Category: News

3Dconnexion’s new SpacePilot PRO 3D Mouse

Before this month, I’ve never owned any 3Dconnexion 3D-mice in my life.  Heck, I wasn’t even exactly sure how to pronounce 3Dconnexion.  That “x” in the middle of the name throws me off.  Despite this, I’ve had some interest in their devices.  This has never taken me to the point of testing one on my own.  After all, I feel I’m pretty fast with my mouse-work and keyboard shortcuts.  So, when 3DConnexion asked to meet with me at SolidWorks World 2009, I was interested in seeing what they wanted to show me, yet skeptical about finding any game changers.

SpacePilot PROThey introduced me to the SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse.  (It may already be available on Amazon or other locations if someone is interested in looking for price comparisons.)  The SpacePilot PRO is the latest 3D mouse in a long line of professional 3D-mice which “have rewritten the rules on the way design engineers and professionals interact with 3D environments,” as noted by Dieter Neujahr in the official press release.  OK, so what am I doing quoting press release comments?

Now, anyone that reads my product reviews knows I’m no sell-out.  I don’t give shiny reviews to get free stuff.  I don’t run promotions.  For full disclosure, I must say that 3Dconnexion did give me a free SpacePilot PRO a few days ago.  This was given to me without any strings attached.  Technically, they didn’t even ask me to write any review or comment on the unit they give to me.  I made it clear back in February that if I did review the product based on the unit they were going to give me, it was going to be unbiased.  They seemed to insist upon that.  Even at that time, I had a few critical comments about the device (which I cannot remember now), to which they were receptive.

Does getting a free $499 device impact my opinion?  You betcha….JUST KIDDING!!  However, I do feel it is appropriate for me to write about my experiences, to give others a sense as to whether these devices are worth the cash.  Expect my usual sarcastic comments juxtaposed with well deserved praise, and demands for further improvement.

I’m not going to write one all encompassing review.  This is a highly capable device.  I doubt I can write completely about my experiences with this unit in one review without the article getting excessive in length.  I mean, just look how long this article is already, and I haven’t even started my review yet!  More information will come soon.

Year of Richard Doyle

This is truly Richard Doyle’s year in the CAD community.  He was honored by his peers and associates at SolidWorks World 2009.  Now, CAD Society announces Richard Doyle is the winner of the 2009 CAD Society Joe Greco Community Award for his achievements in building the SolidWorks community throughout this decade.  Given his tremendous and tireless dedication, these types of accolades are long over due.  Please see Matthew West’s comments and announcement.

Leveraging the Online Community (Pontiac?)

*Edits to this article are in this color* 

I’m noticing that many companies are starting to get-it when it comes to leveraging online communities.  SolidWorksCorp has been ahead of the game, which is working to their advantage.  This isn’t going unnoticed by others in the 3D CAD industry.   Of course, nor is the idea of leveraging online communities unique to 3D CAD companies. 

PTC recently sent out an email with a survey regarding their plans to improve their presence within the online communities.  Sure, they already have user and corporate blogs, forums and such.  What are they missing?  Well, not being involved with PTC, I’m not going to guess.  Nor am I going to fill out their survey.

What made me think about this is something that happened which is almost completely unrelated to 3D CAD.  My wife and I were recently profiled in G8 version Pontiac Performance.  This is a magazine that is sent out to owners of Pontiac vehicles.  I’m not sure why I, as an owner of an awesome new 2009 G8 GT, would need a magazine full of articles pointing out the greatness of Pontiac cars.  I already get-it.  That’s why I bought the car!  (Maybe they are hoping I will buy another model right away?)  Anyway, the magazine does have its use, and I’m getting to the point soon.  First, if you want to see my profile article, I believe the magazine is carried by Pontiac dealerships.  If you feel so inclined, go in to a dealership and ask to see if they have copies of the G8 version Pontiac Performance Spring 2009 edition.  (It has to be the G8 version of the magazine since it appears they publish different versions of the magazine based on what car you are interested in or already own.) The article is on pages 12 and 13 (pages vary based on the version of the magazine, but its somewhere between page 9 and 14 in most G8 versions).  Then, while you are there, check out the G8.  I’m actually not being sarcastic when I suggest this.

Anyway, back to the point.  In the magazine is another article called Car Camaraderie about how online forums are bringing Pontiac drivers together.  They did a whole article about online resources being utilized by Pontiac owners.  As far as I know, none of these resources are directly related to GM.  This move by Pontiac to promote the online community reminded me of the efforts that SolidWorks has already undertaken.   The writer of the Pontiac article understands the Pontiac’s online community well enough to mention the most popular sites for each of their models.  This is just one article in one magazine that doesn’t have public distribution.  It’s a start for them, though.  Sure, OnStar has been online based for awhile now, but that is a paid service.  The act of actually profiling users on several of the forums (even mentioning their user names) is something that is not that common yet.  Like many other old-school companies, they are starting to understand the Information Age, finally.  

SolidWork Corp isn’t a vanguard in how they leverage the online communities, but they are ahead of the curve…with other companies close on their heels.

Brave new world (online)

SolidWorks Corp is doing something well.  They are taking advantage of current and relavent networking technologies, such as Twitter (search #SolidWorks), to promote the software and its users.   In fact, SolidWorks Corp has a substantial online presence.  Some of this is their own doing, some of it by users stepping forward on their own.  There are a multitude of outlets for information and support.  There are forums, blogs, resource sites, networking sites (such as Linkedin and Facebook) .

Even with all this, there are still other interactive online resources.  Who’s checked out the SolidWorks Wikipedia.org article?  I recently made a minor edit to that article.  It can certainly benefit from many more edits.  Or, who’s checked out or contributed to SolidMentor’s Solidwiki?  This is on Ben’s site.  He also has the SolidJott SolidWorks add-in, which is growing rapidly in popularity.  What are your favorite online interactive sites?

New Area on Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources

Recently, a new file area on the Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources has been created, called Engineering and Design.  The purpose of this new area is to provide some general engineering and design reference materials.  These materials are not necessarily related to SolidWorks itself, but useful to its users (and really anyone in the mechanical engineering field).  This new area will be expanded rapidly over the course of this month to include files that provide organized tables and functional calculations regarding on wire gages, positional tolerancing, sheet metal tolerance, thread sizes, metal coating and finishes, etc.

If there are tables, calculation spreadsheets or other data compilations you would like added to this area, please feel free to contact me with your files so that they may be included.  (I will not put up copyrighted material, like images of charts made by this or that publisher, without permission from the author.  However, data itself will be welcomed, preferably within an excel file.)

Also, comment here if you have any particular requests for this or any file area.