SolidWorks User Group Network Technical Summit in San Jose, CA on Dec 18, 2012

Some people say the world will end 10 days from now.  My bet?  We’ll be just fine on December 22, 2012.  That in mind, if you are in the Northern California area (or within an hour’s flight) and interested to improve your SolidWorks skill, networking with others professionals, and meeting SolidWorks employees, I recommend you look into attending this year’s SolidWorks User Group Network Technical Summit in Silicon Valley on December 18, 2012.

I’ve written about the benefits of the Technical Summits in the past.   SolidWorks employees will be attending this year, along with very helpful presentations.  Registration and details are found on the SWUGN site here.

Guessing SolidWorks World 2013 Special Event

The SolidWorks World 2013 Special Event hasn’t been officially announced on the SolidWorks World website just yet (unless we are going to travel across time and space back to Feb 2012 in San Diego, which would be cool in and of itself). People are making a lot of guesses on the forums. Where do you think it will be? Post you ideas here.

Free Certified SolidWorks Associate or Profession exam when you attend SolidWorks World 2013

There are a lot of extra benefits to attendees of SolidWorks World 2013.  One benefit is that when you sign up to attend, you are given the option to take a free SolidWorks certification exam at SolidWorks World.  My advice is that if you do not yet have certification, take the exam!  It’s free with your full conference pass!

There are two entry points for certification on SolidWorks:

  • SolidWorks Certified Associate (CSWA) which covers basic SolidWorks skills.
  • SolidWorks Certified Professional (CSWP) which covers deeper understanding of SolidWorks skills.  This certificate is required to qualify for advanced exam modules as you work your way to earning CSWE.

I’ve heard that some people shy away from taking the exam because they are not confident in their skills.   I’ve heard this from some well experienced individuals.  If you have neither certification and are nervous about the exam, then attempt the CSWA exam.  If you are already a CSWA or have been in industry for awhile, than take the CSWP-CORE exam.   Preparation is still very important in either case.  There are plenty of materials that are available to help get yourself read for the exam.  There’s even a sample exam with which you can practice!

The exams are held on Sunday, January 20, 2013, the afternoon prior to the official start of SolidWorks World 2013 at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Resort.

New Section View Assist tool in SolidWorks used as example of teamwork

I was recently interviewed by Entertainment Engineering, an online magazine that covers technologies used in many types of entertainment devices and events such as movies, concerts, theme and amusement parks, electronic games, etc.  The November 2012 issue focuses on the value of individual contributors and also of teamwork in the design process.  Here’s the kicker, I’m quoted in the issue’s editorial article along side the great Steve Wozniak.  Kinda cool.

The article for which I was specifically interviewed is called Teamwork Improves Section-View Options in SolidWorks 2013, which leads-off a series of interviews with various individuals from all over the engineering discipline.  In my interview, I talk about the new SolidWorks section view functionality (now called Section View Assist) that has a whole new user interface that changes the way section views are created on drawings in CAD.  This includes how I originally developed the concept which was then improved and refined via teamwork within the SolidWorks organization.

Section View Assist replaces the need to first create sketches before being able to create a section view.  Instead, you can directly place cutting line on the original view and have the section view generated automatically.  If you want to use aligned section view, you can add offsets to the cutting line directly in the Section View Assist interface (without the need to draw lines or edit sketches).  Same goes to notch and single offsets.  The new user interface saves time and steps.  The improvement is nearly exponential.  The more complex your cutting line, the quicker you can create it versus old methods using sketches.

Submit your ideas for SolidWorks World 2013 Top Ten List

It’s that time of year again!  Time to submit your ideas on how to enhance SolidWorks for the SolidWorks World 2013 Top Ten list!  Please sign on the SolidWorks Forums website and goto SolidWorks World 2013 and the Top Ten List.    This is a list of enhancements you would like to see in future releases of SolidWorks.  It’s under the Ideas tab.  Starting on November 7th, the list is open for idea creation only.  To add an Idea for voting, click on the Create an Idea link in the upper right menu on the Ideas tab.

Starting December 5th the list will close to idea creation and will open up for voting. You are allowed to vote for as many ideas as you like. Voting will close on January 5th and the Top Ten List will be announced at SolidWorks World 2013!

This is an easy way to tell us how you use SolidWorks and how we can improve it to meet your needs. So please start thinking of what new functionality you would like to see, post your idea, and vote on it! We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

New in SolidWorks 2013: Hide Section View Cutting Lines (not found in What’s New)

This entry is part 2 of 12 in the series New in SolidWorks 2013

With all the drawing improvements in SolidWorks each year, there’s often some small ones that don’t make it into the What’s New file.  Last year, I covered several small enhancments in SolidWorks 2012 that weren’t in the What’s New.  Well, it’s now time to start covering SolidWorks 2013.  I’ll cover some of the bigger enhancements for SolidWorks, but I’m also going to cover some of these hidden gems too.

Section views are made of several elements, including a parent view, a cutting line, labels, and the section view itself.   Both ASME and ISO standards have situations where the cutting line is not shown, such as with half sections or when the cut is obvious.  Prior to SolidWorks 2013, hiding the cutting line required workarounds.  In SolidWorks 2013, there is a very simple command now available.

To hide a section view’s cutting line, RMB click on the either the cutting line or the section view.  Select Hide Section Line.  That’s it.

Of course, the question now is, how are the cutting lines unhidden once they are hiding?  Easy, RMB click on the section view itself and click on Show Cutting Line command.

The cutting line returns to the parent view as though it never went away in the first place.