Apr 2 2012

Do More Good

A few weeks back I attended my 1st ever TEDx event which was held locally. The event, TEDx Macatawa, was limited to 450 attendees and was an invite only event in which I was LUCKY enough to receive 1 of the invitations to the sold out event.

So what is TEDx? The best way that I can describe it to SolidWorks users is to compare it to a General Session at SolidWorks WORLD when they have innovative & inspirational speakers on stage.

The theme of this independent TED event was “Do More Good” and it got me thinking about myself and in turn the entire SolidWorks community. What are we (including me) doing to make a difference in this world? I think back to a few years ago at SolidWorks WORLD when they highlighted the company that is making the baby incubators for 3rd world countries. This company is “doing more good”.

When I think of the SolidWorks community, there are some of the brightest, most innovative people that are a included in this AND we all have 1 of the best design tools (if not the best) at our finger tips each and every day that can assist us in “doing more good”.

So I ask you, what are you going to do or what can you do to “do more good”? I have not fully come up with an answer to this myself yet BUT I am trying to search deep inside myself for an answer. MAYBE you are already do something to make a difference in this world. If so, I encourage you to share.

Maybe you need some inspiration. If this is the case, here is the link to all of the talks from the day I spent at TEDx Macatawa.

Also, if you ever have the chance to attend either the annual TED event or a independent TEDx event near you, I highly encourage you to do everything in your power to attend it.

Feb 21 2012

HOLY COW…September!

Wow! September 20, 2011 was the last time you heard anything from me on here. Sad, I know (or good for your sake probably) but I have some reasons and a goal to improve the content I post on here in the upcoming year. So what’s my excuse this time, right?

Well, to start, in October I was offered a dream opportunity of being an Assistant Coach on the Varsity Basketball team at my alma mater. By the way, my alma mater is the 5th winningest basketball program in the history of Michigan High School basketball. For those that don’t know much about me, basketball is a HUGE passion of mine so when this opportunity arose, I could NOT turn it down. Little did I know at that time was that being part of a Varsity basketball program is as close to being a full time commitment as you can get. Practice every night, games Tuesday’s & Friday’s, and basketball camps for the younger levels on Saturday mornings. However, it has been an amazing journey to work with young men and to help them become men of character both on and off of the court.

On top of my new position with basketball, my wife and I welcomed a new baby boy to our family last month. Our new baby boy joins his 2 year old sister in our family so needless to say, life is CRAZY but AWESOME right now!

As some of you know, or may have guessed, I missed my 1st SolidWorks WORLD this year since 2008 which absolutely killed me. This, however, does not mean that I was not paying attention to the loads of information that was flying out of San Diego last week. I am hoping to have my response and $0.02 to the preview of SolidWorks 2013 up here by the end of the week along with any other “stuff” that was previewed or discussed last week.

So, please bear with me, I haven’t fallen off of the face of the earth. I promise, I will have some new content up here shortly!

Aug 18 2011

New Page: SolidWorks Presentations

Because of some recent requests and inquiries, I have decided to add a new page to the RockSolid Perspective site. The new page, which is titled “SolidWorks Presentations” will host a Microsoft PowerPoint Show of every (I think) presentation I have ever done along with when and where the presentation was 1st given. To access the new page click on the “SolidWorks Presentations” tab on the top of this page (see picture above).

All of the presentations are currently hosted on my Box.net site so when you click on any of the links it will take you to the Box.net download page. From there you will have the option to view or save the PowerPoint show.

If you have a question about any of my presentations please feel free to send me an email and I would be more than happy to help you out.

Enjoy!

Aug 17 2011

This Blog IS NOT DEAD!

Over the course of the last week there has been some blogs that have been stating that SolidWorks has lost its mojo because the blogs have quieted down over the last year. While this is true, the blog posts have been few and far in between for most of the SolidWorks blogs, I do not feel it is a result of SolidWorks losing any sort of mojo.

I personally want to speak to this, not for all of the other bloggers, but for myself personally and the future of THIS blog. The reason for the decrease in the number of posts here at RockSolid Perspective is because my personal and professional life has changed dramatically since I started this blog.

In my personal life since 2007 my wife and I have welcomed our 1st child and will soon be welcoming another. What this means is that the times I usually spent on my computer at night writing blog posts have now been replaced with dolls, Little People, coloring books, and spending quality family time with my daughter because I will never get these days / times back.

In my professional life since 2007 I have changed job roles, increased my hours, and have added responsibility in my every day job which is what pays our bills. I have recently moved into a Sales Engineer role which has allowed me to continue to use SolidWorks but in a sales environment as opposed to a design environment. This has also required me to spend some more time on the road which has limited my desk time and also points back to the reason why I make sure to spend time with my family when I am home. On top of my Sales Engineer role, I am also hold the Project Manager, CAD Administrator, and IT roles at work. So as you can see, my time is precious when I am at work. I have been extremely blessed in my professional life with a bunch of work, a good job, great owners, and a fast growing business.

In regards to this blog, I have a LARGE list of blog posts in the queue that I need to write when I have time. Starting this week you will see the beginning of a series of posts that cover some of my main points in a presentation I have given titled “Utilizing SolidWorks for Sales & Marketing”.

So in response to the question whether SolidWorks has lost their “mojo” or not, I am going to say NO! I feel that the reason for the decrease in activity is directly related to workload and other commitments as opposed to not having anything exciting to write about. So stay tuned because this blog IS NOT DEAD!

Jul 6 2011

missing in action

Ahhhhhhh…it feels good to be back in the saddle again.

After been missing in action since the middle of April, I think I will finally have some time to post rambling nonsense here again. This summer has been absolutely insane in both my personal and professional schedules.

I spent 2 weeks in June helping out at a boys basketball camp, for 7th & 8th graders 1 week, and 9th & 10th graders the other week, at a local high school. This on top of family, softball, camping, etc. has made my personal life if nothing else, interesting. I also modified & launched a new invoicing system at my father-in-law’s business which tied up some early mornings and late nights at home.

Professionally speaking, I have been heading up (thus heavily involved) in launching a completely new ERP system at work. This has been fun, frustrating, and stressful amongst other things. Our new system went live this past Friday so we are currently working out some bugs, but for the most part has been a successful switchover. Now that that project is somewhat behind me, I can get back into doing my normal tasks on a daily basis.

I am looking forward to posting some content here coming up soon. There has been a lot of things going on in the SolidWorks Community that should be mentioned and also we can’t forget the slew of posts that will be popping up all over the web in a couple of months about SolidWorks 2012.

I am looking forward to bringing all of this to you and I thank you for hanging in there during my dry spout.

Mar 25 2011

what do the users really want?

A few weeks back I mentioned how I was confused as to why a CATIA translator in SolidWorks did not make the Top Ten list at SolidWorks WORLD this year. That one sentence began a firestorm of tweets about whether the translator was really a high priority among SolidWorks users.

First and foremost I need to mention that I live in West Michigan which is heavily entrenched in the auto industry. With that being said, almost everywhere I go and everyone I talk to in the Midwest have mentioned the NEED for the ability of SolidWorks to handle CATIA files natively. After all, both CAD programs are owned by parent company Dassault Systemes.

One of the first comments made on Twitter stated the my feedback and the user base I usually talk to might be skewed compared to the entire SolidWorks user base and I totally agree with the comment. This may be the exact reason why it does not make it to the Top Ten list.

Still it leads to me think, what is the holdup of getting this translator incorporated into SolidWorks? There are many tools inside SolidWorks that are industry specific, things like Mold tools. So why should someone that has to constantly deal with CATIA files be forced to find workarounds in order to get their work done.

I personally know of a company that has a large number of SolidWorks licenses, however they also have a license of Autodesk Inventor for the sole reason of translating data. I am guessing that this is probably not how Dassault Systemes wants there customers working.

So what is the holdup? Is it pride? Is it the possibility of making more money by releasing an additional add in down the road that customers are going to have to buy? I don’t know the reasoning for it not being in the software already but I have to think that one of these is the deep rooted holdup. When or if it does come I sure hope that it does not come at an additional cost if you have the Professional or Premium SolidWorks packages.

This post is not meant to pick on Dassault Systemes, SolidWorks, a development team, or a specific development person but is more to ask the question of why are we still waiting. SolidWorks 2011 offers a wide range of translators for other popular CAD programs like Pro-E, Unigraphics, Inventor, Solid Edge, etc. but not CATIA yet.

Do you see the need? Why do you think we are still waiting?

Feb 10 2011

the jeff ray legacy

As most of you know by now, SolidWorks Corporation has a new CEO.

Jeff Ray, effective January 5, 2011, is moving on to a position as EVP of Global Operations for SolidWorks Corporation parent company Dassault Systemes.

Roopinder Tara wrote one of the best articles I have read in a long time about Jeff as a man. This is an article you need to read.

Jeff Ray: A Gentleman Walks Off the Stage

Jeff was always open to talking to you and was always quick to respond to emails that were sent his way. Jeff’s leadership and likeable character will be greatly missed but I am sure that Bertrand Sicot, the new CEO at SolidWorks will carry on the legacy that Jeff has instilled at SolidWorks.

Nov 24 2010

do you have what it takes? well then, render away!

Are you the master of creating realistic images at your company? Well, if you think you are I have the perfect contest for you. 3Dconnexion is currently holding a contest that is looking for the best rendered images using 1 of the 4 models they supply. This contest is not limited to SolidWorks renders but any program that can read in these included file types.

dae
dwg
dxf
fbx
obj
stl
jpeg (preview)

The rules are quite simple. Like their Facebook page and then download the files to render away. Each month (October, November, and December) they will be selecting monthly winners with some awesome prices. Also, at the end of the whole contest on December 31, 2010 they will be selecting a Grand Prize winner that will win a Apple 27” LED Cinema Display.

Here are the winning entries from October.

To see all of the October entries, check out the Facebook photo album.

To enter the contest, visit the 3Dconnexion fan page on Facebook.

To view the full rules and download the models, follow this link to the 3Dconnexion website.

Happy Rendering and Good Luck!

Aug 27 2010

solidworks 2011 previews coming to a blog near you!

I have been hit and miss here on my blog for a little while now mainly because of my current workload at work but I wanted to inform you of some things you can expect in the upcoming weeks.

On Tuesday, myself and a bunch of the other bloggers will be meeting up in Concord, MA at SolidWorks Corporation headquarters for an exclusive hands on preview of SolidWorks 2011. While many of us have already been beta testing the software, this will allow us to see some of the deeper functionality that we might have otherwise missed or overlooked.

Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM the NDA will be lifted and you will probably notice a barrage of posts from the bloggers covering all of the new functionality that we have seen.

So stay tuned and let me know if there is anything specific that you would like me to preview.

For a countdown until the coverage begins visit www.solidworkslaunch.com.

Jul 19 2010

draftsight…the follow-up

A few weeks back I did a post on the new Dassault Systemes 2D product DraftSight. During the course of that post I raised some questions that I was curious. Aaron Kelly (director of DraftSight) was kind enough to answer a few questions through the exchange of emails that I wanted to share with you here.

Q1.) Why develop a product so close to SolidWorks 2D Editor instead of making that product free to anyone?

A. We developed DraftSight so that we could have tighter control over the product direction. We feel that we will be able to deliver a superior product to our users by building on the DraftSight platform. First came the product (DraftSight), then we created the business model.

Q2.) Will SolidWorks 2D Editor be slowly phased out because of the launch of DraftSight?

A. SolidWorks 2D Editor is still available to SolidWorks customers, but future development energy will be directed to support and develop DraftSight. We are developing a plan for 2D Editor and let the SolidWorks community know about it this summer.

Q3.) Who is supporting DraftSight? SolidWorks employees or Dassault employees?

A. It is easy to say DS Employees because SolidWorks is brand of Dassault Systemes. In an effort to best answer your question though, I will say that some of the DraftSight support team today sit in Concord (This is where SolidWorks is headquartered), but this is changing rapidly. We also have DraftSight support engineers all over the world. We want to be able to deliver world class technical support. These support engineers will support DraftSight, but they may also help out with supporting SolidWorks, CATIA, Enovia, or SImulia products as well.

These answers definitely cleared up some things for me and hopefully for you as well.

RockSolid Perspective – Jason Raak

Category Archives: Misc. Randoms & Rants