Novedge Pulse™ of Matt Lombard

PowerSurfacing is another SolidWorks add-in to extend the surfacing capabilities within SolidWorks. It was brought to light after Autodesk snatched up the TSplines tool that had been getting a lot of traction in the SolidWorks universe. One of the most outstanding features of TSplines was the ability to work in mesh (subdivision modeling) and wind up in NURBS (real CAD data). This is also one of the outstanding features of PowerSurfacing.Read more on PowerSurfacing from IntegrityWare… [more...]

You don’t start to find the hidden gems until you’re rooting around through the bowels of the settings. These are the kinds of things I really like to find, and can transform your experience with the software. Sometimes I think the people who already know Solid Edge don’t really appreciate what they have, and the people selling it don’t understand what makes it different. Here are a few things I’ve found recently that really set Solid Edge apart:Read more on Hidden Gems in Solid Edge… [more...]

I was at SEU last year, and learned a lot about the Solid Edge community, the software, and the company behind it. This year I get to be a part of it in a different way. I’m presenting a session on combining ordered modeling with Synchronous Technology. This will be my first time presenting anything having to do with Solid Edge. I’ve presented many times at other international CAD conferences, and dozens of times at local CAD user groups, but bringing all of that to a new software is still a little daunting.Read more on I’m Presenting at Solid Edge University 2013… [more...]

Below is an email I’ve received from Rick McWilliams which I’ve edited a bit on the topic of Conic Surfaces. I don’t have guest bloggers very frequently, but when I run into people with great content and willing to share, I take advantage of the situation.Read more on rick mcw… [more...]

Sometimes talking about your vision of the future can get you into trouble, or at least set you at odds with other people. When you’re the head of a company, people kind of expect you to talk about the future, because they want to know if your vision matches their vision.Read more on Clear Vision of the Future… [more...]

I’ve read several of the articles out there about this fool who printed a 3D gun, and now a bunch of other even bigger fools who work for the government who think its their duty to put a stop to it all. Last time I talked about guns on this blog stirred some opinions. I expect this article will too, but this time it actually crosses into the engineering side of things via the 3D printing, so it’s not as off topic as it was last time.Read more on 3D Printing and Guns… [more...]

The training I took on-line from Ally PLM a few weeks ago was useful and informative. This was my first on-line training class, and it was very convenient, saving me a lot of money, time, and primarily inconvenience. Thanks also to a few of you out there that I’ve been leaning on a little the past couple of weeks.Read more on Nothing Like Real Work to Force Learning… [more...]

One of the nagging questions I keep coming back to is “What about Creation?” By this of course I mean that Synchronous Technology is great for editing prismatic parts. Soon, it will hopefully also be great for editing parts with shape. I agree that editing is 80% of design (create once, iterate endlessly). But I’d like to open a discussion about geometry creation.Read more on Sync is Great for Editing, but What About Creation?… [more...]

Old stodgy CAD conferences got you down? Can’t remember the difference between this year’s conference and last year’s? Moving around make you feel like part of a cattle stampede? Curious about how the rest of the world lives?Read more on Wanna Feel Like a Virgin Again? For Free??… [more...]

Most of my career has been spent denying that 2D exists. I (half) jokingly tell customers that I charge triple rate for 2D drawings. Typically, I wind up doing some simple drawings when I hand off part data to a molder. But only big overall dimensions, some special finishes, and tolerances that are out of the ordinary.Read more on Rant: ANSI vs ISO… [more...]

Spring cleaning.Gotta get rid of some books. Add $6 to each book for shipping, shipping only within US.SolidWorks 2013 – $20 each + shipping (8 available)SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies – $10 each + shipping (17 available)Read more on Inventory Reduction Sale… [more...]

I can hear it now. To open Solid Edge University we are going to hear either A) Space Odyssey by Elvis, or B) Rocket Man by David Bowie.With all of the coincidences in this story, I should be playing the lottery this week. I promise this wasn’t a set up. Promise!Read more on What’s More Rock ‘n Roll Than Rock ‘n Roll?… [more...]

Some of us were born naive. Others have achieved naivete. Most, maybe have no idea what I’m talking about.Click the image to see the new dress code for Solid Edge University.Read more on Solid Edge University Dress Code… [more...]

Solid Edge has for a long time had a closed community only for maintenance paying customers. This has been a source of some criticism, but it has been strongly defended by the long-time users. It is used for GTAC support, communication between Solid Edge employees, and for peer-to-peer communication. I can relate to their desire to keep this as it is without allowing the general public in. Speaking as an expert CAD user, it’s nice to go someplace where you  can talk to support and company personnel, other experts, and don’t have to wade through the same noobie questions about laptop and video card recommendations week after week.Read more on New Solid Edge on-line Community is Launched… [more...]

I wanted to add some detail about one specific feature, the Blend. I started with this Boundary surface in SolidWorks, which is intentionally a little wobbly. This was created with 4 splines, all with a sharp bend in the middle. Then I trimmed out the corner with the intention of replacing it with a Blend.Read more on More Detail on the GW3D Blend… [more...]

There is a ring of discussions going on. One blogger commented on another, and some left comments on LinkedIn, and now I’m adding to the loop.The arguments all seem to be made by people who aren’t directly involved in the process. Not sure I want to go to the length to call them all desk jockeys (or more famously typewriter jockeys) again, but you get the idea. The arguments all seem to be too close to one point of view to be able to see the whole thing, or too far from getting dirt on their mouse to understand the details.Read more on CAD and Design… [more...]

Al Dean’s image to start a blog post? Now that’s something I haven’t done before.In another discussion, Al Dean (yes, that Al Dean on the left, not Jason Aldean, the country singer, not that there’s anything wrong with that…) was thinking about the idea that Solid Edge needed some Rock ‘n Roll. Does that mean literally “rock ‘n roll” music, or rock ‘n roll in a metaphorical sense? And then if it is music, I’m not sure we could all agree on what kind of rock ‘n roll. I’m thinking Social Distortion, or somehow work Solid Edge into the base story line of the Blues Brothers movie.Read more on How Does Solid Edge Get Some Rock ‘n Roll?… [more...]

I have created a video course for basic SolidWorks 2013 that is being offered by Infinite Skills for $99. There is also an advanced course which is about 80% done, and should be ready in weeks (probably around $150). You can buy them separately or as a set (once the advanced course is finished).Read more on Infinite Skills Video Course Released… [more...]

I’ve written a similar blog post about other software, but it seems that there are some users of any particular software who are very hard to find. Whether they are shy, reclusive, disengaged, just observing or really just don’t care is hard to tell. These days a lot of use communicate with on-line tools, and it’s hard to remember that not everyone likes to do that. Even someone like me uses blogs and flirts with Twitter, but doesn’t use Facebook much at all.Read more on Contacting the Dark Matter in the Solid Edge Universe… [more...]

There aren’t a ton of details out yet, but we know a few things. I don’t want anyone to break any NDA’s or anything, but what kinds of things are you most looking forward to in Solid Edge ST6? Is there some request that you’ve made that you’re looking forward to seeing in June?Read more on Looking Forward to ST6… [more...]

The “Good Ole Days” with SolidWorks means the days when all we had to complain about was bugs in the software. Bugs were at least something you stood a chance against. Corporate insanity is a different beast, and while I enjoy mocking it, I’m not vain enough to think I can have any effect on it.Read more on The “Good Ole Days” – Smackin’ Bugs… [more...]

According to Tenlinks, Fielder Hiss, the VP of Product Marketing and Management is leaving SolidWorks after 14 years.I knew Fielder first as a tech support guy. He rose through the ranks very quickly, but SolidWorks was a company with a lot of guys who started in tech support moving to other positions of more responsibility.Read more on Fielder Hiss Leaves SolidWorks… [more...]

One of the mantras I’ve adopted in my time with the SolidWorks product is “be careful of what you ask for”. Sometimes the answer is to simply remove the functionality you complain about. Or maybe create a whole new set of problems to make you forget about the old problems. Their answer has rarely been either trouble free, or something I had imagined/hoped for. I like the “Show Flat Tree View”. So far that hasn’t had any unintended consequences.Read more on Great. We’ve got Conics. Now what?… [more...]

The question mark in the title was necessary because I’m not proposing an answer but trying to start a brainstorming session.I guess the question makes some assumptions that you have to be on board with before you try to answer it. First, it assumes that Dassault Systemes has done serious damage to SolidWorks as a company, as a product, and as a brand. And second, I think you have to assume that the situation can be repaired. It is becoming more fashionable among the real CAD press to acknowledge that SolidWorks and Dassault are engaged in some sort of internal struggle, and that Dassault has at least mis-communicated, maybe even miscalculated.Read more on How to Save SolidWorks from Dassault?… [more...]

I’ve heard a few people ask this question with more than a little irony in their tone. Solid Edge is certainly an underrated CAD package. Not so much because of the legacy, but because of the last several years of development effort. It’s also difficult for Solid Edge to get much traction with Synchronous Technology because Solid Edge itself has been old news for a long time. Synchronous Technology might have made a bigger splash had it been associated with something new (and news worthy) like Spaceclaim, even though I don’t think Spaceclaim is half the software that Solid Edge is.Read more on Is Solid Edge the Best CAD Program You’ve Never Heard Of?… [more...]

In retaliation against their own unwillingness to talk straight, SolidWorks has come out with yet another “set the record straight” blog post.Dassault has started referring to the legacy product as “SolidWorks Mechanical CAD”, and the future product as “SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual”. These are the products that we here refer to (tongue in cheek) as “Mechanical Desktop” and “Catia Lite” respectively.Read more on SolidWorks Clarification: “We Don’t Have A Plan”… [more...]

There are two things I want to discuss about SolidWorks 2013. The first is the Conic sketch element. Remember that when 2013 originally released, you were not able to make a spline c2 to a conic. There was a discussion on the Conic in the SW forums a while back, where Mark Biasotti, who is usually correct, and usually fair-minded got caught up in saying that it was mathematically impossible to give the conic c2 capabilities. There is a point of view from which that statement might be correct. I’m not sure that you can drive a conic by the first derivative, although the derivative of second order stuff is easy enough, you might not be able to drive by it, although you’d have to show my why.Read more on SolidWorks 2013 Update… [more...]

Today I attended part of a web cast from Autodesk introducing their 2014  line of products. I have to say that they have an amazing breadth of tools. Some of the tools they have acquired are truly tops in their respective industries, like Alias, 3DSmax, Moldflow, and many others. It’s hard getting past my vision of Autodesk as being the cheap junk aisle of the CAD market. Products in the past such as AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, and Algor have reinforced this notion. It’s a bit telling that all of the truly world-class stuff they have for sale is stuff that other companies have developed.Read more on Autodesk Cloud Hard Sell… [more...]

There are a couple ways to get into SEU 2013 for free. If you’re a Solid Edge user, one way is to be a presenter. The door might be closing on this option, though, because I think they’re getting the slots lined up. So if you’ve got an exhibitionist urge, you better scratch it fast.Read more on Want Free Entry to Solid Edge University?… [more...]