaptiveCAD, I noticed that the system created by “Adaptive 3D Technologies” was not just another modeling system. With surprise! I saw some new ideas and strong efforts to rethink the whole modeling problem with a fresh approach. I feel system is easy to use and having lots of features to manage complexity of modelling. I thought it would be interesting to get a firsthand look of Adaptive 3D Technologies innovative ideas and vision. Here I am in Adaptive 3D Technologies office in Pune speaking with founders Satya Ganni (CEO) and Nem Kumar (CTO), here is the interview.

Can you give some background on Adaptive 3D Technologies?

Satya Ganni :Adaptive 3D Technologies started in April 2010 and is primarily an Engineering Tools Software company. Our primary focus is to build Great Engineering and Software tools that will help artists, designers and Organizations across the world speed up their design cycle(TTM and NPI ) and help them develop products efficiently

In short ,we are a Engineering Product company which develops Software that helps "Customers" make better Products

What is your Primary Product Line?

Nem Kumar: Our flagship product is "AdaptiveCAD" which a 2D and 3D Design Software built entirely from scratch by our team. We have developed Strong "IP" around this tool which will help differentiate against competition. It is localized to fit the needs of “Indian” and "Asian" markets.
We have good product pipeline in the next few years and are excited about the same.

What prompted you to start another CAD company and how did you come up with this Idea?

Satya Ganni: We are primarily designers and software folks who worked on a lot variety of 2D and 3D CAD tools in the market and are frustrated by the user experience, workflow and other technical challenges faced. Few colleagues from the CAD Industry also shared same thoughts and that's what prompted us to develop a better, efficient and technologically different 3D CAD Product in this space.

How are you funded currently and how big is the team?

Satya Ganni: We are currently self funded and have an excellent team of around 6 people.

When do you plan on releasing the Product?

Satya Ganni: Currently we are in stealth mode and plan to launch
"Beta Version" of the Product in December this year and bring it to General Availability for customers in Q1 of 2011.

What technology components are you using?

Nem Kumar: Our product is powered by world most superior "Geometric Kernel" and "Constraint Manager" and we will shortly have a press release on the same in alignment with our “Beta Launch” timeline. These components bring superior performance and robustness to our product and we are very happy that we are able to get them.

Who are your primary customers and whom you are targeting?

Satya Ganni : We are strongly focused on 4 Verticals for Version 1 release of our product "Adaptive CAD". We are already working with few customers in these verticals on “Beta Testing” and getting good feedback from them.

Any Final Notes to DailyCADCAM viewers?

Satya Ganni : We need your continuous Inputs, feedback on design Challenges that you are facing with existing tools, processes and your support to help us build “Better Products” and please visit our Website (www.adaptive3d.com) and do sign for "Beta" version of the product. We promise and ensure that every input/feedback is considered and responded back. You can also reach me anytime at satya@adaptive3d.com or through the Information request form online in our website.

Thanks Sachin for taking time to step by and in presenting our story to DailyCADCAM.com viewers. We wish you and your viewers all the best.

I would like to thank Satya Ganni (CEO) and Nem Kumar (CTO) for taking the time to answer all my questions. If you have any questions for Adaptive 3D Technologies or for DailyCADCAM, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.
The next part, we will cover AdaptiveCAD from a technical standpoint, thanks…

Sachin Nalawade
Editor
www.dailycadcam.com

Event Report: Siemens PLM Connection 2010 Pune

2010-08-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was going through the news ‘Chrysler Group LLC Contracts with Siemens PLM Software for Product Design and Development Platform’ and meanwhile got call from one of my friend working for Siemens media, he invited me to attain the company’s user-run annual conference in my city. Really cool thing to happen in Pune!

The theme of event was very catchy ‘Success at the Speed of An Idea’. As predicted the registration counter was having long queue even though it was raining heavy outside blocking traffic all the way.

When I entered the seminar hall crowd was already enjoying video on ‘President Barak Obama’s visit to Siemens’.

US President Barack Obama visits Siemens in Fort Madison, Iowa

Mr. Vivek Marwah (Director Marketing) welcomed attendees followed by the next speaker Mr. Suman Bose (Country Managing Director and Vice President) gave brief update on Siemens PLM. He talked about Siemens PLM’s expansion plans in India. He believes that in coming days Siemens will expand network not only to metros in India but would reach to more than thirty small cities/towns. Expanding Siemens PLM was not only the agenda but wanted to improve, rebuild partners network with expertise in handling customers issues by providing better tech support and solutions locally.

The next to address was guest speaker Mr. Mangesh Kale, MD, PARI

Mr. Mangesh Kale.

PARI is India’s largest automation headquartered in Pune, with more then 600 employees and eight facilities worldwide.

He started with the impact of PLM on modern business. He was right person to tell the importance of Siemens PLM as PARI has already deployed Siemens products in their company and have achieved amazing results in stimulating the growth of company.

He believes that 21st century businesses are based on following pillars.

Innovation – systematically

Deployment – with discipline

Returns – with predictably

Obsolete – re-innovation

What is innovation? Was the question asked by Mr. Kale, he stated;

- Innovation is new way to do something

- Something new that is made useful

- Deployable output is expected

- Innovation is NOT congruent to invention

Above all the terms where explained with day-to-day life examples. He showed the innovative index of various countries on screen, it was shocking to see India’s Innovative performance in ‘negative’ compared to other countries. Throughput, PPP also are too less in India.

Really long way to go for Indians to compete global market.

He then covered the most awaited topic ‘Indian Engineering Business and PLM’ he highlighted the challenges ahead of Indian companies to compete global market.

There are various PLM solutions available by the global giants as well as small vendors. So as to avoid primary confusions he stated following selection criteria, objectives, methodology for companies looking out for PLM solution:

• Fit of the product philosophy to your organization’s working methodology (eg: If you are farmer staying in rural area it is better to have Mahindra SUV then having a Mercedes car.

• Technical capabilities and specifications

• Scalability

• Maturity and flexibility of solution provider, on time local support

• Support infrastructure of solution provider

• Ease and speed of deployment

• Cost (He specified that cheap PLM product won’t let you succeed – Many vendors offer free PLM, but then user has to pay huge amount for support, implementation and training)

Objectives of PLM:

• Reduce time to market by 30%;

• Reduce multi

ple instances of data by 90%

• Productivity (Toyota roll out its new car in just 18 months compared to 34+ months required before implementing PLM and increasing the throughput by 100% and increasing manpower just by 30%.)

• Process oriented approach

• Increasing collaboration between various functions

In his end note Mr. Kale said that 'PLM is a tool or an asset which does not work on its own, you need to sweat for it to make product successful'

Mr. Rajah Cathivad, the next speaker discussed the policies of Siemens PLM to fulfill customers demands. He said that hitting market first with right product has become necessary for companies in highly competitive market.

Then Mr. Sasi Kumar, Technical Consultant Workstations - Asia Pacific HP talked about the relationship of HP and Siemens, discussed important aspects of choosing the right HP and Nvidia product configuration for CAD, CAM, CAE and Digital Mfg.

It was really good to see that more and more hardware companies are coming up with specialized hardware configurations for CAD, CAM users in India.

Keynote Session and NX HD-PLM Showcase

After a tea break, there was some dramatic entry by two speakers from Siemens wearing a ‘HD-PLM’ and other wearing ‘NX’ t-shirts with bollywood hits played in the background. Real excitement to see the powers of NX and Teamcenter under the HD-PLM technology framework!

Mr. Madhusudhan Varadaraj, talked about HD-PLM: Reinventing product lifecycle decision making. With HD-PLM, the functions that used to reside in two separate windows - 3D models in NX, product lifecycle data in Teamcenter, can be displayed in a single, unified application window, inside NX7. He gave brief presentation on how Siemens PLM helps in Making Better Decisions Faster with High Definition PLM. Then, Mr. Avik Gupta, presented ‘Redefining productivity in product development’

To know more about HD-PLM just watch videos shown to us:

Siemens PLM Software High Definition Product Lifecycle Managment (HD-PLM) Vision Video

Introducing HD3D from

Siemens PLM Software

Siemens PLM - NX freeform modeling demonstration powered by synchronous

technology

Siemens PLM - Introducing High Definition 3D (HD3D) in NX

Post lunch sessions were divided into two tracks:

Track 1: Product development productivity with NX

• Solution for manufacturing productivity(CAM)

• Solutions for simulation productivity(CAE)

I attained Track 2: It started with customer case study presented by Mr.Shree Moorthy, (Global Head of the PLM LOB at Tata Technologies). Mr. Moorthy gave very informative coverage on the services provided by TTL and challenges faced in implementation of PLM.

Next to present case study was Mr.Vishwanath, Bajaj Auto Ltd. He talked about the Bajaj Auto’s experience on implementation of PLM. He pointed out that the challenges faced by companies in highly competitive market and said that PLM is only solution with capabilities for information management, process management, knowledge capture and support for global collaboration. Using PLM the company has achieved a reduction in design-to-launch time and expects a further reduction in coming days.

Later there was another interesting presentation by Mr. Anmol Kaul on “A Day in Your Life” with Teamcenter. He showed how one can use Teamcenter with real-world example, showed videos to explain it in better way.

In tea-time chatting, I have pleasure to meet Mr. Vivek Marwah (Director Marketing), Mr. Frederick Menezes (Manager, Learning Media Development Siemens PLM) to discuss few things on Social media in CAD Industry, and CADCUBE Systems plans in bringing together and building a designers community in India to share common interest.

Next speaker was Mr. Rahul Sehgal, He gave brief presentation on Technomatrix Digital Manufacturing Solutions for Realtime Savings. He covered following topics in details with more involvement of attendees in hall.

Siemens PLM Tecnomatix software Overview

• Process Planning

• Digital Verification

• Documentation

• Change Management

He wrap-up event with a Quiz.

One more thing that caught my attention was a stall outside seminar hall by ‘Prema Software Solutions’ the company has developed CADCustomization++, an automation knowledge management tool for Solid Edge.

Prema Software Solutions - visit

It was really a great experience to attain Siemens PLM Connection along with 700+ attendees from various industries throughout Maharashtra, MP, and Gujarat.

Macro Recording - SolidWorks

2009-12-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

Macro Recording

You can record operations performed with the SolidWorks UI and replay them using SolidWorks macros. A micro contains calls to the API that are similar to operations performed in the user interface. A micro can record mouse clicks, menu, and keystrokes.

Recording a micro can eliminate your work by 80 to 90%. Lets start with basics…

Macro Toolbar

The Macro toolbar contains shortcuts to the macro recording commands. You can also access these commands from tools ……. Macro menu

By default, the Macro toolbar is ‘turned off’ To create and use your macros, it is better to make macro toolbar visible on the top. From View menu, select Toolbars, Macro.

· Run/Play: Launches the Run macro dialog box, where user selects the macro to execute

· Stop: Launches the Save As macro option, User can save macro giving it valid name and extension

· Record/Pause: Allows user to begin or pause macro recording

· New:Launches new macro dialog box, user can name macro, and VBA editor opens the macro file for user to begin programming

· Edit: Selecting macro to view and modify

· Custom: Allows user to customize button on macro toolbar

Let’s cover recording and cleaning up of extra code added during macro recording in next article.

Bye,

Sachin Nalawade

Editor-dailycadcam.com

VBA for CAD Customization

2009-12-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

VBA for CAD Customization

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is AutoCAD, SolidWorks, ZWCAD, MicroStation inbuilt programming language. Today we will consider AutoCAD Customization environment. Visual Basic for Applications comes from a long line of BASIC language development environments and latest VB6. VBA first appeared in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project. It was introduced to AutoCAD in Release 14.0 as a “preview edition.” In Release 14.01, VBA became a permanent addition to the core AutoCAD application.

CAD programmers than any other language for automation mostly use VBA. It gives AutoCAD/SolidWorks well-developed and robust interface for customization and automation. Visual Basic for Applications utilizes the same Visual Basic language syntax, VB. Support complete integration into AutoCAD; VBA is both complete and powerful. Internal to AutoCAD, it acts as an in-process controller, providing outstanding performance. Before VBA was, introduce LISP use to rule programmers working for automation.

Going For VBA

Users can create useful applications by learning just a few of the keywords, and powerful features of language allow professionals achieve higher design automation that is done using any of the high-level programming languages. VBA is easy to use and simple language, lot of help is provided by parent companies with supportive forums.

Like,

http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=33

When working on few projects on AutoCAD customization, I got lot of help from above Autodesk forum.

Because VBA’s powerful visual interface takes care of most of the background programming tasks, creating highly functional and useful programs is virtually nothing more than dragging pre-built objects into place on screen and tying them together with a logic. In addition, being an AutoCAD user means that you already have most of the skills necessary to create an effective user interface. The benefits of VBA include the following.

· Run-time Speed – Faster than AutoLISP applications

· Ease of Use – Built-in and easy to use

· Debugging – Finding and correcting errors has never been easier

· Easy to build form, many routines can be reused

· Built into Windows, VBA allows communication and control of other applications

When writing Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) routines, is easy task, as language uses everyday common language (as most engineers are know C or VB), pre-built visual objects, and have fully developed programming environment.

AutoCAD's VBAIDE

The VBAIDE (Integrated Development Environment) is made up of different windows, grouped according to their purpose or use. The "Design Group" includes the Code, the UserForm, and the Properties windows. The "Debugging Group" includes the Immediate, Locals, and Watch windows. Other windows include the toolbox, object browser, and project explorer. The parts and pieces that make up this IDE include the following windows grouped according to their usage

· Code Window – This is where we will put the logic and decision-making program of our projects

· Object Box – Located on the left side; displays the main divisions of your code. These divisions change based on what this code refers to such as: UserForms, Modules, or ThisDrawing

· Procedures Box – Located on the right side; displays the individual functions, procedures, or pre-defined methods available to the object displayed in the Object Box

· UserForm Window – This is our "Visual" layout of your project, where we arrange the buttons, boxes, text, etc. that are displayed when we run our programs.

· Toolbox – Can take various parameter required

· Properties Window – Like the properties window inside of AutoCAD, when we select something like a button or form we can adjust all the properties of our selection such as color and font

· Debugging window - This is where we can test and explore commands and "code" or logic, user can debug your code in real time

· Project Explorer Window – This window allows users to manage, add, and delete all the parts and pieces of the project created

VBAIDE, provided "free" inside of AutoCAD, is a feature rich, easy-to-learn development environment that can help you debug your code in real time. So start with AutoCAD Customization, be experts…

By,

Sachin Nalawade

Editor-dailycadcam.com

Overview On Recording Macro Using SolidWorks

2009-12-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

Overview On Recording Macro

I thought of writing on SolidWorks customization since July on few of my friends demand, but never made it due to tight working schedules. December like wise it my favorite month with lot of rest!

So coming to you. First lets go with fundamentals of API programming.

Application Programming Interface (API) is used to automate redundant and lengthy design tasks using SolidWorks. One can create complete engineering application that runs inside or outside of SolidWorks application. So starting with basics of customization will help professionals as well as students developing fundamental skills.

Many times, it happens that Mechanical engineers are not aware about programming languages. Just having CAD designing knowledge is not enough, hence before we proceed I suggest Mechanical engineers to learn LISP, C, VB and if possible .NET. LISP is very easy language and lot of online help is available for one to learn. It helps to build good foundation of your programming skills.

Getting started

There are few things a programmer should note before recording a macro in SolidWorks or writing an application in VB that connects to SolidWorks.

File Type: SW VBA Macros (*.swp)

Option Explicit: It is recommended that you use "Option Explicit" statement in VB development. By doing so, the Visual Basic compiler forces you to declare of all variables before use.

Variable deceleration: Variables are used to store temporary values and are made up of two parts 'Name' and 'Data Type' Variable is declare with the Dim statement.

e.g. Dim variablename [As data type]

Option “As data type” allows you to define the data type or object type of the variable.

Data Types: Visual basic supports these standard types of data

· String - Holds characters

· Integer – Holds numeric values

· Long Integer – Holds numeric values with higher values

· Single precision – Holds numeric value with decimal points

· Double precision - Holds numeric value with decimal points, accurate to sixteen digits

· Decimal – For large numbers

· Date – Holds date, time values

· Byte – holds integer value

· Boolean – Holds values either True or False

· Variant – Holds all data types

· Object

NOTE: All APIs use meters and radians for length and angle units

You need to include SolidWorks Constant type library to each project, for whatever version you are using. But if record a macro using the VBA environment in SolidWorks the type library will be automatically included.

Starting Point

Recording a macro is best way to know basic functionality. Consider following tips while recording a macro.

· Use macro recording for small applications. Record few steps at a time

· Plan steps before recording a macro

· Limit the number of view changes you make while recording

· Remove unnecessary calls (that we will discuss later)

· Look for help topics, tutorials included with SolidWorks

Next session I will cover “Using Macro Recorder”

Bye,

Happy daily cadding

Sachin Nalawade

Design Dream

2009-12-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Being an Automotive designer

India's role in automotive design is expanding and various design centers coming up in various part of country prove it. Almost 90% of Mechanical/Automobile engineering graduates want themselves to be "Design Engineer" rather then working on shop floor. But still India has just 1% of total automotive engineers in world.

While working with international CAD Media Company, We use to receive lot of enquiries related to career options in automotive design from various sections of users. It is difficult question to answer when queries come from Indian students, as I personally feel India still lacks to fulfill learning needs of students compared to developed countries.

How to become an automotive engineer?

I spoke to few of my friends working as automotive designers in Bajaj Auto, Tata Technologies, Volvo, GM, Hero Honda, Onward Technologies trying to find true way to become designer. Got one common answer that “they were lucky to get opportunities”. Listening to this answer is not surprising as non of them were from reputed Universities neither did expensive CAD courses. So what let them to reach their destination?

Not just, luck! Guiding career on right track is important aspect while starting a career. One must be hard working, must have passion for cars and bikes, creative, dedicated, and more. Speaking to Dev Kasar, Volvo design center, Bangalore. I came to know amazing hard work done by him for being an automotive designer. He started his career with working on AutoCAD, which he learned during college stage, got very low salary working with automotive vendor. He worked hard for 2 years and meanwhile upgraded his skills by learning Inventor, CATIA, and UG on-job. Therefore, it is on-job learning which helped him to reach high, but it cannot be the case with all of us.

Few years back Indian Automotive makers fully depend on design studios from Italy, Australia, US. Now its boom in India and many cars running on road are designed here itself. So craze to be an automotive designer is increasing, but are our learning centers enough? There are many CAD institutes conducting CAD courses for automotive designers, but not all the students doing such courses land as automotive designers. Because CAD institutes lack following.

· Experienced faculty members to teach

· Using pirated/out dated crack versions to teach students

· Lack of proper hardware available

· No guide lines set for Automotive design courseware

· No Live project facility

So, I see many Institutes blooming up but close down before the first batch passes it course. But its truth...

No need to get panic a good news it that few Government recognized institutes are coming up for generating world class design engineers like IDC at IIT Mumbai, (www.idc.iitb.ac.in), National Institute of Design Ahmedabad (www.nid.edu) MIT Pune, Few private certified institutes by PTC, Siemens, Dassault System. Although change is, slow but positive sign for future.

According to Mr. R M Rathore, India Marketing head of US based Product Development Company, its era of internet. His company has invested lot of time in developing free e-learning material for users. It helps them to create market for there software in high competition and users are benefited by learning advance 2D and 3D CAD software for free. Hundreds of tutorials from basic to advance on Automotive are available thru net.

Speaking to my friend Vikram Rao, who after doing CAD courses from CITD Hyderabad (http://www.citdindia.org) it is better to do internship with automotive vendors or design firms working for automotive companies if you directly don’t get placement in automotive company. He feels small companies are best place to learn and master CAD software. It is true car designing is not easy task; one has to go rigorous learning, problem solving and practicing phase. He also suggests that one has to be good in analytical and visualization skills and need to develop them while studying in college.

First step towards...being design engineer.

Start today, depending on your age start preparing from today itself. At school/college stage, start working on basic drawing and sketching cars and bikes. Explore your knowledge by reading auto magazines and internet. Work on developing your graphic skills using computer. Get membership of ARAI, VRDE library, register to SAE newsletters, and try your hand on 2D and 3D by using trial version of Free CAD software (www.freecad.com) available. Most employers prefer younger designers with high talent and skills.

Few websites to go for

http://www.siamindia.com/ - Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers

http://automobile.sae.org/ - SAE

http://www.carbodydesign.com/ - Car body design

http://www.designerspace.com/ - Designers Space

http://www.design-cars.com/ - Design Cars

https://www.bike-design.com/home.php - Bike Design

Foreign education for design engineers

Students now have wider options to select automotive design school offering graduate as well as MS degree like

· Art design college of design (www.artcenter.edu) USA

· Coventry school of art and design (http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk)

· Pforzhiem school of design (http://www.hs-pforzheim.de/en-us/School-of-Design/Seiten/Bereich.aspx)

· Umea Institute of design (www.dh.umu.se)

· Scuola Politecnica di design Italy (www.scuoladesign.com)

· IED (www.ied.edu)

· University of Bradford (http://www.eng.brad.ac.uk/index.php?p=ugra_d000)

Recession has affected design jobs. However, right skills are still in demand. Automotive designer has to be master of designing all systems (i.e Body, Chassis, suspension system, lamps, interior, seating etc) Only thing that packages offered have gone down in India as companies going for cost cutting. India and China are growing markets with increasing automobile sales every month. So grab your place and enjoy bright career as automotive designer.

By.

Sachin Nalawade

www.dailycadcam.com

Thanks Prof. Sham Tickoo

2009-02-02T00:52:00.000-08:00

CADCIM Technologies, a pioneer in the field of CAD/CAM textbooks, announces the release of the following textbooks by Prof. Sham Tickoo.

SolidWorks 2009 for Designers (Pages: 1008, Price: $59)
NX 6 for Designers (Pages: 656, Price: $55)
Solid Edge ST for Designers (Pages: 720, Price: $55)

I thank Prof. Sham Tickoo for new releases of all these CAD software books, SolidWorks for "Designers Release 2005" was my first book from author, As I did my engineering from small town in India no CAD-CAM courses were available near-by except AutoCAD. So most students use to go for Prof. Sham Tickoo books on Pro/E, SolidWorks, and believe me or not no teacher/guidance is needed to learn basics, advance features using Prof. Sham Tickoo's books. Which provides complete, easy to understand material with appropriate images to explain concept or feature completely. After completing engineering many got job as design engineers and I know they always feel great honor for writer.

It's good to get book on synchronous technology for NX 6, Solid Edge, Which will help designers, students to know more about upcoming new technology in CAD.

Price for books is too low compared to content. Also available in an electronic format. find it on http://www.cadcim.com/students/students.htm

Again thanks to Prof. Sham Tickoo, as he too must be not aware what he has done, and changed life of many engineering students from India.