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Archive for February, 2009

Could it be? Is it possible that the day has finally come when Gabi Jack has nothing else to blog about? Is that why this blog has been so, well, empty ever since she came back from SolidWorks World? Has Gabi finally come to her senses and decided to renounce absolutely everything related to 3D modeling, design and engineering, and instead put her highly rated athletic skills and daring personality to good use by pursuing a less stressful and highly rewarding career as a stunt double? Or is it perhaps that her recent failed attempt to train her Chihuahua mutt into the use of SolidWorks Simulation has left Gabi bitter and unsure of her abilities to communicate ideas and the possibility of ever becoming an educator? Or maybe, just maybe, Gabi decided she didn’t like this engineering thing so much and threw in the towel, sold her books and her computer, and took the money on a shopping spree? Whoopee!  Yeah, right…

Nope, truth is I haven’t been feeling well, so I’ve been taking it easy for a few days. At least, as easy as I can afford with two kids at home and no help available, anyway. During that time, however, I did get a chance to play a bit with an evaluation copy of HSMWorks, which is an application that works inside SolidWorks and aids the designer or machinist in the process of creating toolpaths for their models.  I must mention that I have no previous CNC experience, and while it may seem hard to believe for some recent grads, it isn’t so when you consider that, back in my day, when given the choice in college, I went for the area of specialty in Thermal Science, rather than Manufacturing. My college did have a manufacturing cell, but it took the instructors a whole year to get it working because they had to figure out how to program the darn thing in the first place.  I never touched the mill or the robot, but I did get to see them in action once or twice from my work space on the other side of the lab. If you have never seen CNC at work, take a look at this video. There’s plenty more like this one out there on the internet, just search for CNC or HSM.

 

Setting these machines up, however, appeared to be extremely complicated, which is probably why I’m so thrilled by how easy it is to create toolpaths with HSMWorks? Of course, you still need to make good choices for tools, tolerances, speed, and such,   and understand what  kind of operations you will use to achieve the results you desire, but  the nice thing is that you don’t have to write any code (although the code is available for you to tweak if you know how), just make choices through menus and property managers, just like in SolidWorks, and not only you can see the toolpaths you are generating, but also verify the results you will be getting every step of the process through a simulation of all the steps involved.  This is what I’m talking about. Take a look at this little recording I made of the Solid Verification in HSMWorks.  Once the verification is finished, it is also possible to check it against the model and inquiry just how much of the material is still left to remove. This helps you plan your next operations.

 

 

That example was one of the tutorials included with HSMWorks. I hope to make my own pretty soon and to learn enough about choosing the right tools and operations before my evaluation license expires.  This is a fun way to learn CNC, don’t you think?

If you’ve seen this blog kind of empty lately is because I’ve spent the last few days “putting my house in order” after the trip to SolidWorks World. I had my laptop with me the whole time, but a lot of email went unanswered just the same, so I came back to dealing with that, plus taking care of a few local appointments I had set up before leaving, hunting for a new babysitter for my boys, and, literally, putting my house in order… Oh, this place was so messy when I came back!  To his credit, my husband did a great job with the kids, even when he didn’t really cook a single time, but I know he’s not used to juggling this responsibility, so I fear he was beginning to resent it.

Anyway, SolidWorks World was an awesome experience for me.  It’s impressive to see all those people gathering together for this kind of event. I think the only other time I’ve seen so many people together in one single place was the time I attended the Women of Faith conference in San Jose a few years ago. Imagine the HP Pavilion packed with hundreds, maybe thousands of people… and they are all women!

But back to SolidWorks World. Being this my first one, I must say I think I “survived” it pretty well, although if I could go back in time, I would probably have done a few things differently.  One thing that I regret is not allowing myself enough time at the Partners Pavilion. I checked out on a few of the exhibitors during the welcoming reception and then I went back a couple more times to visit HSMWorks booth and to have the folks from SolidThinking demo their product for me.  I’ll be writing some more about both HSMWorks and SolidThinking, as I find my way through an evaluation version of both products.   Everything I saw at the partners pavilion was very exciting, but I know there was still a lot that I missed. 

I guess I should’ve also tried my hand at the Model Mania contest, just for fun.  And, if I could do it all over again, I would also try to mingle more, even though I don’t drink, just to meet people and make new friends, I guess.  I would also take a bigger suitcase with me, so I wouldn’t have to sit on it in order to make it close when it’s time to come back home. Provided that I had taken a bigger suitcase with me, I would’ve probably taken home one of those boxes, the ones with the icoasters that had been used during the contest at the CSWP event, like most people seemed to be doing.  I also would remember to take my orchid (the one from the salad) with me before I exit the Great Hall of China to board the bus that would take me to the CSWP event, and I would definitely offer Jeff Ray a sincere apology for leaving that way, and to Nancy Buchino a heartfelt “Thank you!” for being so understanding. Truth is I wished I could’ve been at both places at the same time. That restaurant was so beautiful and fancy!  One of those places you don’t really get to go to everyday.

And I think I would’ve changed my choice of technical sessions to attend, at least a bit. Some of them were excellent, like Wayne Tiffany’s, Gerald Davis’ and Lenny Kikstra’s. Others, like Richard Doyle’s,  were also really good and felt a bit like going to college for a class; I came out with new knowledge that I was able to apply right away. Some sessions, like Joe Craig’s and Frank Reiss’, both from Brand Hydraulics, even had an extra bonus for us to take home. And no, I’m not talking about the USB thumb drive they gave us, but about the code they shared with all of us in attendance and that we can use to create our own computer based training experiment using PhotoWorks and SW Animator. Yet, there were two or so sessions that I wished I hadn’t chosen, not so much because they were really bad or something, but because they were not really what I thought they would be about or the topics of discussion were too high above my level of understanding for me to actually take something useful from all that was said.  It was inspiring, though…  At the very least it reminded me there was more room to grow and more for me to learn. Anyway, all of the training sessions I attended, plus the ones I didn’t attend will be made available by SolidWorks soon, and there may even be video for many of them, so stay tuned.

One thing I would not change is the people. I had so much fun hanging out with my fellow bloggers and meeting all those people that read this blog and that write the blogs that I read, as well as those folks that I’ve met through Twitter or through some other means related to the SolidWorks community.  I even met quite a few people that had never visited this or any other SolidWorks blog, but wanted to know what it was all about. I even met some Spanish speaking gentlemen from Boston Scientific, and later that day I reunited with an old ex-classmate from college that was not really attending SolidWorks World but was there to meet with someone that was.  It’s a small world indeed!

But that last reunion was bittersweet, to tell you the truth.  While catching up on the latest of our lives and adventures, I often wished I had more to say about myself, and certainly something better to show for than this.  I’m not comparing myself to anyone… Well, maybe I am, just a bit… It’s kind of hard not to in such circumstances, you know?  But I know that everyone’s road is a different one; I just hope mine takes me somewhere good real soon.

And so, it’s back to business as usual around here…

 Quick Edit:

I just saw this on Twitter. Mike Pucket has posted a picture of the piece of wall that was signed by all CSWPs this year. My name is in there, somewhere!

Bruce Holway, Manager of Product Definition for DS SolidWorks showed up to let us know what the top ten enhancements for 2010 will be, as voted for by the community through Brainstorm. 

And these are the ten that made the list this year:

1. Increase program stability

2. Clear memory when a file is closed

3. SolidWorks backwards compatibility

4. Rename configurations that are in use.

5. Faster rebuild in complex models

6. On the fly equation editing

7. Dual Monitor Support

8. Add lock point for model rebuilds

9. Abort any running command by pressing ESC

10. Excel behavior in tables

These ten top enhancements weren’t really a mystery, though, since those users under subscription program were able to submit, vote and take a look at what people favored long in advance through Brainstorm.

Then, Richard Doyle announced the awards for SWUG and SWUG leader of the year, as well as the Lifetime Achievement award. 

The 2008 SWUG of the year award went to Tom Cote’s Central MA/ Northern CT Solidworks User Group. The award for User Group Leader of the Year went to Rob Jensen, leader of the Southern Minnesota SolidWorks User Group. And finally, the Lifetime Achievement award went to Gerald Davis, from the Colorado SolidWorks User Group, and to Dan Bertschi, from the Northeast Ohio SolidWorks User Group.

The winners of this year’s Model Mania contest were also announced by Mark Schneider, Product Manager for DS SolidWorks.

And if this wasn’t enough for one general session, Ian Hogg, Product Marketing Manager for DS SolidWorks showed up to give us a sneak peek of what’s new in SW2010.

For this purpose, he did something slightly different this year from what I understand was the done in previews years. This year he called a few customers up to the stage with him and showed to them how the new functionality in SW2010 will make their work easier.

These guys from Terrafugia are developing a foldable mini aircraft, called Transition, and using SolidWorks in very creative ways.

The vehicle is no bigger than a car in size and the wings fold, so it can be safely and legally driven around, like any other car.

For Terrafugia, the experts from SolidWorks recommended the new features View Mates and Mirror Components, which will be available in SW2010.

As well as the new functionality that will aid them in the optimization and simulation of their designs.

Multibodies in Sheet Metal design was also among the new functionality that will be available in SW2010. According to what I remember, it seems that each of the bodies in the sheet metal part will be able to flatten individually and a preview of the flat pattern will be available and visible while working on the part.

As an addition to all this, there will be new ways to create reference planes, like, for instance, selecting to circular faces, will create a plane tangent to both of them. Selecting two faces would create a new reference plane normal to  

Right after this, Jeremy Regnerus, and Neil Cook, Product Marketing Managers for DS SolidWorks, called Matthew Wilkins, from Maggen, to the stage.  

Maggen is working on an extremely innovative kind of wind turbines, and use SolidWorks in their process design, to go from the concept to simulation. SolidWorks also allows them to have a better communication between all the different members of their team.

To them, the folks from SolidWorks suggested the following functionality that will be available in SW2010: The Assembly Visibility tool, which will allow them to sort components in an assembly according to their properties and even output this information to Excel.

The property manager builder for configurations and a series of enhancements to annotations, tables, BOM and balloons that are likely to increase the productivity with drawings.

Direct editing tools were also announced among the new functionality. This is very smart direct editing, that can recognize features even in parts that have been imported and have no history available.

Project SAGE, in partnership with PE International is one more of the new things we’ll see in SW2010.This functionality will allow SolidWorks users to evaluate the environmental impact of manufacturing their design, and, hopefully, make changes to it to make it “greener”.

But we won’t have to wait until the release of SolidWorks 2010 or even the Beta, because SolidWorks Labs will be giving some previews of these new functionalities during the summer, so stay tuned.

Also during this last session Jeff Ray announced a plan for what Solid Works calls “Engineering Stimulus Package”, by providing a free seat of the software, plus training through a VAR and help to obtain CSWA certification (at least) to those engineers that have lost their job by no fault of their own, so they can get a better job and back on their feet.

 

The relevance of Solid Works in colleges around the world was emphasized during this session. Here in this picture you have the mini-Baja racer built by the students from the University of Florida.

Today was the final day of SolidWorks World 2009. I guess the fun can’t last forever! I had a wonderful time, met a lot of interesting people, saw amazing technologies that I hadn’t even dreamt of, and learned a lot. I know I will never forget it and I’m really grateful to all the wonderful friends from SolidWorks for allowing me to be here in the first place.

The day started early as usual, with the General Session.  Fielder Hiss, Director of Product Management for DS SolidWorks, greeted everyone and announced Don Richardson, Director of Global Innovation and PLM Industry Strategy for Microsoft. Microsoft is another one of the biggest platinum sponsors of this and other events, and a very important partner and supporter.

Right after this, Fielder Hiss introduced the next guest as one of SolidWorks clients from San Francisco, and imagine our surprise when we saw Mike North and Joe Grant, co-hosts of Prototype This!  One of them came pulling the other in one of their crazy contraptions. 

They talked to us a bit about what they do in the show and how they use SolidWorks in the design of their prototypes. They showed us a few examples of their favorite prototypes. This one here, I believe, is the first one they made for the show, but it never saw the light of day. It was supposed to be something like a robot that scans around for dog… errr… deposits, to pick them up. Like a pooper-scooper… Hey, I need one of those!  I think they called it the Scoop Bot.

Another one of their prototypes was this massive thing you see here. It was supposed to be a backyard waterslide simulator, that would provide with the experience of the water park, but without the size, but due to the size of the materials available to build it, the design grew bigger than expected, and they ended up having to build it inside a huge warehouse instead of a backyard and needed a whole team of extra welders to finish it.

This one is their six by six car.

Inspired on this little buglet thing that you see here.

This one in particular was a real challenge for them and it didn’t quite do what their producers were expecting it to do, so it was considered a failure by the producers. However, as Mike and Joe pointed out, it is all part of the design and engineering process. Prototypes aren’t supposed to be perfect and work the first time, all the time. This is also a learning experience.

By the way, have you noticed that one of them has a broken arm? Well, this is how he broke it.

But wait, there’s more! Keep reading and I’ll tell you all about it in the second part of this saga…

Today’s general session was even better than yesterday’s.  It started with Fielder Hiss, Director of Product Management for DS SolidWorks, who introduced Tom Salomone, Worldwide Segment Manager of Mechanical Design Automation for Hewlett Packard, and expressed their gratitude to HP for being one their biggest platinum sponsors for this event.

Right after that, Jeremy Luchini, Certification Program Manager for DS SolidWorks, stepped up to the plate to talk about the importance of getting certified as a SolidWorks Professional.  He then invited Yanick  Tremblay, Design Manager for MEGA Brands to come up and talk a bit about what they do with SolidWorks and how is the certification program working for them. 

Yanick explained that they have a team of twelve designers working full time on the same project, so PDM has been a key tool for them in order to accomplish this feat without losing their sanity in the process.  He also mentioned that they keep a strong relationship with their VAR for training and certification programs, that their goal is to get everyone certified, but that it’s not always easy to pull out a designer from the time for four whole hours in order to take a test, so the certification team from SolidWorks has come up with a solution that works for them and that may also be available to other companies, as well. It’s simple: they allow the designer to take the test one hour/section at a time, and they keep track of their progress too.

John Hirschtick, co-founder of SolidWorks and Group Executive, was speaking at this general session too. 

He came to share with us about the trends he’s observed and that, he believes, will pretty much shape the future of CAD in a few years, plus a couple of customers visits that he had made to New Balance and Sony Ericcson.

The first one of the trends observed by John Hirschtick, involved the touch and motion user interface technology that we are already seeing in mobile phones and video game systems like Wii. He mentioned the project that is currently being developed for SolidWorks with the help of Microsoft and Identity Mine. He’s talking about that table that I showed you in an earlier post, the one that allows the user to manipulate components by using gestures of your hands and fingers.

Online applications were also mentioned. Every day more and more people use the internet for things like shopping, online banking, Gmail, etc. So, why not online CAD?  There’s no need for licenses, installations, updates, backups, etc. Perhaps, someday this will be the future of CAD.

He’s also a great admirer of the technology available in video games. He mentioned that nowadays, video games have the best graphics, and that some of this technology has already been borrowed and included in SolidWorks, like in the case of ambient occlusion  and the PhysX by Ageia, which is currently used for animation.

The use of 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology is another trend that is changing the way we do design these days. 3D printing technology has improved dramatically during the last few years, to the point where now it’s possible to produce high quality 3D prints that are almost as good as the finished product.

This became even more evident with the examples of how design is made by New Balance and Sony Ericsson, because both companies use 3D printing to evaluate, and get a feel of how the product will work and look like, in the early stages of the design. Both companies begin with a concept from their industrial designers or creative team, which they then take into SolidWorks and model it, then they obtain a rapid prototype and it’s evaluated, corrected or modified again in SolidWorks, then rapid prototyped again, until the final design is achieved.  Both companies need to generate designs fast to keep up, and SolidWorks and rapid prototyping allows them to do just that.

 

Right after this there was a bit of comedy with Stephen Endersby, product manager for DS SolidWorks. The usefulness of SolidWorks Simulation to evaluate how sturdy and reliable are our designs was addressed in a hilarious way, when an enormous zumo fighter first rode on a tiny scooter and then slammed it on the floor, just to see if it would break.  So funny!