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August 5th, 2009 — SolidWorks World, User Groups
I received an email earlier today informing me that registration is now open for SolidWorks World 2010! SolidWorks World 2010 will be held January 31-February 3, 2010 in Anaheim, California.
To register, simply point your web browser of choice to http://www.solidworks.com/swworld/. The first early bird deadline is October 9, 2009. If you register on or before that date, you can save $200 off the regular conference admission.
April 7th, 2009 — Tips & Tricks, User Groups
The 2009 SolidWorks User Group Network (SWUGN) Technical Summits are about to get underway! The first one finds SolidWorks returning to sunny Orlando, FL, the site of the recent SolidWorks World 2009 conference, on April 28.
If you didn’t get to attend SolidWorks World this year, the Technical Summits are the next best thing! I liken it to a massive user group meeting.
The structure is similar to one day at SolidWorks World, but on a smaller scale; and they are bringing it to you! There will be representatives of local user groups, VAR’s, and SolidWorks in attendance and presenting at all of these events, as well as user presentations.
What’s In It For You?
There is typically a continental-style breakfast served, followed by a short orientation session. There are usually two training tracts running simultaneously through two breakout sessions in the morning and three in the afternoon. Lunch is provided (in my experience, usually a 3- or 4-course meal) during the break between morning and afternoon sessions, and Richard Doyle gives a Tips & Tricks session along with relevant news and information and some nice door prizes.
And the cost for this entire day’s worth of training? A mere $40. Now I know in this current economic climate, funds are scarce… But I think that $40 is a real deal, considering the amount of training and networking to be had.
As of this writing, the 2009 schedule is as follows (please visit the SWUGN Technical Summit page for full details, session schedules, and any changes/updates):
Orlando, FL – 04/28
Atlanta, GA – 05/19
Happy Valley, PA – 06/16
Columbus, OH – 07/21
Vancouver, BC – 08/11
Minneapolis, MN – 08/18
Denver, CO – 09/15
San Antonio, TX – 11/10
San Jose, CA – 12/08
The North Alabama SolidWorks User Group (NASWUG) (my local user group) should be well-represented at the Atlanta, GA Technical Summit. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this year due to a new baby arriving on the scene around that date. But I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to learn something new and meet some new friends!
March 11th, 2009 — Design, Miscellaneous, SolidWorks World, Technology, Tips & Tricks, User Groups
The proceedings from the SolidWorks World 2009 International User Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, are now live! And things are a little different this year… Based on feedback from previous World’s, SolidWorks has opened up access to a broader audience and captured more media data to share.
CUSTOMER PORTAL USERS REJOICE!
In year’s past, attendees used a unique log-in to access the presentations and files from the conference. This year, SolidWorks is making the proceedings site available to all users with a Customer Portal account. If you do not already have a Customer Portal account, you can create one by visiting the SolidWorks Customer Portal and clicking the link under the “Not a member?” section.
MORE SWW CONTENT & FEATURES!
In addition to the standard presentations and supporting files of previous years, SolidWorks captured video of many of the sessions. These videos are available for streaming from the site. There are also pictures of all the exhibitor booths from the Partner Pavilion. (And remember, all my pictures from the conference, including most of the displays in the Product Design Showcase, are available on my Flickr photostream!)
So, be sure to go to SWW09 proceedings site to access all the SWW goodness. If you have any issues accessing the conference proceedings or have further questions, you can get help by emailing swworldinfo@solidworks.com.
***EDIT***
Some clarification from SolidWorks on the SolidWorks World 2009 proceedings site:
Login access to content: Essentially the site is open to anyone who has a customer portal login. Anyone who went to World will see all of the presentation videos that we recorded. If you did not attend World we are going to add new video content each week.
We check the e-mail you use to login against a database that we have of e-mails from conference attendees. (So if your customer portal login uses a different e-mail than the e-mail you used to register for world you won’t get full access (but we’ll fix this case by case)).
February 17th, 2009 — SolidWorks World, User Groups
Fielder Hiss, Director of Product Management at SolidWorks, took the stage once again for Wednesday’s General Session. 
SolidWorks had another surprise in store for everyone, as Joe Grand and Dr. Mike North from the Discovery Channel show, “Prototype This” took the stage. At first, it seemed as if they were a no-show, then they made their way through the audience from the back of the room on an apparatus they had designed for firefighters to use to transport gear and personnel.
They gave an interesting talk about some of the projects they have worked on for the show, including a “poo” scooper, a 30-foot tall waterslide simulator (a five week project!), and a 6X6 ATV that looked more like a bug than a vehicle. The most interesting part of their presentation to me was when they were talking about themselves and the producers butting heads over what to actually show. 
They said that when the show first started, the producers were more concerned about building something, when in reality, there is a lot of background design work, prototyping, and testing that has to occur before you get a finished product. The guys really wanted to show that process, and that “prototyping is worthwhile, even if it fails”. So in the beginning of the show, it was focused on building, but towards the end of the season, they had gravitated more to showing the design process.
TOP TEN ENHANCEMENT IDEAS
Next up was Bruce Holway, Manager of Product Definition at SolidWorks, to introduce the top ten enhancement ideas for SolidWorks. 
Of course, this year, everyone already had access to this information through Brainstorm (Customer Portal log-in required), SolidWorks’ new customer enhancement request site. Bruce also gave some recent examples of the top enhancement implementation in SolidWorks 2009:
The actual top ten enhancement ideas were read to the crowd one by one by SolidWorks User Group Network (SWUGN) user group leaders. They are:
And the number one enhancement idea is:
SWUGN AWARDS
The next speaker was Richard Doyle, who introduced the current SWUGN representatives. Then the SWUGN Awards were handed out:
Two Lifetime Achievement Awards were given:
MODEL MANIA 2009
Mark Schneider, Product Manager at SolidWorks, was next on stage to announce the SolidWorks World 2009 Model Mania contest winners in the Customer and Reseller categories. (Please click the inline graphic to view the names.) This was the first year that I competed in the Model Mania contest; I got the part modeled and the simulation set up, but I was unable to get the drafts applied correctly. This is an area where I need to work on, as the parts I designed are usually machined prismatic parts or sheet metal, and require no drafts. Mark was also going to demonstrate how to model the part, but unfortunately there was some sort of error and the model shown in his presentation was from last year’s SolidWorks World conference.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2010
Next up was what everyone was waiting for – What’s New in SolidWorks 2010! SolidWorks usually does an elaborate skit to add some levity into the What’s New presentation, but they changed things up this year. Ian Hogg, Product Marketing Manager for SolidWorks, joined Mark on stage, and they brought up a couple of customers on stage and showed their designs, and then proceeded to demonstrate some of the new and improved features of SolidWorks 2010 that would help in their design efforts.
The first customers were Samuel Schweighart and Gregor Cadman of Terrafugia, creators of the Transition®, which is a “roadable light sport aircraft” or, a flying car with foldable wings.
To help Terrafugia, they suggested the following new or updated tools:
Next, Jeremy Regnerus and and Neil Cooke, Product Marketing Managers for SolidWorks, took the stage and introduced the next customer, Matthew Wilkins of Magenn Power, creators of the Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS). MARS is a portable lighter-than-air tethered wind turbine that can reach altitudes of 1000 feet.
To help Magenn, they suggested the following new or updated tools:
Sage, a new sustainable product tool developed in collaboration with PE International that can help designers and engineers pick alternate materials and do design comparisons to help lessen the environmental impact of their designs.Jeff Ray took the stage and announced that Sage will be available in an “Xpress” version with every license of SolidWorks. The add-on will actually be available in the coming months prior to the release of SolidWorks 2010 at SolidWorks Labs.
SOLIDWORKS 2010
Jeff Ray announced the dates and location for SolidWorks World 2010. The next conference will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA on January 31-February 3, 2010. I wonder where the offsite event will be? 
Jeff then introduced Dr. Dave Gossard, who was SolidWorks co-founder Jon Hirschtick’s CAD instructor at MIT. Dr. Gossard was in attendance, and they showed this early video clip of him demonstrating the CAD system they had developed. (I tried to find a link to the video, but had no luck; I have seen it online before though.)
Next up was a short video showing full machine simulation running inside of SolidWorks with the integration of National Instruments LabView.
SOLIDWORKS ENGINEERING STIMULUS PACKAGE
Jeff then made an announcement that SolidWorks will be offering an “Engineering Stimulus Package” that will provide out-of-work engineers and designers with free SolidWorks software, free training, and a free try at the CSWA exam. SolidWorks is partnering with it’s reseller channel to offer this generous service. It will initially be rolled out in North America, and then world-wide.
SOLIDWORKS AND EDUCATION
Next, Jeff talked education, and mentioned that there were 25,000 schools worldwide using SolidWorks. They have delivered 18,000 seats to 900 schools in Ireland and are working to help “develop master instructors to go out and train others”. 
He also mentioned the University of Florida (UF) and how they were using SolidWorks on their SAE Mini-Baja team.
The team had a display in the Partner Pavilion, and I took the opportunity to speak a while with one of the students (sorry, can’t recall your name!) on duty at the booth on Monday. I was really impressed with the amount of design, analysis, and prototyping that they do and the quality of the completed buggy. I participated on the Mini-Baja team when I was at UAHuntsville, but I believe that we were really disadvantaged compared to these students!
I was really struck at how the student said that they had started using SolidWorks…they actually went to the school and demanded SolidWorks so that they would be able to get relevant jobs when they graduated. He also said that local companies were really supportive of their team and involved with mentoring the students, as they were vying for candidates with the skills needed in their industry.
SUMMARY
In Jeff’s words, “Engineering design will be the new global language.” With that, the SolidWorks World 2009 wrap-up video was shown. In his closing comments, Jeff reflected back on Monday and the car ride over with Sir Richard Branson from the General Session at the Dolphin to the press conference at the Swan. He said that as busy of a man as Sir Richard was, the only thing he was concerned with was how he could get his hands on the incubator from Design That Matters that was shown in that day’s (Monday’s) General Session. He wanted to get that into Africa as quickly as possible. Also mentioned Monday was that MicroWind Technologies, Inc. was looking for funding for their low-cost windmills; Sir Richard gave them a call on Tuesday!
So there you have it! SolidWorks World 2009 has come to an end… Be sure and check out my Flickr photostream for all the pictures I took from the conference. I have pretty complete coverage of the Product Design Showcase from the Partner Pavilion, with pictures of just about every product that was on display and it’s information card. I hope that in some little way I helped give those that were not able to make it to Orlando some feeling for the excitement and energy that was SolidWorks World 2009!
(Sorry for the delay in posting my Wednesday General Session wrap-up; I had to rest a little, catch up on several things at home and work, and spend some quality time with my family.)
February 11th, 2009 — SolidWorks World, Technology, User Groups
Tuesday’s General Session opened up with Fielder Hiss taking the stage. I missed a little of the opening comments, as I had left my camera battery up in my room. When I returned, there was an awesome Neo Shifters video playing. Everyone who attended the CSWP Event Monday night got a Neo Shifters set.
TRANSFORMING ROBOT CSWPS
After the video, Jeremy Luchini took the stage and he talked with Yanick Tremblay, Design Manager for Mega Brands. Yanick quickly walked us through the design process for creating a transforming robot.
Jeremy then talked about the SolidWorks Certified Professional exam and the changes to the program. The test can now be broken up and taken into one-hour sessions and there are also tools available for managers or whomever to check a users test status:
JON HIRSCHTICK KEYNOTE
Then Jon Hirschtick, co-founder of SolidWorks and the company’s first CEO, took the stage. Jon had nothing but good things to say about the current management team, going so far as to say that, while taking nothing from previous management teams (including himself), it is the best ever.
He also stressed that he wished for SolidWorks and it’s extended community to continue to change and evolve and move SolidWorks forward.
Jon’s keynote centered around current and future technology trends and customer visits. He caveated his presentation by stating that he was merely speculating on the future of CAD and that he was not making any kind of new product announcement.
TECH TRENDS
The 4 technology trends he spoke about are as follows:
TOUCH/MOTION UI
Jon talked about the evolution of the touch screen interface. He pointed to products such as the Apple iPhone, Nintendo Wii, automobile GPS units, and computer peripherals such as Wacom tablets and the 3Dconnexion products.
SolidWorks has also got some research going on with the Microsoft Surface table. A video
was shown showing the possibilities of using a touch interface with CAD and there was a unit in the Partner Pavilion available to attendees to play with. Please read my article on this to learn more.
Jon also believes that CAD will become a hardware business again.
ONLINE APPLICATIONS
Jon mentioned that many applications are currently moving “to the cloud” online, such as mail, documents, and banking. He also pointed to two applications from SolidWorks Labs: Drawings Now and Blueprint Now.
VIDEO GAME TECHNOLOGIES
The best graphics used to be generated by CAD applications, but now games hold that honor. SolidWorks has been looking at games and performance and implementing things to help give us great-looking, but light-weight graphics. Jon mentioned two technologies that is available in SolidWorks, ambient occlusion and PhysX by ageia.
3D PRINTING
Jon talked of the improvements in 3D printing in the last few years and the high rate of adoption. Both of the customer’s that Jon visited (mentioned below) use 3D printing as critical parts of their design process.
FUTURE CAD SYSTEM?
Jon finished off his talk on technology trends by showing a clip of Iron Man where Tony Stark is designing his suit in a holographic CAD system. I think that is every designer’s dream!
CUSTOMER VISITS
Jon then showed videos of two customer visits he recently went on, one to New Balance and one at Sony Ericsson. He encouraged all SolidWorks employees to go on customer visits, as that is one of the best ways to learn how users use the software.
NEW BALANCE
First up was Matt Dunbar, Senior CAD Designer for New Balance. Matt talked about how they use SolidWorks and 3D printing in their iterative design process for shoe soles. He said that they run approximately 100 3D prints per month. Their sole shoe files generally run around 1300 features, but they have had files with as many as 1800 features! With five widths for each shoe size, that means that they have 176 different size for each style of shoe. And they have 1000 molds and dies driven off of one SolidWorks part!
SONY ERICSSON
Next, Tom Waldner, Senior Design Manager for Sony Ericsson took the stage. At Sony Ericsson, they use 3D printing as more of a daily design tool, printing more than 4000 3D models per year. Tom said that they only perform about two to three hours of engineering design on a new phone design before they 3D print the first simple model prototype to see if they are going down the right path.
PINK SCOOTERS AND SUMO WRESTLERS
Next up was Stephen Endersby, SolidWorks Simulation Product Manager, who kept trying to talk about Simulation. But every time 
he would get started, he would be interrupted by this booming announcer’s voice announcing the Will It Break? game show. Then, a sumo wrestler walked out on stage, and then…Jeff Ray drove out on a little pink scooter; wearing a pink helmet!
To see if the scooter would break under the load, the sumo wrestler proceeded to sit on the scooter and drive around the stage! Then Stephen showed how Simulation could be used to test the strength of the frame to verify if it would withstand the load. The sumo wrestler was once again utilized to perform a drop test; he literally picked the scooter up, shoulder-pressed it, and threw it on the stage. Then Stephen showed how Simulation could perform the drop test without actually have to destroy something.
SUMMARY
The future of CAD technology looks bright. You know what they say about how movies can predict the future… Scientists have actually teleported electrons, so one day I hope that there will exist such a CAD experience as that shown in Iron Man.
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Disclosures & Disclaimer: I use DS SolidWorks Corp. software daily in my full-time job. However, DS SolidWorks Corp. provides me with a non-commercial license of SolidWorks Premium for ongoing educational and research purposes. I am in occasional contact with employees at DS SolidWorks Corp and am sometimes asked to provide feedback on new products or programs. I am not compensated for these efforts.
Additional disclosures/disclaimers may be made in individual articles as warranted.
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