There’s a couple of CAD industry press releases that came to me last week from Dassault Systemes. I decided to experiment a bit with WordPress by providing both press releases at the same time in a dual column format. Since this article is more of an experiment in WordPress formatting than an actual attempt to perpetuate announcements, I’m going to be lazy by doing something I almost never do. I’m going to post the nearly raw press releases (except for the addition of some images from Mike Puckett to help illustrate the DS HQ announcement). I know, I know, but either one of these press releases will be of interest to someone, so I don’t necessarily feel completely guilty. You are free to read one or both (or none), as you please. (If you are interested in seeing another point of view covering the DS HQ move, check out this article from “The Real Reporter“.)
3DVIA Composer
Here’s an official video about improvements to 3DVIA Composer this year. If you use SolidWorks, pay special attention to Magnet Lines. There’s a buzz building to get that functionality included in SolidWorks at some point.
LetsGoDesign.tv behind-the-scenes tour
Jeremy Luchini gives a brief behind-the-scenes tour of the LetsGoDesign.tv studio at SolidWorks headquarters in Concord, MA.
SolidWorks World 2011 Connect Tweets
I mentioned SolidWorks World 2011 Connect website a couple days ago. I guess it was a little ironic that my tweet about the Connect website was the first tweet to appear on the Connect website. I guess even more ironic is that this article (the one that you are reading right now) will likely be the second tweet to appear. 🙂 No, no, I take that back. I’ve purposefully left off the #sww11 hatchtag to avoid just that.
SolidWorks 2011: Auto Arrange Dimensions tool
There is a a set of new drawing functions in SolidWorks 2011 that’s catching a lot of attention. These are the Auto Arrange Dimensions tools which are built into the Dimension Palette. Using a thumb wheel and available options, the user may automatically space dimensions from smallest to largest, aligned and centered (where possible), spaced with the pre-set offset distances, adjusted to avoid overlapping, and staggered (where necessary). In short, these tools automatically space and align selected dimensions with very little effort.
Currently, SolidWorks 2010 does have auto spacing for dimensions, but this can sometimes be more of a hassle than a benefit. There’s a lot of potential with these new Auto Arrange Dimension tools. They may allow the user to save time while giving them direct control over dimension placement.
Auto Arrange Dimensions is reportedly so easy to use, if dimensions of an entire drawing are selected, they can be spaced and aligned at once using this tool.
If these tools work as well as promised, they can potentially save a lot of time when inserting or adding dimensions to drawings. I guess the only addition I’d ask for is an option to automatically select every dimension on the drawing with the click of the mouse button to allow an entire drawing to be aligned and spaced in one quick action.
SolidWorks World 2011 Connect
Even though SolidWorks World 2011 is quite a number of months away, SolidWorks Corp wishes to keep everyone in-the-know. SolidWorks World 2011 Connect is on the SolidWorks website. The new webpage features feeds from Twitter hashtag #SWW11, many SolidWorks blogs, and the SolidWorks World forum.
Even for the casual reader, this aggregation webpage may be a good one-stop location to see whats going in the realm of SolidWorks World 2011. There is content that will be relatable for most types of SolidWorks users.
- The Twitter feeds tend to be live and very lively.
- The blogs are usually in depth with a lot of helpful information.
- The forums are a good place to interact with the online SolidWorks community for questions and answers.