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 …

SolidWorks is investigating the future of technology and the CAD interface.  In the Partner Pavilion, they have a Microsoft Surface table set up with a basic 2D sketcher and eDrawings running on it.  I spent a little time this afternoon playing around on it and talking to Kirk Haller, Director of Research at SolidWorks.
Kirk and his team at SolidWorks wrote the code for the sketcher in 3 weeks.  For the eDrawings implementation, they worked with IdentityMine Inc. and stripped out the eDrawings UI, replacing it with a Surface UI.  The …

Monday night is the night of the CSWP event.  All those users who are certified are eligible to attend.  This year’s event was held at Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Fantasia Gardens.  The event this year was sponsored by Mega Brands, who provided all the iCoaster sets for the contest of the night.

There were many intriguing designs.  This is the kind of toy that any engineer/geek would love to have on their desk!
There was roast turkey and beef and some buttery mashed potatoes that were the bomb!  A good time was …

SolidWorks treated the journalists of the press to a dinner event at The Great Hall of China in Disney’s Epcot China Courtyard.  It was a beautiful setting and the weather was perfect!
During the opening comments, Jeff Ray announced that there were over 150 journalists attending SolidWorks World 2009; the most ever at the event.  He also recognized the journalists who had traveled the farthest to the event, including one from Australia.
Jeff also mentioned a few interesting tidbits regarding Sir Richard Branson.  Sir Richard almost NEVER accepts speaking engagements …

The first General Session of SolidWorks World 2009 began with an impressive 3D rendered animation of the Mega Brands Inc. iCoaster.  Then, SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray took the stage.
A SURPRISE FOR SOLIDWORKS
The first order of business was to announce the number of attendees.  Jeff mentioned that in the current state of the economy right now, their expectations for attendance was around 3000; as of this morning, they had 4313 registered attendees!  (Maybe that’s why I didn’t get any hot food items for breakfast this morning…)
He specifically mentioned two guys …

Well, the day’s festivities are coming to an end.  The reception at the Partner Pavilion was packed, and there was lots of great food and drink there!  Josh already has lots of great photos from the Partner Pavilion up.
I have heard rumors that the attendance is down slightly this year, but that is expected given the state of the economy right now.  But there is definitely a big crowd here!  We should hear actual numbers tomorrow at the First General Session.
Speaking of tomorrow’s General Session, I am very much looking …

Last (Saturday) night, all of the SolidWorks bloggers and folks from the SolidWorks Twitter community who had already arrived in Orlando met up in the Dolphin bar area of the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort.  It was awesome to meet with some new folks who I have never met or met only known online, and to also catch up with some old friends.
There were also many SolidWorks employees mingling around, and even Jon Hirschtick and Jeff Ray were making the rounds talking to the users.  That’s one of the …

One of the small, but neat things to me about attending conferences is all the swag you get.  And as always, the first swag that you get at SolidWorks World are the bags and T-shirts that SolidWorks gives attendees when they register.
This year, the bags that SolidWorks are giving out are heavy messenger bags.  While I personally prefer a backpack for carrying a laptop and other materials around (and I will probably just stick with the one I got last year), these bags are very sturdy and attractive, and …

I’m sitting in the Huntsville International Airport waiting to board my flight to Orlando, FL, to attend my fourth SolidWorks World (SWW) conference.  I hit the ground running as soon as I touch down this afternoon with a blogger roundtable meeting, and then a tweetup of all the bloggers and SW folks who frequent Twitter.
I’m looking forward to catching up with some old friends and meeting all the new folks I’ve met online since the last SWW conference!
Be sure to keep a watch on your RSS feeds for all the …

Alex over at The SolidWorks Geek blog has launched a charity drive campaign called Design For The Future. This fundraiser will benefit the Orangewood Children’s Foundation and the residents of the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange County, California.
To read more about this charity and to contribute, please visit Design For The Future.

Ah, the pretty RGB colors! I usually use the triad in the bottom left corner of the SolidWorks model view as a reference to keep myself oriented in my model.  But did you know that in SolidWorks 2009 you can use it to change your view of the model?  Clicking each triad arrow will give you a view normal to the respective arrow, and another click on the same arrow flips the view normally.
I.e., click on the Z arrow, and you are instantly transported to the Front (X-Y) view.  Clicking …

The early bird registration for SolidWorks World 2009 ends this Friday, January 9, 2009!  This is your last chance to grab a $100 discount off of the full conference attendance fee.
So, sign up now to join us at SolidWorks World 2009 on February 8-11, 2009 at the Walt Disney World® Swan & Dolphin, Orlando, FL.  I hope to see you there!