SolidWorks:HEARD!

January Tech News:

This podcast covers the SolidWorks and CAD-related tech news that broke since mid-November covering the SolidWorks Blog, various tech alerts and other industry news. Topics covered:

SolidWorks Blog:

- Tool Highlights

- Bend it like a football star (Motion Simulation)

- Ultimate igloos & Cooling Engineering (Nonlinear Simulation)

- Let's Go Design Baby Buggy comes to a close (finally!)

- SWWC Partner Profiles

- RaipdForm (Reverse engineering scan -> parametric features)

- Barry-Wehmiller International Resources (PLM tools and services)

- SpaceControl (3D mice and controllers)

- Objet 3D Printers (multi-material in a single print)

- SWWC Contests

- Hobbyist Contest (Winner: Kevin Lin)

- Trivia Contest #2 (Winner: Bob Prochnow)

- SWWC Keynote Speaker: Tony Fadell "Father of the iPod"

Tech Alerts:

- SWWC Top 10 List open for voting

- SWWC Model Mania Archive launched

- SolidWorks 2012 SP2 Early Visibility available for download

SW Support Monthly FAQ:

- Various Toolbox solutions

- A ton of new Enterprise PDM KB articles

- Simulation mesh size and result effects

Technology Spotlight:

- Onlive Desktop hands-on

We are just weeks away from SWWC 2012 and much of the news is related to contests, attendees and partners that will be at the conference this year.  With one of the speakers announced (Tony Fadell), I am starting to get excited to go and see many friends that I only get to see at SWWC.

I am starting to compile my list of breakouts and partners I am going to visit.  Remember, if you are unable to attend this year's SolidWorks World Conference, visit the Live Coverage page to sign up for the live blogs.  Also submit your sessions that you would like coverage of by emailing me at lou 'at' solidworksheard.com or on any other networks you choose to get your votes in.  I will post notes are well on the page.

I hope to see many of you at SolidWorks World and look forward to bringing as much of the show to you that I can.  It is an exhausting and exciting week so I have a lot of planning to still do! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SWH Episode 371

CES 2012: CAD Tech:

This podcast covers a few tech pics after watching, listening and reading all that has come out of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show from the perspective of a CAD user. Topics covered:

- A few Windows8 tidbits

- The rise of the Ultrabook

- 3D Printing...WOW at CES?

- SSD drives and cloud storage

- CAD via Clound via Onlive?

CES is a vacuum of tech that happens in Las Vegas every year at this time with 2700 booths showing off all sorts of concepts, prototypes and vaporware that might be coming out in the coming year.  Most of which you need to take with a grain of salt since many of the big breakthroughs may never ship (OLED TVs and alike).

As engineers, we are drawing to finding devices that will run our hardware draining tools that will not weigh as much as a jack sitting in our garage floor.  The other thing we are after is speed!  Fast boot, fast load, fast save, just fast OK?  Since there are not enough hours in the world to read about it all I typically rely on listening to podcast that cover the aspects of the show I care about and do some reading over at ces.cnet.com.

Since CES always falls right before SolidWorks World, it reminds me back two years when Netbooks were the talk (saw a bunch at SWWC), then last year with the tablet (and iPads were wall to wall) and now Ultrabooks. It will be an interesting round up by one thing that definitely caught my eye was what Onlive is doing with they streaming video tech to other applications. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SWH Episode 370

SolidWorks World Prep:

This podcast covers the steps to get prepared for the biggest CAD conference, mega training, and overall engineer geek fest there is!  Still trying to get there or not going at all? Not a problem. Topics covered:

- What SWW really is.

- How to get the most out of attending (plan, plan, plan)

- Resources and ideas to convince the powers that be to send you.

- What SolidWorks:HEARD! is broadcasting from SWW.

- Other resources to get SWW news and tips.

SolidWorks World is just 5 weeks away and the anticipation for those who have the "green light" on attending this years event it building.  In order to truly get the most out of this crammed-pack event with 185+ sessions and not even close to enough time to see them all is planning.  A lot of planning or else you will show up and be overwhelmed and wonder why you stood in the hall for 3 days with your jaw open!

For those who are still fighting the fight to get to this mega training extravaganza, SolidWorks has a great list of resources for you to help convince your management to send you.  Whether it is videos, podcasts or an old fashion letter, educating management that SWW is not a "trade show" but a "build-your-own" training boot camp by users for users.  Getting that "nugget" or awesome tip to help you out in your industry with your tool of choice can be the difference between joe-user and ROCK STAR!

Understanding not everyone can convince, trick, man handle, cagoule and maim their way to SWW12, I will be live blogging all the general session and posting live notes with Google Docs on sessions that I attend.  When I can, I will be streaming video from the floor and trying to interview some partners.  Go sign up for the live-blog and watch Twitter for hash tag #sww12.  I will also be posting notes to the SolidWorks:HEARD! Google+ page as well. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SWH Episode 369

2011 Year in Review:

This podcast covers a summary of 2011 and the specific SolidWorks most memorable moments starting with Jeff Ray leaving to SolidWorks 2012 SP1 shipping and everything in between.  Topics covered:

SolidWorks 2011 Highlights:

- Jeff Ray out, Bertrand Sicot In

- Solidworks pre-announces 3 web products

- DraftSight for Linux 

- IE9 and Windows 7 SP1 

- 3DVIA Composer ships two major releases

- SolidWorks 2012 

- Jon Hirschtick leaves SolidWorks 

- Toolbox Woes

- Top 10 list goes live (just to name a few)

Technology Highlights:

- Google launches Google+

- Windows 8 in Developer Preview

- RIM is fading

- HP open sources WebOS

- iPad 2 ships

- Steve Jobs dies at 54

- Android is killing it

- Amazon launches an Android Market and the Kindle Fire

2011 was quite a year in the tech industry and there changes across SolidWorks in many areas.  SolidWorks was business as usual for the most part.  CEO change at the turn of the year, SolidWorks World announced new products, and a new version of SolidWorks shipped.  Despite early announcements of 3 cloud tools (n!Fuze, Post3D and Live Buildings), none of them really caught on due various reasons.  SolidWorks 2012 is a quality release with some solid additions but mainly seems to be embraced due to the little things.

The active SolidWorks blogging community somewhat slowed way down this year with many stopping blogging all together. Although blogs still bring the most helpful content, the social networks seem to be where the interaction is today across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.  

2011 also brought a tremendous growth in mobile, especially in the ubiquity of smart phones.  Everyone has a computer in their pocket today and use it to be productive (and not) on the go.  Companies across the globe are producing apps and mobile sites to allow their users to do device-specific activities on the go. Personally I believe SolidWorks needs to get into the mobile game in 2012 in order to meet and exceed that of the competition, some of which (AutoDesk) have built a number of apps to view, markup, and collaborate across a number of their products.

I want to thank you all for listening/reading for another year and look forward to bringing more tech news and other tech tips to you in the coming year!  Happy New Year! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SWH Episode 368

Touch Maide Possible:

This podcast covers a new 3D control app for the iPad (and soon iPhone/iPod Touch) developed by a startup called Maide Inc in Toronto.  The app allows you to pan, zoom, and rotate your models with intuitive multi-touch gestures on your iPad. Topics covered:

- Product introduction

- Supported 3D CAD applicaitons

- Setup and Configuration

- Feature set of Maide Control for iPad

- Tips of use with iOS5 and the iPad (1st gen)

- Overall first impressions

3D mice and control devices have been gaining momentum over the past decade, bringing a level of 3D control that a mouse alone just cannot provide.  In my early CAD days after migrating away from a digitizing tablet, I was using Spaceball 4000 and really started to get hooked.  It was almost to the point where I found I could not even use CAD without it!  I have since moved away from it since I travel and am on the go (despite having a space traveler that collects dust in my bag!).

A few weeks ago I received an email from Maide's CEO & Founder Oleg Kostour asking if I was interested in taking a spin on their 3D control app for iPad since it had now entered a beta for SolidWorks.  After freeing up some time to really take a look, I installed the app and Maide Connect (desktop component) and dove in.  I tested on both Mac and Windows with Sketchup since support for SolidWorks is in beta but only for 2011 and I have since removed all but 2012 from my systems!

The app works as advertised and can be customized in most (not SolidWorks yet) for menu commands, similar to the way you have mouse gestures in SolidWorks in a ring.  I am excited to see their iPhone / iPod touch app that is coming out since it uses the gyros, allowing movement of the device in conjunction to touch to navigate the 3D space.  For more information about Maide Inc check out their blog!

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SWH Episode 367