rocksolid perspective – jason raak

Day 5, or Day 4 of the actual conference.  With this day comes a lot of ups and downs.  Downs because this is the end of it for another year.  Ups because of the information that is given to all of the attendees at the General Session on Monday.  This session is probably the single most anticipated SolidWorks related meeting/event of the year.  The time when they announce the top 10 enhancement list, give a what’s new in next year’s version demo, AND announce where next year’s SolidWorks WORLD is going to be held and when.  On top of all this there is usually some surprise guest that runs out on stage to greet and inspire the audience.

This year did not disappoint either.  Fielder Hiss once again started the session off by greeting and trying to wake everybody after an awesome event at Disney’s Animal Kingdom off site event on Tuesday night.  To start the morning off Fielder invited Don Richardson from Microsoft, a sponsor of the event, on stage.  Don gave a brief speech and headed off stage.  Here is where the fun really began (no offense Don if you are reading this).  Time for the surprise guests of the event and they WERE a riot from the time they came running for the back of the ballroom to the time that they walked off back stage.  Mike & Joe from the new Discovery Channel TV show Prototype This.  These guys were AWESOME!  If you haven’t ever seen the show it is 4 guys (or is there 5???) that design, build, and test a project in around a 5 week timeline.  They use SolidWorks 3D CAD and SolidWorks Simulation throughout their timeframe.  Here are some pictures from their time on stage.

These guys were a riot the entire time and definitely awesome surprise guests for all of the attendees at SolidWorks WORLD 2009.  Next up was time for the SolidWorks Top 10 Enhancements announcements.  This year they were given by 10 SolidWorks User Group Leaders.  Also this year was the first time that they have used the new tool SolidWorks Brainstorm (hopefully this gets transferred over to the enhancement request site).  The top 10 for SolidWorks WORLD 2009 were:

1. Increase Program Stability
2. Clear Memory When File is Closed
3. Backwards Compatibility
4. Rename Configurations that are Referenced in an Open Assembly
5. Faster Rebuilds on Complex Models
6. On the Fly Equation Creation & Editing
7. Dual Monitor Support
8. Add Lock Points for Model Rebuilds
9. Esc key equals Abort to Get Out of Commands
10. Excel Behavior in Design Tables

Seeing how some of the SWUGN representatives were on stage already it was time to announce the SWUGN User Group of the Year, the SWUGN User Group Leader of the Year, and the SWUGN Lifetime Achievement Award.  And the winners are:

SWUGN User Group of the Year

SWUGN User Group Leader of the Year

SWUGN Lifetime Achievement Awards

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After these awards were announced the tallest man in CAD/CAM came out on stage, Mark Schneider.  His first line of business was to announce the winners of the Model Mania competition.  This is a competition that measures your CAD skills against other users.  The fastest user to model the given part, and get it right, is crowned the winner for the year and is given some great graphics cards as prizes.  This year the winners, on both the VAR and customer sides were:

Mark, along with Ian Hogg, Jeremy Regnerus, and Neil Cooke then rolled out the What’s New in SolidWorks 2010 demonstration.  This year they were also joined on stage by some customers who helped them roll this demonstration out.  The new features that were demonstrated for SolidWorks 2010 were:

1. New View Mates Tool
2. Update to Mirror Components (now has its own interface, no mates will be needed)
3. New Design Study Tool for SolidWorks Simulation
4. Multi Body Sheet Metal Parts (includes a quick preview)
5. Multi Body Weldments
6. Updates to the DXF Out Tool
7. Updates to the Reference Plane Creation Tool
   1. now able to add planes between faces and diameters
   2. able to add plane tangent to diameter at an angle to a specified plane
8. New Assembly Visualization Tool
   1. now able to output a purchased component list to excel directly from an assembly
9. New Property Manager Builder
10. Ability to Add Datums and GD&T Callouts Right on Dimension Extension Lines
11. Ability to Drag & Drop Notes On Top Of Each Other, Automatically Added to the End of a Number List
12. Ability to Resize Balloons & Add the Quantity Next to Them
13. BOM’s Now Act More Like Excel
14. New Heads Up Dimension Display
    1. with styles
15. New Dimension Tool Updates
16. Center Marks Are Now Able to be Auto Trimmed
17. Instant 3D Now Available on Imported Models
18. Updates to SolidWorks Enterprise PDM
    1. replicate
    2. convert
    3. print or plot
19. New Environment Friendly Tool
    1. named “Sage”
    2. SolidWorks working in conjunction with PE International

When all of the What’s New in SolidWorks 2010 presentation was done Jeff Ray jumped up on stage for a final address to the crowd before the conclusion of SolidWorks WORLD 2009.  His 1st order of business was to announce that SolidWorks WORLD 2010 would be held in Anaheim, California from January 31, 2010 to February 3, 2010.  Another thing that needs to be addressed that he mentioned was a new program that SolidWorks was proud to announce in conjunction with all of the VAR’s.  It is a new program called the Engineers Stimulus Package.  What is it you are asking?  It is a new program that will allow all engineers / designers (that used SolidWorks) that have been laid off or let go from the job to get FREE CSWP or CSWA training and also some sort of license to put on their home computers so that they can stay up to date with the software and hopefully get a new job using SolidWorks.

So that wraps up my main coverage of SolidWorks WORLD 2009 in sunny and warm Orlando, Florida.  I am planning on doing some additional posts of the “What’s New in SolidWorks 2010” features and the Top 10 List but it may be a little while.  Thank you so much for staying tuned in and following RockSolid Perspective during this event.  THANKS AGAIN!