For those of you that may not read the SolidWorks Blog there is a post by Austin O'Malley on the new technology that was shown at SolidWorks World 2010.  Mr. O'Malley is Executive Vice President of Research and Development for SolidWorks.

This is a must read for anyone wishing to get a bit more insight on the new technology that was shown.  The picture is still very fuzzy but there are a few nuggets of information that are interesting.

http://blogs.solidworks.com/solidworksblog/2010/02/more-on-the-new-technology-shown-at-solidworks-world-2010-1.html

Cheers,

Anna

Thought I would get a little advertising in for my company today, Auer Precision.  If you are at the MDM West show, this week in Anaheim, be sure to stop by our booth and say Hello.

This year we are showcasing our new Microfluidics Applications Lab.  With the lab we will be able to offer our customers quick turn-around of stamped prototypes of their diagnostic test strips with our ballistic press systems.

We have one of ballistic presses in our booth for everyone to take a look at.

Our booth number is 2959.  Look forward to meeting you.

Yesterday, I spent a bit of time setting up my 3D scanner for some bench testing.  Actually, the workbench was our kitchen table.

I wanted to get everything hooked up to make sure all the hardware and software worked.  Also wanted to get an idea of what issues I may have with the physical set-up to help with designing my 3D scanning studio.

I made a quick trip to Best Buy in the morning to get a couple USB to Micro-USB cables for the cameras.  I also purchased a couple of those mini tripods with the flexible legs.

The picture above was taken this morning before I broke down my set-up.  The scanning studio will not be built in such a bright work area.  To much light for the scanner to work properly.  I did my scan tests late last night when it was dark out.

From what I am gathering from my reading about other people experiences and my own tests, the background and the work piece holders/fixturing should be black.  If they are black, when you are scanning they will not be picked up by the cameras and there will be less work deleting the extraneous data from your meshes.

The extra data also takes up system memory.  It looks like I will need to be careful to release memory from the system frequently with my x32 bit laptop.  It is a Lenovo T61p with 4 gigs of RAM.  Sequentially processing several meshes gave me out of memory errors.  I can see myself purchasing a new x64 bit laptop later this year.  This will eliminate any memory issues with scanning a large mesh.

I have plenty of room in my office at home to set up a nice scan studio.  Actually it will be a very good excuse to get rid of all the junk I have collected in my office.  I have to much old computer hardware and old books in my office, this will give me the motivation to eBay this stuff.

I will also need to work on acquiring some workholders and fixtures.  I can see building a nice workbench out of ATA Approved Shipping Case materialsthat can also be rolled/transported offsite.  With some drawers, etc, inside for storing the equipment when not in use.

I am thinking about going over to the RAPID 2010 Exposition and 3D IMAGING Conference in Anaheim, May 18-20th.  A quick day trip to see the exhibitors will probably give me some great ideas for my project.

Cheers,

Anna 

Head on over to the SolidWorks Forums and join in on Gerald Davis' post on the future of CAD.

CAD Forecast - partly cloudy

Gerald has spent a considerable amount of time to post his thoughts on the topic.  Very interesting reading.  I hope that it is a seed for some well reasoned and thoughtful discussion on the Future of CAD over on the SolidWorks forum. Be sure to read Gerald's pdf's he has attached to his post as well.

He sums up my feelings very well with his statement:

"I'm resisting change.  I'm demanding change.  I just want the new thing to be the same as the old thing only different."

I am looking forward to the discussion over on the forums.

Cheers,

Anna

Tomorrow evening I will be flying out to Anaheim to attend SolidWorks World 2010.  It has been two years since I last attended the event.  I am really excited to catch up with old friends and make some new friends in the SolidWorks user community.

It is going to be a very busy week.  Saturday I will be participating in a full day of usability and alpha testing.  Sunday I am lined up to attend a days worth of focus groups.  Hopefully, I will be able to offer some useful information to the folks at SolidWorks.

Sunday evening is packed with the SolidWorks User Group Leader Event that is being organized by Randy Lennox.  There is also the SolidWorks World 2010 Tweetup/Blogger Social.  I plan to make time to attend both events.

Monday is a huge day for me as I will be presenting for the first time in a breakout session.  Devon Sowell and I will be teaming up for a live computer build.  We hope to take some of the fear out of building your own workstation.  Devon will build the computer and I will offer commentary on component selection and the basics you need to know to tackle a workstation build for yourself.

I will also be participating in Wednesday afternoon's breakout session, SolidWorks Clinic: Is The Doctor In?  Mark Biasotti is the lead presenter for this Hands-On session and he has gathered a stellar list of SolidWorks Gurus to help users solve their SolidWorks modeling challenges.  I am still trying to figure out how I managed to be invited to help out.  The list of "doctors" who will be in attendance is fantastic, I am sure I could just listen and learn all kinds of new things myself.

The week will be capped off with a hockey game between the Ducks and Red Wings, Wednesday night.  A group of us, who are flying out on Thursday, are going to gather at the Honda Center for a fun evening.  I am rooting for my hometown Red Wings.

Along with the above there is the welcome reception, general sessions, breakout sessions, partner pavilion, SWUGN Summit, SWUGN Group Leader Meeting/Lunch, the Special Event and the Birds of a Feather sessions.

Looking forward to meeting you at SWW,

Anna