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Archive for the ‘SWW2009’ Category

In this second part of my blog post I’ll show you how I worked the funkey’s feet. The feet were made in a very similar way to the body, with lofted surfaces, but I didn’t use Fill Surface to create a patch in this case, just the lofted surface.

First of all, I created a plane that was parallel to the Right plane and used it to trim the bottom of the body, using the Trim Surface command with the plane as the trimming tool. This plane will also be where the spline that is the shape for the bottom of the feet will be sketched.

Next, I created some auxiliary geometry. First, I created an axis between the Front and Top planes. The purpose of creating this axis is to use it as a reference when creating the plane of symmetry for the foot, which needs to be 130 degrees from the Top plane and pass through that axis.

 

Once I had a plane of symmetry for the foot, I sketched a spline on the plane I used to trim the bottom of the body (I called it Funkey bottom plane); this spline is the silhouette of the foot when seen from below.  Notice that I sketched only one half of the silhouette and mirrored it with respect to a construction line that would be collinear with the foot’s plane of symmetry. This is because having the whole shape of the bottom of the foot helped me visualize how wide and/or long to make the feet.  Once again, I don’t have many dimensions, but I do have some relations in place. Notice the two construction lines that are perpendicular to the line of symmetry. The spline was made to be tangent to these two lines at each end.

Next, I sketched a spline on the foot’s plane of symmetry. This spline will give me the shape of the foot when seen from the side. I made the endpoints of the spline coincident with the endpoints of the one I had sketched previously and, once again, the spline is tangent to those two construction lines you see there at both ends.

That construction line that appears at 0.12 in from one of the sides is there simply to help me create a series of planes perpendicular to the symmetry plane and that will be needed to sketch cross sections of the foot.  In this image you can see the planes and the cross sections that were sketched on each one of them.

Each one of these cross section sketches is a two point spline. There’s a piercing relation between one endpoint of the spline and the sketch of the bottom of the foot, and another piercing relation between the other endpoint of the spline and the sketch of the silhouette of the foot when seen from the side that was created previously.  The spline is made tangent to those two construction lines you see there, one vertical, and one horizontal.

Once I had my cross sections ready, I used them to create a surface loft using the sketch of the side view of the foot and only half of the spline in the sketch of the bottom of the foot as profiles (use the selection manager to pick only half of the spline and not the whole sketch). The cross sections I sketched previously were used as guide curves. Notice that the start and end conditions were set to Normal to Curve. It doesn’t always work this way, but in this particular case, it made the loft look a lot smoother.  Now, I know there’s a singularity right where the two profiles meet, so perhaps in the future I should try using a patch like I did for the body, although it doesn’t look bad this way.

Next, I mirrored the lofted surface with respect to the foot’s plane of symmetry.

And mirrored the result with respect to the Front plane.

Next I simply trimmed the surfaces using Trim Surface.  I used the option Mutual Trim, which means that both surfaces will work as trimming tools and will be trimmed by each other at the same time. It also means that the resulting surfaces will be knitted together.  Notice that there are three surfaces as trimming tools: the body and the two feet. The areas in purple will be kept and the areas in green will be discarded.

Just received the news today that the proceedings from SolidWorks World 2009 are already out and available for all at www.solidworks.com/sww2009proceedings  

Notice that you will need to login to access the materials; simply use your username/email  and password that you use to sign up to the customer portal. If you don’t already have a login for the customer portal, you can create one by clicking on the login at the right top corner of the page, this will take you to the customer portal and there you can create your account.

Once you are logged in, you’ll be able to access the PowerPoint slides for all (or most) presentations,

as well as exclusive videos of the presentations, photos, podcasts, information about the exhibitors, and video of all general sessions.

This is really neat! If you attended SolidWorks World this year, then you’ll have instant access to video of ALL (or most) presentations. If you didn’t attend SolidWorks World, you’ll still have access to the videos, but you’ll be able to see only a few of them in the beginning and then more content will be added every week, over the next following months. At least, that’s I heard. These videos bring to you crystal clear what the presenter was showing on the screen, plus all the audio from the presentation.  It’s like being there!  The slides will be available for everyone, regardless of if they attended or not.

So, hurry up and take a look, download a few presentations, check out the pictures and/or upload any that you may have, and enjoy!

Little league baseball season has already started and once again I’ve found myself stuck for hours on the bleachers of some school baseball field. This year I have two baseball players, now that Master Andrew has decided he’s got game and joined the Shetland division. That’s a long time on the bleachers!  To try and do something useful with all that time, rather than listening on the latest gossip of the coach’s extra-marital affair, I took with me some of the notes and papers I collected during SolidWorks World. There was this very interesting session I attended, and I don’t think I have even mentioned it here yet. This is one of those that felt way beyond my reach for now, but interesting and inspiring, just the same. It was about the redesign of a land speed vehicle using CFD with Simulation Flow, or as it was previously known, COSMOS FloWorks. The presenter was David C. Woodruff, from Design Dreams, LLC.  This vehicle was also known as the Project BUB, but, as far as I understand, should not be confused with this  other BUB that was featured at the Partner Pavilion; the BUB Seven, which is actually a motorcycle. Yeah, well, the first motorcycle to break 350 mph, anyway.

 

Same as BUB Seven, this other BUB was a vehicle designed for speed, and its final performance was to be put to the test at the Utah Salt Flats, only its not a motorcycle.

 

 

 I’m not exactly familiar with this place. I’ve never been to the Salt Flats, but according to a selected group of enthusiasts that have devoted a great deal of their time and money designing vehicles for this venue,  a very low Drag co-efficient (Cd) is required, as well as enough down force for traction and stability.  These two requisites are not easy to accomplish; small changes in the structure of the car can have a big impact. In the past, optimizing a design for such a vehicle required repeated trial and error running multiple experimental prototypes and making changes based on the result of these run tests. Nowadays, CFD is the way to go.

With the aid of 3DVision and using SolidWorks Simulation Flow, the vehicle was redesigned from what it was originally in 2007 ( a vehicle that resembled the JCB diesel LSR ) to a much more aerodynamic vehicle that is just being finished and should be ready for its first run at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2009. According to David Woodruff, who is the team’s aero guy, Simulation Flow was not only easy to learn, but provided accurate results when compared to both, experimental tests and results obtained with high end systems. He also praised its meshing capabilities, because they allowed him multiple possibilities for tweaking the mesh and achieving the desired mesh density in just the right areas.

Using Simulation Flow, David was able to create a virtual wind tunnel, and track important data such as lift, down force, drag, torque, surface pressures and surface velocities.  Doing this allowed David to obtain information that he wouldn’t normally obtain from a real-life wind tunnel.

The following images show the changes in the vehicle from 2007 to 2009. In 2007, the Cd was 0.208 with a down force of 289 lb, and a total horsepower required of 1420 HP.  In the image you can also observe the large turbulences underneath the vehicle, which makes placing a parachute unsafe.

 

 

The new re-designed vehicle included an inverted aerofoil, and it shows in this image a smoother plot in the rear and less turbulence, which permits safer deployment of the parachutes.  In the current vehicle (2009) Cd is 0.134, with a down force of 106 lbs and horsepower of 1233 HP.

 

Like I mentioned before, this vehicle is currently being prepared and should be running at the Salt Flats in August this year. If you have some time and you are into speed, perhaps you should consider dropping by to watch the races at the Bonneville Speed Week.  Not your average car or motorcycle race, that’s for sure!

 

 

 

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.