Last week Dassault Systemes released a new product called DraftSight.  DraftSight is a free 2D CAD editor that serves the same function as the free SolidWorks 2D Editor (formally DWGeditor) program that SolidWorks offers.  While DraftSight offers a nicer and cleaner user interface (see below) it is serving the same purpose as SolidWorks 2D Editor.

Here is the really confusing part, it seems as if a lot of the support and public relations is coming from SolidWorks Corporation headquarters in Concord, MA.  All of this made me ask the inevitable question…WHY?  When this product was released there was a lot of buzz on Twitter about whether or not this was the death of SolidWorks 2D Editor but again and again a SolidWorks Corporation presence on Twitter said no.  So does this mean that there is a group in Concord developing two 2D CAD programs?  None of this make a lot of sense to me.  There seem to be a lot of unanswered questions about this new software.

What are your thoughts?  Have you tried the DraftSight program yet?  If so, what do you think?  Do you like it better than SolidWorks 2D Editor (DWGeditor)?

What does VAR stand for? Value Added Reseller.

In my opinion there is a big difference between a reseller and a VAR.  A reseller is someone that you pay to update your software when needed and also someone that will possibly give you a legitimate answer when you call tech support maybe once a quarter.  A VAR is someone that offers its customers and other users around the world additional value beyond the basic updates and tech support.  So how can a reseller become a VAR?  My answer is social media.

Social media has been the latest fad over the last 5 years or so.  I think that it has moved towards more main stream the last year or 2 instead of just a fad that will pass.  When I mention social media, I include resources like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs all into this category.

A reseller that has turned into a VAR and seems to get it is GoEngineer.  With offices is Idaho, California, Colorado, and Utah their customer base is spread out over a large area.  About a month ago GoEngineer started a YouTube page that at the time of this post has 47 different tutorial videos.  These are all great videos that range from 1:04 to 9:15 in length and are chocked full of great tutorial content.  Here are a couple of my favorite videos from their YouTube page.

Another reseller that has turned into a VAR is CAPINC.  CAPINC has turned into a VAR in my opinion not because of a YouTube page but because of the CAPUniversity SoidWorks Tips & Tricks Technical blog.  This blog, similar to GoEngineer’s YouTube page has a ton of great tutorials and tips & tricks on it.

So why am I pushing for more SolidWorks resellers get into the social media realm?  The SolidWorks AE’s are the ones that field calls all day from users that have a problem or can’t figure something out.  Why not take those phone calls and emails and turn them into a blog post or a quick training video.  When I attended the Chicago SWUGN Technical Summit I sat in on a presentation by Adrian Fanjoy & Josh Altergott from CATI.  The title of the presentation was “Redneck Workarounds – The SolidWorks Equivalent to Duct Tape and Bailing Wire” and it was somewhere between 15 and 20 problems that they had received from tech support calls and how they solved the problems.  It was one of the best presentations I have ever sat through.

Every reseller should strive to be a VAR and in my opinion, this is the best way that they can get on the fast track to achieve your goal.

Do you like to see things before anyone else?  Do you like to shape the future of technology?

If you answered yes to either of these questions then I have the opportunity for you.  SolidWorks offers a program called “User Research Program” or probably more commonly known as usability testing.  I had the pleasure of participating in this back in March because of a post that I did on the dimension palette.  This was a great experience for me and I hope to do more in the future.  Here are the details?

How Does It Work?

All you really need is a computer and a phone.  You don’t even need to have a computer with SolidWorks on it.  A SolidWorks employee will set up an online meeting that you can join, and from there they will give you control over their version of SolidWorks.  When I did it for the dimension palette I spent some time with Tom Spine, Senior Manager of User Experience Design.  Tom set up a GoToMeeting session and from there I was able to fully interact with the new version of this tool.

How Long Does It Take?

You will probably need to set aside around 1 hour in order to make sure you have enough time to work through the “testing”.

What Do I Need to Do to Sign Up?

All you need to do is follow this link and fill out the survey that is linked to on the right hand side of the page (titled: Complete Participant Survey).  There is also more information in this link about what they do and what it is all about.

Also, keep in mind that you will probably need to fill out some sort of a NDA because sometimes what you see is brand new and still in development.

My Take

I think this program is more than worth the time it takes to meet with someone on the usability team.  This is a great way to try out the software while some of the people who write the code can watch you work.  By having more people involved in programs like this, or even alpha and beta testing, an issue like the dimension palette fiasco will not happen again.  So go sign up today!

P.S.  I wish all of you a blessed Memorial Day weekend!  Be safe!

One of the big new technological advances is the mobile device, whether it be the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or the Android phone (I know I have missed others so save the comments).  I have heard many engineers, especially at SolidWorks WORLD this year, ask for the ability to view their data on their mobile devices while they are on the go.

While at SWW10 this year I asked an employee that was previously involved with SolidWorks Labs if there was any research done with making native SolidWorks files available on mobile devices.  The response I got was that it was being looked at, however, the hold up was where is the data stored and the size of the files because of the size limitations on the mobile device.  These are both viable areas of concern.

Over the weekend I decided to search the App Store on my iPhone for Dassault Systemes apps and was surprised to see 3 apps out there from SolidWorks parent company.  Here are the products currently available from Dassault Systemes in the Apple App Store.

• 3dvia Mobile – $1.99 USD
• MyDeco – Free
• PLM Marketplace – Free

All of this makes me wonder if a native SolidWorks app can be too far down the road.  Even over the concerns that the SolidWorks employee mentioned it looks as if Dassault is figuring some of these things out.  All of this along with the closer intergration between Dassault Systemes and SolidWorks Corporation make me wonder if this is closer than many think.  I, for one, sure hope so.

Here are some of my ideas for SolidWorks apps (Apps, not mobile sites that I need to open my browser for).

• Mobile SolidWorks Forums
• eDrawings
• PDM or PDS program

Let me know some of the SolidWorks apps or programs you would like to see on your mobile device.

In a follow-up to my post yesterday “important solidworks 64bit / photoworks information” SolidWorks has issued a hotfix.

Find the details here!

If you are currently running SolidWorks 2009 64bit SP 5.0, SolidWorks 2010 64bit SP 1.0, or SolidWorks 2010 64bit SP 2.0 you MUST read this announcement NOW!

NOTE: THIS PROBLEM IS ONLY FOR USERS RUNNING SOLIDWORKS 64BIT (VERSIONS ABOVE) AND USING PHOTOWORKS ON LARGE RENDERINGS!!!

Solution Id:

S-046282

Keyword:

PhotoWorks2

Question:

SolidWorks® and operating system may become unstable after PhotoWorks™ add-in is enabled when SolidWorks®  is running and the SolidWorks® process is using more than 2GB of virtual memory. What may cause this?

Answer:

Windows® XP, Vista™, Windows® 7 (64 Bit only) operating systems:
SolidWorks® and operating system may become unstable after PhotoWorks™ add-in is enabled when SolidWorks® is running and the SolidWorks® process is using more than 2GB of virtual memory.
An issue with PhotoWorks™ has been identified where SolidWorks® and the Windows® operating system may become unstable after enabling the PhotoWorks™ add-in within SolidWorks® 2009 SP5 and SolidWorks® 2010 SP1 or later. The issue has been reported to the development team as SPR#535417. If using PhotoWorks™, it is advised to enable the PhotoWorks™ add-in only after first opening a new SolidWorks® session before any files are loaded.
A symptom that this issue may occur is if no PhotoWorks™ Toolbar or menu appears but the Render Manager tab remains shown. If you notice these symptoms, it is strongly advised to end the SolidWorks® session with the “end process” selection from the processes tab of the Windows Task Manager.

You can find more information in the SolidWorks Forums by following these links.

https://forum.solidworks.com/message/138724#138724

https://forum.solidworks.com/message/138670#138670

Over the last week or so there are a couple of things available for you, the user, to participate in that will possibly influence the next release of SolidWorks.  I highly suggest you participate in both of these and let SolidWorks know what you want the software you use everyday to look and feel like.

Rick Chin

Rick, who is the Director of Product Innovation at SolidWorks, and an all around great guy is asking YOU what his next project should be.  He is just coming off of working on SolidWorks Sustainability for the past 14 months and he wants to know what you would like to see him begin looking at.  You can find all the details of what he is looking for along with a survey by clicking here.

SolidWorks WORLD 2010: The Top Ten List

We have all done it, asked (or screamed) why can’t SolidWorks do this or that.  Here is your chance to submit or vote for enhancements that you want.  This was a new process last year before SolidWorks WORLD and was a huge success so it is back by popular demand again this year.  All you need to do is log in with your SolidWorks Customer Portal user name and password and you can vote until your hearts content.

To begin voting click here.

I do not do very many posts on future technology (I leave that up to Josh over at SolidSmack) but this new technology really caught my attention and made me start thinking.  Microsoft is working on a new project called Project Natal that is using similar technology as the Nintendo Wii but expanding it.

What Project Natal offers is similar motion sensing as the Wii but without the remote.  This senses your body movements instead on the remotes movements.

This got me thinking, how far away are we from seeing this introduced to CAD.  How soon will we be able to walk around our models, while collaborating with people all over the world similar to playing games online on the XBOX or Playstation.  CAD packages are already supporting touch interfaces so some of this can’t be that far off can it?

Let me know what you think of this and when you think we will start seeing this kind of stuff in our CAD packages.

To see Project Natal in action check out their videos on their YouTube page.

XBox Natal is scheduled to ship “Holiday 2010” and will supposedly work with all Xbox 360’s.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

May your days be filled with joy as you celebrate during this holiday season!

After a flurry of posts covering SolidWorks 2010 in August and September I have kind of fell off of the face of the blogosphere in October.  October 1 my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world and the past couple of weeks have tested my ability to balance life as a whole.  Being a parent brings a whole new aspect to life and it is one of the best things I have ever experienced.

So with that being said I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know some of the things you can expect to see on this blog in the upcoming months.  As many of you know SolidWorks 2010 was released on Monday so there are a ton of questions and topics out there about when to upgrade, how to upgrade, and why you should upgrade.  I will attempt to cover all of these things the best that I can to hopefully help you out in your upgrade process.

Another hot topic and event that is fast approaching is SolidWorks WORLD 2010 in Anaheim, CA on January 31-February 3.  In years past I have done a series of posts on how to get there and why you should make it a priority to attend and I plan on doing the same this year, even though I am a little behind the 8-ball already.

So there you have it.  Do you have any questions about SolidWorks 2010 or SolidWorks WORLD 2010?  If you do feel free to drop me a comment or email and I will try to address them as best as I can.