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?

Mar 21 2011

toolbox headaches in solidworks 2011? this might be the cause

Are toolbox components making your head throb in SolidWorks 2011?

Well there is a new option that might be throwing you off and you probably aren’t even aware that it is checked by default out of the box.

In Tools > Options > Hole Wizard / Toolbox there is a new checkbox for a feature called “Make this folder the default search location for Toolbox components”. According to the SolidWorks help file this new feature “is useful when you open models whose toolbox components do not reference your Toolbox folder. If you clear the system option, SolidWorks does not automatically search the Toolbox folder for references to Toolbox components.”

Whether this is the cause of your toolbox problems or not, the frustrating thing for me is that this option is checked by default out of the box. I am not a huge fan of new features being added like this and it is automatically checked without being publicized in some way shape or form. Unless you go through each option when a new release comes out (which I think every CAD Admin should) you probably wouldn’t have seen this or known about it.

Mar 11 2011

more draftsight news: linux version

A few weeks back DraftSight removed the beta tag from its flagship Windows product. On Wednesday, they added another product, this time a Linux version of there popular FREE 2D CAD program.

So what does this mean? Not much if you are a Windows homer but if you run Linux at home on your personal computer this is a major announcement as it will now allow you to run DraftSight natively on your Linux machine.

Below is the official press release from Dassault Systemes about the new version. You can also see screenshots at the end of the press release.

Dassault Systèmes’ DraftSight
Now Available for Linux

Linux Users Can Now Create, Edit and View DWG Files with DraftSight

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, – March 9, 2011 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced the availability of a beta release of DraftSight for Linux. DraftSight is a no-cost 2D CAD product for CAD professionals, students and educators that can be downloaded at DraftSight.com.
DraftSight for Linux allows users to create, edit and view DWG files. DraftSight generally takes a few minutes to download and runs on multiple operating systems, including Linux and Mac OS in beta, and Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 in general release.
“We’re very excited to finally announce to the DraftSight community the availability of Linux in beta for DraftSight,” said Aaron Kelly, senior director, DraftSight, Dassault Systèmes. “We’ve been working on the Linux version since the launch of DraftSight and have seen a significant rise in demand for this over the last few months. It’s been our objective since the start to respond to users by providing them with products that will meet their needs.
DraftSight beta users have access to no-cost Community Support available within the DraftSight open, online SwYm community where they can access support and training resources, along with an environment to interact, ask questions and share their opinions. The DraftSight community is one of the first social networks designed by engineers for engineers, designers and architects.
For more information, please visit DraftSight.com. Also, check out DraftSight on Facebook and Twitter.

Mar 2 2011

3dconnexion hits the 1 million milestone

Today 3Dconnexion announced that has achieved its 1 millionth 3D mouse shipped milestone. That achievement is truly astonishing for me. Below is the official press release from 3Dconexxion.

3Dconnexion Achieves One Million 3D Mouse Milestone

3D Mice Revolutionizing the Workflow of Engineers and Designers Around the World

FREMONT, Calif. – March 2, 2011 – 3Dconnexion today announced it has shipped more than one million 3D mice, supporting today’s most popular and powerful 3D software solutions from companies including Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, Siemens, PTC, Google, Microsoft, and Adobe across computer aided design, digital content creation, architecture and construction, and geographic information systems.
3Dconnexion 3D mice unlock the power of 3D design applications by allowing design engineers to interact naturally with 3D content as if they are holding the model or camera in their hand. Many of the world’s leading companies in industries from aerospace to automotive, consumer goods to electronics, and machine tools to game development, use 3Dconnexion 3D mice to boost productivity, efficiency and the comfort of their design teams.
“As we accelerated through the one millionth 3D mouse milestone, we’ve seen customer recommendations become an increasingly powerful driver of our business,” said Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion. “And the future looks bright as we continue to bring the benefits of superior 3D navigation to an ever wider range of software applications and new market opportunities, bound only by the imagination.”
To mark its “One Millionth 3D Mouse Milestone,” 3Dconnexion will host several activities throughout the next month, offering users the opportunity to win a 3D mouse. For more information, visit 3Dconnexion’s website, Facebook and Twitter.
The core technology inside all of 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice originates from the field of robotics and space exploration. In 1993, a 3D controller was used on the space shuttle Columbia, manipulating the first robotic arm in space, and was the launching point for a family of 3D mice that now help 3D professionals in hundreds of thousands of organizations to design, innovate and create some of the most well known products in the world.
About 3Dconnexion, A Logitech Company
3Dconnexion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI), is the leading provider of 3D mice for 3D design and visualization. 3Dconnexion devices support today’s most popular and powerful 3D applications by offering users a more intuitive and natural way to interact with computer-generated 3D content. 3Dconnexion’s award-winning 3D mice serve a wide variety of industries and are used by 3D designers, animators and artists worldwide. 3Dconnexion is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. with European headquarters in Munich, Germany and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.3Dconnexion.com. You may also connect with 3Dconnexion on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/3Dconnexion) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/3Dconnexion).

Feb 25 2011

#sww11 top 10 list

Every year at SolidWorks WORLD they announce a Top 10 list of enhancements that are created by and voted on by you the user. This year was no different. Here is the Top 10 list from SolidWorks WORLD 2011.

10. Press ESC to return to graphical interface – OK, I can understand this.

9. File compatibility between versions – Why is this not #1???

8. Ideas section available at all times in the Forums – Good idea, but really, top 10???

7. Convert solid to surface without having to delete a face – Would be useful…great idea!

6. Enhanced equations – Sounds like SolidWorks 2012 might already be improving this.

5. Feature freeze – Supposedly already included in SolidWorks 2012.

4. Clean uninstall– Supposedly already included in SolidWorks 2012.

3. Dangle children relationships instead of having to delete them – Would be handy!

2. Utilize processor cores better – Yes, yes, yes!

1. Stop angle mates from flipping around – Good idea but I am not sure it warrants the #1 request.

There are some great ideas in this list but there are also some head scratchers. One thing that I don’t understand when looking at this list is how a CATIA translator is not included. That seems to be such a hot topic when talking to other users but yet no one votes for it?

What enhancements would you add to this list that aren’t already on it?

Feb 25 2011

draftsight released to the masses!

I am a little late getting to the party but on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 Dassault Systemes removed the beta tag from the 2D CAD offering DraftSight and released it to the public. Some of you may have forgotten that this product was still in beta (like I did). This was probably due to the over 400,000 downloads during the beta period.

Here is the official press release:

Dassault Systèmes’ No-Cost 2D CAD Product DraftSight Now Available for General Release

More Than 400,000 DraftSight Downloads During Beta Test

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, – February 23, 2011 – Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced the general availability of DraftSight for Windows, a no-cost 2D CAD product for CAD professionals, students and educators. To date, more than 400,000 users have downloaded DraftSight. Originally launched in Beta version in June 2010, the general release for Windows includes many key enhancements and updates based on user feedback. DraftSight is available for download at http://www.draftsight.com.
DraftSight allows users to create, edit and view DWG files. DraftSight generally takes just a few minutes to download and runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS (in beta). In conjunction with DraftSight, Dassault Systèmes launched an open, online community, where users can access support and training resources, along with an environment to interact, ask questions and share their opinions. The DraftSight community is one of the first social networks designed by engineers for engineers, designers and architects. Based on user feedback generated within the community, enhancements and updates have been made to the general release of DraftSight for Windows.
The DraftSight community is based on Dassault Systèmes’ SwYm online collaboration and social innovation platform. SwYm communities incorporate the best of Web 2.0 features such as: rich profiles, blogs, micro-blogging, “iQuestions”, wikis, media sharing spaces (data, audio, video, and even 3D), status updates, and more all within a unified layout that optimizes the user experience and facilitates and accelerates collaboration.
“DraftSight has been overwhelmingly embraced by the CAD and engineering community since its launch in June 2010. A lot of hard work has gone into this product, including many enhancements made during the beta phase,” said Aaron Kelly, senior director, DraftSight, Dassault Systèmes. “Users provided great feedback that enabled us to identify areas of improvement that we have implemented into the general release for Windows, increasing the overall performance and usability of DraftSight. It’s important for our users to remain vocal about what they want to see in the product as we continue the development of DraftSight.”
Specific updates include, but are not limited to:
· API support (available for a fee) – Enables customers to write add-on programs for DraftSight in C++ and other supported programming languages
· Localization of Help Files – Now available for users in multiple languages (English, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Korean, Polish, Russian, Czech)
· Command Variables Enhancement – Enables users to set and change system variables directly from the command line
DraftSight users have a variety of support options to choose from, including no-cost Community Support, as well as fee-based Premium Services that offer telephone and email support, network licensing and access to DraftSight APIs. Specifically designed for educators, the Education Premium Service includes a Classroom and Campus Pack with curriculum materials, network licensing and telephone and email support.
“As an instructor, I always try to provide my students with the tools to create and succeed on their own,” said Thomas Mewerter, drafting instructor at South Central Louisiana Technical College. “DraftSight’s compatible structure and ability to work with DWG files gives students the freedom to download the product for free and work outside of class.”
For more information, visit http://www.draftsight.com. Also, follow DraftSight on Facebook and Twitter.
###
About Dassault Systèmes
As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 115,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes applications provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to recycling. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product – SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design – DELMIA for virtual production – SIMULIA for virtual testing – ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, and 3DVIA for online 3D lifelike experiences. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com.

CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, SolidWorks, and 3D VIA are registered trademarks and DraftSight and the DraftSight logos are trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

So what does this mean for you? Not a whole lot. I would highly suggest that if you are currently running a beta version of the software you go and download the latest release and enjoy some of the bug fixes that are corrected. All in all I am extremely pleased with this as a 2D CAD program.

Do you use DraftSight already? If so, how much time each week do you use it?

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.

Feb 8 2011

#sww11 solidworks 2012 preview

One of the highlights every year at SolidWorks WORLD is the preview of the next release of the software. This is usually done by a funny skit from the Product Marketing team at SolidWorks and this year did not disappoint.

CAD COPS, CAD COPS..WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU!

Now that I have been back to work for just over a week I have had some time to digest all of the new features in SolidWorks 2012 that were previewed during the Wednesday morning General Session. Please keep in mind that not all of these features actually make it to the actual initial release but for the most part they do. Here are the enhancements that you can look for in SolidWorks 2012.

Performance
- Clear the file from memory when closed
Administration
- Complete uninstall
- Uninstall via an admin image
UI
- The ability to pin documents in recent files
- Unit switcher on the status bar
- Command search
- Dual monitor support
Parts
- Feature freeze
Sheet Metal
- Parallel to base flange
- Form tool rotation
- Ignore faces when unfolding
Equations
- Equation editor
- Different variables available via dropdowns
- Automatic solve order
Assemblies
- Tab key to hide components
- Additional motion sensors including actuator loads and bearing loads
Drawings
- Exploded views available in view pallete
- Create BOM’s without pre-selecting views
- Sequential ballooning
- Magnet lines to line up balloons
- Automatic reuse of view labels
- Add center marks at any time
3dvia Composer
- Per pixel lighting and ambient inclusion
- BOM highlights
- Custom compass
Costing Tool
- Sheet metal costing including templates for suppliers
- Cost reports
- Template editor

I will be selecting some of my favorites from these in the upcoming weeks and give you my reaction to them. Ricky Jordan from www.rickyjordan.com has a great write up and some great pictures of the new features listed above. Make sure you go check out his SolidWorks 2012 Sneak Peak post.

Feb 1 2011

#sww11 wednesday roundup

Well, SolidWorks WORLD 2011 is over for another year and it did not disappoint. I have heard many in the SolidWorks community that were there that this was the best one ever, and I can honestly not disagree. The event staff did an outstanding job with everything at SolidWorks WORLD this year.

Wednesday morning General Session is usually the technology preview time of the show and this year did not disappoint. The day started off with Mike Puckett and Avelino Rochino introducing Matt Perez of SolidWorksLessons fame. Matt discussed his concepts behind some of the unbelievable car modeling that he has used SolidWorks for. I would definitely suggest that you check out his site to learn more about him.

Jeremy Luchini then took control of the main stage and was quickly joined by a special guest.

That’s right! Kevin Bacon was in the house. Kevin talked about what is was like making the movie Apollo 13 (recognize the connection to Monday’s special guests) and also spoke about his website sixdegrees.org.

Mark Schneider was up next and announced the winners of the popular Model Mania contest. Below you will find a picture of this years model and also the winners from both the customer and reseller groups.

Neil Cooke then jumped on stage to preview both SolidWorks n!Fuze and also SolidWorks Live Buildings which I will cover more in depth in upcoming posts.

The next chunk of the morning session dealt with the preview of SolidWorks 2012 and also the Top Ten enhancement requests driven by you, the users, in the forums. I will cover both of these in upcoming posts as well.

Bertrand Sicot, the new CEO at SolidWorks Corporation, then came on stage to wrap up the 3 day whirlwind of General Sessions. The announcement was made that on Thanksgiving Day of 2010 the 1,000,000th license of SolidWorks Educational Edition was shipped! What an unbelievable achievement. Tying into that Jeff Ray came on stage and introduced the crowd to an unbelievable 13 year old that is using SolidWorks at an early age to solve some complex problems. Riley Lewis is a 7th grader in San Jose, California that has used the software to design a lock pick, un-pickable locks, and also is currently using it on a project for his dad’s company.

Bertrand closed the session by announcing that SolidWorks WORLD 2012 will be held in San Diego, California on February 12 – 15, 2012. San Diego is a great place for a convention and is something that you should start planning on attending today.

Stay tuned for more in depth coverage of some of the previews shown last week and also for an all around assessment of SolidWorks WORLD 2011.

Jan 26 2011

#sww11 tuesday roundup

Day 2 at SolidWorks WORLD 2011 is also in the books at this time and it seems like this year the event is flying by quicker than any of the others I have attended.

Day 2’s General Session was a great time to recognize users helping users with the announcements of the SWUGN awards and also a time to recognize customers that are doing amazing things with SolidWorks.

After Fielder Hiss opened the session with some general announcements the stage was handed over to Richard Doyle who is the User Community Manager. Being a leader of a SWUGN group I can say that what Richard does day in and day out is far beyond what I could ever put into words and I appreciate everything that he does for the user community. Every year SWUGN hands out awards for the User Group of the Year, the User Group Leader of the Year, and also a lifetime achievement award which was renamed this year to the Michelle Pillers SWUGN Community Award which is a lifetime achievement award for those that have been involved and dedicated a lot of their personal time to make SWUGN a success. The 2011 winners were:

User Group of the Year – Chicago SolidWorks User Group
User Group Leader of the Year – Ed Gebo of the Connecticut SolidWorks User Group
Michelle Pillers SWUGN Community Award – Wayne Tiffany

The other thing that happens on Tuesdays annually during the General Session is the spotlight of some unbelievable SolidWorks customers. This year was no different. Jon Hirschtick was up on stage to help spotlight these customers this year.

The 1st spotlight was of a customer that was officially customer #1 of SolidWorks. In 1995 Barrett Technology, Inc. purchased the 1st ever seat of SolidWorks for $1,295.00 and as this say it has been history ever since. Barrett is a manufacturer of robotic arms and have developed a robot that can run on (5) household 9V batteries. What an amazing success.

The 2nd spotlight was on a company called MAKO Surgical Corporation which design robots to be used in surgery. I was blown away with how they use SolidWorks. What they do is the will take a 3D scan of someone’s knee if a knee placement surgery is pending and then they will take that scan into SolidWorks and model up a replacement knee to match the existing one. How unbelievable is that. A recent surgery patient joined the party on the stage and announced that he was walking 2 hours after having knee replacement surgery and was playing golf 3 weeks after. Unbelievable!

The 3rd spotlight was different than the 1st two but an awesome story all the same. The company is called Local Motors which uses an open source approach to building cars. All of the decisions being made during the design and production of the cars are based on a community of everyday people like you and me. Currently there are roughly 9,500 community members. Each car has a limited quantity made (2,000) and it takes them ONLY 15 months to go from a 2D sketch to the 1st working prototype.

Unfortunately as the Bionic Builders were being introduced to the crowd I had to cut out to get ready for my presentation which started at 10:30 AM so I don’t have anything to report on them other than that what I did see them doing was great!

After another day full of technical training sessions and meetings with Partner Products we wrapped up the day at the conference off site event. I will detail this event in a separate post because I feel that the SolidWorks Event Team deserves more the 1 sentence.

Stay tuned for all of the Wednesday happenings as more live coverage from SolidWorks WORLD is coming your way!

RockSolid Perspective – Jason Raak