SolidSmack.com

Friday Smackdown: Jowl Slapper

Josh — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:30:17 +0000

I’d say you need to float at least two meters off the surface. Why? Let’s just say, teeth are not the only thing it uses. It has nine tentacles… and these links.

Post apocalyptic Tokyo – Who doesn’t like a scene of desolation and plant overgrowth. TokyoGenso gives you the future.
iPad apps for writers – Writing on the iPad is actually enjoyable. Here are your options. Use them wisely.
FontPark – Are there enough free font search sites? NO! With 70,000+ and preview, this is one of the best.
Origin of the Swiss Army Knife – 126 years. 28,000 made everyday. You probably have one. This is the story.
Physics of a Fighter Jet Rainbow – F-22. Mach 1. Sun. Rainbow. Why? Here’s what’s happening when you look up as a that F-22 blast over you.
Boolean Taxidermy – Using Kontaktschmelze (contact fusion) rendering method with sweet renderings and a sweet video telling all about it.
Infinity Mirror How To – Turn LED’s or yourself into a special effect people will be slapping both their knees over.

First seat of SolidWorks, SOLD! …15 years ago, today.

Josh — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:42:06 +0000

Well, just look how time oozes suspiciously right past us. SolidWorks 2011 launched last week, but you may not have known there have been 15 years of enhancements before it.

Today, September 6th, 2011 marks the 15th anniversary of SolidWorks selling the very first seat of their 3D product development software. Over 1 millllliooooon seats have found their way into the talented, and not so talented, hands of people around the world since. It just so happens we found the guy who laid his hands upon that first seat and asked him a couple questions.

In 1996, Bill Townsend took a chance with a then unknown 3D modeling software. Here’s what the CEO of Barrett Technology had to say.

Did you think then that using SolidWorks would bring you to where you are today?

I was so blown away the first time I sat down to SolidWorks — you cannot imagine. I could not sleep for a couple of days. It was especially frustrating that I could not share this excitement with another real-world (i.e. not a SolidWorks developer) SolidWorks user as there were no others initially. I would call Jon Hirschtick every few hours (night and day) almost beyond excitement before sitting down for another few hours. Everything else in my business for that time period suddenly seemed unimportant. It opened a whole new world to me. What I may have felt were just radical thoughts back then came true many times over since then. My imagination about where it might take us did not come close to the reality. For example, the notion of being able to render a photorealistic animation for a presentation is so easy today, but I could not have conceived of that in 1995 partly due to advances in the product and partly due to the wave of advances in PC technologies.

Is there anything you would change about SolidWorks having used it for so long?

I would not have changed anything in today’s SolidWorks except, perhaps, to see it spread much further into our culture than to just mechanical engineers and architects.

A big thanks to Bill Townsend for sharing his thoughts.

The next 15 years

I began using SolidWorks a few months later than Mr. Townsend. I didn’t have Jon Hirschtick’s phone number, but my boss at the time was pretty excited about the results from the software. There’s a laundry list of items I wish were done differently over the years. Perhaps another post for another day, but it’s pretty amazing where SolidWorks has brought people, how companies have used it and how SolidWorks itself has changed over the years.

Looking on to the next 15 years, I can’t hardly imagine what will change… Actually, I could. Computer tech didn’t change much over the past 15 years. It’s different today. We’re starting to use computers differently, access data differently, and we have many more options to help create our ideas.

What’s your favorite version?

I’d probably have to go with Solidworks 2001+ or SolidWorks 2005. Both were stable with great performance. I loved the UI changes with 2008, but the speed was awful. 2010 improved that and 2011 brings some more speed and performance.

If you want to recall some old memories or uncover some repressed trauma, Ricky Jordan has all of the What’s New Guides since SolidWorks started.

Northeast SolidWorks User Conference

One more thing, If you’re up in the Northeast part of the US, you’ll want to mark September 17th on the calendar. Bill Townsend will be the opening keynote speaker for the 1-day SolidWorks World equivalent Northeast SolidWorks User Conference (NESWUC). If you can, be sure to say hi and talk to him.

How to Go From 3D Model to Online Game With 3DVia Studio

Josh — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:00:04 +0000

Yeah, you spend your days modeling food dispersal system for fish hatcheries, but your evening activities tell a different story. Let’s just say people should think twice before challenging you to 5-day Mario Kart Marathon.

Perhaps, as you’ve sat in silence waiting for the next installment of the Halo series to come out, you’ve wondered how you could bring 3D models from a 3D CAD program to a game program. No? Well, you should have wondered, because it’s possible. You’ll use a free program called 3DVia Studio to get it done.

Here’s the video which shows how you would go about doing it using a model from SolidWorks. But, it could be done with any 3D modeling program.

Do you remember the Billions game? That’s just one example of what can be created with 3DVia Studio.

You can download 3DVia Studio for free, along with massive quantities of downloads, tutorials and sample projects, at the 3DVia Studio website.

Celebrate Good Times, Jellybeans and 3D Buckyball Intensity

Josh — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:10:59 +0000

September 4th is a special day. It’s the zero day anniversary of the day I figured out that it cost less to get a full salad and full soup, instead of two half salad, half soup “Deals”. Soup and Salad ON ME.

It’s also the 25th anniversary of the Buckyball, a spherical Fullerene created using jellybeans and toothpicks by some creative scientist back in 1985… the same year Goonies came out. Google is celebrating the occasion with a 3-dimensional interactive buckyball graphic on the Google home page.

There are not many more hours left in the day to view it, so hop over, give it a spin and raise a glass of jellybeans to Buckminster Fuller – the inventor, futurist, architect, engineer, mathematician, poet, cosmologist who brought us the geodesic dome.

If you didn’t see it, here’s what you missed.

Friday Smackdown: Slosh Popper

Josh — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:17:09 +0000

It’s all about absorbency. If you find one with six paws and an orange belly, you’ve got a keeper. But watch it! They’ll soak these links right out of your head.

Alexandr Melentiev – Alexandr creates amazing world art.. amazing. Right-click, view image on his site to see large versions.
If Historical Events had Facebook Statuses… – They would annoy you with their Farmville updates and battle plans.
How to use Mind Maps to Manage Ideas – Mind maps are ways to show people that you have a train of thought. Here’s how to use them.
The Wilderness Downtown – Wow. Weird and cool. An interactive ‘movie’ done with HTML5. Best to use Google Chrome Browser.
Geekiest Pin Numbers – So 1337. They forgot a couple 2370 for C3PO and 7232 for R2D2. Rock Geekdom.
Heat-tracking Nerf gun – HECK YEAH. You know you want this in your cubicle. Here it is and some more great ideas.
Record and Wheel Design – From Record players to Augmented Wheel systems, Charles Pyott’s design will blow your mind.

SolidWorks 2011: More Features, Faster Design, Fewer Beatings

Josh — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:50:03 +0000

Blow the beet juice out of your mouth. This week SolidWorks 2011 is launched. We could ask the same questions we did last year and we could also bore 1/4-20 screws into our head. We will do neither. What we want to know is one thing, is 2011 better.

Is it better than 2010? Does it have better options? Does it have better performance? We’ll answer that. We’ll take a look at the best new features and smack a “Best New Feature award” on the ones you’re sure to use and spray virtual malice on the stuff that could be better.

The Best of What’s New

What do we have this year? Well, you may have seen the SolidWorks 2011 sneak peak we put up after SolidWorks World 2011. 13 things you will care (or care less) about. Most of them made it into SolidWorks 2011, some of them didn’t. Many of them focus on making design faster, including the syringe of caffeine that shoots into your eye when you’re idle for 3 minutes… just kidding about that. I don’t believe SolidWorks would endorse that.

As usual, there are updates to parts, assemblies, and drawings. This release takes another whack at your workflow by giving you a new way to work with appearances and a new way to collaborate with parts and assemblies. There are updates for Photoview 360 (PV360), with the link between SolidWorks and PV360 becoming even stronger. We’ll discuss performance and see what new and enhanced features are being provided to keep you from being severely beaten while at the same time balancing a platter of flaming 3D geometry over a cushion of baby cats. I don’t even know how you would make a cushion out of baby cats, so let’s get into this.

SolidWorks 2010 User Interface

I don’t care what people say, I like a shiny new icon. I don’t like things being organized in ribbons and I don’t like bad visualization. It’s bad for the digestion. I do especially enjoy when the UI allows you to get around quickly. SolidWorks 2011 adds some quickness and brings realtime rendering closer to the SolidWorks model. Here are the best new features.

DisplayManager *BEST NEW FEATURE AWARD*
Better Visualization
More Scenes and settings
Photoview360 Integration

Dropping color like it’s hot
The DisplayManager is a new tab in the FeatureManager area (left sidebar) that consolidates appearances, scenes, decals and lighting. Instead of picking all over your model, you can view and change all material or colors applied to the geometry. It makes it easier to apply materials, give you access to scenes with ability to save new scenes and provides direct access to PV360 setting if you have the add-in (SolidWorks Premium and Professional). This is also where you can now create walk throughs of your model environment. If what you see in the DisplayManager tab is confusing at first, switch to “Hierarchy” in the Appearance pull-down sort options.

This sorts by Parts, Assemblies and Features instead of by History. The DisplayManager is wonderful, but it does split the screen between where you select what you want to change (left side FeatureManager) and where you select the materials and scenes (right side Task Pane). For selecting multiple parts to change appearance, it still works best to select them in the FeatureManager and then Edit Appearance. This feature definitely speeds up the whole process of prepping a model for rendering, or simply making the model look better.

By the way, the DisplayManager is there for couple reasons. PhotoWorks is no more. As of 2011, Photoview 360 is the renderer being used with SolidWorks. Photoview 360 is also the second reason. The integration is getting closer, options are available in the DisplayManager, as mentioned, and you can now bring up realtime previews within SolidWorks.

You also get a better visuals from 2010 to 2011. Take a look at the screenshots below comparing 2010 and 2011. Four new scenes for point lights are added to the Scenes and through the DisplayManager you can now modify and save out your own custom scenes. There are a couple things that still haven’t been addressed in the UI space. The pop-up context menu still disappears when you click components in the FeatureManager multiple times and you still need to toggle “shadows on” to get reflection to change orientation on the display.

The SolidWorks 2011 DisplayManager. Consolidates the appearance, scene, lighting and camera setting, plus brings in PhotoView360 options and walk through capability. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2010 Display with Shadows and Ambient Occlusion On (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2011 Display with Shadows and Ambient Occlusion On (Click to Enlarge)

Photoview 360 (PV360) is now integrated into SolidWorks so you are able to set options and bring up realtime rendering previews. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2010 Parts and Features

There’s a small, unruly group of new Part and Feature enhancements that are causing all sorts of better ways create and control geometry. The main one to keep your eye on, however, is a a tool that is the antithesis of features. It’s called Defeature and is bringing in a more simple way to collaborate with others. Here it is along with the other best new features in Parts and Features.

Defeature for parts *BEST NEW FEATURE AWARD*
Global Equations
Reuse Curves in different features
Revolve Up to surface, vertex and offset
Surface Extrude 2D or 3D face

Defeat the feature
The Defeature Tool (found in Tools, Defeature) can be used to stripe the details and features out of native SolidWorks files or imported part files. It’s a two-step process where you select what to keep then select what to remove. You’ll have the option to save it out as a part, send it up to the 3D Content Central model library. It’s a very useful tool… when it works. Some parts work better than others with this tool. Since it’s highly automated, you don’t have a lot of selection options and if you have a part with a lot of complicated detail you want to remove, you’ll spend a long time selecting or end up with more detail removed than you want. Generally, it’ll work well for most parts. It’s when you get into more complicated plastic parts with surfaces and complex features where Defeature needs more options.

Equation get such a basic, useful option it’s like soaking your parts in a soothing bubble bath of variables. You can control multiple parts with equations from a single text file. Wow. You can link to the text file. Wow. This can work great with top-down design and even simplify it. I’ve yet to seen how it affects stability, loading and rebuilds. I’ve always avoided equations for issues that come up and novice users unfamiliarity. However, it’s a nice new feature.

Now, the feature enhancements are exciting as ever, if you get excited about this kind of stuff. Your revolve tool just received more end conditions – Revolve up to Surface, Up to Vertex and Offset from surface. Surfacing gets easier with the ability to Extrude 2D and 3d faces. What does that mean? Well, take a look at the third image below. You can select a face or group of faces and extrude, not just a single curve. This simplifies the process of forcing surface modeling experts to create complex surface models by taking a few steps out of the process of previous versions.

SolidWorks 2011 Defeature Part removes detail you select from the model. Here's the Defeatured part before and after. (Click to Enlarge)

The new revolve enhancments allow revolving up up to surface, offest from surface and up to a vertex. (Click to Enlarge)

In SolidWorks 2011, you can select and surface extrude a 2D or 3D face. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2010 Assemblies

Sometimes it helps to have a shovel when working on assemblies. First, it looks stylish. Second, you can use it to launch your computer screen into the next area code when an assembly takes to long to load. We give assemblies a hard time. There’s lots that play into issues with assemblies (another topic for another time), but the few features you get this version go a little further in helping you out. Here’s what ya get.

Defeature for assemblies *BEST NEW FEATURE AWARD*
Fillet and Chamfer assembly features
Simplified representation of weld beads
Single switch sub-assemblies to SpeedPak option
Large assembly loading??

Double the Defeature bliss
Not only do parts get Defeature capabilities, assemblies also get it. You’d think it’s the same, but you’d be wrong. Assembly Defeature has a couple more options which make removing detail very quick. The first step (as shown in the first image below) has a check box to instantly remove internal components and an option to remove only the parts of a certain size. You also get an option to allow motion of the parts. My first thoughts are… simplified assemblies. This is set up for sharing though. You can only save it as a part or send it to 3DContentCentral. Best thing they could add here is apply the Defeature to the assembly as a configuration.

You now get more assembly features to weigh down your assembly… hmmm. You can add fillets and chamfers to parts in assemblies. You can also propagate those features to the model. Works great for parts that will be welded or modified in the field. We’ll see how these affect assembly loads, but overall, it’s interesting how the difference of where you add features for parts and assemblies is lessening. Also for assemblies, you can switch all sub-assemblies to SpeedPaks with a single right-click on the assembly in the FeatureManager. Here’s the hanger though, all the active configurations of those sub-assemblies need to have SpeedPaks, so organize your workflow accordingly. Oh, and you also have a new checkbox option to open the SpeedPak when you open an assembly.

Load times. Seems there’s always a desire for better performance in this area. Can I get an “Amen.” Brother and Sistas! Assemblies in 2011 load slightly faster than in 2010! I loaded and times a slew of large assemblies. Some I was able to actually load and switch configurations. I had one instance where I got a “Out of memory, SolidWorks is now terminating” message, but noticed I had quite a few other programs running. Something that is usually unfamiliar to me when opening large assemblies. So, there’s nothing that says they’ve improved anything on the backend, but something has been improved.

SolidWorks also adds Defeature for assemblies. You get more options and a checkbox to remove all internal components. (Click to Enlarge)

You can now add fillets and chamfers as assembly features, and propagate them to the part. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2010 Drawings and Detailing

You know that stuff you have to do after playing around in 3D? I think it’s called ‘making a drawing.’ Most people still have to do it, so SolidWorks has provided some enhancements to the power you have over manufacturing via paper and dimension. There’s more automation and great things for views. Here’s the best of list.

Align dimension options *BEST NEW FEATURE AWARD*
Auto arrange dimensions
Auto-insert center marks
Hide body in drawing view
Model colors in drawings
Save 3D Drawing views

I Kill Trees
We’re getting activist on this… no we’re not, because now, we can auto-arrange our dimensions, print out the drawing to show our friends, throw it away and then print out another copy to show the same friends. The Auto-arrange shows up in the pop-up dimensions pallet (that was updated mid-201o and reduced to a tiny flyout menu when you selet dims.) You have options to stagger, justify and align till you puke yourself in the face. The arrangement functioned well with not too many adjustment to make afterwards. It’s like using the Auto-dimension tool in the model and then using Model items to show those in the drawing. Overall, dimensioning gets you closer to the end of that drawing faster.

You’ll also see mucho options for adding centermarks. These options are in the Document Properties detailing options. A glorious update for those who enjoy hiding bits of their model has been added, so if you use multi-body parts (weldments), you can now hide individual bodies. Another step closer to the same interaction with parts and assemblies. I’m trying to think of how this can be used, but you can now set your views to use the model colors. This applies to all the views in the drawing. Another nice option is being able to create 3D named views from (non-projected) drawing view with the 3D drawing view option. Fun to throw off your nerdy 2D friends and once again speed things up by keeping you from opening the model to create a view.

Look at that. Those dimensions were auto-arranged using the new options in the SolidWorks 2011 Dimension Pallet. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2011 allows you to use the color of your model for HLR/HLV views on drawings. (Click to Enlarge)

You can manipulate (non-projected) drawing views in SolidWorks 2011 and save them to your View list. (Click to Enlarge)

SolidWorks 2010 General Coolness

Super hardcore SolidWorks users and CAD manager are not left out of this release. You’ll get a mes of API calls and better installation. I could think of nothing better to do with my time that reduce the time spent installing licenses of SolidWorks. You? Check these.

More API calls*BEST NEW FEATURE AWARD*
Better Admin Image installation
Background Downloader
Search by part number for 3D Content Central
Import each AutoCAD layer to a new sketch

If you extend SolidWorks and interface with it’s API, you have a lot more options to do this; API calls that have been needed for a long time. There’s a lot that’s been done to enhance overall admin and installation. On top of that SolidWorks Installation via the admin Image has been improved. You no longer need two images to install 32-bit or 64-bit versions. This won’t matter much longer, but while many companies are in the 64-bit transition phase, it’ll come in handy.

I hesitate to mention the Background downloader. We’ll see how this turns out. The idea is that it would function like the background downloader in Mozilla Firefox – hidden, automatic and using very little resources. If this is the beginning of SolidWorks pushing out more frequent updates, without the worry of constant deployment, I think it’s a good idea. The best thing I like about this is that it’s possible for smaller updates to be sent out, instead of one very large, time consuming download. Plus could ease development cycles, so the SolidWorks developers are beaten less as well.

The Smack

What You Won’t See in SolidWorks 2011
SolidWorks keeps bringing out features and 2011 has some great enhancements to existing tools, but there is some major functionality you may be wondering that continues to evade each release cycle. With SolidWorks 2011 there is still no backwards compatibility and you will still see a warning about converting files to the new version. This continues to be a major request from many users that work with customers on different versions.

You also won’t see import options for CATIA files. Even though SolidWorks and CATIA are under the same Dassault umbrella, you probably won’t see this until the Dassault V6 platform merges with SolidWorks. Yes, even though Autodesk Inventor, SpaceClaim and Adobe Acrobat 3D can import CATIA files. Another highly requested feature shown at SolidWorks World 2010 called Feature-lock, which allows a user to lock feature rebuilds wherever they like, will not make it into this release. Many people would have flipped sideways for this. Let’s hope they get the issues straightened out soon after the released.

SolidWorks 2011 and Windows XP
If you’re a Windows XP users or have 32 bit Vista or Windows 7 system, lend me your earholes. To get the best results out of SolidWorks 2011, you should start looking to upgrade your operating system to Windows7 (64 bit) very soon. There are two big reasons. First, SolidWorks has officially stated that support for Windows XP will end with the release of SolidWorks 2011. (This doesn’t mean it won’t work, it simply means you’ll see no support for graphics card testing and bug reports.) Second, the minimum system requirement recommendation is 6GB of RAM. 32-bit systems run 4GB max. This will only be possible with 64 bit systems.

Now, this doesn’t discount 32 bit Vista or 7. SolidWorks 2011 will run on those and be supported, so you have a little room to breathe. The entire SolidWorks product line is now supported on 64-bit with this release as well, from eDrawing to PhotoView 360 and Enterprise PDM. I beta tested SolidWorks 2011 on an XP machine with 2GB of RAM and an Nvidia Quadro FX1800 with no problems. It does work, just start prepping.

Is it better than 2010?
Once again, if you look back through the BEST NEW FEATURE AWARDS, those are improvements I choose as adding value to existing SolidWorks workflow and engineering processes. From a user perspective there’s not a whole lot of new stuff to mess with learning. If you share a lot of models, use 3DCC a lot the Defeature tool rocks. If you use the revolve tool or work with surfaces a lot the new part features look great. Everyone will get some use out of the dimension tools and there not like the 2010 features that bring up “What the..!?” questions from users.

The 2011 interface has some visual improvements over 2010 and the way they’ve worked in the Appearance setting into the DisplayManager is nothing but WAY BETTER than how you had to go to each part to see what setting it had. The PV360 integration is fab and, if you do a lot of rendering, was one thing that was SO needed with 2010.I personally like to have the ability to open a large assembly while putting up a blog post, streaming music and emailing foreign leaders about ways to combat aging. It’s great. I rarely upgrade at SP 0.0, but I’ll have at least on version installed for the all of the features mentioned above.

Does it have better options?
If it takes away the option of being beat as hard, then yes. The options are better. What it comes down to is if it has the features you would use. It would be good to look through the What’s New to see if it has options and enhancement that concern the models you create. There are updates to weldments, sheetmetal and routing I didn’t mention. Everything about the updates make the process faster, especially for routing routines. The focus on updating existing tools is there again this year. Sure it takes away the excitement of something new and wonky, but it’s nice to see more options in the tools there that you use everyday. Let’s hope that continues.

Is the performance better?
Overall, I’m gonna say yes. They’re not making a big deal of it. I’m pretty sure people are over the “60% more efficient!” marketing, so good on SolidWorks, but it would be nice to know that they are making adjustment to the code to work better on the hardware we all use. Are code tweaks being done for 64-bit? What about multi-core and CUDA/Fermi tech? We’d all love to know the details and in which areas are being concentrated on for better performance.

More SolidWorks 2011!!
Stop over by Develop3D where I’ve posted more on SolidWorks 2011. Note the XP and SolidWorks section and start prepping for 64-bit.

GrabCAD. Pot Pie Squeezin’ 3D Model Excitment for Your Grabby Little Hands.

Josh — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:14:51 +0000

I bet you’re squeezing a giant pot pie into your mouth right now. I am. In fact it’s one of my favorite things to do while sharing and discussing 3D models amongst friends. GrabCAD is where it’s all happening.

We covered GrabCAD when it first came on the scene as a place to outsource your design ideas. They’ve grown, adjusted, sprouted some fat ol’ love handles of the 3D modeling variety and have now, become a place to share your models. At it’s heart, it’s a community and, I believe, adding some much needed simplicity to sharing models.

CAD Library?

Yep, I know. The thought of it is exciting, right? Really though, GrabCAD is taking it a step beyond that. A step I’m really not the most attracted to at first glance, because… sharing and discussing your CAD models? C’mon, hasn’t that been done? Yes, but I’ve got to admit, it’s a little different.

How is it different/better than other sites?

You may be familiar with sites like 3DContentCentral (3DCC). It’s a large community without a doubt. You can share content, download other people’s content and find components created by the actual supplier. 3DCC does have a strong community aspect, but it does focus heavily on the supplier content. That’s not bad, it’s just where it differs from GrabCAD. GrabCAD focuses on the members and the content they create. It’s raw, yes. You can only download the model in the software it was created, but it’s as much about the connections you’re making as it is about the models you’re sharing.

New Features

Along with the new website look, they’ve got a slew of features to which they’re adding to and developing weekly.

Create and fill profile info to increase visibility and build your reputation
Upload CAD model to show your skills and get feedback for your models
Search other engineers and their CAD models
Follow professionals, friends and co-workers to see what they are up to
Browse and download in Library to get ideas for design and reuse other engineers work
Connect your profile with Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, OpenID

How I’ve found it useful

This is a great resource for finding example models and to communicate with others about their models. I’ve made connections by following people (much like on Twitter) and can contact them to find out more about what they do and their models.

How it could be better

Right now, there’s a lack of models. GrabCAD has just started out though, so that’s understandable. While it has some cross communication with other social sites, this could be complimented with a link between GrabCAD and the other service. It’s not the most important feature, but it is a social site after all. Having a batch upload would aid in uploads of large amounts of data. As it is now, you upload a single file and specifics one at a time.

Overall, this is a different sort of site in the CAD industry, kinda refreshing and some room for a lot of potential. They’ve also managed to get a round of funding during an economic downturn which, really, is nothing but impressive. We’ll see if they have what it takes to both go up against the larger CAD libraries sites and enter the very chubby world of social media. What do you think? Is there room for this kind of site?

Disclaimer: Josh Mings is on the advisory board for GrabCAD. Although he doesn’t get any kickbacks or hugs for writing up comments about GrabCAD, he has been promised use of the company toilet if he ever visits the office.

Autodesk Slams CAD on the Mac OS X. Plus AutoCAD for iPhone and iPad

Josh — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:02:38 +0000

Well, blow my everloving mind out of the water. You won’t see the PR till Tuesday, but the New York Times just scooped the whole CAD industry on the news.

AutoCAD for Apple Mac is here. Not only that, the scaled down version, AutoCAD WS, is here for the iPhone and the iPad. We’ve not got the brief, video or screenshots of what it looks like yet, but needless to say, this has been a longtime CAD on the Mac fiend desire. The OS X version releases October for $3,995. Free mobile versions for iPhone, iPad and iPod to follow.

News and beta screenshots broke about this back in May. It’s long been speculated, but a week after Graebert released their AutoCAD competitor ARES for the Mac, Autodesk is back to make their mark in the world of Apple. Yes, they’ve been here before. The last version for a Mac was AutoCAD R12 back in 1992. Things have changed a bit since then and, if you hadn’t noticed, there’s been a bit of a Mac addict resurgence. So, who can blame Autodesk, both with Apple’s Mac, iPhone and iPad popularity and Autodesk’s wildly successful venture into mobile apps with Sketchbook Mobile and FluidFX.

We’ll take a closer look as more news and info come out. Are you down with buying AutoCAD for your Mac, or are you holding out for some 3D goodness?

Side Note: It’s interesting that NYT broke this. These things are never on accident. Some of you use Macs and will flip sideways about this news, but now, look at it from the NYT reader’s perspective – the investor, the corporate America mac user, the Sunday catch up via the NYT feed people. These and others are the people Autodesk is targeting.

So, NYT got the scoop (and linkbacks), but you’ll be hearing more details from the product dev industry bloggers and journalists over the coming weeks.

Updates:
More news is coming out as the morning goes on…

AutoCAD on the Mac Video
The fancy preview video… I swear there’s a cameo by Jeff Goldblum at 0:23…

AutoCAD WS for iPhone and iPad
Do you remember Project Butterfly? Ever think of the other applications for the “AutoCAD on the web” tech? This is where it’s transitioned. Project Butterfly ‘Mobile’ is AutoCAD WS. It’s odd to see how this will work since Butterfly is a Flash-based web app and iTouch devices won’t run Flash. HTML5? Virtualized from an offsite server?

Ralph Grabowski comments on the news – WorldCAD Access
Deelip comments on the news – Deelip.com
Al Dean has his comments at Develop3D – Develop3D

Mac/AutoCAD image via Ocell.net

Friday Smackdown: Buckle Your Bread

Josh — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:00:41 +0000

Once you’re able to buckle the bread ends down sufficiently, it’s all a matter of how you apply the jelly. In this case, you’ll need a shovel, a big one, and these links.

Brent Nolasco – No portfolio, but his blog is filled with much of his amazing acrylic paintings and vinyl/resin customs.
Linguistics puzzles – I know you’re in the mood to decipher how to say ‘little beetle’ in Agta. These are actually fun… and challenging.
How authors really make money – Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin lay it all out. You might be surprised.
M8 Avenger Assault Rifle – The prop. And how it was created by Volpin props… it took a little time.
Cross Country – Just a short journey ‘cross the U.S. documented horizontally in a series of photos.
Google Realtime Search – It’s here. What’s here? Realtime search results. Misinformation as it happens.
Base Jump – Breath hold. Deepest Blue Hole in the world. Jump. Amazing.

SolidWorks 2011 Launch. 6 Day, 8 Hours, 3 Minutes and 30 seconds.

Josh — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:48:15 +0000

If you look at the image to the left (and the larger version after the jump) you’ll see a bunch of tiny people mulling about the large appendage like structure in front of them. Little do they know that beneath the crumpled paper lies the number… 2011… that in 6 days… will… transform and DEVOUR ALL OF THEIR SOULS!

…or , you know, will simply mark the day in which SolidWorks 2011 is launched. Just check SolidWorksLaunch.com. Now, don’t read this wrong. SolidWorks 2011 isn’t shipping next week.

It’s currently in Beta 3, but you will start being barraged with unreasonable amounts of coverage, including a wee bit from SolidSmack. Have something you’re wondering about the next version?

So, you have a week till the SolidWorks 2011 launch. Be on the watch next Wednesday, September 1st. In the meantime, let’s hear what you want to know about the new version in the comments.

How To Convert Your PDF To AutoCAD DWG… For Free.

Josh — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:51:47 +0000

There are times in our life when we stand behind a wall, peek around the corner and snicker at someone pulling dimensions off a PDF document to sketch out a part. The tears roll down their overworked cheeks. If only they could convert the PDF to an .dwg file.

They can. It use to be that you had to take a PDF into Adobe Illustrator and export a .dxf file to get usable data out of the PDF file. That is no longer the case thanks to a handy little site called, wait for it… ConvertPDFtoAutoCAD.com. It’s different from other options in that it’s completely web-based.

All it requires is the PDF file, an email to send the converted file to and an attitude that says, “I’m gonna convert the PDF and you can’t stop ME!” It’s fast too. Here’s a quick look.

All you do is go here… Upload your PDF and enter your email.

I uploaded a PDF and guess what. It went…

I got the email back in a couple of minutes. Is a tool like this handy for you? Sure beats going through Illustrator I say.

ARES Commander. First 2D CAD on the Mac Released. DraftSight Next?

Josh — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:29:43 +0000

Deep outta the heart of Berlin, Germany comes news for the user who enjoys the planar bliss of X and Y coordinates… and wears a shirt that say, “I do it on a Mac.”

Everyone down with 2D alternatives to AutoCAD knew that Graebert was working on a version of their ARES Commander product for the Mac. Well, today they released it. The first native DWG based, AutoCAD 2010 bangin’ CAD cutter on the market. They’re excited. So excited, they’ve got a special deal going that will shock the Mac user who is used to dishing out the dough for ultimate cool status. Oh, and there’s more.

Mac plus 2D and 3D

For those that enjoy the 3D side of design, ARES Commander also offers 3D capabilities. It’s the 3D ACIS based solid modeling. But here’s the better deal…

The Deal. The Download.

Until the end of September, Graebert is offering ARES Commander Mac Edition for 1/2 price. So instead of €995 (US $1260), you get it for €495 (US $630). Not too bad a deal considering the cost of AutoCAD. You can also download it for free, right now to give it a try.

Is DraftSight Next?

If you remember, Dassault launched their own 2D product based on Graebert’s ARES platform called DraftSight. It’s completely free. The plan is to have that available for the Mac later this year, as well as for Linux.

2D CAD on Linux?

Yes, Graebert may also be the first company to bring AutoCAD compliant, DWG based 2D CAD native to the Linux operating system. It’s currently in Beta. You can sign up to be a tester if that kind of thing excites you.

What about 3D on the Mac?

ARES Commander has some 3D modeling capabilities, but if you want more, you may want to get your nubs on these options. There’s NURBS/Polygon modeling with SolidThinking, Rhino OSX is in Beta, and there’s always the Ashlar-Vellum line of products. If you’re holding out for SolidWorks or Inventor on the Mac, you may have to wait a little longer. Both Autodesk and Dassault are obviously seeking such possibilities, but as it looks now, there’s nothing being made public. Look for announcements in December at AU2010 from Autodesk and from SolidWorks at SolidWorks 2011 in February.

Don’t Throw-up, You Now Have Two Options for Online CAD Stores.

Josh — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:26:01 +0000

I know, I know. You get so giddy thinking about shopping, you just totally lose it. Then someone mentions shopping for CAD products, and you go completely nuts and lose control of your stomach juices.

You may start to feel the gurgle yet again though. In the past you had but one option, Novedge. Their selection has become massive. However, there is now a little competition on the scene. Today, the TenLinks network, launched CAD Depot. It’s a lot of 2D but there are tidbits for SolidWorks, Rhino and other programs. Let’s shop…

Like Novedge, CAD Depot carries products which are generally not sold through resellers, however you do have some options like Alibre Design Expert which Novedge lists for $945 and CAD Depot lists for… well, they don’t list it. They do the super secret deal thing and tell you to Call for Price. But, if we do look for something they both sell… oh, let’s say, a “3D Import for SolidWorks” translator from SYCODE, which you can buy (without subscription) from SYCODE for $195.

Novedge is selling it for $185. CAD Depot is selling it for $156. Looks like Novedge needs to take down their “Best Price Guarantee” badge. Really though, you’ll probably find it goes both ways and I’m sure CAD Depot is gonna try extra hard to compete with Novedge at this point.

Siemens Slams SolidSmack with Questions. This is What I Said.

Josh — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:15:28 +0000

A couple months ago I went to Siemens PLMConx Event. It was a magical time filled with magical talk about PLM, Solid Edge, NX, curling irons, highlight techniques and ways to deal with split ends… I may be getting two events mixed up, but whatever the case, Mrs. Dora Smith was on the hunt to get a video interview with me.

I cleverly (unknowingly) evaded such an activity by diving behind people larger than myself. I could not, however, avoid questions via email.

So, if you’re interested in the slightest about why I blog, what’s open on my desktop or what really happens at these events, give it a read. You can hammer the Q&A goodness into your oculars at the Siemens PLM Blog. Oh, by the way, Dora asks several questions about Twitter. If you’re interested, you can follow me @solidsmack.

Friday Smackdown: The Nillies

Josh — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:00:31 +0000

That, my friend, is a mighty fine curd. May I ask, how does one mix breakbeats and bebop with coagulated milk? Ahhh, with two pointy nubs you say? and these links?! Brilliant!

Pablo Vicentin – He’s got some 3D, but what’s exceptional is the characters and composition of his 2D work.
Grahpic.ly – Comics where ever you want, plus a cool mix on social. Multi-platform too.
10 free web design books – I was skeptical about these at first, but some of them have great info. Getting Real is a must read.
EpicWin – The iPhone app that turns your to-do list into a super cool role playing game. Get it done.
Inception parodies – Absolute best, from Inebriation to… Dora the explorer? Yes. Become even more confused.
Japansese bananas – You’ll love it if this guy shows up at your house and shoots bananas out his nose into your lap.
3D Waterfall Street Art – Created over three days in Moscow while harmful smoke from nearby forest fires surround them.