Graphics Systems SolidNotes

SolidWorks Corporation purchases Priware

Effective today (3-26-08), SolidWorks Corporation has purchased Priware from the UK. Priware is the developer of CircuitWorks. While "CircuitWorks Lite" has been incorporated into core SolidWorks for some time (and will continue to be in the future), the full-blown CircuitWorks software will now be part of SolidWorks Office Premium.

There are two functional changes going forward:

1. Customers who have SolidWorks Office Premium will get CircuitWorks at no additional charge, starting with SolidWorks 2008 SP 4.0.

2. Customers who have CircuitWorks will have their corresponding SolidWorks seat upgraded to SolidWorks Office Premium at no charge.

SolidWorks World Tuesday

This morning the general session featured more excellent speakers. Dr. Don Norman of Northwestern University won the Franklin Medal in 2006 (past award winners include Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and Stephan Hawking) and he's quite famous in design circles (just Google him and you'll get a ton of hits). He gave some great examples of why design needs to be for the user and not for the designer. Pick up one of his books to learn about his philosophy in depth as I can't really do it justice :).

Dr. Robert Ballard is most famous for finding the HMS Titanic, but he is one of the world's foremost oceanographers; if you've seen many Discovery and Science Channel shows related to undersea exploration, you will recognize him instantly (he was also the guy who did the "real science" segment at the end of every episode of the old Seaquest: DSV sci-fi TV show). What I took most from his talk was that by 8th grade, you've either got a new scientist/enginner or you've lost them. Both of my brothers are classically-trained teachers and I have heard the same thing from them many times -- middle school is where personality and behaviors are set in. I resolved during this talk to take a more active role in somehow reaching out to kids in that age group, both as a professional in the engineering world and also as an amateur scientist (astronomer, in this case) to spark real interest in the science and engineering. I have a few ideas but I'd love to hear about any you may have!

One tool that SolidWorks Corporation has developed that I think will be useful is SolidWorks for iPod. No, it's not a software solution; it's a website that has cool videos, renderings, and technical tidbits that are made for the iPod. SolidWorks thinks this is such a great idea that they gave every regular attendee of SolidWorks World an iPod Nano loaded with this content! See www.solidworks.com/ipod to get content for your own iPod.

SolidWorks World Monday

After yesterday's debacle in Green Bay, I was happy to turn my attention full-time to all things SolidWorks. This morning's guest speakers were very good. Danny Forster of TV's "Build It Bigger" gave a humorous and interesting talk tying together style and engineering from an architectural perspective. Theo Jansen of Holland is an artist who makes what he calls "beach creatures" that are mechanical automatons that are powered by nothing more than the wind. Google him and you'll find some fascinating articles and video on his work -- really thought-provoking!

Being from the original Dairy State, I did find it humorous when, at this morning's breakfast, they ran out of milk for the stacks and stacks of cereal displayed on the tables. I guess California cows may be happy, but not very productive compared to Wisconsin cows!

3DVia is a hot ticket on the showroom floor. This is an awesome solution for creating truly interactive documentation for tech pubs, as well as mockups of super-large assemblies. We'll be showing it at Graphics Systems in the near future! Take a look at the information on www.solidworks.com.

Like Fishing?

We're going to have an event at Cabela's in Germantown, WI on May 22. During that event, we'll be showing SolidWorks, DriveWorks, COSMOS/Works Designer, and PDMWorks Enterprise. If you're interested in seeing any of these technologies, it would be a good event to attend. We'll have some food and door prizes too! See http://www.gxsc.com/demos_cabelas.htm for details.

Jeff's SolidWorks World #3

One of the cool things about the SolidWorks community is that several members have excellent blogs. Ricky Jordan of North Alabama is one of those members and his detailed account of the happenings at Solidworks World 2007 are very well worth reading. I was going to make a detailed report myself, but since Ricky already did I figured "why re-invent the wheel?" :) You can find Ricky Jordan's SolidWorks World 2007 reports on his website.

Jeff's SolidWorks World #2

At SolidWorks World 2007, there were a number of innovative products in the "Designed in SolidWorks" showcase areas. I already mentioned the Moo Bella Instant Ice Cream machine...that's an innovation of convenience. The next product I would like to talk about is an innovation in safety.

The Saw Stop is a revolutionary woodworking tool. Think of a table saw that will cut wood, but not your fingers. Impossible? I thought so until I saw John McEleney demonstrate this machine on stage in New Orleans. He fired it up and cut through a 3/4" plywood board. No big deal for a table saw. But then he laid a hot dog across the piece of wood and made another cut. As soon as the blade came in contact with the hot dog, it stopped and dropped into the table! Later on I found out the response is 40 milliseconds...10 times faster than an airbag deployment. Impressive to say the least! How does it work? The blade detects and monitors electrical response to materials. Human fingers (as well as hot dogs) have a much different response than wood. This innovation will save hundereds of people every year from being maimed. For more information about Saw Stop, visit their website.

Jeff's SolidWorks World #1

Greeting from New Orleans! I've been down here with my technical team since Saturday afternoon. SolidWorks World 2007 is living up to it's reputation as a fantastic opportunity to learn more about all things SolidWorks.

One of the "coolest" products I've seen in a long time is the Moo Bella. Picture a coffee vending machine that gives you a cup of premium-quality ice cream -- made on the spot and flash frozen in 45 seconds! It's super-innovative and designed completely inside of SolidWorks! I'm still trying to convince Dave K. to get one in our office "for demo purposes." Ahem.

Stay tuned for more sights and sounds from SolidWorks World 2007! For more information on Moo Bella, visit their webpage.

Help Schmelp!

"I don't want to use the help file!"
"Why use the help that's what support is for"

What do we have against the Help file? Why is it that often we refuse to "help ourselves"? For the longest time, I never looked at the help file when I had a question or got stuck on something. Instead I would ask someone in the office or pickup the phone. SolidWorks and most of the programs we use on a day-to-day basis have very useful help files, but we refuse to try them. Is it a pride issue? Do we not have the time? Why aren't we using "Help"?

We have all kinds of methods for getting help today. We can use Help files, white papers, knowledge bases, and the list goes on. I think you will find if you start using these tools they will increase your product knowledge for whatever product you’re using. Still, you may be surprised how quickly you can answer your own question. Remember this, a help file or guide can only take you so far; if you can't get a quick answer then call tech support for help.

Here is an example of something I did. I called technical support for Microsoft Money and was about number 45,231 in the cue. As I waited for the person to answer the phone the recording tells me about how to look online for answers to commonly asked questions. Did I take their advice? Nope, I waited and waited and waited, growing more frustrated as the minutes passed. Finally, after about 30 minutes of waiting I decided to look online; give me something to do while I waited. I found my answer in about 30 seconds and hung up the phone.

What I should've done is looked in the free online help; I would have saved myself 30 minutes and kept more of my hair. Now when I run into to a problem I always check the help first before I call. Like the commercial says, "He likes it! Hey Mikey!"

Welcome to SolidNotes

Hello everyone and welcome to Graphics Systems Corporation's "SolidNotes." Our goal is to make "SolidNotes" a valuable resource by putting our customers in touch with our Technical Services staff. You will see some regular offerings and less regular contributions over the next few weeks. We will also be looking for your feedback as we add content.