I hope you are not growing tired of my SolidWorks World chronicles just yet, because I still have a lot more to write about. This was a particularly good SolidWorks World for me and I want to share what I learned with you.  This time, let me tell you about yet another hands-on session I attended. This one was presented by Michael LaFleche, Regional Technical Manager for CAPINC, and it was an int...

This one was the first ever hands-on session I attended at SolidWorks World. Last year I wasn’t able to get into any of the hands-on sessions, but this year I had the opportunity to pre-register for several of them and it was one of the best things I could’ve ever done.  This session was presented by Dan Riffell, Projects Coordinator at Eltron Research and Development. Dan is also a v...

The first training session I attended was presented by Charles Culp, who is very well known at the SolidWorks Forums.  Charles was introducing all of us to a series of useful surfacing techniques, including how to convert a solid body into a surface body, fix some geometry, and then turn it back into a solid, the proper use of Delete Face and Delete Hole, the advantages of using Replace Face, an...

This blog post was inspired by a question I received via email. The question was about how to create a section view in an assembly.  There was a picture attached to the email that showed an assembly  that seemed to have been cut along two planes, but only partially, and  it appeared that one chunk  of the assembly had been removed to reveal the inside, while the rest of the assembly remained v...

If you are one of the few that visits at least every week and you are wondering where I’ve been, well, let me just remind you that it’s summertime here in California, and right now I’m home with a sick dog and eight kids. No, I’m not Octomom.  I only gave birth to two of them, but the other six are friends and neighbors that come to play or get “casually” dropped off by their mothers ...

This is a small post in hopes to answer a question from one of the visitors to this blog. How to apply a limit angle mate in SolidWorks? Well, for illustration purposes, I created this little assembly of a couple of thin plates, and mated one of their edges coincident to the corresponding edge in the other plate, so that they could rotate about each other like a hinge. Now, it’s time to apply t...

Children and puppies have a way of keeping people busy and my home is no exception to the rule.  My five year old is extremely inquisitive (and possessive)  and has it figured out already that this is not a job I’m doing when I write the blog, so, for him, this that I do must be some sort of selfish hobby. Now, the problem with that reasoning is that, in his book, moms should not have hobbies....

This is a little trick for creating your own studio that I learned from the Step-by –Step PhotoWorks Self-Study Guide, and decided to try on PhotoView 360, to see if it would work. Well, it does, with a few limitations, but it does work. All it is about is creating a virtual studio with a backdrop, like photographers use in their photo studios, and a set of area lights.  The backdrop is simply...

It’s amazing how sidetracked one can get! Quite a few months ago, I was very excited about the new SolidWorks Surfacing book that had just come out and adamant to go through it as soon as possible. However, as time went by, I got distracted with other things:  spent some time preparing for the CSWP test, got bitten by the rendering bug, and discovered a fascination for Sheet Metal I never knew ...

I’m working on a new video, but before that I wanted to add a small post as a way of an answer to a question I’ve been asked quite a few times already: where do all those buttons and toolbars that you’re using come from?  I know this is something that the more experienced user already knows, but it is a very real and very justified question when you’re just getting started. So here it goe...

The Insert Part command is used to add one or more solid bodies (parts) into an active part. This is not the same as creating an assembly, although there are certain similitudes about the way the inserted part is oriented using the Locate Part dialog.  The big difference, however, is that what we end up with is a multi body part, that allows no movement of the bodies relative to one another, and ...

I’ve been asked this same question quite a few times, mainly from those who are coming from AutoCAD and/or getting started in SolidWorks for the very first time. I know the answer to this one is very obvious for those of you who have been using SolidWorks for a while, but since I’ve been there myself, I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate at least a few lines to it.  The question is ...

If there’s one thing I’m learning is that, for the most part, it takes a good model to produce a good rendered image. Even with the greatest appearances and scenes, if your model’s features look out of proportion or have oddly sharp edges were there should be smooth transitions, then the rendering is not going to look very realistic. As an example, take a look at this model of a soda can tha...

Ever since Kenneth mentioned the “missing part” about the vacuum chamber, I’ve received a few emails from people requesting the video, so, by popular demand, here it is. In this video, Kenneth is showing us a few very interesting things he did with weldments, including, of course, the vacuum chamber and the use of 3D sketches in weldments too.  Hope you find it useful! ...

I got inspiration for this little tip from a question sent to me while I was in Barcelona, last week.  It wasn’t until now that I got a chance to take a look at it and send a reply, so I hope it wasn’t too late for the person that asked the question. Anyway, this person had a simple assembly in which a couple of pneumatic cylinders were mounted on two identical pillars (one on the left and on...