SolidWorks Legion April 2010 Contest (post comments)

Spring is here, though many of us are still very wintered.  To cheer up readers, I’m conducting a new SolidWorks Contest for April 2010.  Throughout April, I will tweet links from my fcsuper Twitter account.  Each link will be to an older or new SolidWorks Legion article (hereby called “linked article”).  To enter this contest, simply post at least one new comment on each of the these linked articles.  Though not required, I request that comments be on-topic with the linked article.  Every person that posts at least one new comment to a linked article will have one entry added into a random drawing that will take place by May 4, 2010.  The drawing will be for three places, with winning entries picked randomly in the following order.

  1. First place: Voucher for CSWP test of the winner’s choice (CSWE excluded).
  2. Second place: Sir Richard Branson’s book Business Stripped Bare Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur (The book has a reproduced autograph by Branson.  I cannot determine the method used to reproduce the signature.  Even still, it’s pretty cool.)
  3. Third place: Hot-cold insulated SolidWorks mug.

 

Since I’m going to do an actual random drawing for this contest, I’m taking the rule thing seriously.  Here are additional rules.  Maximum number of entries per person will be limited to the total number of linked articles within the month of April 2010.  Odds of winning will be determined by the total number of eligible entries.  Entries to this contest will not be accepted after April 30, 2010.  Limit one entry per person for each linked article, regardless to how many times the article is mentioned on Twitter, and regardless to the number of additional comments made on that same article.  Only comments left on SolidWorks Legion website for the linked articles are eligible as entries.  By entering this contest, you agree to accept and follow all contest rules and you accept my decisions regarding this contest as final.  Each person that enters this contest is responsible for their own ability to use the prize if they win.  I reserve the right to remove and disqualify any comments as entries for being spam, hostile or otherwise inappropriate.  I reserve the right to post links to other articles on other websites.  Links to articles that are not on SolidWorks Legion are not part of this contest.  Links by anyone else other than me (via my twitter account) are not part of this contest, even if those links are to SolidWorks Legion articles.  For a comment to quality as an entry, it must have a time and date stamp (as issued by SolidWorks Legion website) that shows it was posted after the associated tweet, and it must include the person’s email (as entered into the comment fields).  Each entry to be represented by a piece of paper that has the same dimensions +/-10% to all other entries.  All entries will be collected in some sort of bowl or similar container.  Winners will be randomly hand drawn from the container.  Each person may only win one prize in this contest.  If a person has won one prize and one of their entries is drawn again, the drawing for that place will continue until a different person’s entry is picked.  If a person is unable to post a comment for whatever reason, they may email me with the subject line “SolidWorks Legion Contest Entry” and a message stating the linked article’s title in lieu of a comment.  Winners will be announced during the month of May 2010 on SolidWorks Legion.  Each winner will also be contacted separately via email during the month of May 2010.  Winners will have until the end of June 31, 2010 to reply to the notification email.  If no response from a winner is received by me, regardless to the reason, that winner forfeits the prize and it will not be re-issued or substituted.  Prizes will not be substituted nor exchanged for other prizes.  If the winner of the CSWP test does not use their CSWP test voucher before it expires, the winner forfeits that prize and it will not be re-issued or substituted.  The value for each prize is equal to the amount I paid for each (which is $0.00).  I will cover shipping costs for prizes sent to U.S.A. domestic destinations.  Shipping costs for an international shipment will be the responsibility of the winner.  Any attempt by any individual to game contest rules for unfair advantage or to act in a way that is not in the spirit of this contest will forfeit their entries and any other stakes in this contest.  Employees of Dassault Systemes, any of its subsidiaries and any software resellers are not eligible to win.  Any comments left on SolidWorks Legion by such persons do not count as entries for this contest.  This article (the one that you are reading right now) counts as the first entry opportunity.

Tuesday Two: Shingle ingestion

Tuesday Two

shinglepicDow will soon make a roof shingle that generates solar power.  It’s called DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle.  Home and business owners will soon have more options to help power their homes, businesses and occasional gazebo.  Viva Sol!

 

pillsthermoCorTemp Ingestible Core Body Thermometer Pill isn’t just a mouthful of words, it’s actually a  thermometer that you swallow!  Once the pill is ingested, a quartz crystal sensor vibrates at a frequency that is relative to the body’s temperature.  This creates a low-level signal that can be detected outside of the body.

 

Tutorial: Tag your features

tagsclipartIn this article, I’m covering a topic of tags, which I briefly addressed in my recent breakout session at the SWUGN Summit – San Jose.  What are tags?  This website has tags that are assigned to most of its articles.  Not just blogs, but many types of documents have tags which are used to increase searchability and enhance content filtering.  SolidWorks added tags functionality in SolidWorks 2008.  In SolidWorks, tags can be assigned to documents and features.

Instructions to assign tags to features:

  1. In the view pane or FeatureManager design tree, select any feature.
  2. In the status bar, at the lower right of the SolidWorks window, click the Tags icon.  tagsmall
  3. Tags box will pop up near the icon and will include any tags already in use for that feature.
  4. Type new tags into that field, separating each with a semi-colon.  (Once a tag is typed, it is applied.  There’s no “OK” button to accept.)
  5. (Click on the Tags icon again to close the Tags box.)

Tag Location

Then, to use the tags:

  1. In the filter field (at the top of the FeatureManager design tree), type-in the desired tag.
  2. This will automatically filter out all features which do not contain that tag nor match that text in their description.
  3. To redisplay all features, click cancel x in the filter field.

filterlocation

SWUGN Summit – San Jose in success

SWUGN Summit San Jose came to a close with many satisfied attendees.  In the past, San Jose area attendance to SWUGN Summits has been a bit up and down.  For whatever reason, attendance picked back up this year.  I haven’t checked to see the actual numbers yet, but I believe it is one of the best so far for this area.  Another bonus, I’m happy to report that both major VARs from this area contributed by giving some of the presentations!

Our star presenter was Gabi Jack.  Over the past week, she was stating much consternation over twitter about her impending presentation.  It turns out, she did a great job with her Surfacing presentation.  It was not obvious that this was her first live and public presentation ever since finishing college.  She’s a natural pro!

Another seasoned pro is Phil Sluder.  His SolidWorks tips and tricks session is always a crowd pleaser.  In fact, the session description simply said, “Phil’s tips and tricks…enough said.”  His presentation is good for all comers, from beginners and experienced users alike.

Elisa Moss had a heavily attended session that covered how to use derived configurations and display states for drawings.  She was also a very supportive attendee during other sessions.

Another star presenter was Alex R. Ruiz, who just recently released his new book, SolidWorks 2010: No Experience Required.  His session was partially based on the new book, which earned some well deserved attention.  I’ll be reviewing the book on SolidWorks Legion soon.

My own presentation was about advanced SolidWorks customization techniques.  Although labelled “advanced”, I did cover some easy topics as well to give something for all levels of experience.  My presentation went pretty well, except for a couple of times where SolidWorks did not momentarily cooperate.  Part of the challenge of presenting is working through the surprizes when they come up.  I was glad that the audience participated frequently and showed a lot of interest in the topics that were covered.

As usual, I’m going to have to thank Richard Doyle for putting on yet another great summit!

In other related news, Arthur Kwun of KLA Tencor earned his free CSWP test by uttering the words “SolidWorks Legion is awesome, dude!”  He did this during the lunch hour, so I wasn’t quite expecting it.  It took me a minute to realize he said the winning phrase.  Anyway, congrats!!

SWUGN Summit San Jose coming up quick!

If you are in the Northern California area, you’ve may have already seen an email from one of the SolidWorks User Groups about the upcoming SWUGN Technical Summit at the Embassy Suites in Milpitas.  SWUGN Technical Summits are day-long SolidWorks based conferences scheduled about once a month at different locations throughout North America.  Each summit generally offers the choice of 10 sessions within 5 time slots.  Each session offers a detailed look at particular SolidWorks related topics which are geared towards all levels of experience.  The San Jose summit is on March 23, 2010 and will feature presentations by SolidWorks Product Managers, local independent SolidWorks and VAR experts.  Among the presenters are a couple of first-timers, Gabi Jack (Bay Area) and Alex Ruiz (driving up from SoCal).  I’ll be presenting a session on advanced customization techniques.  If you’d like to see a particular customization topic covered in my session, leave a comment here.  Right now, I plan to talk about customization of hole callouts, Hole Wizard holes, Shortcut Tool, Mouse Gestures, and Sheet Metal Gage Tables.  (I’m also thinking about the Custom Properties Tab Builder, but that is a topic all to its own, so I may save that for another time.)

The cost to attend the SWUGN Technical Summit is only $40.  This is a bargain by almost any measure.  Similar types of conferences can cost $800 or more.  Check out the SWUGN Technical Summit website for session details and registration.

OK, and now for some fun.  At the San Jose summit on March 23, 2010, the first person to come up to me and says “SolidWorks Legion is awesome, dude” will earn a free CSWP test of their choice (does not include the new CSWE test).  The second person who says that line to me will earn a free SolidWorks hot-cold insulated mug.  Don’t try to be the first person and repeating the line twice. 🙂  Also, SolidWorks employees, VAR employees and other presenters are not eligable to earn these items.