I tried to have a twitter feed on SolidWorks Legion for SolidWorks World 2010 back in 2009. That didn’t turn out well for various reasons. Well, I’m going it a try again. I’ve copied the twitter feed (Yahoo! Pipes) that appears at SolidWorks World Connent. It’s modified to include both hashtags #SWW11 and #SolidWorks. It is currently up and running on the right side menu. If all goes well, I’ll have this twitter feed up until after SolidWorks World 2011 next year.
News of the day
There’s a couple of CAD industry press releases that came to me last week from Dassault Systemes. I decided to experiment a bit with WordPress by providing both press releases at the same time in a dual column format. Since this article is more of an experiment in WordPress formatting than an actual attempt to perpetuate announcements, I’m going to be lazy by doing something I almost never do. I’m going to post the nearly raw press releases (except for the addition of some images from Mike Puckett to help illustrate the DS HQ announcement). I know, I know, but either one of these press releases will be of interest to someone, so I don’t necessarily feel completely guilty. You are free to read one or both (or none), as you please. (If you are interested in seeing another point of view covering the DS HQ move, check out this article from “The Real Reporter“.)
3DVIA Composer
Here’s an official video about improvements to 3DVIA Composer this year. If you use SolidWorks, pay special attention to Magnet Lines. There’s a buzz building to get that functionality included in SolidWorks at some point.
LetsGoDesign.tv behind-the-scenes tour
Jeremy Luchini gives a brief behind-the-scenes tour of the LetsGoDesign.tv studio at SolidWorks headquarters in Concord, MA.
SolidWorks World 2011 Connect Tweets
I mentioned SolidWorks World 2011 Connect website a couple days ago. I guess it was a little ironic that my tweet about the Connect website was the first tweet to appear on the Connect website. I guess even more ironic is that this article (the one that you are reading right now) will likely be the second tweet to appear. 🙂 No, no, I take that back. I’ve purposefully left off the #sww11 hatchtag to avoid just that.
SolidWorks 2011: Auto Arrange Dimensions tool
There is a a set of new drawing functions in SolidWorks 2011 that’s catching a lot of attention. These are the Auto Arrange Dimensions tools which are built into the Dimension Palette. Using a thumb wheel and available options, the user may automatically space dimensions from smallest to largest, aligned and centered (where possible), spaced with the pre-set offset distances, adjusted to avoid overlapping, and staggered (where necessary). In short, these tools automatically space and align selected dimensions with very little effort.
Currently, SolidWorks 2010 does have auto spacing for dimensions, but this can sometimes be more of a hassle than a benefit. There’s a lot of potential with these new Auto Arrange Dimension tools. They may allow the user to save time while giving them direct control over dimension placement.
Auto Arrange Dimensions is reportedly so easy to use, if dimensions of an entire drawing are selected, they can be spaced and aligned at once using this tool.
If these tools work as well as promised, they can potentially save a lot of time when inserting or adding dimensions to drawings. I guess the only addition I’d ask for is an option to automatically select every dimension on the drawing with the click of the mouse button to allow an entire drawing to be aligned and spaced in one quick action.