Every year since I don’t know when, SolidWorks World has established a group just for photos taken at the conference. The photo stream for SolidWorks World 2013 group has started! Check out the Flickr group and upload your own photos of the event. Here’s a short sample so far:
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.
What’s in Lancaster, PA in October? One of the largest SolidWorks new release rollouts in the U.S. At a quaint resort, a large auditorium is nearly filled with SolidWorks customers eagerly watching a half day of presentations about what’s new in SolidWorks in the newest version. They covered a multitude of topics from the What New’s document to a clever parody of Mythbusters, called Featurebusters.
The was even a bit about how to use SolidWorks to improve your golf game.
The event was hosted by DesignPoint. Even though Lancaster, PA seems to be a far-flung place (just try to get a direct flight, or even a reasonable 1-stop flight to there), the area has a lot of enthusiasm for engineering, and SolidWorks.
My adventures didn’t end with this event.
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Need I say more?
Zooming methods are the same as assemblies, with zoom fit, zoom home, panning, etc. Play is also available. I don’t know what it is about Play; there is just some inexplicable joy that comes from watching a model transition between views.
Configurations are also supported for parts. Switching between configurations is a breeze.
Same as other eDrawings releases, DimXpert dimensions are viewable in eDrawing part (.eprt) files.
Zoom tools work a little different for drawing. There is still pan, zoom in and out, zoom fit, and zoom home. Logically, you won’t have the ability to rotate a drawing sheet into 3D space.
When viewing a drawing, Play works the same in eDrawings for iPad as it does in other versions of eDrawings. Watching a drawing transition between drawing views is even more enjoyable than watching a model because the associated dimensions are displayed at each waypoint.
Drawing sheets are also supported. Switching between drawing sheets may be done through the Sheets tree.
eDrawings for iPad is very intuitive for anyone familiar with multitouch screens. One finger drag rotates the model. Two fingers pan. Pinching zooms. I’ve used this app on both an iPad and iPad 3. On either of these devices, manipulating the model orientation has great responsiveness that is as immediate as you may expect any iPad app to be. For example, switching between configurations and sheets using the tree is very quick.
Loading a file into eDrawings for iPad is also a snap. You can copy files to your iPad via your iTunes interface. Even easier, just email the file to yourself or someone else who has this app installed.
When downloading the model file through your email interface, you are automatically presented with the option to open it in eDrawings. If you accept, it is added to your User Files and opened. Very convenient.
eDrawings for iPad has enough functions to immediately make this a useful tool. It is very inexpensive when compared to similar applications that view native SolidWorks files on the iPad. The app is very easy to use. These points give this app a great combination of qualities.
eDrawings for iPad is available as of May 1, 2012 from the Apple App Store. Please find and install this app through App Store from your iPad device. Search word: edrawings. Or, follow this iTunes link. There is a lively discussion on Twitter under hashtags #edrawingsforipad, #eDrawings, or just plain search for edrawings. Also, if you wish, check out the SolidWorks.com introduction site
One of my favorite shows on TV is Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Even though the keynote speaker was announced ahead of SolidWorks World 2012 (Tony Fadell), there was still a surprize guest speaker! Can you guess who (as if you didn’t already know): Mike Rowe.
Mike Rowe is a down to Earth kind of guy that has a passion to honor the men and women who do the jobs that the rest of us are thankful we don’t have to do. Rowe spoke about wanting to bring white collar and blue collar trades together. Though there is value in having degrees (of which he has one in Communications), he states that our society is too focused on that. In particular, he does Dirty Jobs to honor his Grandfather, Carl, who was a plummer and mechanic. With all the unemployment, there doesn’t seem to be enough people to fill jobs like plummers and electricians. A very good article covers details of his talk on Graphics Speak
He talked about mikeroweWORKS, built by the fans of Dirty Jobs, which seeks to help close the skills gap and link up tradesmen. His mission statement says it better than I ever could.
When travelling across country late last year with my wife, I discovered a section of our hotel store at the Grand Canyon that was dedicated to Dirty Jobs. There was a foam board cut out of Mike Rowe’s image. To joke with my wife, who never found her way into the store, I took a photo of me with the 2D cut out.
In a bit of irony, I actually did get a chance to meet Mike Rowe at SolidWorks World 2012, and yes, he gracitiously took his photo with me. Can you tell which is the real Mike Rowe?
A rather unexpected bonus at ATEC11 are the variety presentations, from the highly technical to practical real world application. Dr. Edward Price presented a video about the Chicago stormwater retention system, run by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This program and collection of public works handles water pollution and sewer backup problems for 52 municipalities within Cook County. Price covered how Chicago is setting up a water management system that can handle 11″ of rain in one day (from the so-called 100-year storm; there have been several such 100-year storms in the past 10 years!). The system treats about 1.5 billion gallons of waster water each day. Overflow is often stored in several reservoirs, including one called Deep Tunnel. Treated solid waste from the system is used to convert old strip mine craters into beautiful prairie land via a program called the Prairie Plan. See the image below for a basic schematic of the water treatment system.
